How to be a Producer in the Digital Era

by Megan Perry
Billboard Books, 246 pp., $18.95 (paper)

How to Be a Producer in the Digital Era isn’t the book you expect from the title. The Digital Age has democratized recording culture, birthing an explosion of home studios while countless professional spaces have closed their doors. DIY has come of age, and producers have followed suit. Yet instead of tapping this new market, Megan Perry’s dry but thoughtful and well-written book focuses on the time-honored commercial studio system and major label music, until a final chapter on personal and project studios. The commercial studio system carries on, though in an adapted and smaller form, and it still needs producers. If you or someone you know wants to be one, Perry has written this book for you. Despite its Producing for Dummies feel, Digital Era remains thorough and detailed, with topics ranging from artist egos to which microphones to use. Perry takes her subject admirably seriously, setting out not to entertain but to write a practical guide, and succeeds in packing in a ton of information and guidance. Professionals will find little new here, but for aspiring sonic technicians interested in a possible career as a top-shelf music producer, this might be just the book to get them started.

This article appears in December 5 • 2008.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US