12 Critical points for any music producer

Music is a strong force in our living! It dictates our moments, our artistry, and our vibe. As a music producer, we must first determine early on what our role is, and understand why we chose this path and what it takes for us to strive for overall excellence.

1. Know what you want to achieve from making music. What genre you want to produce and perfect? Understand that ‘alternative, country or sampling’ may not be your thing, but your R&B piano skills are flawless. As music producers mainly produce tracks and record their artists these days, traditional producers may not only make music, but also oversee the project including budget, song selection, etc.
2. Stop stealing music, software, ideas, etc. This creates a trickledown effect and results in the music mess we have going on today. This music production thing is not for everybody! Invest in yourself and know what you want from your music. Research and buy the best tools for you. Also when you buy, you are supporting the makers who keep us in supply of our favorite production tools. Please note: Karma is real! There’s no way you are expecting to sell music if you’re not buying any, there is certainly no way you are expecting support if you are not supporting others.
3. Understand the difference between a music producer, composer, and
   
   arranger. The latter two are often knowledgeable in music theory and more than likely      fluently play several instruments. As a music producer, it’s a super plus to have the same knowledge as an arranger and or composer; however, it’s not a must. But please don’t think because you throw together a few wave-forms, or a boxed loop or sample makes you a music producer. To earn such a title, you need to put in work in all aspects of the term. Also note: many arrangers, composers, and songwriters are super music producers.
4. Thin skin, easily hurt feelings, and an over egotistical attitude are reasons you will fail before you are off the ground, especially these days in the midst of music madness. You’ll end up so quick in that big pond of little fish trying to make your way. Spend that high altitude of an attitude into creating good music, getting along, and understanding the business of a music producer.
5. Just because someone doesn't produce on the same type of gear you do, does
   
   not make them inferior to you. Stop bashing the gear of others, you may look up and find their tracks are hotter than yours!
6. If your online conversation is always about you and the artists you are working with… that gets old. Support other producers and artists as well. Attend their shows, visit their pages, blogs, leave comments, and spark conversation. You never know what could come from it.
7. A music producer has good ‘sound and production’ skills. You can’t just get away with producing a hot track to have it sound raggedy, out of tune, and over-processed. Take pride also in the vocals that go over your tracks. Just because an artist has skills may not mean they sound good over your productions. In other words, you can’t collabo with just anybody. Music producers care deeply about the end-product of their pieces.
8. Your reputation, credibility and reliability sticks with you. Practice what you preach. Meet deadlines, appointments, meetings, and studio sessions in a timely manner. Return emails and phone calls. The opportunities you ignore could be a goldmine for the next one. Maintain professionalism when it is appropriate. Understand that your conversation goes a long way in interviews. The person that fans you could very well be the one that prevented you from obtaining that platinum record status.
9. Build a catalog of quality music, and have it ready to present at all times. The keyword here is ‘quality’ meaning your good stuff. Don’t present anything you have to make excuses for. Be cautious of who you are presenting to. Research the person and or company that is interested in hearing your catalog. Not just anybody should have that opportunity. It’s also a good idea to have at least 5 albums ready.
10. Producing music is a business. It involves various contracts, agreements, copyrights, invoices, royalties, publishing, and licensing. You must have a strong
    
    knowledge of these areas to function successfully as a music producer. You should also have an attorney on hand.
11. Too proud to beg? You shouldn’t be. Ask for what you want. Reach out to your goals. Very few have them just show up at their front door. The same applies with asking questions to help you sift through your process. If you don’t know, it’s okay. Find someone you are comfortable with that can mentor you. Someone you trust to guide you. There is nothing ignorant in searching for clarity. The ignorance only remains when you don’t.
12. Listen to various types of music, old and new, across genres, your grandmother’s music, your parent’s music, and your children’s music. Gain an appreciation for your favorite styles, and not so favorite. Collect various types of music and listen closely to the instrumentation, the vocals, and the elements that pulled the pieces together. This will make you aware of aspects of the music making process and an appreciation of the art. Having knowledge of a wide field of music just makes you another great asset to the music production industry.
    

Alternative Rock

An umbrella term used to describe a style of music that emerged in the late 80's and early 90's. Alternative Rock is usually characterized by bands who have a non-conformist attitude; hence "alternative".

