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52-400: Upon its release as the first single from But Here We Are , the band described it as "the first of 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between". Consequence of Sound stated in a review of the song that "If anything Foo Fighters have never sounded more vital. As they launch into the song's blistering post-chorus, there

104-481: A Grammy nomination, the Recording Academy defines a producer: The person who has overall creative and technical control of the entire recording project, and the individual recording sessions that are part of that project. He or she is present in the recording studio or at the location recording and works directly with the artist and engineer. The producer makes creative and aesthetic decisions that realize both

156-423: A broad project, the creation of a popular music recording may be split across three specialists: the executive producer , who oversees business partnerships and financing; the vocal producer or vocal arranger, who aids vocal performance via expert critique and coaching of vocal technique, and the record producer or music producer, who, often called simply the producer, directs the overall creative process of recording

208-471: A cylinder. By the 1930s, a gramophone etched it laterally across a disc. Constrained in tonal range, whether bass or treble, and in dynamic range , records made a grand, concert piano sound like a small, upright piano, and maximal duration was four and a half minutes. Selections and performance were often altered accordingly, and playing this disc—the wax master—destroyed it. The finality often caused anxiety that restrained performance to prevent error. In

260-407: A leading A&R man of the 1950s. During the decade, A&R executives increasingly directed songs' sonic signatures, although many still simply teamed singers with musicians, while yet others exercised virtually no creative influence. The term record producer in its current meaning—the creative director of song production—appearing in a 1953 issue of Billboard magazine, became widespread in

312-516: A musical element while playing a previously recorded record, Les Paul developed a recording technique called "sound on sound". By this, the final recording could be built piece by piece and tailored, effecting an editing process. In one case, Paul produced a song via 500 recorded discs. But, besides the tedium of this process, it serially degraded the sound quality of previously recorded elements, rerecorded as ambient sound. Yet in 1948, Paul adopted tape recording, enabling true multitrack recording by

364-542: A new technique, " overdubbing ". To enable overdubbing, Paul revised the tape recorder itself by adding a second playback head, and terming it the preview head . Joining the preexisting recording head, erase head, and playback head, the preview head allows the artist to hear the extant recording over headphones playing it in synchrony, "in sync", with the present performance being recorded alone on an isolated track. This isolation of multiple tracks enables countless mixing possibilities. Producers began recording initially only

416-525: A set of recordings in Los Angeles. Later, folklorist Archie Green called this perhaps the earliest printed use of A&R man . Actually, it says neither "A&R man" nor even "A&R", an initialism perhaps coined by Billboard magazine in 1946, and entering wide use in the late 1940s. In the 1920s and 1930s, A&R executives, like Ben Selvin at Columbia Records , Nathaniel Shilkret at Victor Records, and Bob Haring at Brunswick Records became

468-442: A vitality" and described it as "one of their best records ever". In June 2023, Alternative Press published an unranked list of the top 25 albums of the year to date and included this release, calling it "nothing short of miraculous in the sense and sound of mastery and of hope that can be heard from the top track to the very last note". Numerous critics and publications listed But Here We Are in their year-end ranking of

520-427: A way to wrap words around the enormity of his grief as he surrendered to his own impossible circumstances." Clash 's Emma Harrison described it as "Heartbreaking, but hopeful - this is a masterclass...with its heady hooks and exuberant riffs, But Here We Are is ambitious, poignant, and vivid in equal measure." Maura Johnston writing for Rolling Stone said the album "depicts grief in immediate terms" and "possess

572-448: A woman the reins of an immense, creative project like making a record." Ultimately, the reasons are multiple and not fully clear, although prominently proposed factors include types of sexism and scarcity of female role models in the profession. Women producers known for producing records not their own include Sonia Pottinger, Sylvia Robinson and Carla Olson. In January 2018, a research team led by Stacy L. Smith, founder and director of

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624-470: Is an intoxicating power in the band's open-hearted delivery – the same one that has characterized the band's biggest hits, like " Best of You ", " The Pretender ", and " Everlong ". Metal Planet Music stated that "'Rescued' is a full-blooded rocker that contains a fiery defiance, shot through with pain and fragility. Bringing together all we love about Foo Fighters, the guitars rampage, the rhythms drive and Dave Grohl brings one of his most emotional vocals to

676-660: Is more forgiving of overmodulation , whereby dynamic peaks exceed the maximal recordable signal level: tape's limitation, a physical property, is magnetic capacity, which tapers off, smoothing the overmodulated waveform even at a signal nearly 15 decibels too "hot", whereas a digital recording is ruined by harsh distortion of " clipping " at any overshoot. In digital recording, however, a recent advancement, 32-bit float , enables DAWs to undo clipping. Still, some criticize digital instruments and workflows for excess automation, allegedly impairing creative or sonic control. In any case, as production technology has drastically changed, so have

