From the music you hear, a complex song-making process is hidden. There are a series of stages that must be passed, starting from idea generation to promotion. Of course, this is not just the responsibility of vocalists and instrumentalists, but there are also roles of other creative hands who help the process behind the scenes.
Vocalists as the main face of music are required to provide uniqueness to a work. From unique vocal characters to singing abilities, everything is assessed by listeners.
So, what about other creative roles? Generally, behind the production of a song, the following roles have an important role.
The scope of the composer's role can be said to be quite broad in the production of a song. They are tasked with writing and arranging music using standard notation that musicians can understand. Composers are also required to consider the unique components of a song. In short, they not only create songs, but also organize how these songs can be conveyed well.
So, in creating your own songs, a composer goes through a process of searching for ideas which is quite crucial. Personal experiences, exploration of various musical genres, dreams, and admiration for certain figures can be their inspiration in creating songs.
The choice of diction should not be ruled out either. Although sometimes the role of the songwriter is who usually writes the song lyrics, the composer can also be involved in this process. Languages that are narrative, descriptive and feature visuals are often the choice. Because, this type of language is what makes a song easy to understand.
Music producers play a role from the beginning of creation until a song is promoted. They do a lot of detailed work in order to create an environment that allows artists to be creative and express themselves. These matters include selecting songs, arranging and mixing, and ensuring the engineer records songs with the best quality. From this task, a music producer is not only required to be creative and innovative, but also have as much musical ability as possible, such as the three basic musical instruments, namely guitar, bass, and piano or keyboard.
Apart from song creation, music producers are also responsible for managerial matters, such as managing budgeting and marketing. Therefore, they are expected to be versatile and continue to be updated with developments in the world of music.
In contrast to the previous two roles, sound engineers hold more technical duties. They are the ones who operate the soundboard and other recording equipment during recording sessions. Sound engineers know exactly how to create and manipulate sound to produce a final product that meets the producer's and artist's wishes. They do this by using a mixer to balance audio levels, ensuring the final recording is free from other sounds or noise, and so on.
So, being a sound engineer requires having in-depth knowledge about the recording room. They are the ones who best know the ins and outs of a recording studio from setup to operation.
To produce a singer's vocal quality, the presence of a vocal trainer is also needed in a song production. They will help the vocalist practice to improve various aspects, such as range, breathing, articulation, and resonance.
Apart from that, vocal trainers also teach more specific singing techniques, such as how to produce screams and growls for rock vocalists, or crooning techniques for jazz singers.
To add aesthetics, sometimes the presence of background singers is needed in a song production. The number depends on needs, it can be one, two or group background singers. They will provide backing harmonies and vocals to complement the melody line performed by the lead singer
The presence of a screen singer is actually only to support the main singer, not to compete with him. Therefore, it is important for them to balance the volume. This means that the vocals produced should not be too loud or too soft.
Finally, there is the role of public relations or public relations that cannot be missed. Their role is very important in determining the success or failure of a song.
From the promotional side, the public relations team will organize publications for musicians' needs, such as photos, teasers, content on websites and social media, and also collaborate with media, such as TV, radio, as well as online publications. After that, the public relations team will also arrange the promotional schedule for the song or album that has just been released.
It is important to underline that the role of public relations is not just about building or developing relationships. But they are also required to be able to sell the story of a song and manage the reputation of a musician or group of musicians.
These are the various important roles behind the production of a song that you need to know. With the principle that "every song has its own ears", sometimes the process that one genre goes through will be different from another. However, in general this will not change the various roles required as explained above.