We love Rick Beato in our house - so many great videos, so much knowledge!!!

(also, not shy with his opinions!)

Thanks for sharing!!!

I especially liked this vid.

The cicada hihats. I need to try that!

Here I go, ruffling feathers again.

Who exactly is this schmuck beyond a self proclaimed music industry somebody with a youtube channel? He keeps telling us what a producer he is but I can't find anything about him that mentions any bands of note. Parmalee is the most successful, and from what I read on a quick scan they sold 7300 copies of their most successful album, and I don't even know if that is the one Beato produced. He seems to produce first albums of a bunch of nobody bands that don't sell and they move on to someone else. I just don't see that he has the cred to be blowing his own horn like he does. 90% of his income comes from youtube videos that I watch 3 or 4 minutes of before I realize it's not really all that interesting. He has a ton of gear but anybody can buy gear.

What exactly am I missing? I mean this is not Bob Clearmountain or Mutt Lange here. With so many bands self producing, people like this are losing relevance every day. For a while there every video had some guitar player named Rhett Shull on it, and more research on that guy shows he is a hired gun player who primarily plays with a lot of lower level bands. If somebody wants to get my attention, produce albums for acts that play arenas.

The link below is his production resume. Anybody there REALLY catch your eye? For me he falls into that group of youtube heroes who have no real job and need some kind of scam to make money. All the "guitar teachers" and guitar "techs" who restring guitars and gear channels run by people who don't even play in bands.... I don't get it.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/rick-beato-mn0000357243/credits

Please enlighten me.

I like him for his in depth analysis of some of my favorite hard rock songs. It's interesting to hear what keys/modes bands use and some of the trickery that happens in the studio to make it sound the way the final outcome is. Nothing more, nothing less for me.....

Seriously?

Based on the link you showed, this guy has contributed to 210 albums in the past 20 years as either: composer, producer, mixing and sound engineer for vocals, percussion, Organ, Piano and guitar. That is over 10 albums a year for 20 years!

On top of that a YouTube channel with 1.81 million subscribers. He is a character, which makes his discussion interesting. But more than that he has 35 + years in the music industry including being a guitarist.

What is not to get?

You ever heard of any of those 210? Ever seen any of those bands at "The Enormodome"? The top Parmalee album he produced some 7300 copies. Yes, it's more than me, but I am not the standard. I listen far more to what Don Was says, or Steve Albini.

Most of his income comes from youtube. Shouldn't most of his income come from producing platinum albums?

For comparison, look up Todd Rundgren's production credits. Tell me which of the 2 has more street cred.

Not saying the guy is a stiff, but that I don't know any bands he has done that were major successes. He has his roster of minor leaguers from Atlanta where he is that are always on his youtube but they just say "Well, I think....". You know what part of the body opinions are like, right? TEACH us! Like Recording Revolution does on his youtube channel.

But, to each their own.

I wish I could pick out the chords that fast and know what key they were from. I mean without having to seem to think about it.

Pretty sure he reviewed each song and made notes before he filmed.

Rick can be very annoying and tends to rant a bit but the What makes... series is interesting. He does hang with also ran musicians/youtube folk but he has a good ear.
I suspect any random top 10 across the 50s to now would be rendered to some songs using the same chord progression, having the same drum beat etc. The Wrecking Crew would've been called out for being the same players I suppose. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like any of the ten he essayed but pop music is POPULAR music and, as such, is faddish, cyclical, auto-cannibalistic and often anathema to those not of the current target demographic.

Yes, same here, Steve.

Just seems pretty petty to be bad mouthin a workin man in the music industry.

I don't know about that Eddie. Some people are pretty gifted in this area. I have a friend from northern Indiana. He plays keyboards. Now granted he has a degree in music composition and plays each Sunday in church, but he has something I will never have.

What amazes me about him is that he can turn on the radio, hear a song he's never heard before, one time, and then play it start to finish. I challenged him one time to just play specific parts, the bass line, the harmony, the chorus etc as the song was playing. He never heard this song before! I even change to other stations from one type of music to another...rock, country, smooth jazz...didn't make any difference. He played it perfectly!

A gifted talent I will never have but a talent I certainly appreciate nonetheless.

Jeff

My only issue with Beato is that he has an arrogance about him where he has positioned himself as a prime time player level producer. He is not that. You made a point of 10 albums per year. Think about that in this way. You don't work on one album at a time. Bands don't come into your studio for 10 hour marathons. He may have 4 albums going on at one time. Anybody with the amount of time on his hands that he puts into his youtube channel is NOT a busy producer.

