11/11/11 - Black Sabbath

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Rick Rubin does anything but "nothing". The producer's job is to push the band to get the best out of them. That's what he does. He leaves them alone to write as much as possible, which is what he should do. Then he says "show me what you got"...if the songs are no good he tells them to keep writing...he's quality control.

Also I am pretty sure he doesn't master the albums he produces (does he even mix them?), so he's not to blame for any "loud war" nonsense.

I am just telling you what Malcolm Young has supposedly stated in various AC/DC bio's- 'Two Sides to Every Glory' by Paul Stenning and rob Johnstone and 'Maximum Rock n Roll' by Murrary Engleheart and Arnaud Duriex also eludes to this story, not anything I made up.

If doing "nothing" has meant working with the biggest acts in the industry, then he must be doing "something" right all these years.

GrandNational wrote:

If doing "nothing" has meant working with the biggest acts in the industry, then he must be doing "something" right all these years.

AC/DC and Black Crowes were not happy with him, and Glenn Danzig also did not enjoy working with him either, but then other artist such as Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Johnny Cash all enjoyed working with him, so take that for what its worth.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Rick Rubin does anything but "nothing". The producer's job is to push the band to get the best out of them. That's what he does. He leaves them alone to write as much as possible, which is what he should do. Then he says "show me what you got"...if the songs are no good he tells them to keep writing...he's quality control.

Also I am pretty sure he doesn't master the albums he produces (does he even mix them?), so he's not to blame for any "loud war" nonsense.

From the books/articles I have read, he has final say on the mix and final say on the master - he is the one pushing to make CD's louder. So, yes, he is to blame. Shawn D. could probably she more light on it than me.

Rubin slammed the final mix of Death Magnetic PRIOR to sending it to be mastered...so the mastering engineer was screwed before he even started. You NEVER normalize a mix prior to mastering, a rookie first time engineer should know that. Rubin has no excuse.

I have 0% interest in this latest "Sabbath project". Ozzy should retire, Iommi should do something else.

They are my favorite band of all time but enough is enough.

manny wrote:

Glenn Danzig also did not enjoy working with him either

That's not saying much. Glenn Danzig doesn't like working with anybody.

AWESOME!!!!! I don't care what you pessimists think, I'm freakin' stoked about this news - I never had a chance to experience the original Black Sabbath, and now I finally have! Come to think of it, I haven't heard much Sabbath recently, despite them being one of my all-time favourite bands - Sabbath the remainder of the day!

Fat Freddy wrote:

manny wrote:

Glenn Danzig also did not enjoy working with him either

That's not saying much. Glenn Danzig doesn't like working with anybody.

OK you got me on that one!!

Mglaffas81 wrote:

AWESOME!!!!! I don't care what you pessimists think, I'm freakin' stoked about this news - I never had a chance to experience the original Black Sabbath, and now I finally have! Come to think of it, I haven't heard much Sabbath recently, despite them being one of my all-time favourite bands - Sabbath the remainder of the day!

I am with you!!! A new album from the original Black Sabbath is awesome news indeed!!

I dunno...I'm trying to feel excited. And this is coming from someone who still regurarly listens to Sabbath of different eras. But going by their past reunions, I dont see them changing up its set list quite a bit, or coming out with a killer album of a sudden. Plus Ozzy & Bill are really not what they were; Tony & Geez has aged much fairer I think. I hope I am wrong!

I think the bar has been set with the Dio reunion. I think it will be hard for this reunion to live up to that.

exact33 wrote:

I think the bar has been set with the Dio reunion. I think it will be hard for this reunion to live up to that.

Oh, for me, the bar was set high regardless of the Heaven & Hell thing. Ronnie always had a good report with Tony from a songwriting standpoint so I knew that was gonna be good from the get go - they wrote those three songs on The Dio Years compilation right off the ground, for one thing. With Ozzy, it always seemed to take too long for things to take off. Also; when people think of the original line-up, they dont think of the last few albums the group did together; they dont envision Never Say Die or Techincal Ecstacy when facing the prospect of a new studio record, the think of the classics, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Master of Reality etc. I cant see ém living up to that at this stage. I even have a hard time seeing them pull out many deeper cuts for the live set. But, as said, I hope I am wrong, cause I love Sabbath.

