I know there is alot of debate about the Hit Producers of today, like Neptunes, Timbaland and many more and how they really dont do what a Producer is supposed to do. Mainly they supply a "beat" and basically ANYONE can sing the track, so if anything they should just be called "Beatmakers" not producers. To understand what a Producer is supposed to do, look no further than George Martin, who in my opinion is really responsible for The Beatles being the Legends they are, even if you take away the first 2-3 years of Beatles, with the whole CRAZE, everything they did after, starting with Rubber Soul onward, thats what a producer does, sure the Beatles were great songwriters, but George Martin was the genius behind it, he brought that genius out of the Beatles. Todays producers just really supply a Beat or Track, BUT its all the same, anyone could sing it, theres no diversity. The Production on Nelly Furtado that Timbaland has done, could have easily been done and sung by Fergie or Gwen Stefani or dare I say Paris Hilton. So true there is a lack of Diversity, Talent in Artists but also a Lack of imagination and risk taking with Producers.

George was definitely a big part of the Beatles, playing piano, writing string arrangements, introducing them to new sounds.

But I just read the Geoff Emerick (Beatles' recording engineer) book and it was interesting how involved he was in getting the specific sounds that they wanted from their voice or guitar, etc.

A lot of the stuff I thought George Martin did was actually done by Emerick (and the previous engineers). In fact, back then, he said producers didn't even touch the faders on the mixer, rather engineers did!

Another person i never hear mentioned too, would be Alan Parsons, in his early days he was an engineer, but he is the one Behind Floyds Dark Side of the Moon and other earlier works and also his Alan Parson project work too.

Geoff Emerick mentions him. I think he didn't work on many of their albums, but some of the later stuff.

Ken Scott also went on to do a lot of stuff.

Emerick has a lot of respect for George Martin, but he says that whenever photographers came he'd send all the others away so the impression would be that it was just him & the Beatles in the studio!

But George Martin did contribute actual music, unlike Emerick, Parsons, & the others who just worked on sounds.

Nigel is a great producer too.. he brings the best out of musicians...

Another would be Martin Terefe, not too well known in america though, but thats a good thing

Sdldawn said:

Yeah, I love Nigel because he smooths out rough edges so impeccably and brings everything into a flawless whole. His sound is clear and beautiful.

squiddyren said:

I found his production very obvious when he turned choas and creation into a true gem (mccartney)... cause the album wouldn't have sounded anything like it without nigel, he truely pulled something out of mccartney...

Sdldawn said:

Exactly.

Sdldawn said:

Yes. Some artists can just have a producer record what they do, but someone like McCartney really needed a guy who wouldn't shy away from having an opinion on the song as well.

Interesting that George Martin reccomended him, didn't he?

lastdecember said:

If anyone ever deserved the tag of "fifth Beatle", it's George Martin.

goosebumps said:

So true. No Disrespect to the Late Billy Preston or the Late Brian Epstien but how was the title never used on George Martin, in my opinion one of the greatest if not grreatest Producers ever.

lastdecember said:

Yeah, like I said, there were lots of others involved in making the Beatles, but George contributed music to all of their their albums.

NDRU said:

yes, he was spot on too... and i think thats why mccartney stuck with him.. i know they clashed a few times, and mccartney wanted to fire him.. but it was a very good thing he didn't.. i heard a few tracks that were pre-nigel.. and thank goodness he stayed around.