The role of a producer isn’t easy to grasp for anyone who has never worked in a recording studio. It’s all the more complex given that there are as many methods as there are producers. In some cases, their job is simply to guide the musicians to deliver their best, while in others they might fully design the album, write songs, and even play certain instruments. At its core, the hallmark of a great producer is their ability to push the artist they’re working with to bring out their very best, no matter the method. To highlight the diversity of these roles, we’ve put together our list of the 10 greatest rock producers only—hence the absence of giants like Quincy Jones, Nile Rodgers, or Dr. Dre. There’s already more than enough to cover in the land of furious guitars.
Daniel Lanois
The Canadian producer is Brian Eno’s rock counterpart: a brilliant creator of sonic landscapes so deep you could drown in them. He collaborated with Eno on U2’s classic The Unforgettable Fire, but he’s also behind Peter Gabriel’s Us, Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball, and above all, Oh Mercy, the dark and powerful album that marked Bob Dylan’s comeback. Lanois is also a singer and guitarist, and when he finds the time, he takes his Les Paul Gold Top on tour with Black Dub.
Essential album to hear: Bob Dylan, Oh Mercy
Nigel Godrich
Godrich is to Radiohead what George Martin was to the Beatles—an additional member who helped the band expand the scope of their musical experiments while pointing the way forward for rock. His tricks with tiny, artificial, and processed sounds have since been widely borrowed, and artists as varied as Paul McCartney and Charlotte Gainsbourg have entrusted him with their work. He’s also a guitarist, often on a Telecaster just like Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. What a coincidence…
Essential album to hear: Radiohead, OK Computer
T Bone Burnett
T Bone Burnett is the king of the swamps. He can conjure a Louisiana landscape in three notes on his Kay soaked in tremolo, and when he’s producing an artist, he drags them into his universe, forcing them to work the old-fashioned way, with all the musicians playing together to create a mood. His archivist’s ear and detective’s touch on the soundtracks of O Brother, Cold Mountain, and Walk the Line made him an invaluable ally for demanding filmmakers. On top of producing records for Elton John, Elvis Costello, and Roy Orbison, T Bone is also a brilliant guitarist and solo singer.
Essential album to hear: Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Raising Sand
Butch Vig
Even if Vig had stopped working in 1991, he would still be a legend. His work on Nirvana’s Nevermind single-handedly set the benchmark for all albums of the decade. He struck the perfect balance between raw power and polish, with a refined sound that still sweats punk. He produced Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, Sonic Youth’s Dirty, and Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light. For fun, he also drums and produces for Garbage, a band that sold 17 million records.
Essential album to hear: Nirvana, Nevermind
Joe Meek
Joe Meek’s career was short-lived, beginning in the mid-50s and ending tragically in 1967. In the meantime, the British pioneer revolutionized the role of the producer, shifting from mere sound engineer to full-fledged member of the bands he recorded—most notably The Tornados, whose Telstar is a dazzling showcase of the sounds that could be created in a London studio in 1962. Meek turned the studio into an instrument in its own right, and every producer who followed owes something to his groundbreaking work.
Essential album to hear: The Tornados, Telstar
Ken Scott
Few could have had a better education than Ken Scott, who trained alongside George Martin during the legendary Beatles sessions, including Revolver. He later worked with Bowie on his two finest albums (Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust), and with Elton John during the most successful stretch of his career. But Scott didn’t limit himself to making the best pop possible—he also helped invent the sound of jazz fusion (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham) and gave Supertramp their most perfectly crafted album, Crime of the Century. (see our interview here)
Essential album to hear: David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust
Geoff Emerick
Emerick began as an assistant early in the Beatles’ career, and as the Liverpool band started pushing the boundaries of pop, Geoff became their go-to engineer. He followed the Fab Four through their wildest sonic experiments, including the genius idea of running John Lennon’s voice through a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet for the hypnotic sound of Tomorrow Never Knows. Paul McCartney would later call on him for his solo work, and Emerick also worked with Elvis Costello, Cheap Trick, and Kate Bush.
Essential album to hear: The Beatles, Revolver
Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin is arguably the most important producer of the past thirty years. He has the extremely rare ability not to give every artist the same sound stamp (unlike T Bone Burnett, for instance). Yet with very few exceptions, he pushes them to create their best album. Slayer (Reign In Blood), Beastie Boys (Licensed to Ill), System Of A Down (Toxicity), Tom Petty (Wildflowers), Kanye West (Yeezus), and Johnny Cash (American Recordings) all benefited from the wisdom of the bearded sage. If only we knew his secret…
Essential album to hear: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik
George Martin
Sir George Martin wasn’t nicknamed “the fifth Beatle” for nothing. He was the one who auditioned the Beatles for Parlophone, directed the recording of their greatest albums from Please Please Me to Abbey Road, wrote the string arrangements for Eleanor Rigby, and even played piano on In My Life. Without him, the Fab Four might have remained a second-rate rockabilly quartet. He transformed their arrangements and elevated their pop into the gold standard against which all others would be measured for centuries to come. Not bad for a sound engineer who started out recording comedy sketches…
Essential album to hear: The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Phil Spector
Twenty-five Top 40 hits between 1960 and 1965—many of them co-written by him. That résumé is hard to beat, and it was only the beginning! Spector crafted historic albums with Ike & Tina Turner, The Beatles, Harry Nilsson, The Ramones, and two solo Beatles (Lennon and Harrison), each time applying his invention: the Wall of Sound. This wall consisted of packing as many musicians as possible into a session, with two drummers and a dozen guitarists, to create an enormous, enveloping, swirling sound. Countless other producers shamelessly plundered his legacy.
Essential album to hear: The Ronettes, Be My Baby