728-475: Is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Foo Fighters , released on June 2, 2023. Produced by Greg Kurstin and the band itself, it is their first studio album since the death of their longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins on March 25, 2022. Frontman Dave Grohl performed and recorded the entirety of the album's drum tracks in Hawkins' absence. Two singles, " Rescued " and " Under You ", were released ahead of

780-441: Is the third collaboration with producer Greg Kurstin , following Medicine at Midnight (2021) and Concrete and Gold (2017). The band described the album's sound as "sonically channeling the naivete of Foo Fighters' 1995 debut album , informed by decades of maturity and depth" while lyrically exploring "a brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters have endured recently [...] 10 songs that run

832-787: The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, based in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism , issued a report, estimating that in the prior several years, about 2% of popular songs' producers were female. Also that month, Billboard magazine queried, "Where are all the female music producers?" Upon the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's second annual report, released in February 2019, its department at USC reported, "2018 saw an outcry from artists, executives and other music industry professionals over

884-484: The Hot Hard Rock Songs chart. All tracks are written by Foo Fighters Foo Fighters Additional musicians Additional personnel Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. Music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically

936-707: The "bed tracks"—the rhythm section , including the bassline , drums, and rhythm guitar—whereas vocals and instrument solos could be added later. A horn section , for example, could record a week later, and a string section another week later. A singer could perform her own backup vocals, or a guitarist could play 15 layers. Across the 1960s, popular music increasingly switched from acoustic instruments, like piano, upright bass , acoustic guitar , and brass instruments , to electronic instruments, like electric guitars , keyboards , and synthesizers , employing instrument amplifiers and speakers. These could mimic acoustic instruments or create utterly new sounds. Soon, by combining

988-457: The 1940s, during World War II, the Germans refined audio recording onto magnetic tape—uncapping recording duration and allowing immediate playback, rerecording, and editing—a technology that premised emergence of record producers in their current roles. Early in the recording industry, a record was attained by simply having all of the artists perform together live in one take. In 1945, by recording

1040-574: The 1950s, on simply improving the record's sonic match to the artists' own live performance. Advances in recording technology, especially the 1940s advent of tape recording —which Les Paul promptly innovated further to develop multitrack recording —and the 1950s rise of electronic instruments, turned record production into a specialty. In popular music, then, producers like George Martin , Phil Spector and Brian Eno led its evolution into its present use of elaborate techniques and unrealistic sounds, creating songs impossible to originate live. After

1092-513: The 1960s. Still, a formal distinction was elusive for some time more. A&R managers might still be creative directors, like William "Mickey" Stevenson , hired by Berry Gordy , at the Motown record label. In 1947, the American market gained audio recording onto magnetic tape. At the record industry's 1880s dawn, rather, recording was done by phonograph , etching the sonic waveform vertically into

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1144-501: The 1980s, production's move from analog to digital further expanded possibilities. By now, DAWs, or digital audio workstations , like Logic Pro , Pro Tools and Studio One , turn an ordinary computer into a production console, whereby a solitary novice can become a skilled producer in a thrifty home studio. In the 2010s, efforts began to increase the prevalence of producers and engineers who are women, heavily outnumbered by men and prominently accoladed only in classical music. As

1196-637: The Kinks produced some of their own songs, although many such songs are officially credited to specialist producers. Yet especially influential was the Beach Boys, whose band leader Brian Wilson took over from his father Murry within a couple of years after the band's commercial breakthrough. By 1964, Wilson had taken Spector's techniques to unseen sophistication. Wilson alone produced all Beach Boys recordings between 1963 and 1967. Using multiple studios and multiple attempts of instrumental and vocal tracks, Wilson selected

1248-517: The album, as well as "Show Me How" and "The Teacher" which were released as promotional singles. Drummer Josh Freese was announced as the band's new drummer for the supporting tour. But Here We Are is dedicated to both Hawkins and Virginia; the latter of whom is Dave Grohl's mother who died in August 2022. As early as mid-2021, Dave Grohl had already been planning for a follow-up album to Medicine at Midnight (2021). Grohl noted that each album

1300-409: The artist's and label's goals in the creation of musical content. Other duties include, but are not limited to: keeping budgets and schedules; adhering to deadlines; hiring musicians, singers, studios, and engineers; overseeing other staffing needs; and editing (Classical projects). The producer often selects and collaborates with a mixing engineer, who focuses on the especially technological aspects of

1352-496: The band records is a response to the prior one, and in response to Medicine at Midnight , he was considering writing "an insane prog-rock record". Grohl had not even started writing said material, as the band was still focusing on touring in support of Medicine at Midnight . Despite this, all plans were abruptly cancelled after longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins , unexpectedly died in March 2022. The band cancelled everything planned for

