Rick Rubin: The 60 Minutes Interview

Rick Rubin is one of the most talented music producers of his generation and certainly one of the most interesting at 60 he's worked with just about every top recording artist across all genres in an industry geared toward churning out hits Reuben's focus is on feelings and helping artists get in touch with their musical selves that sounds somewhat mystical that's just fine with Rick Rubin after all his storied studio in California is named Shangri-La and as we first told you earlier this year he's been called the guru by more than a few of the artists he's worked with in fact before our interview even began Reuben crossed his legs closed his eyes and then suggested we do the same the story will continue in a moment yes we spent two minutes eyes closed meditating before we start just to like really get here sure let's do that that's the first nice does meditation help you creatively it clears the distractions say the distractions can get in the way with a direct connection to the creative Force [Music] Rick Rubin is definitely in tune with his creative force over the last four decades he's produced albums and songs with more than 120 artists but just keep them really simple bottom um thinking maybe we start acapella I got 99 problems but a ain't one I got 99 problems but a ain't one coming back he's helped launch careers LL Cool J and Public Enemy among them is often the go-to guy for artists at the top of their game like Adele [Music] but exactly what he does and how is difficult to describe [Music] do you play instruments barely do you know how to work a soundboard no technical ability and I know nothing about music you must know something well I know what I like and what I don't like and I'm decisive about what I like and what I don't like so what are you being paid for the confidence that I have in my taste and my ability to express what I feel has proven helpful for artists [Music] artists are eager to make the pilgrimage to Shangri-La studios in Malibu to work with Reuben how many studios do you have here there's the main control room here with the live room the place is minimalist to say the least there's no mirrors no TVs no signs of Rick rubin's extraordinary success I'd never been in a recording studio where there's not gold records and Grammys do you have like a tiny ego room somewhere I don't I I used to send them all to my parents and I don't know where they are now it's a distraction if you start thinking about doing something to achieve that then you're not focused on this making this beautiful thing it undermines the purity of the project we're going back to the key and we're going back to the tempo Reuben has referred to himself as a reducer instead of a producer I like the idea of getting the point across with the least amount of information possible and that's what you're doing in a recording studio you're listening to music to sound and trying to strip it just see what's what is actually necessary getting it down to that Essence to start with is really helpful in understanding what it is on our first day he brought us in on a jam session with saxophone great kamasi Washington what are you listening for like right now there's what Chimes piano yeah I'm not listening to any of those things okay what are you listening to I'm listening to the feeling [Music] how do you listen to a Feeling well my body's moving feel that Melody awaken something in me there's something familiar about it but I don't think I've heard it before the feeling of familiarity is the good feelings if you haven't noticed by now Rick Rubin talks a lot about feelings my aim is not to have my presence felt unless it's necessary unless it's helpful his presence is laid back literally he usually listens lying down and Barefoot with his eyes shut you might think he was napping I try to listen as closely as I possibly can and when my eyes are closed I feel like I'm there with the music it may not seem like work but Reuben hears things and senses things other producers don't back in 1993 a few stray guitar chords on a Tom Petty demo tape caught his attention Tom Sent Me demos of about five new songs and none of them really struck me honestly none of them spoke to me but that guitar riff that opens a song was something that was played between two of the songs just like a like a warm-up I drove to Tom's house and I played it for him I said listen to this space I feel like this is the best thing on the tape write this one and that turned into Last Dance With Mary Jane [Music] that's going to be hard though and you come back saying you know I like the thing that happened accidentally in between two of these songs that's a tough sell sometimes isn't it I'm not trying to sell it I'm just cheering what I'm feeling you know it's like if they don't want to do it it's fine Ruben has shared what he's learned in a book the creative act a way of being it was published in January and is his guide to harnessing creativity something he figured out how to do his sophomore year at New York University in 1982. his parents wanted him to be a lawyer but Reuben had another idea you decide the dorm is going to be the studio it's going to be the DJ booth drum machine pre-production music area yes did your roommate have any say in that he didn't but he loved it he was going out every night he wasn't into booze or drugs he says the music is what Drew him and Hip-Hop was just starting