Link Salad, the Aural Shaman Edition
-- Why Hans Zimmer Got the Job You Wanted (And You Didn't) - Michael A. Levine, Soundtracks and Trailer Music, July 12, 2013
"Hans is a so-so pianist and guitarist and his knowledge of academic theory is, by intention, limited. (I was once chastised while working on The Simpsons Movie for saying “lydian flat 7″ instead of “the cartoon scale.”) He doesn’t read standard notation very well, either. But no one reads piano roll better than he does. [The piano roll is a page of a music computer program that displays the notes graphically.] Which gets to the heart of the matter: Hans knows what he needs to know to make it sound great."
-- The Wisdom of the Beard: Understanding the Rick Rubin Experience in 2013 - Steven Hyden, Grantland, Nov. 19, 2013
"The invention (or, more accurately, crystallization) of Rubin as a concept also came in 1986 - henceforth he was officially known as a Man Who Knows Things, a real-life Visionary Facilitator. And that status was affixed without an expiration date. If he had gone back to being Frederick Jay Rubin on January 1, 1987, subsequently finishing his philosophy degree at NYU and selling carburetors in Lido Beach, he'd still be remembered today as a legend for everything he did in '86."
"Hans is a so-so pianist and guitarist and his knowledge of academic theory is, by intention, limited. (I was once chastised while working on The Simpsons Movie for saying “lydian flat 7″ instead of “the cartoon scale.”) He doesn’t read standard notation very well, either. But no one reads piano roll better than he does. [The piano roll is a page of a music computer program that displays the notes graphically.] Which gets to the heart of the matter: Hans knows what he needs to know to make it sound great."
-- The Wisdom of the Beard: Understanding the Rick Rubin Experience in 2013 - Steven Hyden, Grantland, Nov. 19, 2013
"The invention (or, more accurately, crystallization) of Rubin as a concept also came in 1986 - henceforth he was officially known as a Man Who Knows Things, a real-life Visionary Facilitator. And that status was affixed without an expiration date. If he had gone back to being Frederick Jay Rubin on January 1, 1987, subsequently finishing his philosophy degree at NYU and selling carburetors in Lido Beach, he'd still be remembered today as a legend for everything he did in '86."