Phil Ramone with Charles L. Granata - Making Records: The Scenes Behind The Music (2007)

I recommend reading Making Records: The Scenes Behind The Music - the late Phil Ramone's collaborative memoir with writer Charles L. Granata - even though this 2007 autobiography of the legendary record producer received mixed reviews. Some readers complain the book doesn't provide enough technical information so they never actually learn how records are made, and others say the author offers too much of it.

To me, Ramone struck a nice balance between the technical details of how music is recorded with the human side, and that's the way it should be. There is so much more to know about making good records than highly detailed explanations about microphone placement or how certain pieces of recording equipment were used.

Ramone possessed instinctively great people skills. It gave him the ability to work with many of the world's biggest egos. That extraordinary trait enabled him to provide the stars with what they wanted from their recording dates while understanding that he needed to remain firmly in control of any sessions he helmed.

Musicians wanted to work with Ramone because they knew he would enhance their artistic visions instead of steering them toward the sounds he desired. You can tell how highly regarded he was because of how many of the world's biggest stars employed him as either their engineer or producer. He worked with with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Tony Bennett, Chicago, Luciano Pavarotti, Madonna, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, Julian Lennon, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Karen Carpenter, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Harry Belafonte, Peter Paul & Mary and a whole lot more.

Ramone said that when dealing with the huge personalities of iconic stars such as Sinatra or Streisand he had the freedom to tell them that he believed they had a better performance inside of them than the one they already laid down on tape. At the same time he knew he'd better be right, and - as it turned out - he almost always was. 

Ramone tells readers how he got started in the business. He began violin lessons when he was only three years old and became so proficient he played a command performance for the Queen at age ten. Later, he studied classical violin at Julliard. While there he developed an interest in jazz and discovered he preferred being on the other side of the glass over performing. This led to his career as an engineer and a producer.

The most informative part of the book was Ramone's chapter explaining what a record producer actually does. He said most people don't fully comprehend all of their responsibilities. "The record producer is the music world's equivalent of a film director."  He writes that "there are three basic parts to making a record and that the producer is directly involved in each of them":

"1. Recording - the session when the music is played and recorded

2. Mixing - when all of the individual sections recorded at the session (or sessions) are blended  together

3. Mastering - when the final sound is tweaked and polished"

Ramone explained how producing has changed over the years. Fifty years ago few artists were allowed to call their own shots. People like Sinatra and Brian Wilson were anomalies. Most of the time the producers and record companies were in total command of their recording sessions. Why else do the Motown hits of The Supremes and The Four Tops sound exactly alike except for the vocals? Many times musicians didn't even have a say in what songs they recorded. It often seems that the true artists of the 60s were the producers, and the band or singer who played on the records were simply one of their instruments.

Today, most artists are very involved with the creation of their own work. Advanced technology and home studios have enabled musicians to produce themselves, but they still hire outside producers to bring "objectivity" to their songs.

Ramone has also produced Broadway plays, movie soundtracks and big-name outdoor concerts such as Simon and Garfunkel's famous concert in Central Park.

Ramone appears to idolize many of the artists he's worked with. Although I love them both - and own quite a few of their records - the author spends a little too much time with Billy Joel and Paul Simon, but perhaps that's because he worked with each of them extensively. Except for those minor criticisms, Making Records is time well spent for any music fan interested in how many of their favorite albums and songs were created.