Just a question to give me some scale and perspective. Would you rather list yourself as producer on 10 albums a year done by bands you have never heard of and will never hear from again or just one? If that one is by Carrie Underwood?

When you have to constantly remind people that you are important or relevant, you probably aren't. Newer shining stars in Nashville like Tom Bright, Matt Serletic, older day guys like Bob Clearmountain, Mutt Lange, Butch Vig, Rick Rubin, Nile Rogers, Quincy Jones, the late George Martin, Tom Dowd and Phil Spector.... everybody knows their name. Their resumes are common knowledge. And none of them have a lot of spare time to spend shooting and editing youtube videos. Beato has to TELL you he is a producer. When your primary income source is youtube and not producing, that says it all.

That being said, I greatly respect his knowledge, as he knows WAY more than I do. And in the purely philosophical sense, every man is my superior in that I may learn from him. Social Blade says his youtube income is as high as $493 per year. 752 uploads. It takes days to make an upload when you edit as heavily as he does, with screen cut-ins, do-overs, guest video shots to insert... I mean god bless him for as much effort as he puts into his channel. I have a channel just for the few friends I have to view my completely unedited videos about life stuff I want to share. Beato has 1.8 million subs. He puts out good information. I just don't care for his smugness and his representation of being a big-time producer.

As a producer, Rick Beato produced albums have won two GMA Dove Awards that's not been mentioned in this discussion.
As a songwriter, Rick Beato co-wrote and produced the demo for a platinum selling #1 Country hit.
As a YouTube Entrepreneur, Rick Beato recently testified before a Senate Subcommittee. (Todd Rudgren appeared before a Senate Sub committee in 2006.)
Also not mentioned is Parmalee still has a recording contract and a recent video release has in excess of 2.1 million views.
Also not mentioned is Parmalee's first hit album sold 91,200 by February 2015.
Also not mentioned is Parmalee's album produced Three consecutive top ten singles in 2016 making Parmalee only the 4th artist to achieve that hallmark since 2001.
Also not mentioned is Parmalee's hit single was platinum and #1 on the country charts.
Also not mentioned is Parmalee's 2014 nomination for ACM New Duo of the Year.
Also not mentioned is Parmalee's 2015 nomination for Teen Choice Group of the Year.

It may be wrong to assume Rick Beato's primary income is just YouTube. A biography of him also states he's currently a college professor on the faculty of a music collage. He's on the board of directors of a Charter School. Rick Beato has a bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in music.

He didn't produce all of the Parmalee albums. The best seller they had was Feels Like Carolina. (The 91.200 seller.) That was produced by New Voice Entertainment, composed of Rich Redmond, Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy, and David Fanning. If you all hang his hat on Parmalee, they don't use him anymore. My research into their album history leads me to think they left him after the first album.

I am NOT putting the guy down. I just think about him as the next tier down from the big dogs though he talks himself up to the David Foster level and I want to know more about his street cred. Your critique has too many vagaries. Like "co-wrote and produced the demo for a platinum selling #1 Country hit." What hit by what band? He was "not mentioned" likely because he was not involved.

But this is all moot. I just want to know more specifics. He knows a ton and I respect the knowledge. I can say I am a producer too because I did my own album t hat nobody outside the 45 people who bought it ever heard of.

But they DID get an autographed picture with it!!!!

<< He didn't produce all of the Parmalee albums. >>
Rick Beato didn't produce any Parmalee album or commercial single release. He only recorded a demo for them. He's put out a very detailed video regarding this and the story as I recall is that Parmalee was referred to him because other commercial studios did not think they were ready for commercial recordings and their material wasn't strong enough. Very similar story to how George Martin was connected with the Beatles.

<< The best seller they had was Feels Like Carolina. (The 91.200 seller.) >>
This is the song Rick Beato co-wrote with Parmalee and also the demo he made for them. According to the video where Rick tells the story, this occurred several years prior to "Feels Like Carolina" be re-recorded in a commercial studio and released as a single. Rick explains clearly in that video he had nothing to do with the recording and commercially released version of the song.

<< If you all hang his hat on Parmalee, they don't use him anymore.>>
Rick Beato actually never had any further working relationship other than the co-write credits. The members of Parmalee did have the courtesy to phone him and tell him the song was re-recorded and was being commercially released as a single. That was the first and only contact between them in the time period between writing the song and recording the demo and this phone call. Rick Beato's hat with Parmalee is singularly co-writing their best original material and making a demo of it.

