What Is A Record Producer?

The duties of a record producer depend on the individual recording project, but generally a producer is the person responsible for guiding a master recording from inception to commercial release. The producer controls the recording sessions, picks the musicians who will play the songs, often serves as coach to the performer and the assembled musicians and often has a heavy hand in choosing the material to be recorded. In addition, the producer normally supervises the mixing process, in which individual parts are combined to create a finished recording.

As a recording center, Nashville has been home to several important and effective producers, many of whom were (or are) also musicians, performers and/or record moguls. The list of Music City luminaries includes but is not limited to: Owen Bradley, Chet Atkins, Don Law, Billy Sherrill, Jerry Kennedy, Aubrey Mayhew, Porter Wagoner, Buddy Killen, Jimmy Bowen, Tony Brown, Paul Worley, Byron Gallimore, Buddy Cannon and Dann Huff.

--Peter Cooper, Staff Writer
Reprinted from The Tennessean, May 7, 2006