How big do you think is the role and impact of a producer is on a metal band? Do you care who your favourite bands hire for the production or mixing job on their upcoming album? Do you feel a certain producer could get better results than another? What do you think of bands, after working with a producer and achieving a certain degree of success, deciding to handle the production duties on their own?
I was reading a post by established producer Michael Wagener who has worked with bands as diverse as Skid Row, Metallica, King's X, and White Lion. He was commenting on his work with Extreme and his contribution to their best-selling album, Pornograffiti.
I thought this was an interesting read. A similar point was made by Slipknot with regard to Rick Rubin:
Rubin's response was actually similar to that of Wagener, as attested by other Slipknot members. They said his presence eased up the tension and changed the psychology of the band, giving them the chance to bring out the best in them.
I was reading a post by established producer Michael Wagener who has worked with bands as diverse as Skid Row, Metallica, King's X, and White Lion. He was commenting on his work with Extreme and his contribution to their best-selling album, Pornograffiti.
Anyway, when producing a band, psychology is a big part of getting great results out of musicians. Some are very open minded and you can make suggestions about musical changes or ideas and they will pick it up and make it their own. Others don't want a lot of ouside influences, because they are scared it would take away from their creativity or credit. In those cases, if you want to achieve a certain result, you have to plant a "creative seed" which, in a few days will turn into the result you are looking for, but it still seems like it was all the idea of the musician him/herself. The downside, of course is, that the musician looks at it as if he did ALL the work and the producer "didn't really do anything". The logical next step for those kind of musicians is to produce their next album themselves, their ego telling them they don't need a producer and, like in the above mentioned case, they might fall flat on their face, and come up with an album that doesn't sell anywhere near what the previous one did.
In terms of the record "beeing done before it was recorded" Nuno is probably referring to the writing of it. It is true that on Pornograffitty we didn't need a lot of pre-production, because the material was very good and very well written, but so was the material on "3-sides to every story", which Nuno produced himself and didn't sell a tenth of what Porno did. A couple of the demos actually made the final album (like "When I First Kissed You") and on one song (can't remember which one) we even kept a drumtrack from a demo and built up on that. So the demos were really well done, maybe that's what Nuno was refferring to, but it still was a lot of work (some obvious, some not so obvious to him) to put the record together.
In any case, the combination producer/band turned out a great album, which seemingly couldn't quite be repeated on later records. In this business egos can be wonderful, but they also can be a curse.
In terms of the record "beeing done before it was recorded" Nuno is probably referring to the writing of it. It is true that on Pornograffitty we didn't need a lot of pre-production, because the material was very good and very well written, but so was the material on "3-sides to every story", which Nuno produced himself and didn't sell a tenth of what Porno did. A couple of the demos actually made the final album (like "When I First Kissed You") and on one song (can't remember which one) we even kept a drumtrack from a demo and built up on that. So the demos were really well done, maybe that's what Nuno was refferring to, but it still was a lot of work (some obvious, some not so obvious to him) to put the record together.
In any case, the combination producer/band turned out a great album, which seemingly couldn't quite be repeated on later records. In this business egos can be wonderful, but they also can be a curse.
I thought this was an interesting read. A similar point was made by Slipknot with regard to Rick Rubin:
"There are some people who would love for me to toe the party line, which is basically, 'Working with Rick Rubin was a very enriching experience,'" he said. "Let me give you the fucking truth of it: Rick Rubin showed up for 45 minutes a week. Rick Rubin would then, during that 45 minutes, lay on a couch and have a mic brought in next to [his] face so he wouldn't have to move."
Taylor went on to add:
The Rick Rubin of today is a thin, thin, thin shadow of the Rick Rubin that he was. He is overrated, he is overpaid, and I will never work with him again as long as I live.
Taylor went on to add:
The Rick Rubin of today is a thin, thin, thin shadow of the Rick Rubin that he was. He is overrated, he is overpaid, and I will never work with him again as long as I live.
Rubin's response was actually similar to that of Wagener, as attested by other Slipknot members. They said his presence eased up the tension and changed the psychology of the band, giving them the chance to bring out the best in them.
