What do you call yourself?!!

[topitmunkeydog]

So ever since joining this site I've seen people throw around the term

producer

I've never heard this in a music sense before! I mean, I know of like studio producers who sort out business aspects and stuff for a band (like George Martin for the Beatles) but I seriously never have heard it in reference to one who arranges electronic music. Do you guys really call yourselves this?

Later I saw this comment on an All Levels at Once video:

Fascinating, I thought. He doesn't say anything about 'producers' but apparently singer-songwriters can't have guest singers though EDM Artists can... Is there some kind of a differing mentality that corresponds to which term one prefers? Like maybe singer-songwriters take pride in creating everything themselves and producers enjoy being in control of the whole operation??? (Even though really famous singer-songwriters like Gotye and Kimya Dawson get guest singers all the time...)

My real question is, what do you call yourself? Producer, composer, arranger, DJ, musician? Personally I prefer the term "Gymnopedist" after the great Erik Satie. (He also called himself a phonometrician- the one who measures sounds. Genius.) I am also not a big fan of "producer" because it seems very impersonal to me. But that is just my opinion, I would like to hear yours

DISCUSS.

[XXDarkShadow79XX]

I either call myself "artist" or "producer" really. I really don't care, as long as it gets the point across that I make electronic music.

[Symphon]

I tend to lean towards musical artist instead of producer. It's just that in my head, I have a distinction between producing music and creating music. One just makes sounds that are cool, the other makes music to portray a message.

[Navron]

I see a producer as the person who takes raw recordings, mixes them, and actually, "produces," the tracks for a band.

Many electronic artists are their own composers, producers, and mastering engineers.

If you're handling all the aspects of your track (like most of us are), then you're a producer.

If you just played the song and passed it off for somebody else to mix and master, then you would be just a musician, or composer.

Most electronic artists are producers. They do everything for the album themselves, and then pass it off to the music label for promotion.

[Genkar]

I go with Artist or Musician usually. I don't really think someone should limit themself based on what they refer to themself as though. That's like saying, "because I'm an electronic musician, I can't do anything acoustic".

[Forza SoundFire]

As far as I'm concerned, a producer is the person in charge of -producing- the artists art work. (ie; is in charge of the recording engineers, desk operators, etc...)

I think it's become an over inflated term that people became associated with to big themselves up. No offence, that's just what the term has come to mean in the amateur/hobbyist world =P


I would call myself a semi-pro musician, as I take paid gigs regularly. And an amateur composer/AFX artist & recording engineer. Maybe prospects of promoting my composer status soon with the possibility of a few paid gigs on the horizon ^^
Definitely not a producer.

[Alycs]

I go with "musician" out of habit. Long before I started making electronic music, I played and wrote pieces for piano, and was always either a "performer" or "musician". Now that I make electronic music, I go more for "artist", as musician has the entomological connotation of "playing music", where as in electronic music you're more "making music"; therefore: artist.

((Also, most of the time, musicians are called something based on their instrument [piano-pianist, flute-flautist]; so would a DJ or EDM producer be a "electronisist"]

[colortwelve]

What I do in most of my stuff, since I work mostly with EDM genres, is production. But I consider myself a musician first, I'm only a producer as a result of the way I work.

As for the singer-songwriter mentality, or at least the one Levels seems to hold, I find that rather limiting. You could write a song, produce it, and include your own vocals, but nothing's ever stopped Kanye West from getting ridiculous numbers of vocal collaborators. Collaboration is possible in any format - hell, people have written novels collaboratively (a certain effort by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett comes to mind). Unless there's something I'm missing out on by not writing lyrics and recording vocals for my work, I'd say the most personal aspect of music is composing and recording/producing it - I always feel like I've given as much of myself as possible when I produce a track, even when it's something as simple as a rapper's request for a backtrack. Furthermore, I wouldn't think that singing should enter into that mentality too much - if you're not fully taking advantage of what composition has to offer you as a songwriter, you're doing it wrong.

[ghelded_kultz]

I'm a not-musician (sort of like Eno, but without the artistry or any actual connection to what he meant). Failing that, I describe myself as an anti-musician or if worse come to worse, a musician.

