DIY/DIA

Ambient records are easily self-produced because of their more conceptual sound design. As a “producer”, I have to admit I have a bias against certain things that don’t fit with the overall vibe. This also includes things that relate to musical things like chord voicings, which can sometimes slip into jazz when you want to avoid jazz, or vice-versa. When you’re self-producing you can make those calls, whereas other producers might second-guess a good creative concept. There are many cases where producers weren’t particularly suited, but were acclaimed anyway. Artist/Producer relationships really matter, needless to say. I wouldn’t want a producer replacing effected guitars with clean sounds for example, or spending a week on snare sounds. Things have to move along quickly for me so I have low tolerance for that kind of thing. Just make it work for the concept. Now that we’re moving towards the Content Producer, more artists are doing it all themselves. I’m okay with using consultants to find good players. What I’d like to see is a review/overview of artist/producer relationships. Maybe it exists…

12/5/2022

[12/5/2024: AI lets everyone do it all. It’s evolved from DIY to DIA. What matters more than ever are the unique conceptual ideas artists are using. It might not be so much in the music, and with pop, it never completely was].