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"Well, that's good, fellas. But what else do you have?"

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So my friend Chris has decided he wants to become a record producer - this despite the fact that has hasn't so much as helmed a decent demo in all his years of music making.

"What's the big deal?" he said to me. "All you've got to do is push some buttons and twist a few knobs. People make records on laptops nowadays - and you know I got a kick-ass laptop!"

True, Chris's laptop does kick some major ass. But when I put it to him that being a record producer takes a little more than owning a bitchin' computer, that one should have a vision, be a keen spotter of talent, and should know how to dissect a song from top to bottom, his eyes merely glazed over. "Dude, I just don't think you believe in me."

Chris, I do believe in you. And because I believe in you, I've decided to put together the following list of the greatest record producers of all time. Not that I want to sway you from your new career - far from it. But I think it's important to understand the size of the footprints you're following. Granted, some of the record-makers mentioned here didn't employ kick-ass laptops when they worked on little-known albums like Revolver and Pet Sounds, but imagine if they did.

This first installment of great producers focuses on Legends and Pioneers. In the coming weeks, we'll look at The Next Wave and The New Guard.

Sam Philips

Without whom, there might never have been this thing called rock 'n' roll. Having set up shop at a little recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, Phillips started his own label called Sun Records. At Sun Studios, which it was eventually named, Philips recorded early blues artists such as BB King, Howlin' Wolf, and Ike Turner. But it was white artists who adopted this new sound - Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and a greasy-haired kid named Elvis - who put Philips on the map. Early '50s recordings were sometimes lacking in vocal punch, so Philips decided to use tape delay to give more of a kick to Elvis's singing. Things were never the same.

Phil Spector

It was called The Wall Of Sound, Spector's dramatic assemblage of echo, meticulous overdubbing and ambitious orchestration. His wizardly guidance of studio aces (known as The Wrecking Crew) led to masterful and emotive "teen dramas" that defined the sound of the early '60s on records by artists such as The Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers, The Crystals and The Teddy Bears. His one commercial misstep was also his artistic peak, Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High.

George Martin

Just as it's hard to picture rock 'n' roll or the '60s or much else without The Beatles, so too is it difficult to imagine modern culture without the stamp of George Martin. A classically trained musician who worked at EMI Studios, producing classical, jazz, light pop and comedy records, Martin made history with his throw-out-the-rules production of The Beatles's music. Singling out specific songs or albums is ludicrous - they all matter, they're all timeless. But what counts is that, when everybody in Britain had written off this little pop group from Liverpool as nobodies, Martin saw a spark.

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