Music Production Career: Salary, Training, Requirements

Whenever young people are surveyed about what their ideal career would be inevitably a large amount respond by saying "anything with music." Music permeates our lives. And this is why more and more people are looking into the career of music production. But how does one get started in the industry and can you really make a living and career out of music production?

Requirements to be a Music Producer

The basic and most crucial requirement to being a music producer is that you love all types of music. This also means that you spend a significant amount of time listening to all types of music - pop, jazz, rock, country, rap and so on. Being a music producer also requires that you be able to work well with people, specifically, musical artists. This means being able to understand and communicate in musical terminology.

Training

Training to become a music producer can be both formal and informal. However, it is a good idea to get as much of both as you can. Informal training comes from doing things like playing in a band, going to clubs and listening to bands, recording every chance you get. This includes offering to record bands for free. Informal training will help you become familiar with the people in the industry, the pressure they face from fans, living on the road, making money and dealing with the different artist personalities.

Formal training is exactly what you expect it to be. It is formal training in an accredited school. This type of training will help you better understand sound and how it functions. It will teach you musical theory, scales, note patterns and introduce you to new software and technology for mixing and producing sound. Also, formal education is the best way you can increase your value as an employee and subsequently increase your salary as well.

Salary

As Meghan Gohil, owner of Hollywood Recording Studio, says "The job salary for a music producer is peanuts to caviar." This means that there is a wide range of pay in the music production business. Producers make anywhere from $20,000 to over $1 million a year. However, on average you can expect to make about $40,000. The main determinants in salary are experience (informal education) and education (the formal type) and the more of both you have the more you will make.

Sources:

Gohil, Meghan, Music Producer Salary, Salary Stories, Payscale.com

Salary Snapshot for Engineer, Music Recording Jobs, Payscale.com