| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rick_Rubin_6844.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[ManlyFacialHair Yeah, you know what you're thinking about.]]]] |
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| 4 | Widely considered to be the most influential producer of recent times, at least, Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin (born March 10, 1963) has risen to prominence for his great assessment of talent and his sharp ear for music. He is described by many artists as a positive influence on their music because he enhances, not converts, the artists' styles. |
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| 6 | Ironically, Rubin was not a very popular musician in his early days because he could not play an instrument. He co-founded Creator/DefJamRecordings with Russell Simmons (and [[AutobiographicalRole plays himself]] in ''Film/KrushGroove'', a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory fictionalized retelling]] of Def Jam's founding), however, and produced records for various up-and-coming hip-hop and rap musicians such as Music/LLCoolJ, Music/BeastieBoys, and Music/PublicEnemy. Rubin left Def Jam to eventually create Def American Recordings (The 'def' later dropped when it started appearing in dictionaries), a company that signed many heavy metal acts like Music/{{Slayer}} and AlternativeRock bands like Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain. His big break came when he successfully staged a revival for Music/JohnnyCash with his album ''American Recordings'', and he has since signed a variety of big-label artists and up-and-coming debutantes. |
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| 8 | In addition to his GenreRoulette, [[SignatureStyle he is noted for]] [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth his spare, straightforward recording style]] of directly, clearly recording the musicians he works with and using no audio trickery or effects like reverb[[note]]A stylistic choice that was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] on LL Cool J's ''Radio'' (an album consisting mainly of a drum machine, a sample or two and LL), with the credit "Reduced by Rick Rubin"[[/note]]. He has kind of moved on to a more elaborate style in recent years, which has come to include string sections and the like. He's even tried to expand outside of music, bankrolling "wrasslin" promotion Wrestling/SmokyMountainWrestling in the early to mid 90s. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The albums he produces nowadays are very likely to be [[LoudnessWar squished]], though that may be mostly the fault of his sound executives' inanity. One of the more JustForFun/{{egregious}} examples would be Music/RedHotChiliPeppers's ''Music/{{Californication}}'', an album that received many complaints from listeners because it was run through a dynamic digital processor ''after'' being processed for vinyl- in short, a [[TroubledProduction disaster of epic proportions]]. In addition, bands such as Music/{{Slipknot}} have criticized his hands-off approach to production, and some musicians and engineers have implied that the loudness war tendencies of Rubin's releases are actually his doing. [[note]]Amongst the supporting evidence for this would be that when Music/{{Metallica}} remastered ''Music/DeathMagnetic'' in 2016, their version wasn't nearly as badly clipped as the 2008 version he produced, which became a notorious example of the LoudnessWar; additionally, the 2008 version's mastering engineer, Ted Jensen, said that the mix came to him already clipped, and there was nothing he could do to fix it - indeed, zooming in on the CD waveform suggests that Jensen may have run the album through a high pass filter in an attempt to make the clipping distortion slightly less headache-inducing, meaning that the version sent to him may have been ''even worse''.[[/note]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Nevertheless, he remains a prolific and well-respected producer. Here is just a selection of the diverse array of artists he has worked with: |
