Rick Rubin: In the Studio - Softcover

Brown, Jake

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1550228757 ISBN 13: 9781550228755

Publisher: ECW Press, 2009

Synopsis

There is no greater enigma than Rick Rubin working in record production today. As mysterious personally as the Buddhist religion he practices, Rubin has made one thing crystal clear: the records he produces are sonically and stylistically beyond reproach. MTV has called Rubin the most important producer of the last 20 years,” while Rolling Stone ventured even further, deeming Rubin the most successful of any genre.” Without a niche, Rubin has taken greater risks than any producer in the record industry over the past quarter century. Pushing his artists into new territory has garnered Rubin seven Grammys, including Producer of the Year in 2007, and made him the most in-demand record producer working today. Now for the first time, Rick Rubin: In the Studio offers the behind-the-scenes stories of how Rubin created hit albums with such diverse legends as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Run DMC, Johnny Cash, the Beastie Boys, Audioslave, Tom Petty, Metallica, Danzig, Slayer, LL Cool J, The Cult, Weezer, the Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Jay Z, Neil Diamond, Sheryl Crow, and Slipknot. This book chronicles his meteoric rise, from his early days as DJ Double R in the early ’80s, founding and running Def Jam Records alongside Russell Simmons from an NYU dorm room, discovering and producing the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, to his transition in the early ’90s into a successful independent record executive, signing and producing the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash, to his role as the most influential producer of all time (currently as the co-head of Columbia Records), and his continued successes with rock/metal supergroups Audioslave, Linkin Park, and Metallica. This in-depth look at the life and times of Rick Rubin in the studio and beyond is a must-have for any music fan.

About this title

About the Author

Jake Brown is the owner of Versailles Records and the author of 16 books, including Dr. Dre: In the Studio, Heart: In the Studio, and Suge Knight: The Rise, Fall and Rise of Death Row Records. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

There is no greater an enigma than Rick Rubin working in record production today, but one thing is crystal clear: the records he produces are sonically and stylistically beyond reproach. Rubin has rejected the comfort and complacency of working in a niche, instead taking on artistic collaborations that are truly original and which often lead the artists to their first commercial or critical breakthrough. His career began in hip hop; Rubin co–founded Def Jam Records with Russell Simmons in 1984, producing LL Cool J’s Radio and the seminal 1986 Beastie Boys album Licensed to Ill, not only rap’s first number one album, but also widely credited for launching hip hop as a viable commercial medium. Not only a producer who could launch new groups, Rubin proved early on in his career that he had an ability to breathe new life into old acts, giving Aerosmith a new chapter in their history with &lquo;Walk This Way,&rquo; their Run–DMC collaboration.

Refusing to play it safe, Rubin jumped ship from rap to metal, leaving Def Jam to found his own label, Def American, where he signed and produced groundbreaking acts like Danzig and Slayer. His eclectic taste was nowhere better reflected than in 1987’s Less Than Zero soundtrack. Rubin also proved his mettle as a top A&R man, executive–producing controversial but commercially successful acts like Public Enemy, the Geto Boys, and comedian Andrew Dice Clay. After his work on the hugely successful and critically acclaimed Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Rubin was only seven years into his career and already a living legend for his ability to break a band like the Red Hot Chili Peppers into the mainstream while respecting their musical roots and simultaneously pushing them to new heights. Though he worked with legends like Mick Jagger, AC/DC, and Tom Petty in the early 1990s, it was his recordings with Johnny Cash that still stand out as his most astonishing and studied collaboration. A partnership that began in 1993, it gave Cash renewed credibility and its commercial success allowed Rubin to be selective about who he worked with, choosing diverse artists like Donovan, Rancid, Sheryl Crow, and System of a Down and returning to those he’d produced before, most notably on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication.

By the turn of the century, Rubin had invented, reinvented, or re – defined so many musical genres that there was no way to categorize his style — every producer’s dream. Despite Rubin’s stoic persona, the critics had caught on to the producer’s legacy in the making, with USA Today commenting, &lquo;Rick Rubin may be as impossible to pigeonhole as the starry and swollen catalog of music he has produced,&rquo; Rolling Stone singling him out as &lquo;the most successful producer of any genre,&rquo; and Esquire concluding that there were &lquo;four words we trust: Produced by Rick Rubin.&rquo; But the praise and album sales didn’t shake Rubin’s focus as he dedicated himself to artist after artist. In 2002, the Rubin produced Audioslave debut was released and once again he had helped to launch a new statement in rock ’n’ roll: the supergroup. By 2005, MTV would hail him as &lquo;the most important producer of the last 20 years,&rquo; and Rick Rubin continued to live up to that title, by resurrecting the career of pop–crooning legend Neil Diamond, helping to shape the solo career of Justin Timberlake, and working with the Dixie Chicks on their comeback album, Taking the Long Way. Grammy nominations and awards poured in as 2007 began, including a Producer of the Year win, but Rick Rubin, workaholic and recluse, found himself too busy to attend, hard at work on Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight. Not surprisingly, that album was a massive critical and commercial success upon its release. Rubin had already turned his sights to what some argued would be his greatest challenges yet: producing heavy metal monsters Metallica and taking a new position as head of Columbia Records.

As this generation’s most legendary record man remains focused on the future of a business he has been instrumental in revolutionizing, Rick Rubin: In the Studio looks back at more than two decades of sonic supremacy, offering the stories behind volume one of Rubin’s greatest hits.

About this edition

• Publisher: ECW Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1550228757
• ISBN 13: 9781550228755
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 262