1404-629: The best albums of 2023. But Here We Are debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart with 44,500 chart units sold after an intense chart battle with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds album Council Skies , giving Foo Fighters their sixth UK number 1 album. The album tops the Billboard Top Alternative Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts, and debuts at number eight on the all-format Billboard 200 chart, moving 62,000 equivalent album units. Concurrently, " Rescued ", topped

1456-469: The best combinations of performance and audio quality, and used tape editing to assemble a composite performance. The 1980s advent of digital processes and formats rapidly replaced analog processes and formats, namely, tape and vinyl. Although recording onto quality tape, at least half an inch wide and traveling 15 inches per second, had limited "tape hiss" to silent sections, digital's higher signal-to-noise ratio , SNR, abolished it. Digital also imparted to

1508-505: The capabilities of tape, multitrack recording, and electronic instruments, producers like Phil Spector , George Martin , and Joe Meek rendered sounds unattainable live. Similarly, in jazz fusion , Teo Macero , producing Miles Davis 's 1970 album Bitches Brew , spliced sections of extensive improvisation sessions. In the 1960s, rock acts like the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , and

1560-456: The emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between." The album was also described as "the first chapter of the band's new life". Lyrically, the album explores Grohl coming to terms with not only Hawkins' death, but also that of his mother, Virginia, who died at an undisclosed-to-the-public time in 2022. "Under You" released as the album's second single, has been described as melodic punk . The album

1612-460: The industry are Logic Pro and Pro Tools. Physical devices involved include the main mixer, MIDI controllers to communicate among equipment, the recording device itself, and perhaps effects gear that is outboard. Yet literal recording is sometimes still analog, onto tape, whereupon the raw recording is converted to a digital signal for processing and editing, as some producers still find audio advantages to recording onto tape. Conventionally, tape

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1664-454: The job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensuring artists deliver acceptable and quality performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating the production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure. However, in classical music recording, for example,

1716-669: The knowledge demands, although DAWs enables novices, even teenagers at home, to learn production independently. Some have attained professional competence before ever working with an artist. Among female record producers, Sylvia Moy was the first at Motown , Gail Davies the first on Nashville's Music Row , and Ethel Gabriel , with RCA , the first at a major record label . Lillian McMurry , owning Trumpet Records , produced influential blues records. Meanwhile, Wilma Cozart Fine produced hundreds of records for Mercury Records ' classical division. For classical production, three women have won Grammy awards, and Judith Sherman 's 2015 win

1768-507: The lack of women in music" and "the plight of women in music", where women were allegedly being "stereotyped, sexualized, and shut out". Also in February 2019, the Recording Academy 's Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion announced an initiative whereby over 200 artists and producers—ranging from Cardi B and Taylor Swift to Maroon 5 and Quincy Jones —agreed to consider at least two women for each producer or engineer position. The academy's website, Grammy.com , announced, "This initiative

1820-465: The lyrics." "Rescued" gave the band their 29th top-ten hit on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart setting a record for the most top-tens on that chart. On May 27, 2023, "Rescued" became the band's eleventh number 1 on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart, making Foo Fighters the band with the fourth most number 1's on the chart behind Red Hot Chili Peppers , Green Day , and Linkin Park . "Rescued"

1872-571: The manufacturing of record discs. After World War II , pioneering A&R managers who transitioned influentially to record production as now understood, while sometimes owning independent labels, include J. Mayo Williams and John Hammond . Upon moving from Columbia Records to Mercury Records , Hammond appointed Mitch Miller to lead Mercury's popular recordings in New York. Miller then produced country-pop crossover hits by Patti Page and by Frankie Laine , moved from Mercury to Columbia, and became

1924-770: The music a perceived "pristine" sound quality, if also a loss of analog recordings' perceived "warm" quality and better-rounded bass. Yet whereas editing tape media requires physically locating the target audio on the ribbon, cutting there, and splicing pieces, editing digital media offers inarguable advantages in ease, efficiency, and possibilities. In the 1990s, digital production reached affordable home computers via production software. By now, recording and mixing are often centralized in DAWs, digital audio workstations —for example, Pro Tools , Logic Pro , Ableton , Cubase , Reason , and FL Studio —for which plugins , by third parties, effect virtual studio technology . DAWs fairly standard in

1976-438: The precursors of record producers, supervising recording and often leading session orchestras. During the 1940s, major record labels increasingly opened official A&R departments, whose roles included supervision of recording. Meanwhile, independent recording studios opened, helping originate record producer as a specialty. But despite a tradition of some A&R men writing music, record production still referred to just

2028-557: The producer may or may not choose all of the artists. If employing only synthesized or sampled instrumentation, the producer may be the sole artist. Conversely, some artists do their own production. Some producers are their own engineers, operating the technology across the project: preproduction, recording, mixing , and mastering . Record producers' precursors were "A&R men", who likewise could blend entrepreneurial, creative, and technical roles, but often exercised scant creative influence, as record production still focused, into

