Favorite Producer(s) and Why

nopenopenope · Post by **nopenopenope** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 12:12 am

Do you really have any favorite producers? Who and why? Any specific works you care to cite by them?

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:42 am

I love Mitchell Froom's stuff, particularly in the mid 90s when he was working with Tchad Blake. Suzanne Vega's Nine Objects Of Desire and Los Lobos' Colossal Head are two standouts for me.

I also think Andy Wallace's work as a producer is AMAZING. It's unfortunate that the people he works with keep dying, but the few that he's done are great records.

I still think Brain Paulson did a great job on Son Volt's Trace. It's one of the best "band playing as a band" records I've ever heard.

How can you not put Jimmy Page in this category?

Lee Townsend is also a bad mofo. Probably the best jazz producer in YEARS. Consistently good stuff that continues in the lineage without trying to ape the sound of Rudy Van Gelder and Teo Macero.

I can't not be a Don Dixon fan. Don's records are always a little quirky and he does really great things for up-and-coming artists. The Nirvana record would have been really different and really interesting.

Todd Rundgren is another one. Always great performances and arrangement ideas on the stuff he produces. XTC's Skylarking is a fantastic piece of art.

I think Don Gehmen has doen some really interesting things for some of the artists with whom he's worked. I love what he did for REM and Tracy Chapman's New Beginnings is entirely what a great album is.

Joni Mitchell was also an astounding producer, although she always took a bunch of great stuff from the brilliant boyfriend/husbands she had.

I've pretty much always liked Steve Lillywhite, too.

I've just recently discovered Terry Knight. Wow.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:29 am

cgarges wrote:I still think Brain Paulson did a great job on Son Volt's Trace. It's one of the best "band playing as a band" records I've ever heard.

Totally agree - great record.
I like Brendan O'Brien's work on a number of records - RATM, Pearl Jam, STP. Good old fashioned big rock records.
George Martin did some cool stuff with some band from England a while back.

Recycled_Brains · Post by **Recycled_Brains** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:57 am

i'm a huge fan of Terry Date. mainly his work on Pantera's "Far Beyond Driven" and "The Great Southern Trendkill", Deftones "White Pony" and self titled, and White Zombie's "Astrocreep 2000".... i really don't think anyone can touch him when it comes to heavy music. everything just sounds so f*cking massive on his records. dense, but still spacious. he really has a knack for balancing subtlety and sheer brutatlity in his mixes. "Far Beyond Driven" is probably the heaviest sounding record ever recorded.

numberthirty · Post by **numberthirty** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:07 pm

mjau wrote:
cgarges wrote:I still think Brain Paulson did a great job on Son Volt's Trace. It's one of the best "band playing as a band" records I've ever heard.
Totally agree - great record.
I like Brendan O'Brien's work on a number of records - RATM, Pearl Jam, STP. Good old fashioned big rock records.
George Martin did some cool stuff with some band from England a while back.

It seems like Brian Paulson may also have produced the last Uncle Tupelo record as well as Wilco's first record. I always thought that was a pretty impressive run. If you're a fan of Brendan O'Brien's work, I'd suggest Dan Baird's Love Songs for the Hearing Impared. Brendan produced it as well as playing lots of guitar on that record. It's one of my favorite straight up rock records of all time.

Wilkesin · Post by **Wilkesin** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:51 pm

cgarges wrote:
The Nirvana record would have been really different and really interesting.

hmmh...to what are you referring?

Justin Foley · Post by **Justin Foley** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:28 pm

numberthirty wrote:
mjau wrote:
cgarges wrote:I still think Brain Paulson did a great job on Son Volt's Trace. It's one of the best "band playing as a band" records I've ever heard.
Totally agree - great record.
I like Brendan O'Brien's work on a number of records - RATM, Pearl Jam, STP. Good old fashioned big rock records.
George Martin did some cool stuff with some band from England a while back.
It seems like Brian Paulson may also have produced the last Uncle Tupelo record as well as Wilco's first record. I always thought that was a pretty impressive run. If you're a fan of Brendan O'Brien's work, I'd suggest Dan Baird's Love Songs for the Hearing Impared. Brendan produced it as well as playing lots of guitar on that record. It's one of my favorite straight up rock records of all time.

