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"FacebookPinterest\n\nRobbie Fimmano: KCS Press\n\nGQ gets a private lesson in how to listen to music from the owner of the best two ears in the world: super-producer Rick Rubin\n\n\u00B7\u00B7\u00B7\n\nBefore Rick Rubin will talk to me about music, or listen to music, or talk about listening to music, he tells me I must hear everything.\n\nWe&amp;#39;re sitting on the patio of Rubin&amp;#39;s Malibu home, a modern architectural testament to his success as a music producer over the past thirty-one years, including work on Kanye&amp;#39;s 2013 album, Yeezus, and Eminem&amp;#39;s new single, Berzerk. I hear waves slapping the sand, a breeze whispering up the eucalyptus-covered hillside. I hear the neighbor&amp;#39;s goddamn leaf blower. Twenty seconds pass\u2014a moment I&amp;#39;d normally think of as silent. Let&amp;#39;s start with the sound of the ocean, Rubin says, from somewhere deep inside his three-decade-long beard. How does it make you feel?\n\nCalm, grounded, I tell him. He faces me and, I&amp;#39;m not kidding here, crosses his legs into a semi-lotus. All of those elements, not just from nature but from what someone&amp;#39;s saying to you\u2014all of those things play into listening to music, he says. When you really listen, it&amp;#39;s different. Let&amp;#39;s go listen.\n\nRubin&amp;#39;s tower speakers have tweeters made of diamonds. He pops in a CD and closes his eyes. And for the next hour, we listen. He plays Tom Petty&amp;#39;s Wildflowers, a song he produced. Most would consider it a strum-along no-brainer. Heard correctly, though, it&amp;#39;s richly textured and full of surprises (subtle piano lines, a shaker). Kanye&amp;#39;s super-linear, purposely nonmusical Rubin-produced track On Sight makes me want to bounce off the walls at first, but I stay present (as instructed) and enjoy it for what it is\u2014an arrangement of sounds.\n\nBut the blue-sky moment for me is Scarborough Fair/Canticle, a song I didn&amp;#39;t even know I liked that much. From the left speaker an acoustic guitar emerges, ethereal and starry, followed by the breathy vocals of Art Garfunkel: parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme... I&amp;#39;d have chills, if I weren&amp;#39;t soaking up the music&amp;#39;s warmth. Next come the bells (left side), a harpsichord (right), and Paul Simon&amp;#39;s harmonies (both), followed by his counter-song\u2014something about a child of a mountain. It is\u2014all six minutes and twenty-two seconds of it\u2014the most visceral and sublime listening experience of my life. Not because the song is so extraordinary, but because I listened, as one of music&amp;#39;s greatest listeners taught me to, with a blank slate and no baggage attached, not reacting or responding. Just hearing with almost holy reverence.\n\nHe closes our session with Nina Simone&amp;#39;s version of James Shelton&amp;#39;s heart-heavy Lilac Wine. After the last note, we sit for a moment in silence.\n\nI felt that with my whole body, Rubin says. I felt my whole body listening, pulsating. He stands to see me off. It&amp;#39;s fun listening to music,he says, his generous smile parting the beard. Give me a hug."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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