This.
As of my understanding...an engineer does something like play the Saxophone or lay down the piano notes, and then the producer puts that and the whole beat together. Please correct me if I'm wrong cause I'm not an expert.
Playing instruments, you're thinking of musicians.
Audio engineering is a part of audio science dealing with the recording and reproduction of sound through mechanical and electronic means. The field draws on many disciplines, including electrical engineering, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and music.
An audio engineer is someone with experience and training in the production and manipulation of sound through mechanical (analog) or digital means. As a professional title, this person is sometimes designated as a sound engineer or recording engineer instead.
We record, figure out the acoustics in the room the artist is recording in, decipher and analyze the acoustic space and respond accordingly in placement of microphones/musicians/etc., in order to get the desired sound out of whatever it is we are recording.
Now this isn't to say that engineers don't play music, most are musically inclined in some way, shape or form. But 'engineer' isn't a term for a beat maker. It's annoying to hear, hence my response. Haha. Borderline insulting, but this isn't really common knowledge, producers, engineers, hell even a lot of musicians, are just thrown into one pot as if they're all synonyms.
So yeah, engineers are not the same as someone who makes a beat. We're nerds who know more about what you hear (and why you hear it that way) than you could even imagine. :smug:
And for producers:
Today, the recording industries have two kinds of producers: executive producer and music producer; they have different roles. While the executive producer has the financial role of the project, the music producer is responsible for the music of an album.
The music producer could, in some cases, be compared to the film director in that the producer's job is to create, shape and mold a piece of music in accordance with their vision for the album.
I only posted this part because a LOT of people confuse everyone labeled as a 'producer' (in the music industry) as someone responsible for the music. When in MANY, MANY instances, it's not the truth at all.
The Producer, has many roles that include, but are not limited to, coaching the musicians, controlling the recording sessions, gathering the ideas of the product, and supervising the final production through mixing and mastering. (while not necessarily doing the mixing and mastering...maybe, maybe not)
I'd say a majority of producers deal solely with the bolded aspects as opposed to the musical side. Maybe not by a whole lot, but from my experience (I could be mistaken, I'm only 22) in the industry, that's more often than not been the case.
Whereas our producer also tracked and mixed our album. Just happened that way. He actually won't be doing a whole lot in terms of overseeing any sort of executive producer (as opposed to a 'music' producer) roles. Just depends on the person/situation.
Hope that rant helped clear up at least a few curious minds on the subject haha.
Sorry for the long post.
