Music Producers with Alexander Lübbe & Max Ivory - Podcast #1

Our guests on the mukken Podcast are the two music producers Alexander Lübbe and Maximilian Beck, also known as Max Ivory, from Hamburg. We met in the Pirate Podcast Studios in Hamburg to learn more about the career and the profession of the two and to give you important tips and insights about the profession of music producers.

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You can see which topics we talked about here in this post. You can listen to the podcast episode itself in the mukken app or on all major streaming platforms.

Topic overview

1. Q&A session
2. Career: How did you come to what you're doing now?
3. How important is it to specialize as a music producer?
4. How do the professional groups (producer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer, etc.) differ?
5. More information about mix & mastering
6. Is more mastering done externally or all from one source?
7. Customer acquisition: How does a music producer get customers?
8. How important is social media as a music producer?
9. What is the most important channel for customer acquisition?
10. What else does a music producer have to do besides producing music?
11. How important is a studio's space, location and size?
12. What would you do better or differently if you look back 5 years?

Question and answer session about the role of a music producer

In line with the format title of this podcast, Leif asks the two guests short questions to which they will respond briefly and spontaneously. You can hear the answers at the timestamp 1:08 in the episode.

• Festival or club concert?
• Humbucker or single coil?
• Analog or digital?
• Logic or ProTools?
• Gibson or Fender?
• Bass guitar or 808?
• Best EQ plugin?
• What are three things you can't live without in the recording studio?

Highlights & Learnings from the episode

Here is a short summary of the most important tips & learnings from this episode about being a music producer.

1. As a music producer it is important to specialize, i.e. to focus on one genre. Clients want a genre-specific producer. A clear value proposition as a music producer is an advantage. Sound issues are very important, as well as genre-specific work.
2. Make clear in advance what role you can play as a music producer if you also offer mixing & mastering services.
3. Mixing & mastering from one source are welcome, this has advantages and saves money, but often differs by genre and by artist level. The artist is also often not quite clear where the differences are and who is responsible for which role, therefore requiring a clear announcement in advance.
4. In techno and house in collaboration with labels, it is common for in-house mix & mastering engineers to go over it again or do the work themselves to create a certain sound uniformity in their label.
5. Social media platforms—especially Instagram—are one of the most important acquisition channels. Websites of bands and artists are also suitable to build email lists and reach potential customers. Keyword “cold-outreach.”
6. Activity in the form of user-generated content on social media channels builds trust and shows important insights into studio work. However, winning someone over as a customer takes a little longer these days.
7. An inviting, well-maintained social media presence is essential. Give prospective clients a direct insight into your work to generate curiosity and interest.
8. The size of the studio space is no longer so important. A lot can happen digitally and can be recorded directly in the control room. “You don't need an ultra-fat studio” - Max Ivory.
9. “It's more important to find a suitable producer than a suitable studio.” - Alex Lübbe
10. Keep working and keep at it. You'll grow with time and with each job, both in terms of your skills, your reach, and your client base.

If you enjoyed the episode, feel free to write us your feedback and subscribe to us on Spotify to get notified about new episode. If you have suggestions, ideas or would like to be a guest yourself, please apply at redaktion@mukken.com

For other exciting topics around the topic of music production, we have the following posts for you.