2080-409: The producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. The role is often likened to that of a film director though there are important differences. It is distinct from the role of an executive producer , who is mostly involved in the recording project on an administrative level, and from the audio engineer who operates the recording technology. Varying by project,

2132-463: The recording process, namely, operating the electronic equipment and blending the raw, recorded tracks of the chosen performances, whether vocal or instrumental, into a mix , either stereo or surround sound. Then a mastering engineer further adjusts this recording for distribution on the chosen media. A producer may work on only one or two songs or on an artist's entire album, helping develop the album's overall vision. The record producers may also take on

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2184-489: The rest of the year, largely going quiet and leaving their future uncertain. In December 2022, a statement was released confirming that Foo Fighters would continue, but that they were "going to be a different band going forward". Rumors of a new album arose in February 2023, when radio DJ Chris Moyles on the UK's Radio X casually mentioned a new album to be released in March. Moyles would later apologize for speaking out of turn on

2236-438: The role of executive producer, managing the budget, schedules, contracts, and negotiations. (Artists and Repertoires) In the 1880s, the record industry began by simply having the artist perform at a phonograph . In 1924, the trade journal Talking Machine World , covering the phonography and record industry, reported that Eddie King, Victor Records ' manager of the "New York artist and repertoire department", had planned

2288-449: The song "Nothing at All". Freese made his live concert debut on May 24, where the band debuted the album's title track. Another song, "Show Me How", was released on May 25 and features Grohl harmonizing with his daughter Violet. But Here We Are received critical acclaim from critics. At Metacritic , the album has an average score of 86 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on 22 reviews. Spin described it as "one of

2340-431: The song in its final mix. The producer's roles can include gathering ideas, composing music, choosing session musicians , proposing changes to song arrangements, coaching the performers, controlling sessions, supervising the audio mixing , and, in some cases, supervising the audio mastering . A producer may give creative control to the artists themselves, taking a supervisory or advisory role instead. As to qualifying for

2392-430: The strongest albums of the band's career" and concluded that "if you don't have a big, fat lump in your throat or head-to-toe goosebumps all over your body while listening to But Here We Are , you may not have a pulse." Kerrang! praised the album's emotional content, noting that "It's a miracle not only that it was made, but also that it boasts the mesmeric lyrical and musical qualities it does. Somehow Dave Grohl found

2444-418: The subject, but refused to clarify his comments. The album was later officially announced on April 19, 2023, alongside its official title, But Here We Are . At the time of the album's announcement, a replacement for Hawkins had still not been publicly disclosed. It was later disclosed that Grohl performed the drums on the album, his first drumming credit on a Foo Fighters studio album since 2005. The album

2496-481: The vast majority have been men. Early in the 2010s, asked for insights that she herself had gleaned as a woman who has specialized successfully in the industry, Wendy Page remarked, "The difficulties are usually very short-lived. Once people realize that you can do your job, sexism tends to lower its ugly head." Still, when tasked to explain her profession's sex disparity, Page partly reasoned that record labels, dominated by men, have been, she said, "mistrustful of giving

2548-668: Was also the band's tenth number 1 on Billboard's Rock & Alternative Airplay chart and twelfth number 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with 9.9 million audience impressions . This made Foo Fighters the band with most number 1's on the Rock & Alternative Airplay chart and fifth most number 1's on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. "Rescued" entered the UK Singles midweek chart update at number 96 on June 5, 2023. But Here We Are But Here We Are

2600-653: Was an early female record producer, having produced both of her Ivor Novello award-winning songs. Across the decades, many female artists have produced their own music. For instance, artists Kate Bush , Madonna , Mariah Carey , Janet Jackson , Beyoncé (even that of Destiny's Child and the Carters ), Lana Del Rey , Taylor Swift , and Lorde have produced or coproduced and Ariana Grande who produces and arranges her vocals as well as being an audio engineer. Still among specialists, despite some prominent women, including Missy Elliott in hip hop and Sylvia Massy in rock,

2652-451: Was her fifth. Yet in nonclassical, no woman has won Producer of the Year , awarded since 1975 and only one even nominated for a record not her own, Linda Perry. After Lauren Christy 's 2004 nomination, Linda Perry 's 2019 nomination was the next for a woman. On why no woman had ever won it, Perry commented, "I just don't think there are that many women interested." In the U.K., Lynsey de Paul

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2704-410: Was released on June 2, 2023. The first single, " Rescued ", was released concurrently with the announcement of the album on April 19. A second song, "Under You", was released ahead of the album on May 17. Over 25 live shows in support of the album have been announced across North America and Europe. On May 21, Josh Freese was announced as the band's new drummer, and during the livestream they debuted

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