Green Plastic Kisses 绿色塑胶亲嘴

Lately all my friends have been asking, what exactly do you do when you say you're a producer?

Apparently that means many many different things to different people.

To the middle aged guy who grew up listening to old school cantopop - producer is the dude who picked popular Japanese pop songs for the 四大天王s.  He's the ultimate middle man.

To the dance DJS - producer is the guy who actually knows some music theories and makes the records that they spin.

To most of my friends - producer is the guy who sits behind the mixing desk and nods when he approves.  He's that fat dude who needs a haircut badly but curiously gets to chill with the band and sit in the back of the limousine.

To many indie musicians - producer is the same guy who happens to own the studio, sit behind the mixing desk, nod in approval, and tell the mixing desk guy what to do.

To me - producer is the guy who makes conscious decisions.  The guy who really pays attention, who has an independent strategic vision for the project, and who's job, when done properly, leaves nothing in the process to chance.

The producer is more than just the guy who knows something about mixing.  Musicians have a tendency to play what they feel like, play as much as they feel like, and play in ways that they damn well feel like.  The producer provides the opportunity to step away from that self-indulgence, makes concious choices, put things in proper perspectives, and ensure that all is coherent in the end.

Following that logic, a lot of self-produced indie works were therefore NOT even PRODUCED at all. 

Get what I'm saying?