Pick 5 Producers you hate

mods, plz to correct drunken misspellings

Lanois is great.

(although I'm not about to deny he's put out a lot of crap)

As for Eminem, I admit I'm sort of at a loss as to what exactly he's produced. Many of his own songs, and certainly some D12, maybe Obie Trice's "Got Some Teeth"? I'll bet dollars to donuts he's produced at least three or four great tracks.

I'll still give anything with Lanois' name on it a listen, regardless of the artist. He's amazing.

also, i picked jimmy iovine out of my ass as the first name I could think of who represented the bad 80s, but i actually can't think of anything he produced, maybe U2 Red Rocks thingy. Keith Forsey is a much better answer after further review.

yup, i have one of those early lanois-produced raffi LPs. can't remember whether i ever listened to it; i just bought it out of curiosity and because it was a quarter.

Sheer madness! Those are two of my favorites. If you want to throw duds around, try the Scott Weiland album.

If we're talking about crimes against Thompson, i'll nominate Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf, who, along with Jon Brion, have made some lifeless, dry, and over-ornamented records out of otherwise decent material. bleh.

Definitely not crazy about Froom. Also, Dave Fridmann. Also, Steve Albini (if you can call him a "producer").

Of course, "producer" in rap/sample-based music is another matter entirely, and a far more imprtant one. They should call that role something else.

I have a problem picking as much as 5 although I absolutely despise Steve Lillywhite and Rick Rubin.

anyone responsible for waves which look like the above rather than long, jagged stalagmites

Nuuu nuuu nuuu BWAAAA BWAAAAAAH

Jim O'Rourke makes people's records sound absolutely beautiful.

Surely the "worst" producers are the ones who made truly toxic music. Who produced all the Poison albums, for example?

I thought of nominating Albini, since he's been responsible for plenty of records I'd hate much less if somebody else had produced them. On the other hand, he's also produced lotsa records I like. So I didn't mention him, but I hardly see why he should be off-limits.

Surely he should get some credit for Reign in blood alone?

I don't know much of Mitchel Froom's work, but he did produce American Music Club's Mercury, which is one of my all-time favorites.

Other hates that I disagree with:
Steve Albini - Of course he is a real producer: he records albums that have a distinct "Steve Albini" sound. I prefer Steve Albini's versions of Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, and Page and Plant, to other producer's interpretations.

Nigel Godrich - His work with Radiohead and Beck has been consistently excellent.

easy targets, or just deserving ones?

Jeff Lynne X 1,000

albini's more a retro-purist engineer than a full-on producer, right? dude sure gets a great drum sound, esp. cool considering the role of "roland" in big black.

Also want to add: Luther Vandross and Narada Michael Walden.

Part of the hate for Albini is how his productions often (though right, not always) sound so cold and clinical, how they often de-emphasize vocals as if vocals don't matter, how they often turn noisy and quiet at completely random moments, for no reason. He gets awesome guitar sounds, sure. And maybe drums too, sometimes. (And I say this as somebody who's liked recent work he's done with Living Things, Red Swan, Gogol Bordello, Cordelia's Dad, Neurosis, Zao, etc. So I'm conflicted. But he's pissed me off as much as anybody.)

His later productions contain the worst U2 album ever and a crap job on most of the tracks on the first "A Very Special Christmas" album (sure Whitney Houston could have needed a less polished producer, but that indie rock take on "Do You Hear What I Hear" is still nothing like what she would have needed)

Danger Mouse is fucking awful. Just needed to get that out.

OTfuckingM.

Danger Mouse is okay I guess, but I hate the fact that the popularity of "Crazy" will probably mean more Gnarls Barkley records instead of solo Cee-Lo, when Cee-Lo's own production work on those solo LPs is much better than DM's. Nothing I've heard by Danger Mouse is as good as "Microhard" or "Glockapella".

Has anybody done more to shit all over his own legacy than George Martin?

xpost
Tuomas that seems like a dumb reason to hate on Danger Mouse.

I think Kanye's thing, which sounded fresh at first, has become more and more tiring. Another producer I've come to hate is the Neptunes: their drums are usually nice, but everything else sounds so thin and tinny (by design, I guess).

I've really come to hate 95% of what the Neptunes have done since about 2002, when they started using more acoustic drum sounds.

(x-post)

I don't hate Danger Mouse, I just thinl it's sad Cee-Lo needed to join forces with him in order to become really popular, when his both solo LPs are much better than the Gnarls Barkley LP.

The first Cee-Lo record is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. What a fucking mess. I think he's actually a worse producer than DM.

Has anybody done more to shit all over his own legacy than George Martin?

The Beatles, for breaking up and thereby robbing him of any further additions to "his legacy."

Re: Lanois

He produced Emmylou's album Wrecking Ball and wrote a few of the songs, ergo he gets a free pass for life. The guy is great.

he was related to one of the Martha + the Muffins and produced their record Danseparc - that is the only good thing i can say about him

Paul Fox x 5

Pink Floyd's Nick Mason messed up the 2nd Damned album.
Sandy Pearlman messed up the 2nd Clash Album.
Judge's "Chung King Can Suck It LP".
Whoever took all the bass out of "...And Justice For All".

Mirwais

scott burns
scott burns
scott burns
scott burns
scott burns

While Pearlman did hack up "Give 'Em Enough Rope", surely it was just a case of a bad fit.

Also, Steve Albini.

Danger Mouse is fucking awful. Just needed to get that out.

-- The Reverend, Friday, 23 November 2007 17:19 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00009RAW9.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

^^^this is great, no matter how gash DM is these days.

I know I heard something or other from that when it came out, but can't remember what it sounds like.

Timmy's Top 3 are all geniuses.

My hate list:

1. Steve Lillywhite (too much bass, too much "fog", not enough stereo separation)
2. Rick Rubin (Removed the only thing worth enjoying - the synths - from rap, and generally way too "raw")
3. Steve Albini (From partly the same reason as Rick Rubin)
4. Jimmy Lovine (Too much noise - too loud guitars)
5. Owen Morris (For completely ruining the sound of the otherwise damn find Oasis)

lol @ "too raw"!

5. Owen Morris (For completely ruining the sound of the otherwise damn find Oasis)

http://www.cocaine-addiction.ca/images/stockxpertcom_id107631_size1.jpg

Err, it's Jimmy Iovine, G.