more on rubin from his wikipedia entry (have ya picked up that i love rick rubin yet?)
Production trademarks
Rubin's biggest trademark as a producer has been a "stripped-down" sound, that involves eliminating cliché production elements such as string sections, backup vocals, reverb, and instead having naked vocals and bare instrumentation. However, by the 2000's, Rubin style had been known to include such elements, as noted in the Washington Post: "As the track reaches a crescendo and Diamond's portentous baritone soars over a swelling string arrangement, Rubin leans back, as though floored by the emotional power of the song".[3]
His previous style began with his very first production effort, LL Cool J's Radio, which consisted of little more than rapping and percussive beats (the liner notes credit for the album read "Reduced by Rick Rubin" rather than the usual "Produced by Rick Rubin"). He later developed a reputation as a "song doctor" who, by performing the same reduction on the sound of veteran singers and bands, could help them break out of the commercial rut they were currently in. He did this most notably with Johnny Cash, but also achieved this with Tom Petty, AC/DC (on the album Ballbreaker) and Neil Diamond (on 12 Songs).
Albums in the 2000's, produced by Rick Rubin, have been criticized as containing more Audio level compression and of containing too much clipping. Examples of this include Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) by Slipknot. It can be argued, though, that these artifacts usually come from mastering decisions and are not made by the producer. The mastering house is also generally chosen by the record label, not the producer.
Rubin relies heavily on arrangements and elements of sound. On this subject, Dan Charnas, a music journalist who worked as vice president of A&R and marketing at Rubin's American Recordings label in the 1990s, said "He's fantastic with sound and arrangements, and he's tremendous with artists. They love him. He shows them how to make it better, and he gets more honest and exciting performances out of people than anyone."[3]
Rubin's work has included the fusion of rap and hard rock/heavy metal as evidenced in his work with Run-D.M.C. and the Beastie Boys. Later examples of rap-rock work were Jay-Z's 2003 song "99 Problems" and Lil' Jon's 2004 song "Stop Fuckin' Wit Me". The latter sampled Slayer's "Mandatory Suicide" and "Reign in Blood", both originally produced by Rubin.
Another trademark has been having artists cover songs where the covering band's style is different from the original version of the song. In addition to the notable covers of Run-D.M.C. and Johnny Cash, Rubin produced Slayer's cover of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", executive-produced the Black Crowes' career-launching cover of Otis Redding's "Hard To Handle", and produced Rage Against The Machine's 2000 covers album, Renegades.
In 2006, Metallica announced that their new album will be produced by Rick Rubin; however, this ended a 15+ year relationship with longtime producer Bob Rock.
Rick Rubin is currently co-producing Linkin Park's new album with the co-vocalist of the band, Mike Shinoda. Their album is expected to be released in early 2007.
He is also currently in the studio with U2, working on new material for their next album. This is the first collaboration between the band and Rubin.
In September 2006, Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver confirmed via Camp Freddy Radio on Indie 103.1 that the band have signed a deal with Rubin to produce their sophomore album (tentatively titled Libertad). After hearing what the band had recorded, Rubin told them he liked 3-4 of their songs before leaving to produce U2, and he hopes they have more good quality songs by the time work on that album is over.
The album could have an official release date on the website, and you'd still dispute it. 
