Musicians' comments on producers and production:

Chris Robinson (of the Black Crowes) I call the following exchange: "Chris Robinson educates Howard Stern about Rick Rubin (and producers in general)" - - Howard Stern Show, May 8, 2001 [Howard broached the subject of a party at Rick Rubin's house and Chris was not impressed with this particular bit of name-dropping]: "CR: He's disgusting. He owns a record company, you know what I mean? We were just on tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. Those are the guys I like. People like Rick Rubin just make money off of people who have talent. HS: But doesn't Rick produce the records? CR: Not ours. I don't know -- he produced some records. HS: So he must collaborate with bands & stuff as he produces the records. CR: I think he collaborates with people who know how to make records and he has enough money to stick his name on whatever he wants. HS: Wow man, you got some balls on you! CR: Yeah, I'm scared of Rick Rubin all the time. I'm telling you how the music business is. "

Robin Trower: From interview in the June 2001 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine. It's mostly about gear and such but then near the end he waxes eloquent about record production: "..... In the early music I listen to, it's an integrated thing that happened all at once and comes out as one thing, rather than all these different bits stitched together in much of today's music. So much of the stuff today is done on computers and it's bits and pieces. I'm not decrying modern technology - that's a whole different thing - but if you've got wonderful music and musicians playing these fantastic songs with a great singer, and it's all happened at the same moment, obviously, there's going to be a lot of magic in there than if everything was done separately. That's what's missing, for me, in a lot of the newer music. There are some good records being made, but you don't hear that much magic anymore. It's all manufactured...."