To reiterate, Rick Beato does have two Dove Awards as a producer and no Parmalee in site. That is first tier producing.

I have never heard of a Dove award, but I'll take your word for it.

I'm with you Steve. I find he is well researched, pragmatic, balanced, and calls it how it is.

Rarely do I disagree with the material he puts forward and discusses. I listen start to end. He has a lot of respect from the community, respect that can't be genuinely earned by being a phony.

I'm a big fan of Rick myself. I'm always looking for good sites on YouTube for learning about music, music theory, and entertainment, and he is one of my favorites. I've probably learned more about music theory from his videos than any other single source. Sometimes I laugh at him because he gets so into the song he's playing, or he rants but you can see he just lives and breathes music, and he knows an incredible amount. Rick has introduced me to a lot of great music that I would never have known about - for example Allan Holdsworth's IOU album, the amazing guitar work of Wes Montgomery, Martha Argerich (wow - how did I miss her??).

Rayc - so spot on and well spoken

I have been one of his subscribers for about 3 years now. I have lifted chord progressions and ideas from several of the WMTSG? Series.

I’m trying to recall a single time where he was trying to promote himself as a big producer and I can’t recall one.

What I do love is his way that he has shown me a side door to bands that I have sneered at before or simply just disregarded. Particularly in their unique chord progressions or bass lines or production tricks or you name it. I really could care less if he has or has not produced a hit record. I have learned a great deal from him and rarely do I listen/watch one of his videos where I don’t come away from the time spent and regret it. Rather the opposite. For that, I am very glad his vids are available. His joy in enjoyment of great rock music is infectious.

It sure beats watching the news.

I thought it was an interesting video - interestingly, I never thought to question the legitimacy of Rick Beato's career. I've never followed TONS of what he does but it's always been very apparent he knows his stuff.

Interesting views and fun to see how quickly he "digs" the progression. And yes he seems quite pleased with himself

His videos on music theory are quite interesting if you are interested in that. He actually makes most of his money selling his Beato Book which is his music theory instruction. Most of his videos get de-monetized because he uses copyrighted music in his discussions so the rights holders get paid not him. He is also a pretty good guitarist, even outstanding.

I enjoy why is this song great series as he dissects some pretty good songs and explains why he thinks they were good and successful. His opinion of course. Plenty of good old rock and pop for us old guys.

But hey, it is not everybody's cup of tea and of course nobody forces you to watch him. There are only a billion other videos to watch on YouTube.

I don't remember seeing him say he is some kind of world class producer. He is just a guy with a lot of knowledge trying to make a living in a music business that is becoming increasingly hard to make a living in.

Since 1969 the GMA Dove Awards has honored outstanding achievements and excellence in Christian and Gospel Music.

Shall I add that he is one of the rare interviewer to leave complete space to his guest. Never interrupting them, speaking too much, wanting to show off etc. On the contrary, he has a LOT of respect for musicians he interviews and humilty towards them (watch his full interview of Frank Gambale, you'll see what I mean).

You can dislike the guy if he is not your cup of tea but putting in suspicion his skills, expertise, and talent is not justified. Plus, this is is channel so if he wants to give his opinion on this or that, he is free to do it.

I can't say I learn a lot from his theory videos. Much of it is too far over my head and current understanding, and what isn't tends to not be presented as "well" as others may who are more focused on that aspect. Still, I've picked up bits jut watching even if I prefer it "explained" by others.

It well could be by year's end he has 2 million subscribers. He's an excellent resource for introducing his older audience to new acts, and his younger audience to old acts. I doubt anybody is doing it better, except maybe some of those "reaction" videos-

I think his "what Makes This Song Great" series is outstanding--super advice from example on everything from writing to musical knowledge to introductions to production. He's no you-tube hobbyist.

Sooner or later, I'll get his book. There's no doubt he knows his stuff, and I'll be able to peruse it more slowly than watching it fly by on a video.

That's a very odd statement.
I've known a few people "workin ..in the music business..." that deserve being called out.
Let's try "Just seems pretty petty to be bad mouthin' a workin' man in the adult film industry."
or
"Just seems pretty petty to be bad mouthin' a workin' womman in the solar industry."
How about...
"Just seems pretty petty to be bad mouthin'."?
OR allow folk to express a contrary opinion.

I like Rick's videos. I think he's being generous with his praise for some of these songs. I just can't imagine any of them being played at football stadiums, for example, 50 years from now the way the 60s and 70s songs are played today. They probably won't have any staying power.