Hi there! My name is Armaan and I’m a curator at Indie World.
This week, we’re taking a lens to the famed producer Rick Rubin. In 1984, he started Def Jam Records out of his NYU dorm room with Russell Simmons. In the label’s very first year, they released LL Cool J's “I Need a Beat” and the Beastie Boys' “Rock Hard.” Def Jam grew into one the world’s biggest labels , signing artists like Jay-Z, Public Enemy, Rihanna, The Roots, and so so many more. Let’s find out how time and again he’s able to inspire creativity in the best musical artists alive.
Getting the vibes just right
Let’s set the scene. First and foremost is Rick Rubin’s appropriately named live-in studio, Shangri La. It’s a sort of creative temple. Artists from around the world come to record in Malibu, California.
Instead of locking artists in soundproofed rooms, “the studios allow the artists to remain connected to the natural world," Director of Operations Eric Lynn told Architectural Digest. Rubin’s priority is the quality of the voice, not just the quality of the recording.
A professional noticer
In a recent 60 Minutes profile, Rubin recounted the story behind a classic Tom Petty song. He had sent Rubin five songs to check out, though after listening to them Rubin thought they were just mediocre. However, buried between two songs on the demo tape, Rubin noticed a few chords Petty played just warming up that caught his ear. He told Petty: Record this, not that other stuff. The rest is history.
Looking at the Clouds
In his new book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rubin writes about the source of creativity through the metaphor of a cloud:
“The content does not come from inside us. The source is out there. A wisdom surrounding us, an inexhaustible offering that is always available. We either sense it, remember it, or tune into it. Clouds [like source] never truly disappear. They change form. They turn into rain and become part of the ocean, and then evaporate and return to being clouds. The same is true of art.”
For Rubin, ideas are not so much the result of generation, but of waiting, squinting, and finally resonating; waiting until the clouds look just right. To be more creative is not to think deeper, or better, but wider:
“The universe is only as large as our perception of it.”
Links of Note
Until now, podcasters looking for a way to distribute paid content through platforms their listeners were already using were largely out of luck. But they can now distribute exclusive Patreon content through Spotify.
Despite having 75,000 Instagram followers, lots of press, and a designer of the year award, Elena Velez was forced to fund her fashion business from her mother’s retirement fund. It’s hard to be a creative.
Even Spider-Man fan films now cost $150,000 and come with their own film premieres — and controversies.