Music Producer Salary

Name: Meghan Gohil
Job Title: Music Producer
Where: Los Angeles, CA
Employer: Owner of Hollywood Recording
Studio
Years of Experience: 20+
Education: Masters in Media Communication / Audio Engineering, Webster University
Salary: A Music Producer's salary can range from $20k to over $1 million per year

Music Producer Salary

Becoming a music producer sounds exciting to many young people, but they just don't know how to get started. Having produced and engineered top rock acts, Meghan Gohil is the perfect subject to ask about a music producer career and a music producer salary. In this interview, Meghan recalls his path to becoming a music producer, discusses the salary of a music producer and explains the actual role of a music producer. If you've ever wondered about embarking upon a music producer career or the elusive numbers behind a music producer salary, this is a must-read interview!

Music Producer Job Description:

The first step is to listen to the band's material and pick the best songs. During this phase, you're looking for both commercial tracks (the elusive "hit song") as well as album tracks. The band and producer (me) will run through the songs over the course of a few rehearsals - they'll hammer out arrangement ideas, look for areas where instrument parts are clashing, and ways to make the song more memorable or catchy. After the arrangements are flushed out, then the band is ready to record. I will pick time at a recording studio to track the basic tracks.

Each track is an instrument - for example, you'll have a track for a vocal, another one for guitar, bass, cymbals, snare drum, kick drum, etc... Then they'll go through and add the overdubs - usually vocal tracks, guitars, etc, as well as "ear candy." The next step in the process is mixing - adjusting volumes and effects on each individual track and producing a stereo mix. This stereo mix is then taken to the mastering house, where the final "sweetening" is put on - specific tones are eq'd out to make the mix less harsh, and compression is added to "glue" the mix together.

How did you become a music producer?

I recorded my own bands back in high school. When I was in college, a friend of mine asked me to mix his band at a local gig. I told him I had no idea what I was doing, but he said, "You already know more than our sound guy" - that got me started doing front-of-house mixing at different clubs around St. Louis. During this time I continued recording bands, ones that I was playing in and people from other bands that would approach me to record them. I used whatever equipment we had - I recorded one band straight to cassette - and it ended up selling somewhere over 1000 copies.

After I graduated from college, I decided that I wanted to study recording a bit more, so I enrolled in the Masters of Media Communication at Webster University in St. Louis. They have a really good audio department headed by Barry Hufker, who is a wizard at classical remote recording. My thesis advisor was Bill Porter, who was Elvis Presley's engineer on all of his work at the RCA label. Barry gave me great advice in terms of recording techniques, and Bill impressed upon me the importance of doing everything I could to make a session sound great.

Who are some of the musical artists that you have produced?

My music producer credits include Chloe Day, Apryl Lauren and Brad Booker (drummer for Gravity Kills). My mixing credits include Lol Tolhurst (co-founder of The Cure). I have engineered Trey Anastasio (Phish), Robert Randolph, Warren Haynes (The Dead, The Allman Bros, Govt Mule), Joan Osborne & Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead), Robert Randolph and Blake Shelton.

Can you recall any memorable moments from your music producer career?

Back in college, I figured out how to hide when they locked the studio so I could squeeze in a few more hours of studio time after the security guards had made their rounds. One day I made the mistake of not waking up in time before they opened it first thing in the morning - the assistant studio manager caught me and flipped her lid. Luckily, the head of the department was a bit more understanding - he said: "Don't ever do that again . . . but when you do, just make sure you don't get caught."

What advice would you give someone who is interested in becoming a music producer?

For people that are interested in this career, the first thing is to be a music fan - develop your record collection. Listen to all the songs; listen to the songs that were #1 and figure out why they went there. Listen to all types of music - country, rock, pop, jazz, hip-hop, etc and figure out what the made the great songs great. Listen to the not-so-great songs and figure out what could have made them stronger.

Play in a band - this will help with the arrangement part, and will also educate you in terms of dealing with the pressures that the artist faces from fans, the road, etc... Go to clubs and listen to lots of bands; record every chance you get. Offer to help bands with their recordings. Don't worry about putting your own stamp on the recordings - help the artist to achieve their vision and capture their sound accurately.

What is the average music producer salary?

The job salary for a music producer is peanuts to caviar. You start off recording stuff for free. Once you get good enough, people will start paying you for your time. On the low end, $20K per year; on the high end - over $1 million a year.

How does your salary sound these days?  Listen to how it's playing with our salary survey.

