Meeting Topic: Producing
Moderator Name: Andy Enochs
Speaker Name: Steven Potaczek
Other business or activities at the meeting:
Announce upcoming meeting on November 15th. 2012 with speaker gavin Haverstick on the topic of Historical Acoustics.
Asked for submissions for "Show and Tell" event
Meeting Location: Music Media Production Studios on Ball State University Campus
Producer Steven Potaczek of Indianapolis came up and gave a great presentation on Producing. He first discussed the role of a producer when working with an artist naming 4 important aspects of being a producer. He talked about the importance of just going out there and doing it, which as he describes is the best way to learn and get started in the industry.
In a question from a student Steven discussed rates of studios, musicians, and for yourself as a producer and how to approach those situations. Stressing the idea that you may want to pay more for your musicians to get the very best. This will save studio and editing time.
Steven gave a fresh perspective on the role of the producer which he described as being a servant leader in the production process. This comes through the idea that the artist has to feel like they are doing good work and have to enjoy working in the environment that you create as the producer.
Steven talked about, "playing by the rules" as a new artist/producer. Especially in reference to pop and rock music, there is a formula. He stressed listening and analyzing what is working in the industry and learning how and why these songs do so well. We did an exercise to exemplify this, listening to Katy Perry's "Firework" as Steven asked for examples of what the students heard outside of just the vocal and lyrics. This is important for a producer to learn production techniques as well as songwriting skills.
Written By: Andy Enochs
