Incubus manager Steve Rennie — known as Renman to us Incubus fans — has set up a fabulous website called Renman Music and Business, which functions as a community and resource for those looking to break into the music industry. Ren has pretty much done it all in the music business — label exec, promoter, etc. — and it’s great to get his perspective as an insider.

He’s landed a rare interview with rock producer Brendan O’Brien, who has been producing Incubus’ records for the past decade and has produced for Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against the Machine, AC/DC, and many others. The interview has been condensed somewhat, and is presented here in two parts. Here’s part one:

And here’s part two:

Here is a partial list of O’Brien’s credits:

Producer

• Stone Temple Pilots – Core (1992)
• Pearl Jam – Vs. (1993)
• Stone Temple Pilots – Purple (1994)
• Pearl Jam – Vitalogy (1994)
• Matthew Sweet – 100% Fun (1995)
• Neil Young – Mirror Ball (1995)
• Stone Temple Pilots – Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop (1996)
• Paul Westerberg – Eventually (1996)
• Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire (1996)
• Pearl Jam – No Code (1996)
• Matthew Sweet – Blue Sky on Mars (1997)
• Pearl Jam – Yield (1998)
• Stone Temple Pilots – No. 4 (1999)
• Rage Against the Machine – The Battle of Los Angeles (1999)
• Korn – Issues (1999)
• The Offspring – Conspiracy of One (2000)
• Train – Drops of Jupiter (2001)
• Stone Temple Pilots – Shangri-La Dee Da (2001)
• Papa Roach – Lovehatetragedy (2002)
• Bruce Springsteen – The Rising (2002)
• Train – My Private Nation (2003)
• The Offspring – Splinter (2003)
• Incubus – A Crow Left of the Murder… (2004)
• Bruce Springsteen – Devils and Dust (2005)
• Train – For Me, It’s You (2006)
• Audioslave – Revelations (2006)
• Incubus – Light Grenades (2006)
• The Nightwatchman – One Man Revolution (2007)
• Velvet Revolver – Libertad (2007)
• Bruce Springsteen – Magic (2007)
• The Bravery – The Sun and the Moon (2008)
• The Nightwatchman – The Fabled City (2008)
• AC/DC – Black Ice (2008)
• Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream (2009)
• Mastodon – Crack the Skye (2009)
• Pearl Jam – Backspacer (2009)
• Anberlin – Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place (2010)
• Seether – Holding onto Strings Better Left to Fray (2011)
• Incubus – If Not Now, When? (2011)
• The Fray – Scars and Stories (2012)

I’m leaving some albums I’m not familiar with off the above list; it’s long enough as it is.

Mixing

• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
• Aerosmith – Get a Grip (1993)
• Paul Westerberg – 14 Songs (1993)
• Soundgarden – Superunknown (1994)
• Brad – Interiors (1997)
• Korn – Follow the Leader (1998)
• Limp Bizkit – Significant Other (1999)
• Pearl Jam – Binaural (2000)
• Limp Bizkit – Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000)
• Lifehouse – No Name Face (2000)
• Our Lady Peace – Spiritual Machines (2001)
• Lifehouse – Stanley Climbfall (2002)
• Pearl Jam – Riot Act (2002)
• Limp Bizkit – Results May Vary (2003)
• Audioslave – Out of Exile (2005)
• Pearl Jam – Ten [Redux] (2009)
• The Living End – The Ending Is Just the Beginning Repeating (2011)

If I had to venture a guess, I would bet that O’Brien was paid a lot to mix some of those albums, since he’s such a big name. I can’t imagine he was actually interested in mixing Limp Bizkit’s critical and commercial flop Results May Vary, for instance.

Also of note is his continued involvement in every Pearl Jam album since Vs. Even though the band elected to let others come in and produce after Yield, O’Brien has still handled the mixing on every Pearl Jam album except Ten. (Well, except for the 2006 avocado album.) Of course, fans will also note he remixed Ten in 2009 to make it sound more in line with the rest of their albums.