Who is the worst producer ever / your least favourite/most hated producer ever?

The Mizell brothers. I have nothing against smooth fusion jazz in general, but their type of fusion was simply overproduced (too many elements, too smooth).

Lanois
Stephen Street

Youth.

Eminem

Billy Sherrill, Rick Zito, Ron Nevison, and Mitchell Froom are up there.

Stephen Hague

I almost wrote Hague, but I love his Pet Shop Boys and Pere Ubu work, plus "True Faith."

he does OK with bands that are already poppy to begin with, but tends to neuter the rest (One Dove, PIL, New Order, "True Faith" excepted)...did a good job with "Madame Butterfly" for McLaren, though...probably I shouldn't say he's my most-hated producer, just the first name to pop into my mind...

Polow Da Don

steve albini

^ actually that's trollbait for someone to post a spluttering "but he's an engineer not a producer!"

lanois

ALBINI'S NOT A PRODUCER, DICKWEED

he's a engineeeeer

Spot

Terry Date. He must be in league with analgesic manufacturers, because his productions usually give me a blinding headache.

James Ford.

ha

Colin Thurston sucked pretty bad.

lanois

maybe paul fox too?

People will think I'm crazy but, by and large, I really, really dislike Shep Pettibone.

Laurie Latham, the reason why there are so many copies of No Parlez! on the junk shop market...

The great gift you get with Lanois is the pontificating about his various productions -- which is pretty awesome, given that every one of them seems to involve him recording Vox amps through a Leslie speaker in a broken down theater or some shit.

always hated the way Hugh Jones unnecessarily smoothed out the rough edges of the bands he produced (Echo & the Bunnymen, Pale Saints, Kitchens of Distinction, Ultra Vivid Scene, James, etc.)...

maybe paul fox too?

^^^^^ Seconding, thirding, and fourthing this.

Pretty much everyone OTM so far.

he's a engineeeeer

http://www.ca1965.com/ca1965/pics/engineer-calgary-450.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_l-89EFJdW3A/RyyDsL15w-I/AAAAAAAACi4/z8vPG-kR0VU/DSC_1981-1.JPG

http://www.comicbookresources.com/images/previews/asp/engineer/Picture-1.jpg

Pretty much everyone OTM so far.

-- Raw Patrick, Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:08 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

first answer in this thread is bullshit, sorry tuomas

Puffy

can't think of anyone

general disdain right now for anyone who makes a track that's 90% 808 hits tho. NO MORE 808 AFTER 08.08.08.

Puffy

omg yes

Diddy's done as much good as bad in the end

plus his producing >>>>>>> his vocals

hating on someone like Puffy for their lack of hands-on production or creativity outside of sampling/juxtaposition is kind of too easy an answer, though. otherwise I would've listed Diplo in this thread as soon as I saw it.

Dom otm

Puffy has been involved in a lot of good music.

Craig Mack, 'frinstance...

steve albini (actually that's trollbait for someone to post a spluttering "but he's an engineer not a producer!")

as long as it's not trollbait for someone to post that you're fifteen types of RONG

(I'm not a troll :p)

glen ballard

i don't like albini ideologically but some of his ahem recordings are totally stunning

I can't think of a single thing Puffy's done that I've liked, with the possible exception of Flava in Yr Ear which is okay I guess. Hardly a song that I marvel at for its production.

I admit that Puffy's utterly loathsome public persona also plays a factor in my nomination tho

Most everything off Ready To Die! And the great, unheralded Aretha track "Here We Go Again."

What's not to like about Albini ideologically?

hating on someone like Puffy for their lack of hands-on production or creativity outside of sampling/juxtaposition is kind of too easy an answer, though.

that's not it though, there are plenty of innovative hip-hop producers. it's cuz this is funny for a reason:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/32563

in all fairness I'm probably holding the earlier part of his career against him, and the reverend will be reading me the riot act shortly for my sins

jesus Shakey READY TO DIE?!?!?!?

(xpost but bears repeating)

I don't hate any producers really, but I'm disappointed when a band I like goes with T Bone Burnett. For instance, How Will The Wolf Survive should pop, but it just sounds flat (Jimmy Miller would have been great instead). I guess he was going for AOR money but that record had way more teeth than Burnett gave it. And I should have been a sucker for Raising Sand but I just find it dull; would have loved to have heard Steve Earle's production, say.

I never got into Ready to Die cuz I hated the singles so much

you just said "that's not it though," and then confirmed that your problem with Puffy is the exact same thing that I said. I just wanted to point that out.

(xpost)

The Matrix

Ross what's his nuts the nu-metal dude

The Matrix

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 14 August 2008 19:39 (20 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Feeling this, these guys have maybe the worst major label discography of any production team. Hillary Duff and Shakira's worst output, all of the early "Alanis on a skateboard" Avril hits, that Liz Phair album Pitchfork got butthurt over, fucking Son of Dork, and some stuff for KoRn. Dreadful.

