RECORDING PRODUCER: The POLITICS and The MONEY.

There is one more factor in your choice of producer - the POLITICAL factor. Questions you may wish to explore: Can this person get your project heard by the industry? Who does this person know and are they willing to submit (pitch) your project to record labels? What is their track record of getting artists signed?

You may be surprised, but I suggest it's smarter to go with someone who will not promise to submit your project. The truth is, a producer that submits every project they do to the label powers-that-be will have a very poor reputation. This is because not every project is going to fit the business models of the people the producer knows. The wise producer knows to wait until hthe final mix is done before deciding when, where or if to pitch it to their contacts.

There are, of course, producers who do pitch everything they produce. These are major producers with track records of commercial success which they want to keep building. They will only take certain projects on because they know that they are gambling their reputations with the labels on every project they pitch.
If they agree to work with you, their fees and negotiated points will be much more expensive.
Actually, they usually only take on projects already signed with significant record labels.

Bottom line:

Your project could end up being something YOU have to promote and sell or pitch to powers that be. You need to know and be willing to do that before you commit your time, heart, energy and money to a recording project.
A producer may legitimately fully intend to pitch you to his or her contacts.
But if someone promises that if you choose them to produce your project they will make you a big star, run the other way. And don't look back!

I asked one of the prominent producer in Tanzania for his opinion as to what a new artist can typically expect to pay an honest producer who can get a great, possibly radio-ready project done on a limited budget.
His thoughts confirmed my experience:
A common range of producer fee is from $200 to $500 per side (song), according to time in the studio and type of project required (demo or master, backing vocals or not, is there a vocal producer on the team, how long to budget for lead vocals, tuning, mixing, etc).

The producer's fees of course are added to the budget along with the costs of musicians, studio, engineer, pre-production vocal lessons, etc. If you are doing a project for sale, remember to budget for photo shoots, graphics & duplication, etc.