Recording Engineers: Is The Client Always Right?

If the band or an artist has hired you, it is your job to make them happy. Unhappy customers do not come back. Sure as a producer you are going to come across things that the client will want that you may think is not a good thought. But what do you do?

The best thing for a producer to do is not to tell the client it is wrong but yet not just shut your mouth and turn a blind eye. A producer needs to learn how to steer the clients musical insight in a direction that can benefit both ideals. Having the lines of communication open between artist and producer not only will help steer songs in the right direction but when there is a comfortable feel and the least amount of tension as possible the music can flow freely. And trust me an artist and a producer with two different ideals and both men are stubborn, this will cause tension.



The only way the producer is right is if you are hired by someone else in the chain of command and they give you the right to make the proper changes that you know need to be done. But again, this can still cause tension and a bad studio vibe. In this case if you are given the authority to make these changes you still need to use the same idealism of what I discussed above. A good producer just wants to take the ideals of the artist and try to help them fine tune them.

When the client is taking advice and getting some help, he will still be a lot more of a happier client if he feels like he is still creating the music that he wants. This in turn will make them perform a lot better. When an artist is forced to make music and they do not feel it is part of their creation, then it is like being demoted from a supervisor position back to just being another regular employee, this would not make anyone happy.

As a producer you must remember one very important thing. Your name goes on the back of the CD case in small print. The artist or band's name goes on the front in big letters.