[Alycs]

I'm not sure how anti-muscian philosophy would work. At its root, music as an art-form is supposed to represent expressions of thoughts, images, sensations, or ideals. Anti-music as I understand it is supposed to representing such things contrary to common expressions. (4:33 by John Cage, which revealed the crushing sounds of silence that was hidden in everyday life, comes to mind). I think with that distinction, that the "anti-music" movement would still be made by "musicians", as it is still the use of sounds to convey thoughts.

------

Also, in regards to Level's thing about not wanting extra singers, I think there is a point there. Some people make music a certain way, and doing such a turn could throw people off. I don't see any problem with it, it would just be confusing if, say, a death metal band suddenly produced an album of their journey through the pieces of Chopin and Liszt. That being said, there is always Feats.

[topitmunkeydog]

I totally agree with what most of you are saying. When it comes to electronic music terminology is pretty vague (on wikipedia, Skrillex is an electronic musician/singer-songwriter and deadmau5 is a producer/DJ) so I suppose you should just be called whatever you want. I like Artist though, it's a good term that can be applied to pretty much every situation (even rock bands or large orchestras).
I think the really fascinating thing is when you have one who categorizes themselves as a "singer-songwriter" but in reality they do so much more than that. They essentially mastermind an entire operation.

I think it's easier for acoustic musicians, because they can say stuff like, "I'm a singer/pianist/guitarist/accordéoniste/hurdy gurdyist." But for electronic music it's not so easy. If you've seen those memes where people are like, "no skrillex, a macbook is not an instrument," and you are a member of this site you probably feel insulted by those. Traditional musicians have kind of a stigma towards electronic musicians and I think that calling ourselves "producers" doesn't help with that.

In fact, we should just decide on a term for it right now and then convince everybody in the world to start using it. I vote for "AUDIOLOGIST"

[colortwelve]

Well, we're all musicians, aren't we? You kind of can't make music and not be one.

[Forza SoundFire]

Well, we're all musicians, aren't we? You kind of can't make music and not be one.

I'm not a writer. Alas, I do.

[Alycs]

I think the distinction here is that one must write, but not for the sake of writing. One can write and essay for school and not be a writer, because the intent of the essay is not to write an essay, but to achieve a good grade. In our cases, though, we are composing for the sake of composing. Its not for a grade or job, but for the art itself. Therefore, I believe that it is safe to call everyone here musicians.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, studio engineer, studio tech, performer, DJ, and many other things.

[Nine Volt]

Producer, mostly because musician carries a connotation of playing a physical instrument. I also consider myself a writer, though I haven't been courageous enough to post anything online yet (and it wouldn't be under this name unless it's an SCP article, of which I have one ready to post a draft of).

[LoreRD]

Performer (I've performed both piano and percussion live several times), composer (I compose my own music), arranger (I arrange the instrumentation), producer (I do my own mixing and such), pianist, drummer, musician

[Icky]

fruity loopin loser.

[Stu Beef]

^amazing


I don't really like saying what I am, just what I do.

Yeah I write.
Yeah I critique.
Yeah I record songs and stuff.
Yeah I perform in some ensembles.
Yeah I've got some teaching gigs.

etc. etc. etc.

Call it what you want, I try to just do things. If anything, despite the breadth of and level at which I do any of these things, I'm still basically a student. So, maybe that's my answer instead: student.

[Fimbulin]

Producer. Proof of some of my work: www.calebfrench.bandcamp.com

[Fimbulin]

you sure you wrote the music to the lion the witch and the wardrobe?

Click the link and listen. People especially like "Aslan is on the move" and "A Deeper Magic".

I'm the Benjamin Schaaf guy in the credits if you couldn't figure it out yourself. xD

[the4thImpulse]

Producer. Proof of some of my work: http://www.calebfrench.bandcamp.com

you sure you wrote the music to the lion the witch and the wardrobe?

The movie has a different soudntrack to what he's advertising, I don't know what he was involved in but it was not the official movie or the separate 'music inspired by' album.

As for me I make and preform EDM music so call me what you want, there are too many names for what I do but I like Navrons answer best "Many electronic artists are their own composers, producers, and mastering engineers."

[ph00tbag]

I usually go with composer and/or producer. Because those are the things I do. I don't really perform, and I've kind of lost the feel for playing the instruments that I used to play, which is something I still find rather sad.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I call myself Anthony :I or 'Electrobard'

[Makkon]

I'm a band! (according to facebook)



But I also like the term Composer, Musician, or Artist.