Rick Rubin + Finneas: Rolling Stone's Musicians on Musicians – Special Series

Rolling Stone Music Now

What happens when we take away the writer and ask two groundbreaking producers, from two different generations, to interview each other? On this episode of Rolling Stone's Musicians on Musicians, also running as a special series in the Rolling Stone Music Now feed, Rick Rubin and Finneas talk about how they work in the studio, their listening habits, and the frustrations and the joy involved in making great music. Rick Rubin started Def Jam Records out of his NYU dorm room in the 1980s, and went on to produce classic albums by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash and many others. He’s still going strong: In addition to his continued collaboration with groups like the Chili Peppers and The Strokes, his book The Creative Act hits bookstores in 2023. Rubin sat down with a young talent making waves of his own: Finneas O’Connell. Finneas produced his sister Billie Eilish’s 2019 smash hit debut in his childhood bedroom in L.A., and has a career of his own as an incisive singer-songwriter — just last year he released his solo debut Optimist. Rubin was a key influence when Finneas was growing up, and their conversation revealed two cutting-edge minds eager to learn from one other.

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