1 What Kind Of Producer Do You Want To Be? 1 --
a) All-Singing-All-Dancing-King-Of-The-Hill 1 --
d) Merlin The Magician 9 --
e) Other Ways Of Categorising Producers 13 --
2 How Do You Get Started? 15 --
a) What Are The Ways In? 15 --
b) OK - So You Want To Be A Record Producer - What Next? 35 --
c) Are Qualifications A Help Or A Hindrance? 38 --
d) So Exactly How Much Technical Knowledge Do You Need? 43 --
e) How Much Musical Knowledge Do You Need? 47 --
f) What If You Have Neither Musical Nor Technical Skills? 49 --
g) Door's Open, The Foot's In, Now What? 50 --
3 What's The Job Description? 52 --
a) We Are Not Worthy 60 --
b) Who Takes Care Of The Administration And Paperwork? 68 --
c) Managing The Session From Day To Day 69 --
d) What Are 'They' Going To Expect Of You? 86 --
4 Will They Still Love You Tomorrow? 91 --
a) What Is Your Working Life Expectancy? 91 --
b) How's Your Health? 92 --
c) What Keeps A&R People Coming Right Back To You? 94 --
5 Producer Managers 103 --
a) To Have A Manager Or Not To Have A Manager? 103 --
b) Do They Earn Their Percentage? 105 --
d) How Do You Define 'Best Manager' For You? 113 --
e) How Can You Find Such A Person - If They Even Exist? 114 --
f) How Do You Persuade Them To Take You On? 114 --
6 How Do You Deal With The Artist, The Record Company And The Artist's Manager? 117 --
a) What Should Your Relationship With The Artist Be? 117 --
b) Where Does Your Responsibility Lie? 120 --
c) What About The Drug And Alcohol Connection? 126 --
d) What Do You Do When The Artist Freaks? 129 --
e) What Do You Do When The Record Company Freaks? 130 --
f) What Do You Do When The Artist's Manager Is A Freak? 134 --
a) How Much Will They Cost You? 136 --
b) How Much Should You Depend On Them? 137 --
c) How Much Do You Really Need Them? 138 --
d) What Happens When They Get It Wrong? 138 --
e) What Tricks Do They Get Up To? 139 --
f) And That's Just Your Lawyer. How Much Damage Can The Other Guy Do? 140 --
8 Difficulties And Pitfalls 143 --
a) Studio Nightmares 143 --
b) Serious Differences Of Opinion 143 --
g) What Makes It Seem Like Hard Work? 155 --
h) How Much Loyalty Can You Expect Within The Business? 156 --
i) First Girlfriend Syndrome 160 --
9 Success And Money 162 --
a) How Much Can You Make? 162 --
b) Where Else Does The Money Come From? 165 --
c) Do Producers Earn Their Percentage? 168 --
d) How Can You Increase Your Chances Of Success? 173 --
e) What Is The Secret Of Longevity? 174 --
f) Hitting The Jackpot 175 --
10 What Are The Timeless Ingredients In A Hit Record? 180 --
g) How Important Is The Mix Really? 187 --
j) Are These Rules To Which There Are Exceptions? 189 --
a) How Much Can You Learn, How Much Is Natural Ability? 191 --
b) How Do You Pick The Right Project? 192 --
c) Do Producers Have Their Own Sound? 192 --
d) Should You Get Involved In The Song Writing? 193 --
e) New Versus Established Artists? 195 --
f) What About The All-Important Credits? 196 --
g) What Are The Best Moments? 202 --
h) Why Are There So Few Female Record Producers? 202 --
i) Can You Successfully Genre Hop? 207 --
j) How Do You Deal With... 209 --
k) What Happens When The Fat Lady Sings? 211 --
l) Why Do People Want To Produce Records? 214 --
m) Why Do People Want To Make Records At All? 214 --
n) Do You Know When You Have Produced A Smash? 215 --
o) What Is Demo-Itis? 216 --
p) What Kind Of Person Becomes A Producer? 219 --
q) How Do Producers Feel About Remixers? 221 --
r) What's The Remixer's Point Of View? 223 --
s) What's The A&R Person's Point Of View? 224 --
t) What Is The 'Sophomore Slump'? 225 --
12 Working Outside The Mainstream? 228 --
d) Traditional, Folk, Roots And World Music 233 --
e) Children's Music 241 --
f) Regional Producers 246 --
13 Technology Rules: Will the Internet Kill the Video Star? 248 --
a) Has Technology Made Studio Life Easier? 248 --
b) Revolution Will Be Digitised: Where Is It All Going? 252 --
c) What Does This Mean To The Professional Record Producer? 256 --
d) Why Will We Even Need Labels In The Future? 268 --
f) Will Record Producers Survive The Revolution? 274 --
15 Featured interview with legendary producer Arif Mardin 279.