S.D. wrote:

I have 0% interest in this latest "Sabbath project". Ozzy should retire, Iommi should do something else.

They are my favorite band of all time but enough is enough.

Shawn, you know that deep down in that Black Sabbath heart of yours, you secretly want this to be a big success music wise. I know I do, despite the possibility of Ozzy being Ozzy. I don't think Iommi would put this together if he didn't feel like he had some bad-ass riffs up his sleeve. He has nothing to prove except maybe to end the Sabbath legacy on a high note. I hope that's the case.

GrandNational wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I have 0% interest in this latest "Sabbath project". Ozzy should retire, Iommi should do something else.

They are my favorite band of all time but enough is enough.

Shawn, you know that deep down in that Black Sabbath heart of yours, you secretly want this to be a big success music wise. I know I do, despite the possibility of Ozzy being Ozzy. I don't think Iommi would put this together if he didn't feel like he had some bad-ass riffs up his sleeve. He has nothing to prove except maybe to end the Sabbath legacy on a high note. I hope that's the case.

We can always hope.

stpatrik wrote:

I dunno...I'm trying to feel excited. And this is coming from someone who still regurarly listens to Sabbath of different eras. But going by their past reunions, I dont see them changing up its set list quite a bit, or coming out with a killer album of a sudden. Plus Ozzy & Bill are really not what they were; Tony & Geez has aged much fairer I think. I hope I am wrong!

They are changing the set list. They will be playing new material and songs that aren't often played. Tony mentioned this at the press conference.

Video of the whole press conference:

This reunion announcement made the headline news on national radio here in Norway. They NEVER pay attention to metal bands, so this must be huge!

Rick Rubin produced Trouble's s/t album and Danzig II. So I have hope this will turn out alright.

I have a feeling folks will be surprised

I think this will be good. The Devil You Know was fantastic and I expect more of the same with this one-even with Ozzy

I think this is the best news ever! I know this will be great because they know they have to put out quality stuff. I don't think they'd release anything if it wasn't up to par with stuff on Masters of Reality, Vol 4, etc...! With all 4 members involved, they are gonna be the classic band people want to hear! The world wanted it so they will deliver.

If it's like The Devil You Know, only with Ozzy singing, then count me in. As a worst case scenario I can always block out Ozzy's singing and focus on the neat Iommi riffs.

At this point I don't think there's anything they can do to really harm their legacy, so if they want to make one more album for old times sake, I'm for it.

kmorg wrote:

This reunion announcement made the headline news on national radio here in Norway. They NEVER pay attention to metal bands, so this must be huge!

Really Kurt? I thought metal was kinda big in your neck of the woods relative to say the US.

I hope this will be a great comeback à la Riot and Accept, although i'm questioning Ozzy's ability to sing.

Gilbert wrote:

I hope this will be a great comeback à la Riot and Accept, although i'm questioning Ozzy's ability to sing.

It has improved over the last coupla' years - I saw him last year here in Denmark, and he was quite good - his voice broke on occasion, but overall he sounded great - well, like Ozzy at least. He's become much more consistent after sobering up.

manny wrote:

GrandNational wrote:

If doing "nothing" has meant working with the biggest acts in the industry, then he must be doing "something" right all these years.

AC/DC and Black Crowes were not happy with him, and Glenn Danzig also did not enjoy working with him either, but then other artist such as Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Johnny Cash all enjoyed working with him, so take that for what its worth.

I think it comes down to expectations. Maybe they expected him to be there in their faces more? Maybe they didn't like being told their ideas were no good and to keep writing? Maybe they don't like the beard/skullet combo?

As for him approving the final mix, well...I was not aware of that...I just know he isn't the one turning the knobs usually...he has people for that. He always struck me as a producer that went for vibe over slickness anyway...but I know that doesn't excuse distortion from the mastering being too loud.