Brett Morgan
PreAp English 1
4/13/15
Music, Harder than it Appears
In today’s world, firemen rush through burning buildings, police officers face dangerous criminals on a daily basis, and oil field workers are challenged with potentially deadly situations miles away from help. Even though a producer of music may not rush through burning buildings, they face other challenges like gaining the college knowledge in music or searches for fame and opportunity. This is why I believe that a producer would be one of the most challenging careers because of the needed knowledge gain, and the battle of becoming known in today’s chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out society.
Like most careers, producing music requires a college degree and demands the know-how music today. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics had stated that producers that had a four year bachelor’s degree raises the interest in recording companies by seventy five percent. However, this is no walk in the park because most college producing programs require students to submit a full length recording of their music or a six-month to a year long internship to graduate. With this, any student in training would have to learn the gear-grinding techniques to recording multiple part harmonies, tedious pitch mapping, and moving bass lines as only a small portion of their education! This adds to any and all stresses faced by an average college student. This also includes certain core classes like music theory, music construction, and sound engineering. Similarly, personal experience is another aspect in a producer’s career. For example, Grammy award winning DJ Zedd had been classically trained on the piano by his musically inclined parents at age four and later on drums at age twelve. In addition, Zedd had also been in many rock and metal bands growing up to later start a solo career as the artist he is now. Although Zedd may have had a slight advantage through his background, personal experience greatly benefits and make the difference in the career of a producer. Even with the college advantage and personal experience, producing brings both aspects together to challenge a person in multiple areas.
Furthering the challenge, becoming the “Hollywood new guy” or the “new hip person” is another hurdle for the producer. For example, a producer is known to go on crazed, frantic searches to find gigs or performances to show off his hard-earned skills. However, performances don’t just simply knock on the door, much less send any kind of invitation, forcing the producer to search high and low for anything. This adds to the challenge and grind of a producing career. Because of a need to stay afloat in this churning ocean of a society, one lost gig is a lost opportunity. Although when finally found, this up-and-coming star can now focus on their music career to make their mark on the music industry. Thus, the reason the music or producing industry is said to be “make it or break it” due to the small demand but large supply of producers and gigs.
Making and producing music doesn’t nearly compare to busting through burning buildings, nor dangerous criminals or oil field injury but it does present its own set of challenges. Simply throwing beats and pitches together requires more than what most people would typically think of of a producer. Thus, I believe a producer to be one of the most challenging careers in today’s world.
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