I'm with Goole: Glen Ballard. Jagged Little Pill and Love, Shelby being exhibits A and B.

Crazy talk. Ballard is the male Linda Perry, and Shelby's "Mother" cover is arguably the finest track she's ever cut.

linda perry

pshhh their early Avril singles were at least way better than later Avril shit, or for that matter most of the other "teenpop" svengalis in recent memory. (xpost)

Most teenpop production outfits (Xenomania, John Shanks) at least have a great period before their schtick becomes played out and tiresome. Matrix don't even have that.

lol i almost forgot they also produced the Mooney Suzuki

i never heard that. i couldn't imagine it was possible to make mooney suzuki any worse but i'm sure they did.

ross ROBINSON was the dude I was thinking of. mr compression and shit drum and bass sounds.

but he still works under the name Ross What's Hit Nuts too

lol hit nuts

Yoshimi I like, same with most of his Delgados stuff. But he's been swinging and missing with Phantom Planet mess, CYHSY!, Tapes n Tapes, Lake Trout, trespassers william. I like The Woods, but actively despite his involvement.

For me, Peter Buck. He takes bands I like (Uncle Tupelo, Mark Eitzel, Feelies) and turns them into bands I don't like. He has a harsh touch that just doesn't congeal to my ears, everything sounds overdriven and separate.

wow, I love Peter Buck's production on that Uncle Tupelo record: but I'm a sucker for production that makes it sound like you're inside the instruments, esp. guitars and bass drums.

The ones that IMO have brought the largest number of albums down are Langer & Winstanley and Steve Lillywhite. Lillywhite's productions often sound better after getting remastered though.

Also, a cactus to Mickie Most for always destroying the tapes after having made the final mix. Thus making stereo versions of most of his work impossible.

Whoever produced Sabbath's "Born Again". I believe it was Geezer Butler. Great album turned into remnants from the bilge pump.

Of course I could always troll and claim Rick Rubin is the worst, but even though he is responsible for a lot of crap music, that is not his fault, and the man is actually a rather good producer in a lot of ways.

he is responsible for a lot of crap music

well gosh whatever could he be referring to I wonder

Deus neglected to mention what DF did to the last 2 Low albums (tho I might be in the minority wrt to that opinion, which boggles my mind).

Spot seconded!!!

Of course I could always troll and claim Rick Rubin is the worst, but even though he is responsible for a lot of crap music, that is not his fault, and the man is actually a rather good producer in a lot of ways.

If for no reason other than the Johnny Cash albums...

Rubin did "Reign in Blood" and "South of Heaven" and is thus exempt from this thread, no matter what other crap he is responsible for.

always hated the way Hugh Jones unnecessarily smoothed out the rough edges of the bands he produced (Echo & the Bunnymen, Pale Saints, Kitchens of Distinction, Ultra Vivid Scene, James, etc.)...

I love that. Although he was even better when he worked with acts that were kind of smooth to begin with, such as Dodgy and Bluetones. :)

If for no reason other than the Johnny Cash albums...

Rick Rubin's part in those Cash and Neil Diamond albums I haven't really understood. I mean, they sound nothing like what you would expect a Rick Rubin production to sound before he started doing them. And it is kind of like anyone can produce an album of a guy mostly just singing cover versions of older material backed by an acoustic guitar. Of course, part of the genius about those Cash albums was the selection of songs to cover though, and Rubin was very much responsible for that.

all of the early "Alanis on a skateboard" Avril hits

As with some dude, I protest - "Sk8r Boi" is her best moment! Do you really prefer all the airbrushed ballads?

Also object to Glen Ballard being here for Jagged Little Pill...I don't know the rest of his work, but that album sounds exactly the way it should. It's definitely a kind of dated sound but I like the approach of pumping all this shiny alt-pop-dance-rock muscle into these mid-90s open-mic coffee house confessional songs. It sounds a little like everything of its time, but as a whole doesn't sound quite like anything else.

i fucking love the jagged little pill production

Of course, part of the genius about those Cash albums was the selection of songs to cover though, and Rubin was very much responsible for that.

Yup.

I was going to nominate Pat McCarthy for his really lackluster, asleep-at-the-wheel work with R.E.M., but it turns out that as an engineer he shows up on some of their best work, as well as on miscellaneous basically nice-sounding things like Laundry Service and Suzanne Vega's Days of Open Hand. Who knew?

