Producing is Orchestrating

I am a musician, and before I started working in the advertising industry I produced music professionally.  I was living in Nashville, and a young act asked me to produce their record, which was my first album production job.  I remember mentioning it to a friend who was trying to break into the industry, and him asking “what makes you a producer”?  As in, who allows you to become that?  In my case that was an especially good question, because I had no formal music training and I had no illusions about my rank in the Nashville guitar pantheon (read: low). 

I had no answer then, but I do now.  What I think makes a producer first of all is an understanding of all of the component parts that make up the whole.  My business partner Jeff Casto is a workflow expert, and his process in working with clients is always general to specific: first you look at the overall goals and purpose of the mission, and then you start dialing down to the individual aspects of the challenge to find solutions.

Because of my musical orientation, my version of “general to specific” is like conducting music.   You need the right people in place, they need to know what their roles are and to take responsibility, and things need to be performed on time.  What does “on time” mean?  Delivery dates, yes, but also all the little steps that need to occur so that those deliverables arrive on time.  

So the producer is like the conductor.  She has her job to do, the details of production, and also has the job of orchestrating the egos and needs of the team.  

Unless you’re dealing with an intuitive bunch of experienced people who instinctively know what to do and when, and this is rare, you need someone who understands people, understands the whole and the function of the component parts (orchestration), and knows how to lead (conducting).

In my opinion, this is what a producer does.