It originated with the jangle pop guitar sounds of R.E.M. and the loud/soft dynamic of the Pixies and gained popularity when Nirvana brought it into the mainstream with their album Nevermind. Ironically, it became probably the most popular music of the time period, which was a paradox of sorts in itself -- although purposely anti-mainstream and "against the norm", it became commonplace for people to conform to non-conformity.

Today, the term is often thrown around by people who don't really understand what it means and think that it can be applied to any band of their choosing. This is not true -- for a band to be truly Alternative, they have to follow the Alternative mindset; that is, they must either perform in a style of Alternative Rock already established like Grunge, Brit-pop or be avant-grade and completely throw what it considered usual or average out the window.

The name is often wrongly associated with "Modern Rock". This is wrong because whereas Alternative Rock is a genre and follows a specific style, Modern Rock is a radio format and simply refers recent bands.

Note: discrepancies with categorizing bands as "Alternative Rock" come from the fact that most Alternative bands fit easily into an Alternative Rock sub-genre (Nirvana - Grunge, Modest Mouse - Indie) and can be classified as either the subgenre or "Alternative Rock" in general; if a band covers more than one style instead of sticking to one in particular, they are usually just called "Alternative Rock".

It was ironic that Alternative Rock became as popular as it did, considering its entire purpose was to be the opposite of what everyone wanted to hear.

Is Hip hop a music Genre

Aficionados know that hip-hop is a diverse culture, encompassing emceeing, deejaying, graffiti, and break dancing. The music of hip-hop culture is called “rap.” Rap music? That’s what everyone called it when it first hit the mainstream, because that’s what it’s called. Referring to rap as “hip-hop music” is like referring to “electronic dance music” as “rave music,” and, up until around 20 years ago, was about as correct.

The blame for this one falls squarely on radio stations. Rap music was seen as highly confrontational by its very nature when it hit the national scene: there were no sub-genres at that time, it was all just rap. Radio stations needed a way to distinguish the Fresh Prince from Public Enemy, and since rappers referred to their culture as hip-hop, they jumped on the term. Soon, consumers and critics began using the term to describe rap music—and fans of rap began correcting them, a pastime of which they would soon grow very tired.

For better or worse, the term stuck. As rap splintered into a dozen or so sub-genres in the late ’90s, hip-hop became the catch-all term for whatever they were playing on the radio. And, as all of those sub-genres have largely homogenized again, it’s now just a catch-all term for everything involving rapping—even underground artists have started referring to their music as hip-hop. Radio stations aren’t exactly bastions of free creative expression, but passive-aggressively telling a musical genre what to call itself seems particularly egregious. 

What makes a Rapper

The mark of a good rapper is the ability to string words together into captivating rhymes, but the mark of a great one is the ability to weave those rhymes into stunning narratives that grip and maintain the listener's attention through the end of the song. As hip-hop has matured as an art form, writers have come along who have taken the craft to new heights with their storytelling talents. Suddenly what started out as giddy toasting over party music had evolved into something closer in spirit to the gifted griots of African history.

The Stories behind Rappers’ Rap Names

The practice of performing under a pseudonym (or, nom de mic, in French) is all but taken for granted in hip-hop. Sure, there's plenty of rappers who go the "real name no gimmicks" route (the most famous example is Kanye West.) But for the most part, no one expects the average rapper to go by their government name. This is especially lucky for Maybach Music Group, because Rick Ross' real name is William Roberts and Meek Mill's real name is Robert Williams. Instead, rap names are similar to gang names and graffiti tags and website commenter handles: pretty much everybody taking part goes by an alias.

Which, when you think about it, is pretty uncommon in any other field except for wrestling? Sure, lots of actors have stage names, but at least they're meant to sound like a name your mother would give you, like Nicolas Cage. But it's not like you'd name your kid Gunplay (unless, of course, you were Nicolas Cage). And most doctors, lawyers, plumbers and electricians hang a shingle with their real name on it.

Nicknames come about in all sorts of ways: Some are earned, some are given, and some are picked out of Wu-Tang Name Generators (like Childish Gambino's was). There are more rappers than there are rap names: There's a thousand Lil's, Young's, Big's. In fact, The Notorious B.I.G. was originally supposed to go as Biggie Smalls until it turned out someone else already had that name (an occurrence so common even Common Sense had to change his name). With all that in mind, I looked into The Stories Behind 15 Rappers' Rap Names. Like Marlo Stanfield first said, and like Pusha T has taken as a title for his next album (or, kind of like that at least), "My name is my name."

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