Confused On Titles And Roles

I am new to the music industry and have started creating music(hip hop, r&b,electronic) using DAWs but I don't really understand my part in the whole process or title. Up until a month ago I thought being a producer meant creating everything in a song from scratch(just learned about sampling) from start to beginning and then having an artist sing to it or making a song from an artist idea doing everything to. So I don't really know where the composers, arrangers, orchestrators, producers, engineers, songwriters and any anyone else i don't know about parts start and end. So i don't quite know what I need should call myself and where i need to get my music to where it's at a high point of whatever my titles roles would be. which also makes it hard to know who to hire and what to take credit for. If you could sort this out for me it would go along way into helping focus on a path and to focus on doing that in my music and will also let me know who I need to hire after I've gotten to a certain point with my music.

I want to be able to do all roles but i just need help understanding and knowing when im doing the role one and when i moving to do roles of another and what i need to learn to become at each part.

Composers write the music.  Arrangers take the basic outline of a composition and flesh it out into something (more) interesting.  Orchestrators take a composition and arrange it for a particular ensemble (for band, or orchestra, or for lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and bass guitar, for example).  Songwriters usually are composers that write popular music or music that is meant to be sung (so, most pop, rock, country, and sometimes musical theater).  Lyricists write the words to songs (and are usually more accomplished poets than your basic songwriter).  Recording engineers oversee the recording process in the studio and perform all of the technical work of mixing the parts and creating a decent recording.  Mastering engineers take what the recording engineers do and finalize the product so that it sounds professional and ready for mass production.  The producer is the "boss" over the whole project and oversees the whole thing from beginning to end as well as hiring all professionals needed and giving the final o.k. on every step of the process.  And of course, don't forget that you might need musicians and vocalists (or rappers) to perform the work.

Many times one person can perform multiple jobs.  The composer will often compose, arrange, and orchestrate his own music.  A lot of songwriters will write their own lyrics.  A producer will sometimes compose the song himself/herself or even do everything including composing, arranging, orchestrating, lyric writing, performing, recording, mastering, mass producing, and distributing.  When choosing professionals, first consider budget, then consider the capabilities of each individual that you hire and whether or not they are to your standards or another professional might be required.  Always ask to hear their work (and not just one example of their work but many) and if, for example, you absolutely love the music that a songwriter creates but you are not too crazy about his lyrics, then consider hiring a lyricist too.  If someone gets uppety or offended because you want another professional to do something that they also do, then DON'T HIRE THEM.  This is your project, not theirs, and if they cannot be a professional and perform the job that is required then they do not deserve your business. 

Remember that people who spread their skills too thin are not always as skilled as someone who specializes, although this isn't always the case (lyricists study writing more seriously, so they commonly write better words then a songwriter who practises composition AND lyric writing, though as I said, this isn't always the case).  Remember that you need to budget for the ENTIRE project and need to consider every step of the process BEFORE you begin.  Always overplan your expenses.  There is nothing worse then putting out thousands of dollars to get to the last couple of steps and find that the project cannot be finished because you didn't budget appropriately.

Neophyte

Neophyte

Holy crap this is such a good derogatory word for newbie. Added to my insult knowledge base; I'll start using it all the time now.