Aural History: Inside the Mind of Legendary Producer Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin takes an unconventional approach to music production. Working with music artists like the Beastie Boys and Johnny Cash, he set a different, more creative standard for music creation, becoming a heavily awarded music producer. 

Written by Rachel Joy Thomas

Photo courtesy of Frazer Harrison

Rick Rubin is one of the most iconic music producers of the modern age. Implementing his meditative and transcendental philosophy into the sounds of big named artists like Johnny Cash and the Beastie Boys, Rubin has multiple platinum albums that prove the effectiveness of his alternative production methods. When musicians walk into his studio, they aren't just recording and finishing up; they’re having a complete spiritual experience. 

Usually, producers help  artists solely with their skillful expertise. They have the know-how to know-how. They simply work with an artist's creative vision and create tracks for them to sing over. Rubin defies this definition, notably having very little professional training in music. Instead, he advises on what a track needs supplementally and organically. Rubin knows what he likes, making it easy to carve out the sound he craves.

By stepping away from deadlines and structured manufacturing of an album during the production process, Rubin approaches artists in a new light. He asks musicians who want to work with him to do one thing: meditate. He’s described meditating with the Red Hot Chili Peppers before he worked on their album, Californication, and Tom Petty during his production of Wildflowers. Both albums received production advice set apart from other producers at the time, as they were given commentary and a genuine opinion. Rick Rubin offers a steady hand to the music artists he works with, rather than an overbearing one.

He also has walking meetings with artists when discussing their pitfalls and encouraging artists to share life experiences. To create a meaningful workspace, he records in a house rather than a studio. Truly understanding the musician he works with, Rubin’s production method centers on making the music sound true to the artist. His creativity comes from experimenting and playing with content rather than using defined language for the changes he wants to make on an album. An analogy Rubin used was offering an artist two plates of food and seeing which one they liked better. Then, he would add Rubin doesn’t immediately jump into suggestions. He will do something actionable at first, try it, see if they like it, and move on. At the end of the day, artists work and experiment however much they want with Rubin to create whatever it is they were trying to make. 

Starting his career  in the ’80s hip-hop scene with rapper LL Cool J,  Rubin spent his free time at different concerts, listening to fresh samples cultivated through a growing rap community. With entrepreneur Russell Simmon, Rubin started the now-iconic Def Jam Recordings. LL Cool J’s song, "I Need A Beat," was Def Jam Recordings’ first hit, followed by the rapper’s first full album, Radio. On this record, Rubin worked at the intersection of metal and hip-hop — a mashup genre that was unexplored in the ’80s — to create unique riffs and experiences for listeners. 

By the time Radio went platinum, Rubin was established in the production world, working with artists such as T La Rock and Jazzy Jay as early as 1983, but he had yet to reach his full potential. He signed the Beastie Boys in 1986 and worked with them on their debut album, Licensed to Ill.  As the Broken Record podcast aptly puts it, “Their debut album is a pastiche of inside jokes and musical inspiration pulled from the classic rock and hip-hop records they listened to in Rubin’s college dorm room.” 

Along with Rubin’s incredible talent for production, the intersections between rock and hip-hop were personified in a blissful but cheesy debut. The Beastie Boys blew up instantly with Licensed to Ill, the second rap album after Radio to ever hit platinum. The album is regarded as one of the best rap records of its time by critics and fans. Rubin used the guitarist for metal band Slayer to make a lead in “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.” It's reported that Rubin even played with the Beastie Boys when they opened for Madonna on the 1985 Like A Virgin tour. Front and center in its development, befriending the artists on his label, and working with them to create dynamic flows and rhythms, Rubin was able to pull the best out of the Beastie Boys.

Photo courtesy of Glenn A. Baker

Eventually, Rubin strayed away from Def Jam Records due to tension with Simmons, who kept the label. The Beastie Boys parted ways with Rubin while he worked on making even more of a name for himself with the formation of American Records, which became incredibly prolific. Signing artists like Slayer, System of a Down, and The Black Crowes, it developed an extensive portfolio. Rubin would produce albums like Johnny Cash’s Unchained. 

Proving himself to be a producer with a different mentality than most, he sat with a defeated Cash, who had multiple failed albums. In 2023, Rubin, on “60 Minutes,” mused, “It just seemed like the world has passed him by, and he believed the world has passed him by.” From there, Rubin said he found Cash and asked him to play his favorite songs for him. He sat with the man, listening, trying to see who he was through the music. From there, Rubin felt connected and inspired. Rubin developed a personal relationship and shopped through pre-existing lyrics that he thought would fit the songs Cash enjoyed. From that, the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt” became one of the most famous covers in the world.  Cash’s rendition defied the odds, becoming even more popular than the original. The sorrowful, aching melody fit Cash so well that it felt like he wrote it himself. From there, Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin would go on to produce seven studio albums — and the career of the “dinner theater” guitarist was revitalized once more. 

The most important aspect of Rubin’s production is his gentle, patient philosophy. With both the Beastie Boys and Cash, Rubin approached them with kindness at a human level. He listened to their music and figured out the tone that would best represent that artist, extracting who they are and putting it on vinyl. With the Beastie Boys, that tone was a dynamic rap-rock explosion. With Cash, that tone was sorrowful, aged, and, at times, mournful.   

Rubin, throughout his career, has tried to listen to artists which cultivates a different type of album than the average producer. His simple but effective strategies like meditating or experimenting with music might seem incredibly orthodox, but the combination of his efforts to get to know artists and genuinely create content make him a more successful producer than most, exemplifying a methodology not often found in the music industry.