Audio Engineer – An audio engineer works on the production of movies, music recording, live shows and video games. They record, synchronise and mix music. Some skills they need are problem solving skills as a lot of things could go wrong as there are a lot of jobs to do so they need to fix a lot of things. They have a lot of different things to do in their sector so they need to monitor a lot of different things at once. Their salary can go from $20,000 to $90,000 but it is normally around $40,000. A famous audio engineer is Ken Scott, he worked with artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Elton John. He mostly worked for a company called Trident and worked with people such as David Bowie. He received many awards for his work such as Grammys on the Elton John album Honky Chateau.
Producer – A music producer is someone who is in charge of the song. They will make it sound they way they think it will be the best song that it can be. They also hire the other people that work on the song such as the audio engineer. The average salary for a producer in the UK is £24,000 but can go drastically up if you are more well known for your work. The skills you need for being a producer is a good understanding of music theory and good organisation. A famous producer is Dr Dre, he is mainly known as a rapper however his work on producing is the most impressive. He produces or co-produces his own music, and has worked with some artists such as Eminem, 50 cent and 2pac. He has won a Grammy for non classical producer of the year.
Musician for hire – A musician for hire is someone or a band that will do gigs such as pubs and weddings. They will get paid per hour for their work. They get paid on average £25,000 a year but can go up or down depending on if it is a full time or part time job, and what kind of gigs they are at. The skills they need are being generally good at the instrument or what they’re playing and have a good stage presence. A famous musician for hire is Pino Palladino. He worked with artists such as The Who and Nine Inch Nails. The good thing about being a musician for hire is that they can try out many different genres of music, as he worked with a variety of different artists he will have a wide range of experience with different artists. James Jamerson is also a famous musician for hire and he worked for Motown for most of his career, he is listed as the most influential and best bass player of all time.
Tour manager – A tour manager is someone that makes sure a tour runs smoothly and everything goes right. They also make sure the finances are in place. If the tour is for a small artist then the job is normally done by 1 person and they also will have other jobs. However the difference between the small managers and the big tour managers is massive, they normally have a group of managers and it will be a lot more hectic. The salary for being a tour manager varies on each tour, so there is no set salary it just depends on the work they are doing. The things that a tour manager needs o do is make sure that everyone is where they should be and at the right time, manage the finances of the tour and dealing with all the promoters and venues and all these kinds of people. A famous tour manager is Sam Cutler, he was the manager for The Rolling stones, the Grateful Dead and many other bands, this shows that as a tour manager you work with many different bands and types of band which shows you get a lot of experience being a tour manager.
Publicist – A publisher is someone that is responsible for making sure that the artists are compensated for the songs they release. They make their money from royalties, so their salary depends on the artist and the project they are working on. The skills they need is to have good knowledge of finances and copyright laws, and have good negotiation skills. As it is a company that works on music publishing, there are three main publishers, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.