Rock & Metal Production

Producing an album is a lot of work, which often goes unsung. It involves a number of creative and technical skills including selecting session musicians, guiding the arrangements, ensuring the quality of the recording, advising and encouraging the artist. Above all its about listening. To the band, the music and your instincts.

Road Hounds celebrates a few of Rock and Metal’s greatest, complete with a specially curated playlist of course.

Eddie Kramer

Artists produced: Peter Frampton, Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, Ace Frehley, Anthrax, Brian May, Kiss.

Key albums: Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun,

Signature sound: The definitive Classic Rock sound.

Butch Vig

Artists produced: Nirvana, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, AFI

Key albums: Nevermind, Siamese Dream, Garbage, Version 2.0, Sing the Sorrow

Signature sound: Traverses Metal, alt-rock, shoe gaze, power pop-punk, the 90’s.

Bruce Fairbairn

Artists produced: Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Kiss and AC/DC

Key albums: Slippery When Wet, New Jersey, Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get a Grip, The Razors Edge, Balance

Signature sound: Glam-metal, larger-than-life, clarity and bombast, dynamic horn arrangements, pop-friendly sheen.

Bob Rock

Artists produced: The Cult, Motley Crue, Metallica, Kingdom Come

Key albums: Sonic Temple, Dr. Feelgood, The Black Album, Kingdom Come

Signature sound: Explosive, soaring, epic.

Mutt Lange

Artists produced: AC/DC, Def Leppard, Foreigner and The Cars

Key albums: Highway to Hell, Back in Black, Foreigner 4, High ‘n’ Dry, Pyromania, Hysteria

Signature sound: Painstakingly crafted, finely-tuned, massive drum sound, stacked vocal harmonies, the 80s.

Bob Ezrin

Artists produced: Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd

Key albums: Billion Dollar Babies, Welcome to My Nightmare, School’s Out, Destroyer, The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, The Division Bell

Signature sound: 70s, theatrical, blockbuster epics.

Rick Rubin

Artists produced: Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cult , Black Sabbath

Key albums: Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Electric, 13

Signature sound: Hands-off approach, organic sound, stripped-down

Brendan O’Brien

Artists produced: Black Crowes, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, AC/DC, Killswitch Engage, Mastodon

Key albums: Shake Your Money Maker, Core, Purple, Tiny Music … Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, Evil Empire, The Battle of Los Angeles, Black Ice, Rock or Bust, Power Up, Crack the Skye

Signature sound: Gated reverb on drums, elevating the emotional impact.

Ted Templeman

Artists produced: The Doobie Brothers, Little Feat, Van Halen, Montrose, David Lee Roth

Key albums: Montrose, Van Halen, Van Halen II, Fair Warning,Eat ‘Em and Smile,

Signature sound: Cross-genre collaborations, angelic vocal harmonies, magic balance of guitar, bass, drums and vocals.

Steve Albini

Artists produced: Pixies, Nirvana, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, The Auteurs, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Manic Street Preachers

Key albums: Surfer Rosa, In Utero

Signature sound: Uncompromising, back-to-basics.

Joe Barresi

Artists produced: Slipknot, Bad Religion, Clutch, Queens of the Stone Age, Avenged Sevenfold, Kyuss, Tool, Coheed and Cambria

Key albums: Life Is but a Dream…, From Beale Street to Oblivion, Queens of the Stone Age, Fear Inoculum

Signature sound: Musically refined and an audio fanatic, with a very particular choices of mics, amps, out-board gear which creates a sonically exquisite soundpath.

Chris Tsangarides

Artists produced: Gary Moore, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Helloween, Black Sabbath, Exodus, Overkill,

Key albums: Sad Wings of Destiny, Back on the Streets,Thunder and Lightning, Painkiller, The Eternal Idol

Signature sound: A guitar recording technique called “the vortex”, which gives to the recordings a random panning effect similar to a reverb, but obtained through a particular placement of microphones.

Andy Sneap

Artists produced: Machine Head, Napalm Death, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Killswitch Engage, Bullet for My Valentine, Megadeth, Exodus, and Testament

Key albums: Firepower, A View from the Top of the World

Signature sound: An all-around great musician and prolific producer who gets the best out if his artists.

Nick Raskulinecz

Artists produced: Foo Fighters, Ghost, Mastodon, Bush, Korn, Rush, Shadows Fall, Alice in Chains. Stone Sour, Big Wreck

Key albums: Snakes & Arrows, Black Gives Way to Blue, Audio Secrecy, Albatross, Infestissumam, Once More ‘Round the Sun, The Serenity of Suffering

Signature sound: Some of this century’s greatest recorded rock drum sounds.

Martin Birch

Artists produced: Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple,

Key albums: Heaven and Hell, Fire of Unknown Origin, Killers, Come Taste the Band, Fear of the Dark

Signature sound: Go-to studio genius and a true artist who achieves a bright but heavy sound.

Ross Robinson

Artists produced: Korn, Sepultura, Slipknot, At the Drive-In (2000)

Key albums: Korn, Roots, Life Is Peachy, Slipknot, Relationship of Command, Iowa

Signature sound: regarded as “The Godfather of Nu Metal” he brought a devastatingly guttural sound and nihilistic fury.

Garth “GGGarth” Richardson

Artists produced: Rage Against the Machine, Testament, Spineshank, Big Wreck, Biffy Clyro

Key albums: Rage Against the Machine, Low, The Height of Callousness, Grace Street, Puzzle, Only Revolutions, Opposites

Signature sound: ‘The Round Mound of Sound’