In music, the roles of an Audio Engineer and Music Producer, apart from the contributions of the act themself, overlap and combine to form the whole of an album's sound. Often, successful Audio Engineers move on to become Producers, and many Producers take on the tasks of engineering their own work. Therefore, there is no clearcut distinction between the two roles, but here is a general description.

Audio Engineer

An audio engineer is someone with experience and training in the production and manipulation of sound through mechanical (analog) or digital means.  The audio engineer, sometimes designated as a sound engineer or recording engineer is essential to the recording process, whether it be music, voice over or live sound.

Audio engineers are generally familiar with the design, installation and/or operation of sound recording, sound reinforcement or sound broadcasting equipment.  In the recording studio environment, the audio engineer is the person recording, editing, manipulating, mixing and/or mastering sound by technical means in order to realize the artist's or record producer's creative vision.

While usually associated with music production, an audio engineer may be involved in dealing with sound for a wide range of applications, including post-production for video and film, live sound reinforcement, advertising, multimedia and broadcasting.  When referring to video games, the audio engineer may also be a computer programmer.

Some well know sound engineers include: Eddie Kramer, Phil Ramone, Steve Albini, Roger Nichols, Bill Porter, Al Schmitt, and George Massenburg.

Audio engineers operate mixing consoles, microphones, signal processors, tape machines, digital audio workstations, sequencing software and speaker systems.  Commonly, an audio engineer is responsible for the technical aspects of a sound recording session or other audio production, and works together with a record producer or director, although the engineer's role may also be integrated with that of the producer.

Music Producer

In the music industry , a music producer (or record producer ) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. This has been a major function of producers since the inception of sound recording, but in the later half of the 20th century producers also took on a wider entrepreneurial role.

The music producer could be compared to the film director in that the producer's job is to create, shape and mold a piece of music in accordance with their vision for the album.

Notable past and present independent producers include Jerry Fuller, Todd Rundgren, Don Kirshner, Mickie Most, Tony Visconti, David Briggs, Rick Rubin, Nigel Godrich, RZA, DeVante Swing, Dr. Dre, Norman Whitfield, Timbaland, Jerry Finn, Charlie Peacock, and Jay Orpin.

Realising the potential for creating recordings that could match their musical vision, many successful recording artists have become producers in their own right. Examples are Jimmy Page, Ray Davies, Trent Reznor, John Feldmann, Nile Rodgers, Ken Andrews, Jeff Lynne, Brian Wilson, Brian Eno, and Jack White.