Is Rick Ruben Becoming A Brand Name?

I was reading an article on Blabbermouth this morning about Rick Ruben. IN particular it was three of the members of Slipknot. Shawn Crahan, Jim Root and Corey Taylor all commented on working with rick and Corey was the only one that didn’t have a lot of good things to say about Ruben. Other artists have said that Rick is rarely in the studio to include most recently, Metallica. Corey Taylor said “And for me, if you’re going to produce something, you’re f*cking there. I don’t care who you are.”

This got me thinking about a few things. Death Magnetic is a good album and Subliminal Verses is one of my favorite Slipknot albums, but could they have been better had Rick Ruben had more in-studio time? Would the little production flaws that Death Magnetic has still be there? Would Subliminal Versus be heavier and less Stone Sour sounding? I think back now about Slayer. Wen wasthlast time Rick Ruben produced a really good Slayer album like everything pre-Divine Intervention? Ruben has produced every Slayer album since Reign In Blood, Every System Of A Down Record, the first 4 Danzig albums, but looking at his discography it seems like after 1996 he started to take on so many projects a year. Seven this year alone. It’s not wonder that the bands rarely see him. He’s flying all over the place, working with so many people at one time.

Now I don’t mean to disrespect Rick Ruben. He’s produced some amazing albums in the past, but like Corey Taylor said, If you’re paying this dude a substantial amount of money you would expect him to be there and not just popping his head in every now and then or working with his assistants. It seems today that Rick Ruben has become a brand name to stamp on the back of a CD case. “The Rick Ruben Stamp Of Approval”. Too many projects and not enough time spent with the band actually producing the album.

There are too many great producers out there these days, to the point that there are so many choices. I think more bands should make an effort every now and then to change things up and try someone different instead of the “If It’s Not Broke…” theory. Sure it’s a big chance to take after you’ve worked with the same producer 2 or 3 times, but if you want to progress you have to try different things. Break new ground and seek improvement as opposed to staying on the same plateau. Otherwise you’re just making the same album over and over again. Sometimes it takes a different producer to get you off that plain and sometimes it takes a good producer to keep the momentum going and climbing.