Greatest Producer Ever??

[MarkPresti]

Last nite i met arguably the greatest record producer of the 20th century. I met George Avakian in NYC at the Birdland. I talked to the man and told him I am pursuing a career in music production to which he told me, "you better get out now. there's no music now that's worth recording." I said that i wanted to do jazz/dixieland/bigband stuff and he said, "they'll never let you do it" hahha...i told him i recorded the band we were listening to (Gully Low jazz band) and he asked me for a copy of the recording i did. needless to say, he gave me his address and told me to send him a copy. wow. i was floored. the man is somewhere around 90 years old and produced Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Sonny Rollins, just to name a few. I could barely believe i was talking to this man, shaking his hand, and then he gave me his address. I am still in shock.

[cigam]

That just goes to show ya that an individual can achieve such great accomplishments and still stay humble.

Think of all that experience he has under his belt!

If I were you I would send him a CD and see if you can meet with him and and be aquainted with him. Ask him for advice.

Obviously he's open to your presence or he would not have given you any of his private info.

Just my 2 cents

CIGAM

[natalie19]

Hey great story you sound over the moon.


The greatest producer IMO tho is dr dre..


Just my opinion

[froyo]

Hello. For my money, it would be a close call between Jimmy Page and Martin Birch. Zep is my absolute favorite music, bar none. But, Martin Birch was responsible for Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Whitesnake. Also, he's also responsible for the few Maiden albums I like, etc. In other words, pretty much anything he's ever produced I enjoy immensly. In that sense, because he has more than one group, I may give him the edge over Pagey.

[staggerlee]

I have a hard time with choosing "the greatest" in anything, because there's always something special, undefineable and individual to each person's work that someone else might not have, or that makes them brilliant in one realm, but might not work in another.

Dr. Dre is a great example. Obvioulsy a brilliant producer - but what he have done with the Beatles? Or could George Martin have produced "The Chronic"?

My top 5 list (today)

George Martin
Steve Albini
Brian Wilson
Jimmy Page
Bob Ezrin

[APinkFloydSound]

I'd give Page more credit towards engineering rather than producing...

[Guerrilla Tech]

Tom Dowd, hands down

Producer, Engineer, Tech, Designer, Innovator, Teacher

[antiphase]

Dr. Dre........ LMAO.

My vote goes towards Quincy Jones

[Blutus]

Dr. Dre........ LMAO.

My vote goes towards Quincy Jones

He and Trevor Horn are great examples of what a producer can do to a recording.

[bopsi]

John MUTT Lange, beacuse he can make Shania sing good >)