You really have to admire a guy like Rick Rubin. As Jake Brown's new semi-biographical book Rick Rubin: In The Studio makes abundantly clear, the key to his success isn't so much anything about his ability to twiddle the knobs in a recording studio, as it is his ability to render an opinion that his rap and rock star clients have ultimately come to trust, admire, and respect.
As one such client puts it in the book, "He becomes the fifth Beatle." Which essentially means that Rubin is the guy who tells the artist exactly what is working and what isn't.
Rick Rubin's producing style may have as much to do with making sure there are enough pillows to ensure his comfort as it does with any technical expertise. But whatever the case, it works. His platinum successes with a wildly diverse group of artists ranging from the Beastie Boys and Metallica to the Dixie Chicks and Neil Diamond pays solid testimony to that.
In Rick Rubin: In The Studio, Jake Brown traces Rubin's history as a college student and hardcore music fan who started Def Jam Recordings out of his dorm room in the '80s, right up to his present status as the head of Columbia Records. In doing so, several things about the keys to his success become clear.
First and foremost is the fact that Rick Rubin has never lost sight of his inner music fan, and that when it comes to what he likes or doesn't like, he steadfastly sticks to his guns. This sort of fan's eye view toward the artists he produces plays a key factor in how he gains their trust — call it that "fifth Beatle" factor, I guess.
As the book reveals account after account of Rubin's studio experiences with the artists he has produced, it is always augmented by testimonies from the artists themselves. The commonality lies in the way that Rubin essentially becomes as much that fifth member, or friend to the artist, as he does their de facto boss. The other common thread is that Rubin, while always offering his ideas, always listens to the artists themselves first.
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