Let's get to know Page & Plant's new "producer" a bit, shall we, via sampling of choice quotes from recent interviews:
"I'm a recording engineer. I do not consider myself a "producer" in the classic sense. I've met a few of them, and they're assholes. I prefer to let the bands do the "production," with me solving technical and creative problems along the way."
"When I think of a producer I think of one of those industry losers with a beard and ponytail sitting in a chair telling the band whay to do. I've heard stories of bands that have been together for like ten years going into a studio a having the producer tell them that their drummer just isn't good enough to so he's going to bring in a session man. I just can't understand that. I think that a band as a unit is a sacred thing. Those guys figured out what they want to play, wrote all their songs and stored all that stuff in their heads."
"What I hate about recording:
1) Producers and engineers who use meaningless words to make their clients
think they know what's going on. Words like "Punchy," "Warm," "Groove,"
"Vibe," "Feel." Especially "Punchy" and "Warm." Every time I hear those
words, I want to throttle somebody."
2) Producers who aren't also engineers, and as such, don't have the
slightest fucking idea what they're doing in a studio, besides talking all
the time.
3) Trendy electronics and other flashy shit that nobody really needs."
"When I am hired to record a band, I make it plain to my clients that I do not wish to be associated with their charming little records. I will do a good job for them, but that does not include shouldering any responsibility for their lousy tastes and mistakes."
"I charge whatever the hell I feel like at the moment, based on the client's ability to pay, how nice the band members are, the size and directly-proportional gullibility of the label, and whether or not they got the rock."
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