Rick Ruben's Skills

[bloodsuga]

Rick Ruben as some major cred. He's made some of my favourite albums and I love the way they sound. However i've read that he has almost no technical skills in engineering or behind the board. Is this true? What exactly does he do and what is everyone here's opinion on him as a producer?

[Gravity8058]

There is a lot more to producing than the technical.
From what I've heard and read his skills include:

Good Listener:

Identifing strong melodies (with regard to vocals as well as instruments)
Know's a good song when he hears it at an early stage
Know's when a song is ready to be recorded

Good judge of talent:

ahead of the curve identifying smart, talented, laid -back (thus long project ready) engineers, players, etc....
Although he certainly is in a unique position to choose from top projects he nontheless chooses interesting artists who, at that moment, HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ( there are of course noteable exceptions)

Vibe Master:

Knows how to put everyone at ease and put the focus on the songs (which involves more than oriental rugs, Lava lamps and a joint)
He loves music and puts himself in a position to be PRESENT when he's working with a band --- by that I mean when he's actually in the room (I have heard that he's not always around very often)

With all of that said, from what I understand, their a few album's he's produced where his involvement was probably better credited as Executive Producer.

Rick Rubin

[Matteran]

is he generally credited as Engineer?

[supaheef]

There was a great article on Rick Rubin in Time Magazine last week, a link is posted in a thread around here somewhere. I'd search it down for you, but I'm lazy.

I got the impression from that article that some of the supposed "ignorance" RR shows towards the engineering aspect may be an act, of sorts. I get the feeling he decided a while back to concentrate (and specialise) on one thing, which is to inspire the artist and get the best from them. His comment about other people in the studio usually having ideas "...at least as good, if not better than, mine.." suggests to me that he's happy to ask for ideas before asserting his own. As an artist and a producer (of sorts, unfortunately I wear both hats far too often) if someone used that apporach on me I'd be pretty stoked!

The world needs a couple more Rick Rubins, maybe one on each continent. We might start to see a little artistry return to both sides of the glass.

heath.

[bloodsuga]

Originally Posted by Matteran

is he generally credited as Engineer?

From what I understand no. But to his credit he always uses the best engineers, I.E. Brendan O'Brian!! I think Rick Ruben is great at finding what talent works where and how it will all come together. I just think his role as a producer is a very interesting one, since he is not usually credited with having any technical skills. Artists seem to trust him a great deal and perhaps the fact that he's not busy working on the tiny technical details, but instead focusing on the big picture is what makes him who he is. He's sort of a GURU, if you put him next to producers like George Martin and Nigel Godrich, who wrote and arranged string parts for major bands, you realize he's stretching the boundaries of what a producer is all about.

[redddog]

The guy is a major talent. There is ONE fact that supports this. In a money grubbing, superficial, scum-bag, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, bottom feeding, no talent, just marketing industry, he differentiates himself on nearly every project he's involved in.

[zkaudio]

dude knows talent... check out "palo alto" now playing as "golden state" he saw the genious in their songwriter... can't say I disagree, if you like Travis/Radioheady/brit rock man... these guys are phenomenal, rick signed them and did their first album, now they're on their own. myspace.com/goldenstatetheband

[mixerguy]

Originally Posted by bloodsuga

Rick Ruben...... What exactly does he do....?

Eat curry.

[MelodyMan]

All i can say is:

Reign in Blood. He MADE the Slayer-sound.