And yeah, Jagged Little Pill - I mean "All I Really Want" just sounds huge! Dylan wishes his harmonica could fill an arena like that. It's a little bit reminiscent of the big, bold sound of a slightly earlier period - but with an edgier, ironic 90s flavored twist.

dave kahne

(for his work on Driving Rain only though. I like his early work, particularly All Over the Place)

I think Rubin is technically a fine producer -- I like the way his records sound -- but generally I don't always agree with the choices he makes re: shape of album, song choices, Neil Diamond, etc. No way should Cash have covered "Rusty Cage" or "Mercy Seat".

Another case for Ballard: The Goo Goo Dolls

I'm probably alone on this one, but Jon Brion's records all sound the same.

i don't like the preciousness of brion's style. i understand why people are into it, but for me it's like nails-on-chalkboard.

Lanois is annoying and not all that good. T-Bone Burnett. Elvis Costello as producer sucks as badly as Elvis Costello the performer. Todd Rundgren has fucked up a lot of records that could have been better, from Felix Cavaliere to XTC, not to mention his own. the worst producer in the world, right now, lives here in Nashville, though!!

I don't get why Alfred thinks Billy Sherrill is so bad.

Todd Rundgren has fucked up a lot of records that could have been better, from Felix Cavaliere to XTC

this is a very odd thing to say about what is commonly regarded as the apex of XTC's full-length album output

Lanois is annoying and not all that good. T-Bone Burnett. Elvis Costello as producer sucks as badly as Elvis Costello the performer. Todd Rundgren has fucked up a lot of records that could have been better, from Felix Cavaliere to XTC, not to mention his own. the worst producer in the world, right now, lives here in Nashville, though!!

A producers job is to make the album sound as polished as possible, not to make it sound like some garage band playing together for the first time. Those are all great producers, because of the polish and clean perfection they add to whatever they are involved in. Lanois and Rundgren in particular.

hating on someone like Puffy for their lack of hands-on production or creativity outside of sampling/juxtaposition is kind of too easy an answer, though. otherwise I would've listed Diplo in this thread as soon as I saw it.

very good point, but... Diplo.

bob rock lol

i fucking love the jagged little pill production

-- get bent, Thursday, August 14, 2008 3:30 PM (1 hour ago)

ha it maybe be brilliant, what do i know, i've never stood listening to the album! god i even hate the stupid COVER. fucking 90s.

A producers job is to make the album sound as polished as possible, not to make it sound like some garage band playing together for the first time.

False. A producer's job is to make a band/artist sound like either (a) the best possible version of itself or (b) the most commercially viable version of itself, depending.

The producer is accountable for the final sound, but a lot of that is really the responsibility of the engineer. Any number of fine producers (Rubin, frinstance) are useless when it comes to mic placement (let alone mic selection) or knob-twiddling.

this is a very odd thing to say about what is commonly regarded as the apex of XTC's full-length album output

well, what can I say? I think the apex of XTC's output is, like, Drums and Wires. all downhill after that, with plenty o' good moments on those ones that came afterwards. I just think Todd makes everything sound tinnier than it needs to be, so I always cringe when I listen to Skylarking--"yeech, another Todd record!" yeah, I'm one of those people who think that double album with "Piss Aaron" on it is pretty much it for Todd Rundgren, and some of those Nazz singles.

Joe Henry is also overrated, cf. Bettye LaVette's I've Got My Own Hell to Raise.

ian broudie

and Geir, there are plenty of producers tied to that ol' trash aesthetic in which they strive to make the band sound as much like a garage band as possible. unfortunately not every band can be Crowded House. where you been, cat daddy? In Finland?

I don't get why Alfred thinks Billy Sherrill is so bad.

Lots of schlock. By the yard. George Jones transcended it some of the time.

Sherrill was fine.

Lanois wins.

No way should Cash have covered "Rusty Cage" or "Mercy Seat".

WHAT?!? U R insane.

How could anyone not like Stephen Hague? He took the sloppy, mediocre Bobby O's version of West End Girls and turned it into a masterpiece.

I love Albini's sound when it's a three-piece or less: High on Fire, PJ Harvey, Nina Nastasia & Jim White. The larger the band, the less I like the sound. I'm not so hot on how the Jesus Lizard records sound, and I really dislike that Gogol Bordello.

I mean, they sound nothing like what you would expect a Rick Rubin production to sound before he started doing them.

This is like some of the ripest nonsense from you yet Geir. Rubin has shown a preference for keeping vocals extremely dry ever since his earliest productions, and for keeping reverb/echo down to a minimum unless it's clearly being emphasized in the production, and for a "close"/zoomed-in sound; you need only to have heard his Slayer and Danzig productions to recognize his production voice immediately in the Cash recordings. The Cash et al recordings sound exactly like you'd expect from Rubin on an acoustic-guitar-and-voice session.

He's produced many records I like or love, but I've NEVER liked the sound of any Bill Laswell production, except for Sonny Sharrock's Ask The Ages, which he basically left unfuckedwith.