Top 10 Rock and Metal Producers

The Top Ten
1 Martin Birch

He was first an engineer and became renowned for engineering Deep Purple's first 11 albums. Deep Purple dedicated to him the song "Hard Lovin' Man" from their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock:
"For Martin Birch - catalyst".

2 Flemming Rasmussen

There are interesting details about him on the list Top 10 Facts About Metallica's Album Ride the Lightning

Without him, Metallica would've never made it as far as they got.

He's not only a great producer and engineer, he is a great person as well (he allowed Metallica to live in his studio while recording because Metallica had no money to stay in a hotel. Things like that.)
Some of the albums:
1) Metallica - Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets,...And Justice for All (besides, he mixed Garage Inc.)
2) Rainbow - Bent Out of Shape, Difficult to Cure
3) Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth, Imaginations From The Other Side
4) Artillery - By Inheritance
5) Morbid Angel - Covenant

3 Robert John 'Mutt' Lange

Unpopular opinion alert: I hate Mutt Lange's production style. I think that virtually every album he's produced has been polished to the point where there's little to no groove or looseness. All the instruments are tightly nipped to the point where the songs feel lifeless. This is just my opinion, though.

The absolute best in the industry!

AC/DC, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Bryan Adams, The Cars, Muse, Outlaws

4 Rick Rubin Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and former co-president of Columbia Records.

He was in berzerk which was cool so... good enough

System Of A Down - Everything

Has a good resume

5 Scott Burns

Extreme metal: Death, Obituary, Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Exhorder

6 Bob Rock Robert Jens "Bob" Rock is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as The Tragically Hip, Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, Bryan Adams, The Offspring, Michael Bublé, Black Veil Brides ...read more.
7 George Martin Sir George Henry Martin was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer, and musician

He produced many The Beatles albums

8 Bob Ezrin

He is mainly a Co Producer but he produced albums for Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd(which includes The Wall) Deep Purple, Deftones

9 Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by his two trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. Spector developed the Wall of Sound, a production style that is characterized for its diffusion of tone colors and dense orchestral sound, which he described as a Wagnerian approach to rock and roll. He is regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history and one of the most successful producers of the 1960s. ...read more.

He worked with The Beatles, Ramones, John Lennon, Ike and Tina Turner, Leonard Cohen, and more.
He was an influential producer but he's got a bad reputation because he murdered Lana Clarkson and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Before that he had pulled a gun on many people (mostly women) but there are rumors of him pointing weapons at everyone from John Lennon to the Ramones.

Let's not stay in the past

10 Fredrik Nordström

Opeth, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, Soilwork,In Flames

The Contenders
11 Terry Date

Pantera, Soundgarden, Overkill, Deftones, Metal Church, Slipknot, Soulfly, Korn (but also Limp Bizkit, so I can't put him very high on this list)

12 Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, RDI is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, writer, and visual artist.
13 Nigel Godrich

Worked with Radiohead, Thom Yorke, Beck, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., and Roger Waters among others.

14 Brendan O'Brien

Didn't a guy with that name voice every Crash Bandicoot character

AC/DC, Stone Temple Pilots, Jackyl, Korn, Pearl Jam, Mastodon, Rage Against the Machine, Killswitch Engage

15 Quincy Jones Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, composer, musician, television producer, film producer, instrumentalist, magazine founder, entertainment company executive, and humanitarian.

On his genres section of Wikipedia, rock and roll is included.

16 Rob Cavallo
17 Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa was an American musician, songwriter, composer, record producer, actor and filmmaker.

Thank him for Steve Vai

18 Butch Vig
19 Jimmy Page James Patrick Page is an English musician, songwriter, and record producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin.

Not the cleanest guitar player, but one hell of a songwriter/producer.

20 Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia.
21 Ric Ocasek Richard Theodore Otcasek known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer.

Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Poison Idea, Weezer, etc.

22 Berry Gordy
23 Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson is an English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, most closely associated with the progressive rock genre. He is best known for his band Porcupine Tree.
24 Roger Glover Roger David Glover is a British bassist, songwriter, and record producer. Glover is best known as the bassist for hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow.

Deep Purple and Rainbow bassist produced over 40 rock and metal albums. Of course he produced several Deep Purple and Rainbow albums but not all of them.
But he also produced Judas Priest, Nazareth, Elf (Dio's band), Michael Schenker Group, David Coverdale, Pretty Maids, and more.

25 Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor, known professionally as Trent Reznor, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and film score composer. He is known for his intense music videos.

Famous producer and songwriter for the awesome band, Nine Inch Nails. He is super talented and clever with lyrics, and he produces really good albums overall. I don't know why he is not in at least the top 10

Trent is very meticulous in everything he does.

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