A top rock album doesn’t exist without a talented producer involved. As the technical and creative leader of an album, the producer is involved in everything from selecting session musicians, guiding arrangements, and ensuring recording quality. The end result, hopefully, is a musical masterpiece that matches the artist’s vision. There have been many great rock music producers over the years.
Here we’ve whittled it down to just ten names. These are the best music producers of all time, who have shaped the sound of modern rock as we know it today.
10. Brian Burton (Danger Mouse)
As one of the younger producers on the list, Burton first began to turn heads when he produced The Grey Album. This 2004 album combined the vocal performances from Jay-Z’s The Black Album with instrumentals from the Beatles’ The White Album. From there he went on to form many collectives including Gnarls Barkley, producing both of the groups albums, St. Elsewhere and The Odd Couple. He also formed Broken Bells with Shins frontman James Mercer and produced all three of their albums. As for other artists, he has produced albums for the Gorillaz, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, Portugal. The Man, and Beck. He has been nominated for 22 Grammy Awards, winning six. It’s exciting to see where his production career will take him in the years to come.
9. Steve Albini
Who knows where alternative rock would be today without Steve Albini. He is famous for his pioneering work in the world of grunge, with his overall heavy hitting distorted aesthetic.
An outspoken advocate for musicians, Albini isn’t afraid to share this belief that the music industry financially exploits artists. He even refuses to take ongoing royalties from other bands recording in his studio.
He estimates that he has worked on thousands of records. Some of the many artists include Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Bush, Pixies, Robert Plant and the Breeders.
8. Nigel Godrich
Labeled as the sixth member of Radiohead, Godrich is a key driving force behind the band’s constantly evolving sound. In fact, he has produced all of the band’s albums since OK Computer (1997). That album went on to win Best Alternative Album at the 40th Grammy Awards.
When he isn’t working with Radiohead, he’s working with other acts including Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters and Arcade Fire.
He names his hero as being the Beatles producer George Martin, for “inventing the job”. Godrich is a true visionary to the industry and easily one of the best music producers ever.
7. Butch Vig
Known by many as the drummer for Garbage, Butch Vig is another inspirational producer that has helped shape the sound of alternative music. He is perhaps most famous for producing Nirvana’s diamond-selling album, Nevermind.
On the album, Vig incorporated overdubs and vocal double tracking. Cobain was originally against that, but Vig convinced him by famously saying “John Lennon double-tracked”.
Other albums that were produced by Vig include: Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream (1993), Sonic Youth – Dirty (1992), AFI – Sing The Sorrow (2003), Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways (2014), not to mention Garbage’s entire discography.
6. Jimmy Page
Everyone talks about how Jimmy Page is one of the best guitarists of all time, but he is an equally phenomenal producer. If you listen beyond those famous guitar riffs, you’ll hear some of the best-crafted and meticulous-sounding records of the ’70s. Page was a master perfectionist when it came to how Led Zeppelin’s albums sounded. He produced every single one of them.
He developed a reputation for employing effects in new ways and trying out different methods of using microphones and amplification. For the recording of several Led Zeppelin tracks, such as “Whole Lotta Love” and “You Shook Me”, Page utilized reverse echo – a technique which he claims to have invented himself. This production technique involved hearing the echo before the main sound instead of after it.
In listening to Led Zeppelin’s discography, it’s clear that he is one of the best music producers out there.
5. Brian Eno
There are few producers like Brian Eno. As a fan of experimental music, he helped introduce unconventional concepts and approaches to contemporary music. He revolutionized the use of effect “treatments,” pushing avant-garde ideas into the mainstream. As a multi-instrumentalist, he added essential parts to albums by David Bowie, Talking Heads and U2.
His production credits include U2 –The Unforgettable Fire (1984), U2 – The Joshua Tree (1987) and Coldplay – Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008).
4. Rick Rubin
Album producers differ in many ways, beginning with how involved they get in the sessions – or not. In that category, Rick Rubin is definitely polarizing. Some celebrate his more hands-off approach, which in its simplest form can find Rubin just sitting back, taking it all in and then offering suggestions. It’s that minimalist approach, employed most successfully in his work with Johnny Cash and Tom Petty, that makes Rubin a trusted ear for artists who are looking to find a similarly organic sound.
He has also produced hit records for acts from a variety of rock genres including System of a Down, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Strokes, and Weezer.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a list that didn’t include Rick Rubin as one of the top rock music producers to grace the industry.
3. George Martin
Commonly referred to as the “Fifth Beatle,” Martin is known for his extensive involvement in producing each of the Beatles’ original albums.
Most of the Beatles’ orchestral arrangements and instrumentation were written or performed by Martin, and he played piano or keyboards on a number of their records. Martin’s collaboration with the Beatles resulted in popular, highly acclaimed records with innovative sounds, such as the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This album was also the first rock album ever to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Outside of his work with the Beatles, Martin has worked with many artists like Kenny Rogers and Jeff Beck, as well as produced many film scores.
2. Phil Spector
Criminal history aside, there are few producers with a resume like Phil Spector.
In the early 1970s, Spector produced the Beatles’ Let It Be and several solo records by John Lennon and George Harrison. He also produced the Ramones’ album End of the Century and Ike & Tina Turner’s River Deep – Mountain High.
Not only did he produce great albums, he revolutionized the way music was produced. Spector developed the Wall of Sound, a production style that is characterized for its diffusion of tone colors and dense orchestral sound.
1. Brian Wilson
While the world loves the Beach Boys, few consider quite how groundbreaking Brian Wilson’s studio techniques were. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and mastery of recording techniques, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative producers of the 20th century.
Like Phlil Spector, Wilson often combined color tones (such as a banjo doubled with a harpsichord) to produce novel sounds. He experimented with double-tracking vocals for a deeper sound. Perhaps what is the most astonishing, is that Wilson did all of this innovative recording work only being able to hear out of his left ear, having injured his right as a young boy.
