Producer Rick Rubin born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York in 1963, graduated high school in 1981. Johnny Cash, born in Kingsland, Arkansas in 1932, graduated high school in 1950. Yet these two, separated in time by more than thirty years, and by an even wider socio-cultural gap, will forever be linked by the music they created together during Cash’s last decade of life. Rubin’s resurrection of Cash’s career with the release of American Music in 1994 is but one fascinating facet of this enigmatic figure’s twenty year career in music.

In 1984, while a film and video student at N.Y.U., Rubin met Russell Simmons at Danceteria—a New York club where downtown hardcore rockers and uptown rappers mixed comfortably—and the two immediately hit it off, sharing a common musical vision of hard beats and hard rhymes, with Simmons drawing from R&B roots and Rubin from hard rock. Rubin had a vision of melding the two seemingly disparate musical forms and though he’d never produced a record, he sought out the duo of T. La Rock and Jazzy Jay, and out of that came a 12” vinyl single, “It’s Yours,” which was released on Partytime/Streetwise records. It featured rhyming raps set to a loud, hardcore beat with metal overtones. Though the track went on to sell around 100,000 copies—an impressive number for the newly emerging musical genre—Rubin was never paid for his work.

Meeting again with Simmons—this time in a music promoter’s office—and sharing non-payment woes, the two decided to go into business together. They co-founded Def Jam Records, running it out of Rubin’s dorm room. Each contributed $4000 to the company. Def Jam’s first release, L.L. Cool J’s “I Need a Beat,” reportedly made for around $700, sold over 100,000 copies. A month later, the label issued The Beastie Boys’s “Rock Hard/The Party’s Getting Rough/ Beastie Groove.” Less than a year after its founding, Def Jam had issued seven singles and had negotiated a distribution deal with Columbia Records. Rubin also found time to produce an album for thrash/metal band Slayer. He was 22 years old.

Over the next few years, Def Jam, with Rubin producing, issued The Beastie Boys’ pivotal Licensed to Ill, Public Enemy’s Yo, Bum Rush the Show! and many other successful singles and LPs—including The Cult’s Electric. Rubin was not about to be pigeonholed musically. Simmons and Rubin eventually split up, with Rubin creating the Def American label. In the decade that followed the founding of Def Jam, Rubin went on to produce and executive produce an eclectic mix of artists including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Andrew Dice Clay (!) and Mick Jagger. 1994 saw the release of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers and of course Johnny Cash’s American Music. More recently, he’s produced System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Audio Slave and many other groups.

A few months ago, through Grant Samuelson of Shunyata Research, I became aware that Rubin was also a devoted audio enthusiast. I expressed an interest in meeting and interviewing Rubin and through Samuelson, I was able to connect up with Rubin who agreed to the interview. Early in December of this year (2003) I traveled to Los Angeles, and met with Rubin in his home in the Hollywood Hills, which also serves as a recording studio, and out of which he runs his business.

Once inside the gates of Rubin’s impressive enclave—an imposing, classic Hollywood estate—I made my way to the back door where I was greeted by an assistant and ushered into a listening room. Both outside and in, the property is populated by Eastern religious shrines and statues, about which I admit complete ignorance.

I sat down on the couch, not noticing the stuffed Polar Bear standing directly behind me, until much later when I returned from the bathroom. While I waited for Rubin’s arrival, I noted the equipment: Audio Physic Virgo IIIs (behind which were a pair of enormous Legacy Audio towers), Manley monoblock tube amps, a Hovland HP-100 preamp, and Sony SCD-1 SACD player. Cables included Acoustic Zen interconnects and speaker cables and Shunyata Research AC cords. Yes, Rubin was clearly a serious audiophile.

A short time after I arrived, a relaxed, affable Rubin appeared. Though the interview was scheduled to last for around an hour, we ended up spending most of an enjoyable afternoon together. After finishing the formal Q and A, we talked about audio gear, dogs, music, philosophy, more audio, and I can’t remember what else. I got a tour of the recording facility, which included a trophy room filled with various keyboard instruments and stuffed, mounted animal heads obviously left there by a previous owner. Rubin is a vegetarian.