The Top Ingredient of a Great Sounding Band Album - The Producer

Throughout the history of music, from the Beatles to, say, U2, never a chart-topping song took place w/o the wisdom & supervision of a record producer behind the wheels in studio productions.

Granted that the band members are capable of egg-laying well-written stories/lyrics and excitng melodies, still, it is through the trained ears of seasoned producers that aesthetically good sounding songs (or hits!) are wonderfully forged. If you're wondering what magic does a producer contribute to studio album recordings, it's quite close to the task of a film director who breathes life into movie productions where actors are carefully and meticulously weld together to form a narrative obra.

English producer Sir George Martin wouldn't be regarded as the "fifth Beatle" if not for his arrangements, collaborative inputs and innovations that were way ahead of his time. Take for instance his awesome string arrangements for "Eleanor Rigby", the sound textures in the breakthrough album Sgt. Peppers, among others. Studio works that are often esteemed and revisited time and again. Even renowned guitarist Jeff Beck attested, “When we got later the psychedelic stuff, George put all that together. So without George, I don’t know. But of course the [Beatles'] songwriting’s there, the melodies are there, marvelous. But they would be much more crude and raw, I think.”

U2 regarded Steve Lilywhite (who has handled Rolling Stones, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, DMB, Big Country, The Smiths, etc) as that of a "children's TV presenter" during their first album "Boy", as reference to being well-rounded studio teacher - a relationship which stretched up to their third album. Yet the band, who has consistently testified of not being musically adept since day one, would later keep sending him back to their Dublin studio productions each time they would get frustrated concocting true-blue live band sounding concepts. This dependence to their timeless fave producer works till their album "How to dismantle an atomic bomb".

In a book U2 by U2, Bono affirms one invaluable participation of a good producer by saying that sometimes when he hears a song, he can foretell if it's going to make it on the radio or not - even in it's bare form. In their song "Sometimes you can't make it on your own", Edge reveals that in it's progressive writing, there were five producers who were credited in it - Brian Eno, Danny Lanois, Chris Thomas, Jacknife Lee and Flood. Wait. Before you stone me by arguing that, of course, U2 can afford it, they also share that they had, at times, to pay all that they've got. And that's one way they could give real value to their fans.

Pinoy bands, on the other hand, are still having bouts about this proven, time-tested procedure. Unfortunately, most "undiscovered" bands/artists still find it to be an artificial necessity to get a record producer on board, particularly those in the indie community. The "DIY" mentality (which many musicians believe to dramatically yield big savings) is still being embraced more than ever but, more often than not, results in short-sighted, mis-fueled satisfaction. If i may add a little more honesty here, these unquestionably talented musicians may eventually find themselves holding anger at the closed doorsteps of prospective A & R agents, wondering if ears were lent for screening playback. Sooner, after countless listening sessions and careful analysis with concerned, wiser peers; when the ears and mind has already "fermented", only do they realize that they "get what they pay for".