• Want to know more about a music producer career? Check out the Berklee College of Music
• Can becoming a music producer influence popular music? - Wikipedia's history of music producers
• Salary of a music producer by industry
• Successful music producer careers: Top 10 Pop Music Producers 2006

Comments

[Tom Barr]

Nice read. As with many careers (especially creatives) starting with your own stuff, volunteering and low entry level is a necessity. It would have been nice if the article had mentioned an average salary in addition to the broad range it mentioned.

[J Young]

Thanks for the information. I am a high school senior and was very unsure of how the process of becoming a producer worked. This article helped ne to realize that my path was heading the wrong direction but the things i do now are right in line with what my final goal will be. thank you

[Dejohn leonard]

How much do u make a year

[louis adasu]

i am an Rand B artist and want to be produced, if anyone is intrested please let me know.
louis.

[Joseph Blount]

Hello I am Joseph I just want to thanks for the info I am an up and coming producer and greatly appreciate your pearls of wisdom.

[Joseph Blount]

Hello I am Joseph I just want to say thanks for the info I am an up and coming producer and greatly appreciate your pearls of wisdom.

[Glenn Danzig]

j young is a dumbass, it says how much he makes at the top. It's a thing called reading...try it

[Chatu Ikinz]

Thanx pal i guess dats knowledge increase i'm a producer & songwriter...if any of y'all wanna hot track beat hit me up www.myspace.com/chatuikinz or chatulive@hotmail.com
peace 1!!!

[Funk]

This is a good insight on a producer's role. I understand the responsibilities you have to get done to create a perfect record or album. I'm enrolling now in the Art school of atlanta. I realize i am a producer.

[Jontae Walchak]

u r realy succes stoy 4 many u should be proud

[Angie fo faney]

This is a really cool job. I want to have the same job that you have when I get older. Thanks for being an idol.!!!!!

you rock

[Janice]

What if you have never made any type of music before but you love all different types of music and would like to learn more of how to actually produce it should you continue to try or go for something that you actually have experience with? Should your major be mass communications? I would like it if you could message me back an answer. My email is jazziesongbird@yahoo.com

[Malcolm Burford]

whats up meg, this is malcolm and i just want 2 thank you for your advice on how 2 become a music producer.

[Angie]

thats good

[Daniel]

This doesn't Jive at all with what I've heard a producer does. I was told (by a record exec) that the successful producer has a large reserve of cash and even more major record-label contacts. He doesn't get paid, but rather pays himself (up front) all the expense of recording, mastering, and designing an album and then "shops" this finished record to the labels where upon he recuperates his investment once the record is signed.

[morgan]

interesting. i been producing for over 6 years now but am in africa so the pay here isnt uped to that level.its always cool to know theres a bigger playing feild.

[big pimpin]

boy im coming so recognize win you see ceo slash proucer slash artist selling over a million records with or without a deal dats wuts up yeah Jacktown,Ms

[Trista]

hey
I've always wanted to be a music producer from my freshman years of highschool but now that i have the opportunity to go to college im stuck, i love all types of music i have no experience with recording or producing or how to go about it, is there other jobs more fun in the music industry than being a music producer ? and what classes should i take to become apart of the music industry? my email is Trista.kenny@live.com

[James]

yea how much do u make a year? and is it an enjoyable career?

[Brian]

I am planning on taking up courses at Full Sail(top 5 music school in US) for an associates in recording arts and then finishing a bachelors in music business. Now the total cost is around 100,000 bucks! That includes living expenses.

Now you can see that is a huge investement but I have a strong passion for music. I am a aspiring guitarist myself and I believe I would like to produce as well. I have a unique ear for good music. Do you think this is the right way to go about it? Full Sail is a great school to learn the tricks of the trade but I will have some debt to follow after. Any response is appreciated. Thank you.

[Jaime]

This was very helpful for me. I'm currently going to school at Brown Mackie College to get an Associates degree in Audio/Video Production. I have been producing my own music since I was 13 and now I'm working on starting my own indy label Bizzle Muzik Entertainment. If you have any tips for me, you can email me at getbizzy@bizzlemuzikent.com

[mike]

A lot of people seem to waste time with fancy schooling for music producing. There is a difference between someone who pushes buttons (engineer) and a producer. A producer must be a musician otherwise, what is the point? It would be like telling a rocket scientist how to build his spaceship. The producer needs to be well learned in the art of songwriting; this is the key for great producers.