Rick Rubin on finding the magic in music

0:00Hi, it's Lauren LeVern and this is Desert Island Disks postcards, a selection of some of our most memorable moments from the thousands of people we've cast away to our imaginary Desert Island. Our final postcard this week comes to you from the Grammy Award-winning record producer, Mike Rubin. He's responsible for shaping the sound of artists including the Red or Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys, but pictures of him hard at work look like someone else's holiday. He can usually be found reclining barefoot on a sofa with his eyes closed, waiting for the magic to occur. He spoke to me in 2022. I'm not technical in any way and my job is to listen. I could listen in the deepest way if I'm relaxed with my eyes closed. What are you listening for? Is it a search or is it just an experience?

1:01It's just an experience. I'm both listening to what's coming at me and paying attention to what's going on in my body as I listen. Does something happen that makes me want to lean forward? Is there something that makes me want to laugh? Even if it's not funny, is there something that surprises me or makes me want to know more? It boars me, which happens and then I would say that's a problem. If it's boring to me, it'll probably be boring to someone else or it's likely to be. Sometimes though you don't even work in the studio. Where else do you like to go with your artist? Where do those conversations start? We just finished the basic tracks for the next Strokes album. We recorded it on a mountain top in Costa Rica with the band outside looking over the ocean. Oh wow. And it was unbelievable. I mean. Never done that before. Is that bring to the music? I can imagine that's an unbelievable day at the office, so to speak. But it brings a quality to the recording. If you've made several albums and if each album is going to recording studio, you get

2:06into this habit of we're doing another one, we're doing another one. And when you create this new venue for something to happen, it's not just another one. It's a different experience. And sometimes as something as simple as turning lights off in the room can change the way a performance happens, being in a remote place or in the case of the Chili Peppers, the Blood Trigger Sex Magic album was recorded in a house, a haunted house. And it adds to the adventure. The whole project has this feeling of adventure to it. And sometimes it works its way into the way it sounds. Rick Rubin, he's music choicers for his desert island included Roberta Flak, Neil Yong and Simon and Gough Funko. You can listen to the full episode of Desert Island Discs on BBC Sounds. Just search for Rick Rubin Desert Island Discs.