Shadowing Practice: Rick Rubin on the Creative Act — 60 Minutes - Learn English Speaking with Video
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71 sentences
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1
Should we spend two minutes eyes closed meditating before we start just to like really get here?
2
Sure, okay.
3
Let's do that.
4
That's a first.
5
Nice.
6
Does meditation help you creatively?
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It clears the distractions.
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So the distractions can get in the way with a direct connection to the creative force. Do you play instruments?
9
Barely.
10
Do you know how to work a soundboard?
11
No. I have no technical ability.
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And I know nothing about music.
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You must know something.
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Well, I know what I like and what I don't like.
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And I'm decisive about what I like and what I don't like.
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So what are you being paid for?
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The confidence that I have in my taste and my ability to express what I feel has proven helpful for artists.
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Artists are eager to make the pilgrimage to Shangri-La Studios in Malibu to work with Rubin.
19
How many studios do you have here?
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There's the main control room here with the live room.
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The place is minimalist to say the least.
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There's no mirrors, no TVs, no signs of Rick Rubin's extraordinary success.
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I've never been in a recording studio where there's not gold records and Grammys.
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Do you have like a tiny ego room somewhere?
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I don't.
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I used to send them all to my parents and I don't know where they are now.
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It's a distraction.
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If you start thinking about doing something to achieve that, then you're not focused on making this beautiful thing.
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It undermines the purity of the project.
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I like the idea of getting the point across with the least amount of information possible.
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And that's what you're doing in a recording studio.
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You're listening to music, to sound, and trying to strip it.
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Just to see what is actually necessary.
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Getting it down to that essence to start with is really helpful in understanding what it is.
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On our first day, he brought us in on a jam session with saxophone great Kamasi Washington.
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What are you listening for?
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Like right now, there's chimes, piano.
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Yeah, I'm not listening to any of those things.
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What are you listening to?
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I'm listening to the feeling.
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How do you listen to a feeling?
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Well, my body's moving.
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I feel that melody awaken something in me.
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There's something familiar about it, but I don't think I've heard it before.
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The feeling of familiarity is a good feeling.
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If you haven't noticed by now, Rick Rubin talks a lot about feelings.
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My aim is not to have my presence felt.
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Unless it's necessary, unless it's helpful.
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His presence is laid back, literally.
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He usually listens lying down.
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And barefoot, with his eyes shut.
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You might think he was napping.
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I try to listen as closely as I possibly can.
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And when my eyes are closed, I feel like I'm there with the music.
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It may not seem like work, but Ruben hears things and senses things other producers don't.
56
Back in 1993, a few stray guitar chords on a Tom Petty demo tape caught his attention.
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Tom sent me demos of about five new songs, and none of them really struck me, honestly.
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None of them spoke to me, but that guitar riff that opens a song was something that was played between two of the songs, just like a warmup.
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I drove to Tom's house and I played it for him.
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I said, listen to this piece.
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I feel like this is the best thing on the tape.
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Write this one.
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And that turned into Last Dance with Mary Jane.
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Last Dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the fame.
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That's going to be hard, though, when you come back saying, I like the thing that happened accidentally in between two of these songs.
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That's a tough sell sometimes, isn't it?
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I'm not trying to sell it.
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I'm just sharing what I'm feeling.
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You know, like if they don't want to do it, it's fine.
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Rubin has shared what he's learned in a book, The Creative Act, A Way of Being.
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It was published in January and is his guide to harnessing creativity, something he figured out how to do his sophomore year at New York University in 1982.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Rick Rubin on the Creative Act — 60 Minutes”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: feeling, listening, studio, listen, song. This video has 71 sentences and 705 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:38. The speaker talks at a natural 152 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start. 11 of its 71 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| distraction noun | /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/ | Something that distracts. |
| demo noun | /ˈdɛm.oʊ/ | A demonstration or visual explanation. |
| awaken verb | /əˈweɪkən/ | To cause to become awake. |
| barefoot adjective | /ˈbɛɹfʊt/ | Wearing nothing on the feet. |
| creatively adverb | /kɹiˈeɪtɪvli/ | In a creative manner. |
| familiarity noun | /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/ | The state of being extremely friendly; intimacy. |
| meditate verb | /ˈmɛ.dɪˌteɪt/ | To contemplate; to keep the mind fixed upon something; to study. |
| minimalist adjective | /ˈmɪn.ə.məl.ɪst/ | Believing in or seeking a minimal state; seeking to minimize or reduce to a minimum. |
| pilgrimage noun | /ˈpɪlɡɹɪmɪd͡ʒ/ | A journey made to a sacred place, or a religious journey. |
| saxophone noun | /ˈsæksəˌfoʊ̯n/ | A single-reed instrument musical instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and with a distinctive loop bringing the bell upwards. |
| soundboard noun | A wide, flat board placed within, or forming part of the body of, a musical instrument in order to improve vibrations and increase volume. | |
| undermine verb | /ˌʌn.dɚˈmaɪn/ | To dig underneath (something), to make a passage for destructive or military purposes; to sap. |
| chord noun | /kɔɹd/ | A harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. |
| harness verb | /ˈhɑɹ.nəs/ | To place a harness on something; to tie up or restrain. |
| sophomore noun | /ˈsɑf.mɔɹ/ | A second-year undergraduate student in a college or university, or a second-year student in a four-year secondary school or high school. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Does meditation help you creatively?
- Do you know how to work a soundboard?
- How many studios do you have here?
- Do you have like a tiny ego room somewhere?
- What are you listening for?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has proven · I've never been · I've heard |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being paid · is laid · are closed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: distraction /dɪsˈtɹæk.ʃən/, meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: creatively /kɹiˈeɪtɪvli/, familiarity /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/, minimalist /ˈmɪn.ə.məl.ɪst/, creativity /kri.eɪˈtɪv.ᵻ.ti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like distraction, demo, awaken.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.