to Make Some Noise what was it about hip-hop that attracted you this kid from Long Island at NYU it wasn't made by people who went to the Music Conservatory it was made by kids who felt something but the few hip-hop records Reuben could get his hands on didn't sound like what he heard in the clubs in a hip-hop club the music was made by the DJ scratching records [Music] or playing break beats or using drum machines or some combination and then there would be a rapper or a group of rappers and the records that came out were always a band playing [Music] and that wasn't what to me what hip-hop was so Reuben persuaded rapper T LaRock and DJ Jazzy J to let him produce a record that captured the way they sounded live the stripped down sound got noticed and Reuben teamed up with Music Manager Russell Simmons you had a meeting in your dorm room I had all my meetings at the dorm room I met with Run DMC at the dorm room I met with everybody at the dorm room that dorm became the headquarters for Def Jam recordings did New York University know that you were operating not just a side hustle like you were operating a business out of the school eventually it became an issue because over time as Def Jam grew the entire mail room was filled with boxes of Records to be shipped out his senior year Reuben was working with Run DMC the Beastie Boys and a teenage LL Cool J and after he graduated Def Jam landed a seven-figure distribution deal with Columbia Records Reuben was always looking for new Talent you heard a jingle from a college radio show and tracked down the rapper Chuck D who wrote it and convinced him to sign with Def Jam that's how the groundbreaking group Public Enemy got started [Music] heck do you think Rick had on hip hop Rick Rubin is one of the pillow stones of hip-hop he didn't pioneer the production he didn't Pioneer the rap but he pioneered a certain energy for it to be daring [Music] Reuben left Def Jam in 1988 and set up shop in California producing Slayer and other heavy metal bands and well-established artists Johnny Cash credited him with Reviving his career the first time I got seen was at a dinner theater in in Orange County it just seemed like the world had passed him by and he believed the world had passed them by Ruben looked around for lyrics that would suit the man in Black he picked a nine inch nails song called hurt cash made it his own I hurt myself today but I still feel wow that's her that's incredible it sounded honest it's brutally honest it's brutally honest it's brutally honest hurt became one of Johnny Cash's most popular songs and over the course of a decade they made Seven albums together he shows up in all these different genres and helps the real sound of those genres emerge yeah yeah Rick Rubin had always been a little Bruce Lee zinnish I can't teach you what I can help you explore yourself that type of thing Chuck D like the rest of us is still trying to figure out exactly how Rick Rubin does what he does yo Anderson Rick was on the couch and I was wondering we're in the booth I'm gonna is he sleep or awake or what and then makes a couple of suggestions boom boom boom boom and sure enough it unfolds itself in like ah dudes this is he just did some Rick Rubin to cuss we watched him do that with pop singer Kesha I think we should double that one would it be like let's hear it why she was recording with the gospel choir [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Rick what do you think if we want to put it into the song we can chop it up this was her first time being Guided by the guru working with him has been genuinely life-changing he gave me like homework assignments what are homework assignments so I was writing a song and I couldn't articulate what I needed to say and he's like go home and write a full essay about everything you need to say until you can't write anymore and then the song kind of started forming itself so he's not saying let's make a gold record that's going to do this in sales and he was like I just want to make good music and I was like that's so crazy the audience comes last how can that be well the audience doesn't know what they want the audience only knows what's come before isn't the whole music business built around trying to figure out what somebody likes maybe for someone else it is but it's not for me making music is of course a business whether he's working with Malian singer umu sangarei Kesha or Johnny Cash Rick Rubin insists for him it's always been a deeply emotional Pursuit we're trying to tap into a feeling we're trying to tap into something that makes you want to lean forward and pay more attention and I'm giving cues to look for in yourself because it all has to do with the artist but I mean that does sound very spiritual it is no it is the whole thing is spiritual is Magic and you don't want somebody who who's listening to a music to think oh that's a Rick Rubin record no no I want them to say this is the best thing I've ever heard and not know why for a look at how 60 Minutes reports its stories go to 60 minutes overtime.com

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 863,021

Keywords: 60 Minutes, CBS News, Rick Rubin, johnny cash, rick rubin interview, rick rubin ll cool j, rick rubin 60 minutes, johnny cash hurt, johnny cash folsom prison blues, rick rubin 60 minutes clip, rick rubin 60 minutes full

Id: EUbUn9FnrME

Length: 13min 32sec (812 seconds)

Published: Mon May 29 2023