Paulson also did an amazing job on the last two Bastro records. "Diablo Guapo" is very dense and powerful, and he let the band breathe (which is where they were at) a little more with "Sing the Troubled Beast".

His masterpiece, though (and maybe the masterpiece) is "Spiderland". The recording is astounding.

= Justin

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:50 am

T-Bone Burnett. Specifically, I love the production on the Sam Phillips albums.

effector · Post by **effector** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:24 am

George Martin did some cool stuff with some band from England a while back.

you mean ultravox? i liked them better with conny plank

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:26 pm

numberthirty wrote:I always thought that was a pretty impressive run.

He's also got a gold and a platinum record for the work he did on Beck's Odelay. Not shabby, either.

Wilkesin wrote:hmmh...to what are you referring?

Dixon was in negotiations to produce Nevermind. Butch was going to engineer it, Dixon was going to produce. Basically, they didn't want to pay Dixon what he asked, so they just had Butch produce it instead.

Back on topic, I can't believe I forgot Brendan O'Brien! And Daniel Lanois, too. Man, he's such a badass.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:32 pm

Already mentioned:

Mitchell Froom--he brings a quite unique perspective and makes very interesting very musical records. I've been on a Richard Thompson "Rumor and Sigh" kick, but there are plenty of other great records he's made. Colossal Head by los Lobos, the Mia Doi Todd record, Suzanne Vega, Tracy Bonham's second record, plus his solo records.

Brendon O'Brien makes great records that really sound like a band.

Jimmy Page c'mon How great are those records?

Not yet mentioned:

Jimmy Miller--He'd do anything to get a performance, and some of the greatest recorded "Lightning in a bottle" moments are on Jimmy Miller produced records. Its is my belief that "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is the best production ever!

Roy Thomas Baker--Over the top and Awesome! I saw Joe Chiccarrelli last week and he was telling me about working with RTB. He said that there were no rules. Joe said "If he liked the sound of a limiter he'd ask 'do you have another one of those? Plug it in after that one.'" Have you all heard the Queen multitracks that are floating around? The shit is sick.

swelle · Post by **swelle** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:43 am

Lee Perry! He makes it sound so relaxed and off-the-cuff, and really showed what you can do with a paucity of gear. Doesn't sound like they screwed around too much.

Joe Boyd - Natural, present, no real 'sound...' great with acoustic instruments.

Shadow Morton -- dense, claustrophobic, dramatic and fun.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:29 pm

Not mentioned above:

Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (especially the Bottlerockets stuff)
Bob Rock (for that big rock sound; he even made me like Metallica)
Stephen Bruton (Alejandro Escovedo)
Jack Douglas (recent NY Dolls, old Aerosmith)
Jim Dickinson ('Placemats, Hiatt, Stones)
J. Mascis (Dino, Jr., etc.)
William Wittman (Joan Osborne, a reference recording for me)
S. Earle/Twang Trust (love those Earle records, esp. the acoustic guitars)
Ethan Johns (especially the Kings of Leon and Ryan Adams stuff)
David Barbe (esp. the Drive-By Truckers records)

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:00 am

cgarges wrote:Dixon was in negotiations to produce Nevermind. Butch was going to engineer it, Dixon was going to produce. Basically, they didn't want to pay Dixon what he asked, so they just had Butch produce it instead.

There is a long-standing rumor that Bob Mould was also in the running to produce Nirvana. Now, that would be a claustrophobic record....

Agreed on the Mitchell Froom <--> Brian Paulson spectrum. Also, it takes a genius like Brian Eno to make U2 palatable.

swelle · Post by **swelle** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:12 am

I'd be interested to hear folk's opinions of the post-Spot Husker Du productions. At the time I thought they were dazzling, but I wonder how the old Sony digital tape machines would sound to my ears today. I remember years ago, Kevin Army told me that everything post-Spot sounded like ass, and I vigorously defended Warehouse and the one before it... now it seems he's right, New Day Rising was probably the best.

The Mould-produced Soul Asylum album was good, though... he had a distinct drum sound, that's for sure.

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