I'm a massive, massive fan of the RHCP and have closely followed the mix and production of the albums they've put out since Mother's Milk, and I can honestly say Rick pulls chops out of people they never knew they had, and he keeps it simple which is very very effective, and is what makes most bands popular. Some of the best songs ever written are 4 farkin chords. But I don't think Rick wouldn't have a hell of a lot to do with the sound control of an album though. As for not having a decent sounding album for 10 years, all I can say is you don't get a band like U2, or any one of the others in the huge list of big name bands he's produced in his career, wanting him to work on their albums if he's not one of the best in the business! Out of all the songs I've listened to that Rick has produced, I've never heard a Beastie Boys, Peppers, Linkin Park, Johnny Cash, SOaD, AC/DC, Audioslave, Rage, Slayer track that sounded badly mixed? The sound comes undone when you have a little cock stain like Lars in your ear telling you what to do. But bare in mind, a lot of people judge sound quality from torrents they download, which are ripped from CDs and sound farkin crap to begin with!