| 13 | |
| 14 | * Music/{{ACDC}} (''Bailbreaker'') |
| 15 | * Music/{{Adele}} (''21'') |
| 16 | * Music/{{Aerosmith}} (''O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits'') |
| 17 | * Music/{{Audioslave}} (''Audioslave'', ''Out of Exile'') |
| 18 | * Music/BeastieBoys (''Music/LicensedToIll'') |
| 19 | * Music/BlackSabbath (''13'') |
| 20 | * Music/JohnnyCash (his ''American Recordings'' series) |
| 21 | * Music/VanessaCarlton (''Heroes & Thieves'') |
| 22 | * Music/TheChicks (''Taking the Long Way'') |
| 23 | * Creator/AndrewDiceClay (five of his albums, 1989-1993) |
| 24 | * Music/CoheedAndCambria (''Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow'') |
| 25 | * Music/SherylCrow (''The Globe Sessions'') |
| 26 | * Music/TheCult (''Electric'') |
| 27 | * Music/{{Danzig}} (Their first five albums) |
| 28 | * Music/NeilDiamond (''12 Songs'', ''Home Before Dark'') |
| 29 | * Music/{{Donovan}} (''Sutras'') |
| 30 | * Music/{{Eminem}} (''The Marshall Mathers LP 2'', he's in the video for "Berserk"). |
| 31 | * Music/{{Flipper}} (''American Grafishy'') |
| 32 | * Music/ImagineDragons (''Mercury - Act 1'') |
| 33 | * Music/JohnFrusciante (''Niandra Lades & Usually Just A T-Shirt'') |
| 34 | * Music/GetoBoys (''The Geto Boys'') |
| 35 | * Music/GodDethroned (''The Toxic Touch'') |
| 36 | * Music/GogolBordello (''Trans-Continental Hustle'') |
| 37 | * Music/JoshGroban (''Illuminations'') |
| 38 | * Music/MickJagger (''Wandering Spirit'') |
| 39 | * [[Music/{{JayZ}} Jay-Z]] ("99 Problems" - he's also in the video). |
| 40 | * Music/JoanJett And The Blackhearts (''Flashback'') |
| 41 | * Music/KidRock (''Born Free'') |
| 42 | * Music/LadyGaga (''Artpop'') |
| 43 | * Music/LanaDelRey (''Paradise'') |
| 44 | * Music/LilJon & the East Side Boyz (''Crunk Juice'') |
| 45 | * Music/LimpBizkit: |
| 46 | ** ''Music/ResultsMayVary'' (2003) |
| 47 | * Music/LinkinPark (''Music/MinutesToMidnight'', ''Music/AThousandSuns'', ''Music/LivingThings'', ''Recharged'') |
| 48 | * Music/LLCoolJ (''I Need A Beat'', ''Radio'', ''Jack the Ripper'', ''Walking With a Panther'', ''All World: Greatest Hits'') |
| 49 | * Music/MelanieC (''Northern Star'') |
| 50 | * Music/{{Metallica}} (''Music/DeathMagnetic'', ''Beyond Magnetic'') |
| 51 | * Music/NineInchNails (''Further Down the Spiral'') |
| 52 | * Music/TomPetty And The Heartbreakers (''Greatest Hits'', ''Wildflowers'', ''She's the One'', ''Echo'') |
| 53 | * Music/{{Poison}} (''Poison'd!'') |
| 54 | * Music/PublicEnemy ("Yo! Bum Rush The Show", "Music/ItTakesANationOfMillionsToHoldUsBack") |
| 55 | * Music/RageAgainstTheMachine (''Renegades'') |
| 56 | * Music/RedHotChiliPeppers (from 1990-2011: produced six albums for them, including ''Music/BloodSugarSexMagik'', ''Music/{{Californication}}'', ''Music/ByTheWay'', and ''Music/StadiumArcadium'') |
| 57 | * Music/DamienRice (''My Favourite Faded Fantasy'') |
| 58 | * Music/RunDMC (''Music/RaisingHell'') |
| 59 | * Music/{{Shakira}} (Both ''Oral Fixation'' albums) |
| 60 | * Music/EdSheeran (''X'') |
| 61 | * Music/SirMixALot (''Mack Daddy'', ''Chief Boot Knocka'', ''Return of the Bumpasaurus'') |
| 62 | * Music/{{Slayer}} (all their albums from ''Reign in Blood'' through ''World Painted Blood'') |
| 63 | * Music/{{Slipknot}} (''Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses'') |
| 64 | * Music/TheSmashingPumpkins (''Music/{{Adore}}'' version of "Let Me Give The World To You" and their album ''Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun'') |
| 65 | * Music/SystemOfADown (all their albums, including ''Music/{{Toxicity}}'' and ''Music/MezmerizeHypnotize'') |
| 66 | * Music/JustinTimberlake (''[=FutureSex/LoveSounds=]'') |
| 67 | * Music/{{U2}} (''U218 Singles'') |
| 68 | * Music/{{Weezer}} (''Make Believe'', ''The Red Album'', ''Raditude'') |
| 69 | * Music/KanyeWest (additional production on ''Yeezus'') |
| 70 | * Music/{{ZZTop}} (''La Futura'') |
| 71 | |
| 72 | ---- |
| 73 | -->"[[ThrowItIn You're crazy for this one, Rick!]] [[Music/{{JayZ}} It's your boy!]]" |
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