Rick Rubin Producing skills

[IIVI]

Don't need to learn to play an instrument to make great music in 2022. Just need a good ear or the curiosity to experiment:



Now, Nick knows how to play an instrument (guitar) but main thing is dude is musical and many producers have this workflow now where you click in all the notes and it really works just as good as someone who's been playing instruments their entire life.

Making music in 2022 is actually very simple, making good music however is difficult even with all the resources today because nobody wants to experiment. Knowledge of sound design goes a long way, but it's really taking the time to turn extra knobs that people don't want to do. They just want to reuse all the same soundkits and reuse all the same drum patterns modern music uses.

That said, as someone who loves to make beats (avatar and username) I understand the difference between a producer and beatmaker. I've seen it firsthand. Somebody can be both, but a producer will over see the entire process start to finish. Producer isn't just a job in music either, there are producers across all fields. Sometimes they'll be hands on during the creation of the project, but usually it's primarily about carrying out the process from point A to point B. A producer is an actual job title at many companies. A music producer is just a producer, but for music.

I've seen Chopsquad DJ make a really dope beat from scratch only for Mustard to come in and change some small things (I think it was changing some of the drops and some of the drum bounce) that made that beat, which already slapped, go to the next level and sound like it could be a hit. Mustard makes plenty of hit beats from scratch as well, but here he's using his expertise to improve a song, which is part of producing. If Mustard was happy with the beat then I'm sure afterwards dude went and got an artist or two to listen to that beat and if they liked it got the right engineers to record then mix and master the song then made a push to get it into the right hands at the label. Maybe dude got a vision of what the entire music video will be as well and see that that becomes a thing. That's all producing right there - it's their job to see it all the way through to the end, not the beatmaker's.

It's those people that get paid top dollar, not the beatmaker, because they're the ones who actually get it done otherwise we'd have a bunch of music that nobody hears. They're more like a director if anything.

This is pretty much a good breakdown of producing - timestamped at 6:28 and 1:18 respectively.

 

[DaveyDave]

A Conversation With Rick Rubin, Music’s Greatest Vibes Manager

From this article.

He also says this in another article:
My goal would be to be able to produce an artist, and have it be their best work, and never meet them or speak to them,” Rubin explains at one point. “That would be the ultimate version of it. I’ve not gotten there yet. I haven’t reached that level of skill yet.”

Not being able to use Pro Tools isn’t a surprise to me. Ricks glory days were before digital was the standard and I suspect he would leave the actual recording to expert engineers these days. “Can’t” operate a mixing board may stem from that these days too. He’s been a hippie chill out froo froo type guy for at least 30 years now. I would find it extremely hard to believe he wouldn’t know how to use a mixing board especially back in the 80s and 90s. He did DJ for the Beasties at some point and he supposedly programmed the beat for Its Yours although I have heard it was Jazzy Jay

 

[FeverPitch2]

where did you hear that he “cant” use a mixing board?

A very quick google will solve that question. He wouldn’t get so much praise from bands, rappers, And many other industry insiders for this long if he had no talents and didn’t actually do any production. Being a traditional Hip Hop producer is very different to most other genres where you don’t have to necessarily write the lyrics or play any instruments in any given song.

This is Andrew Scheps. Not Rick Rubin. The rest of your post is on point.

 

[DaveyDave]

This is Andrew Scheps. Not Rick Rubin. The rest of your post is on point.

yeah I found that out when I looked a bit more into the pic and where it came from but I did find another pic of Rick Rubin on a board.

 

[FeverPitch2]

Let's take hip-hop out of the equation because the misunderstanding of record production is one of my pet peeves.
This is how it used to work.
-Label signs band, group, or singer.
-Label chooses producer that they think would be the best fit for artist.
-Producer listens to artist, then accepts or declines the assignment.
-Producer decides how the recording budget will be spent. Producer pays everyone involved (except artist and engineers) out of that budget.
-If producer accepts, producer chooses studios, engineers, backing vocalists, and musicians if necessary.
-Producer decides which material to record. Producer chooses from submissions from publishing companies, songwriters, songs the producer may be aware of beforehand, songs the artist wants to record, and songs the artist may have written.
-During recording, producer oversees music arrangement decisions (tempo, song length, solos, breaks, effects used, intros and endings).
-Producer may advise band on instrument and equipment choices.
-During recording, producer guides, critiques, and coaches both instrumental and vocal performances.

Timestamped

Timestamped (the producer is engineering the session also)


-Once recording is done, mixing engineer mixes songs with direction from producer.
-Producer chooses final mixes.
-Producer decides on album sequencing (the order of the tracklisting)
-Producer turns in finished album and master tapes to label.
-Producer turns in all receipts and other documentation related to budget to the label.
-Producer and artist takes notes from label and may go back into the studio to make changes or do additional recording.

