Record Production

Soundboard Picture
Child listening to music

Great musical production seamlessly blends art, technology, psychology, and business.

Great record producers seamlessly direct you through every phase and every decision involved in the recording process.

In order to accomplish this, your producer must be both experienced and comfortable working with a variety of arrangements, methods, environments, technical recording personnel, and musicians.

Great record producers:
  • Understand you, and understand why you wish to step into your creative process
  • Provide expert overview, experienced counsel, and conscientious facilitation
  • Bring out the best in every recording team they captain
  • Help you choose a recording environment and method appropriate for your music and performance
  • Direct every recording session so it proceeds smoothly, creatively, efficiently, and stays on-budget and on- time
  • Help you focus on your recording goals, coax out your best talents, and stay true to your artistic vision
  • Make your recording sound its very best
  • Move you toward your intended audience with a well defined promotional plan

Your producer is your objective conscience— the person who can step back from your music and tell you honestly what does and does not work.

Therefore, both trust and objectivity are essential in deciding which music to record, which arrangements work, which "takes" are the best, what editing needs to take place, when the mix is done, and when the master is ready to go to press.

"I view production as a collaborative experience. Whenever I am asked to produce a recording, I envelop myself in the music that is being recorded—I study the scores, I listen to other existing recordings of the music, I read about the works and the composers, I fully prepare myself for the sessions as if I were the one on stage playing the music. Once prepared, I walk into a recording session, ready to participate in the process. A great producer must be a great listener. I believe that by being prepared I can listen with more intensity to the artists' performance and provide valuable, helpful feedback. A recording is only as compelling as the performance it documents. By being an active participant in the production process, collaborating on a final result that is musically arresting and satisfying, I believe that I am being of service to not only the musicians I am capturing on the recording, but also to the music they are performing."
Victor Ledin

"I am a record producer because I have always been fascinated by the creative process, and understanding another person's idiom. I see recording as an interpretive, translating process—an artist "translates" a performance into a recording. I focus on what the artist imagines and is trying to translate. I believe in and admire the courage of an artist's personal adventure, and what they wish to communicate when they step into the recording process. This is a monumental endeavor, particularly because artists can often be uncomfortable performing in a recording studio environment. This intrinsic pressure to perform in a challenging venue makes recording both a struggle and an amazing process. It is a process that I try to facilitate by creating an environment in which the artist can press beyond their previous personal limitations."
Marina A. Ledin

Finally, smart musicians and performers should always look for someone they can trust.