Likes: For Real, though. As much as I like Riot and have tolerated Lolla, there's too much diameter going on.Originally Posted by tony.parente
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Throbbing Member
For Real, though. As much as I like Riot and have tolerated Lolla, there's too much diameter going on.
Active Member
I have hated what Rick Rubin has become for decades now. Basically does nothing on many artists records. After this podcast, I hate him much less.
Flaccid Member
I still hate Rick Rubin as a producer but never had anything againts him as a person
God is an American
He seems like a really chill dude, and that Neil Young & Crazy Horse album he just did last year was pretty great. But I can't remember another new record he's produced that I liked all the way through for ten years or more.
Stubby Member
Why is there hate towards Rick? Does he come across as a bit snobby or hippieish? Is he the type of guy that would walk into the studio and is asked about how the track/song sounds and he says "It's good, but not great. Can you add more emotion to it?".
Active Member
by his own admission he hasn't really produced an album in years
Active Member
I see him as kind of an artist whisperer
Active Member
Yeah, he's often credited with helping artists get back to basics and return to their roots.
Throbbing Member
Many of the albums he produced between 1999 and 2014 are mixed so loud that they clip worse than any other major producer's discography that I'm aware of. He's not an engineer, but it's too consistent for it to not be his decision. It's gotten better over time (no one's mistaking the albums for being defective anymore) but they're still over compressed messes most of the time. He also works almost exclusively with incredibly boring musicians, at least since 2010 or so. That's why I don't like him as a producer.
Stubby Member
His production style is all about trying to get the artist to straddle the line between authenticity and commercialism. Which often doesn't work well if the artist doesn't have a strongly defined vision for the project and doesn't like to get involved with the engineering/production side of things. Then you get underdeveloped songs (often with strong hooks, though) with countless overdubs, that are mangled in a "radio-friendly" mix (i.e. overcompressed and clipped to hell).
Last edited by stankeybearlover; 07-31-2023 at 07:02 AM.
Stubby Member
Yeah, the clipping at the high end drove me to return two discs in the early 2000s because i thought they were defective: SOAD's Mesmerize and Metallica's Death Magnetic. Both produced by Rubin. Metallica since released a proper master for download Death Magnetic that sounds great- and have since not worked with Rubin. Mesmerize has been stuck with that mix ever since.
Active Member
He's a nice guy. but I cant really look at any album of his that think is that amazing in the last 20 years.
When I think of a producer that has an impact on a band, I think of someone like Flood. that dude has a feel.
Throbbing Member
yeah flood is awesome, his work on the last few pj harvey records is stellar, too bad he seems to be less active in the last decade or so
Flaccid Member
I loved hearing a long, honest and relaxed conversation between Trent and Rick. One of, if not the best, interview with Trent I ever heard.
I don't keep track of albums Rick have produced but I love everything he did with Johnny Cash, Wildflowers is my favorite Tom Petty Album. I think what he does best is getting the artist to believe in themselves, their project and follow their inner vision.
I really like the last Neil Young & Crazy Horse album World Record and he also produced one of the contenders for album of the year IMO, Kesha's Gag Order. I had never heard Kesha before but this album blew me away. It hit me similar to the Halsey/NIN collaboration, pop artists going weird with honest and personal albums.
Ricks recent book on creativity, The Creative Act: A Way Of Being was amazing. I will be coming back to that book many times.
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