Record Producers You Rate?

he has already been mentioned a few times but Steve Albini was the first name to pop into my head. I just love that metallic, live on the floor sound that he gets. PJ Harvey's Rid of Me is one of my favourite albums and one of the reasons is how raw it sounds. Part of that belongs to Albini. He has his stamp on so many others on my shelf too. Pixies, Gogol Bordello, The Breeders Title TK, his mix of In Utero.....

 

Paul A. Rothschild, producer of the Doors and Janis Joplin

 

I think my new favorite is Vance Powell.
Nick Lowe
Elvis Costello
Giorgio Moroder
Chris Blackwell
Martin Birch
Colin Richardson
Tchad Blake
Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann)
Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley (even though their mid-‘80s productions sound REALLY ‘80s in not a good way)

 

Gary Katz produced some very, very excellent sounding Steely Dan records. So clean.

 

As a good Canadian boy, I gotta pitch Bob Rock in the mix. He's now known more as a metal producer, but I love how the Payola$ albums sounded, not to mention Rock and Hyde's Under the Volcano album. He's produced everyone from Metallica to Michael Buble, plus was an engineer on some great sounding stuff: Prism, Loverboy, Honeymoon Suite, Aerosmith's Permanent Vacation. (A complete list is here: Bob Rock - Wikipedia) .

 

Sex Pistols and Procol Harum, too.

 

My pick is David Bowie. He had a talent for finding the best musicians to do his arranging. Rick Wakeman immediately comes to mind with his incredible playing on Life On Mars.

I don't really know, but I could imagine Bowie showing Wakeman the lyrics and humming the basic melody.

 

Brendan O'Brien fan here. I know he has his detractors, but what a resume he has!

I prefer producers that get the artist's sound down on tape(or disk), and so I'm less enthusiastic about Jeff Lynne, who superimposed an entire sound on most(not all) things he's produced since the 80s.
I still like what he does, though. Prince is another guy who made, well, Prince-sounding tracks.

David Foster thinks that producing a band involves replacing everyone in it with Toto. He makes records that sell, but that part is frustrating.

I love the blustery Broadway sweep of Jim Steinman, too. You can nearly commute all the way to work on one song. Seven and a half minutes of "It's All Coming Back To Me Now"? You betcha.


Dan

 

Bill Szymczyk and Ron and Howard Albert

 

I think I remember reading that Bowie was interested in producing that record but he ended up passing on it.

 

Terry Brown for his work with Rush and Max Webster.

 

His production on "Raw Power" is certainly, er, different.

 

To be fair, maybe cocaine should have gotten a co-production credit on that album.

 

To be fair, he did not produce Raw Power.

 

He probably prefers the fame and unanimous praise he gets for the Bowie albums (even though Lodger has always sounded muddy and badly produced). The Slider is probably the best-sounding album he produced!

 

Not familiar with this song at all. I only really know Bowie up until say the tune about Major Tom being a junkie.

But, still, I don't know the album Heroes outside of the title track. Barely know Diamond Dogs, but I did like it. Mostly enjoy his music up until Aladdin Sane, pin-ups, etc.

Not interested in his '80s comeback.

Thanks for mentioning as I will check it out.

 

It's an album by Iggy & the Stooges. Which Bowie produced in a way that divides opinion to this day!

 

Daniel Lanois

 

Don’t like his Bass playing on Bowie albums either.

 

There are two versions of Raw Power - the Bowie mix and the Iggy mix from the 90s. The Iggy mix is far superior as it fits the raucous feeling of the album way better - Iggy pretty much pushed all of the instruments into the red, leading to a chaotic, loud and heavy sound that probably fits the album's legacy and image a lot better than Bowie's original mix.

Essentially, with Raw Power, Bowie took what's regarded as one of the first punk rock albums and neutered it by burying the bass and drums really low in the mix. It's never sounded great (although it sounds way better on the original vinyl than on subsequent CD pressings).

 

Listening right now.

What an adrenaline rush!!!

 

Again, Bowie did not produce Raw Power.

 

The funny thing is I was always kind of afraid of the Stooges. Iggy Pop freaks the hell out of me. But, alas, I am learning.

Thanks, Dude. You are opening new vistas for me.

p.s. I think I must be listening to non-Bowie version on Spotify right now.

My original point still stands though. Bowie is an incredible producer. Makes sense that Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno RDI would want to collaborate with Mr. Bowie.

I haven't even had a listen at Darkstar yet.

 

Going to throw in Pierre Marchand here. Done some great producer jobs, beside his many other talents.

 

I'll take a shot at ranking some of these. Bad to better...

overrated hacks lauded for the work of others
Sam Phillips (see Jack Clement)
Phil Spector (see Nick Venet)

talented, but have a bad track record
Jimmy Iovine
Bob Ezrin
Richard Perry
Tom Dowd (jazz = good, rock = hard pass)

a big deal in the '80s
Ian Broudie
Martin Rushent / Martin Hannet (interchangeable)
Steve Lillywhite / Hugh Padgham (interchangeable)
John Leckie (if you want something weird)
Stephen Street (hope you like treble)

worst sounding great albums
Shel Talmy (the clock's ticking, boys)
Andrew Loog Oldham (what is "mixing"? will this cost extra?)

a good producer if your band needs fixing, a horrible one if it doesn't
Todd Rundgren

good, but lean heavily toward collaborator rather than producer
Rick Rubin
Brian Eno
Steve Albini (he will deny this to his death)

excellent, but for the one thing (or a few)
Brian Wilson
George Martin
Chas Chandler

solid, consistently good
Ted Templeman (he made Beefheart sound mainstream without messing it up)
Jimmy Miller
Ken Scott
Mike Vernon
Martin Birch
Chris Thomas
Gus Dudgeon
Tony Visconti

"god" level
David Briggs
Bob Johnston
Joe Meek


honorable mention
Mick Ronson