 

[FeverPitch2]

Production vs. beatmaking in hip-hop.
The technical definition of beatmaking would be programming and sequencing.
A beatmaker usually programs drums, loops, and one shot samples and brings it all together using a sequencer.
Machines like the SP 1200, Ensoniq ASR-10, Maschine, and the MPC allow beatmakers and producers to sample, program, and sequence on one machine.
Back in the day, producers would hire drum programmers to program drum beats the same way they would hire a drummer to play the drum beat.
They would hire programmers to do fancy tricks with samples as well.
A perfect example of this is I Feel For You by Chaka Khan

I Feel for You - Wikipedia

Khan's version featured a supporting cast including rapping from Melle Mel (of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five); guitar, drum programming, bass guitar, keyboards and arrangement by Reggie Griffin; bass synthesizer and programming by The System's David Frank using an Oberheim DSX sequencer, which was connected to his Minimoog via CV and gate; and chromatic harmonica playing by Stevie Wonder. The song also uses vocal samples from Wonder's song "Fingertips" (1963). The repetition of Khan's name by Melle Mel at the beginning of the song was a mistake made by producer Arif Mardin, who then decided to keep it.

Back in the early days of hip-hop artists making their own beats, a lot of the production duties fell on the engineer. The engineers would make records out of the raw beats and rhymes by giving the songs structure such as intros, endings, and breaks, coaching the rapper's vocal takes, adding effects, etc.

Engineers still do a lot of uncredited production work in hip-hop and R&B to this day.

Eventually, hip hop beatmakers learned how to make records. The best example would be Dr. Dre. Dre impressed people throughout the industry because he was able to do full record productions early on in his career. Marley Marl stood out because of his ability to make records vs. beats with aimless rhyming on top. The turning point in hip-hop production was Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. That album raised the bar as to what was possible with hip-hop and the recording arts. The album made hip-hop beatmakers take their craft way more seriously and pretty much birthed the modern beatmaker.

 

[just my thoughts]

where did you hear that he “cant” use a mixing board?

A very quick google will solve that question. He wouldn’t get so much praise from bands, rappers, And many other industry insiders for this long if he had no talents and didn’t actually do any production. Being a traditional Hip Hop producer is very different to most other genres where you don’t have to necessarily write the lyrics or play any instruments in any given song.

This is hilarious. that is not Rick. That's Andrew Scheps

 

[Double Burger With Cheese]

Rick Rubin, come sign up on the coli and tell us what you actually do. What piece of equipment do you touch? What are you making…physically with your hands? nikka what sound did you create and physically place in the arrangement? Frederick, I don’t need to know what you’ve taken out. I need to know what you have put in. Rick, why would anyone in their right mind say this about your production skills:

In 2010 at the Music Producers Guild (MPG) awards, Matt Bellamy of Muse criticized Rubin while accepting the award for UK single of the year, stating that the band would "like to thank Rick Rubin for teaching us how not to produce."[29]

 

[zayk35]

Says he produced Going back to Cali.for LL. One of my favorite hip hop beats of all time. ...lemme find out he didn't do nothing on it. Which I highly doubt

 

[Formerly known as...]

Rick Rubin, come sign up on the coli and tell us what you actually do. What piece of equipment do you touch? What are you making…physically with your hands? nikka what sound did you create and physically place in the arrangement? Frederick, I don’t need to know what you’ve taken out. I need to know what you have put in. Rick, why would anyone in their right mind say this about your production skills:

In 2010 at the Music Producers Guild (MPG) awards, Matt Bellamy of Muse criticized Rubin while accepting the award for UK single of the year, stating that the band would "like to thank Rick Rubin for teaching us how not to produce."[29]

Imagine producer getting credit for chilling on your sofa and saying 'yo lower that guitar on the bridge' and that's it

 

[Formerly known as...]

Dude is just a muse. Most albums by metallica and chilli peppers for example would still have been dope without Rubin.

I've been reading and some bands have literally said he offered nothing and turned up sometimes just once a week

 

[FeverPitch2]

Imagine producer getting credit for chilling on your sofa and saying 'yo lower that guitar on the bridge' and that's it[/QUOTE]
That's part of what producers do, breh. Hate to break it to you.

 

[Formerly known as...]

Imagine producer getting credit for chilling on your sofa and saying 'yo lower that guitar on the bridge' and that's it

That's part of what producers do, breh. Hate to break it to you.[/QUOTE]

Not all. I've seen Pharrell create a whole album for Justin Timberlake. Literally Justin walked in and added vocals to music created fully by P and Chad.

 

[FeverPitch2]

.

 

[FeverPitch2]

Not all. I've seen Pharrell create a whole album for Justin Timberlake. Literally Justin walked in and added vocals to music created fully P and Chad.

And?