Producers, Recording Engineers and Studio Wizards: POLL RESULTS

19. Teo Macero (207 points, 9 votes)
http://secretsociety.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/02/25/teo_macero.jpg
Credits: Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Mathis, Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, Charlie Byrd, Stan Getz

Huzzah!

Great interview with Teo here.

I think Nick's OTM about Teo, fwiw. you listen to those Miles sessions box sets, they make Teo's contributions readily apparent

I'd really love to devote a bit of time to exactly this but how many box sets would I have to buy? Miles and those other giants have epic discographies.

The thing about Teo is he didn't just record the sound beautifully (though obv that's a big part of it); on BB & IASW he started doing the editing thing in a totally new way. Mind blowing for jazz at the time.

19 ?!?!

but how many box sets would I have to buy?

the On the Corner, IASW and BB sessions tell you all you need to know really

(and I haven't listened to all of them myself btw cuz they are loooong)

18. Trevor Horn (226 points, 9 votes)
http://media.soundonsound.com/sos/mar05/images/horn4trevorrack.l.jpg
Credits: The Buggles, Yes, ABC, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, others

If he'd only done those first two Frankie singles he'd still be near the top of my list.

Meh

wasn't sure what to attribute Horn's placing too tbh

Britishes? prog fans?

Fans of synthesized horn blasts?

Teo Macero deserves to be way above this dude.

Er, Belle and Sebastian fans?

I'm just not clear on why he's so lauded or what about his production style is particularly revolutionary or influential - I mean ABC and Frankie are fine as synthpop acts go but I don't really hear anything in the production that's really all that different from say, Duran Duran or Talk Talk or whoever

It's his surname.

I've never been big on New Pop, we need one of the people who know all about that to explain Horn, I think.

17. King Tubby (239 points, 9 votes,3 #1 votes)
http://aquariumdrunkard.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/king-tubby-dub.jpg
Credits: Augustus Pablo, Aggrovators, Prince Jammy, Bunny Lee, Yabby You, Niney the Observer, Roots Radics, Sly & Robbie, many others

Steve Shasta-certified greatest dub song ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn3vKX5_cB0

My number one. Surprisingly few votes for him though. Great picture!

this is a fairly compelling reason why trevor horn is so lauded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYhKVUKJsPo

that sounds ... sort of awful

16. TIE
DJ Premier (242 points, 9 votes, 2 #1 votes)
http://inyourbass.com/images/blog/djpremier.jpg
Credits: Gang Starr, Nas, KRS-One, Jay-Z, M.O.P., Rakim, Notorious B.I.G., many others

AND
Tony Visconti (242 points, 10 votes)
http://bowiezone.com/communities/9/004/008/626/509/images/4541482145.jpg
Credits: David Bowie, T. Rex, Sparks, Badfinger, Gentle Giant, Iggy Pop, Thin Lizzy, The Stranglers, Les Rita Mitsuoko, Adam Ant, Manic Street Preachers, Morrissey

re trvor horn :
i included trevor horn mainly for the duck rock album.
it changed everything for me, and opened my ears to the role of production in music.
that and abc, the dr mabuse 12" by propaganda, art of noise debut, side 1 of welcome to the pleasure dome, etc.
a lot of his music formed the basis of my musical awakening.
ok, he may not be up with the greats for many, but for a few years i bought anything with his name on it ..

15. Joe Meek (245 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote)
http://www.desoreilly.com/-Videos/Joe_Meek_A8.jpg
Credits: Solo, the Tornados, Lonnie Donegan, the Honeycombs, many others

The first of two murderers likely to make the list

lol

I've always considered him kind of a minor figure, was surprised at such a strong showing

14. Martin Hannett (246 points, 10 votes)
http://www.enkiri.com/joy/pics/m_hannett1.jpg
Credits: Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Durutti Column, New Order, Magazine

This being ILM, I thought Martin Hannett was a top 10 lock.

tbh the Top 10 solidified pretty quickly, Hannett hovered around in the low teens for the most part

Meek was my #1, & I placed him there without much hesitation. I love lots of his singles – Sky Men, Telstar, Johnny Remember Me – & I Hear a New World is awesome homebrew/brit-engineering experiment. But really I find it hard to pick the records apart from the myth side of him - weird shabby old britain (before 'the end of the Chatterley ban...' etc), miserable auteur in Archway making his own little world of strange plastic popstars, valves-and-dials futurism. And I guess I find the records' sounds wholly adequate to the imaginative lure of that world, which is why he was my #1.

I can see why he might not be so resonant outside britain obvs

also he shouldn't have killed that woman

glad we cleared that up then lol

13. Steve Albini (247 points, 12 votes)
http://www.buzzgrinder.com/media/shellachigdon.jpg
Credits: Big Black, the Pixies, Nirvana, Shellac, PJ Harvey, Jesus Lizard, Manic Street Preachers, Cheap Trick, Bush, others

Electrelane!

loving that picture.
beginning to think that neither of my top 2 are going to feature in this rundown ..

12. Brian Wilson (248 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 vote)
http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Brian-Wilson-robe.jpg
Credits: The Beach Boys, the Honeys, American Spring, solo work

blimey. thought he would be top 5..

Tony Visconti! Some indie no-marks revived him in the 90s and the result was kinda underwhelming - but those Bowie records, and the stories.

Visconti is mad underrated. you can tell how much it burns him up that people think Eno did those Bowie records

Ha yeah, I was even thinking 'hold on, wasn't that Eno?' while I was typing that

obligatory 'too low' for hannett from me

maybe it's lucky for everyone else i didn't vote as he would have been my #1 and therefore probably in the top 10

BW was my #1.

i actually thought he would be several folks #1 choice.

very few ballots shared #1 spots, actually

xp Should have been!

His productions circa 1965-66, made during the period when he decided to stop playing live so he could hole up in the studio, I've probably listened to hundreds, maybe thousands of times my entire life. It still makes my hair stand on end.