Sound City

First up: how freaking cool is Dave Grohl? Nirvana, Drummer, Foo Fighters, Guitarist, Queens of the Stone Age, Tenacious D (the devil!), music lover......and....now director!?!...make that Excellent Director.

This documentary is actually kinda/sorta two doc's in one. The first half takes a wonderful walk through a wide array of music and artists that recorded at the Sound City studios. Dave & Nirvana recorded "Nevermind" there. The storyline is woven around an amazing mixing board which Dave purchased from the now closed studio and had installed in his own. This leads to the second part which follows Dave and a diverse array of artists playing music in his studio through the mixing board.

This movie is made with a pure love, respect, and enthusiasm for music....all music..over the last 40 years. Everything works so well together: the artists, the stories, the love of analog recording, and, of course, the music. If you're like me, you'll watch this and immediately follow it by digging out old records/cds that you haven't listened to for a while. Its excellent.

Regarding distribution: the movie premiered last month at Sundance and is now available for purchase and electronic download.

Peace .n. "We are the Music Makers and We are the Dreamers of Dreams". -Willy Wonka

Mashke

Sound City is a documentary about the famed recording studio in Van Nuys, California, which was the origin of records by Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Rick Springfield and Tom Petty among many others. Rock musician Dave Grohl, of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, sets out to tell the story of a recording studio in his first film. The studio became famous for a single piece of recording equipment — a 1970s era sound board — that became a "hope diamond" for musicians. Sound City is a musical time machine that allows film and music enthusiasts to travel back through time to when music was recorded with raw, pure imperfections that led to many remarkable careers. It made me want to throw out my iPad and computer, and start typing on a type writer while rocking out to the Sound City soundtrack.

When he left Seattle with his band Nirvana in the early 1990s, drummer Dave Grohl was initially excited his group would be recording their first major label album at famous Sound City recording studios in Van Nuys, CA...that is, until he saw the place. Described by many as "a real s***hole," the cluttered, crowded studio--downwind of a brewery!--was considered outdated by 1992, but was about to experience a resurrection after Nirvana's "Nevermind" went to number-one. Now closed for business, Sound City's history is fascinatingly laid-out by director and co-producer Grohl, who charts the studio's early successes beginning in 1973 with help from the artists who were there (Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Rick Springfield). Grohl--who purchased Sound City's revolutionary analog mixing console, the Neve 8028, and moved it into his home studio--proves to have a surprisingly sentimental side for the ramshackle place and its colorful crew, but comes up short on narrative (at one point, engineer Keith Olsen defects and opens his own studio "next door," but we never see the studio and aren't told of its fate). The documentary's third act, with Grohl and his all-star friends recording a hard-rocking tribute album to Sound City using the Neve, is stretched out too far and stalls the nostalgic momentum, but otherwise this is a respectful, thoughtfully-composed and moving musical journal. *** from ****

If you're on this page, you should check it out. The style of the movie is fast-paced, cool graphics, and testimonials from rock/punk musicians.

It's got a couple of major themes: Analog vs Digital = how music made today with pro tools and digital recording eliminates the human element. There are some 'pros' to the digital era: it's easier for people to make music, less expensive, more 'perfection' The movie discusses though endless and endless takes artists like Tom Petty had to do to achieve a 'perfect' recording, which has imperfections that make them classic.

The movie also takes you through the crazy history of Sound City recording studio. I'm always looking for interesting business stories and this film provides that. Not to often you 'connect the dots' with Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, and Nirvana. I also liked learning about how a studio works, from the 'runner' to the producer. That fascinates me.

The final part of the movie is recording of the Sound City soundtrack. The one criticism I have is it trashes pro tools but says Trent Reznor uses them more artistically but never explains how.

Finally, one thing I realized is that musicians are some of the best entrepreneurs we have. They take HUGE risks that can have huge rewards/payoffs. They also think big. The idea of 'Nirvana' was a bigger, longer lasting, and had more impact than a new line of Tide or a soft drink.

I give this a 10. It's absolutely brilliant from start to end. I was just sad... it ended. Dave congratulations man. I'm deeply touched by this. He gathered some of my favourite musicians and some of my best memories. It's about Sound City, about the Neve, about Rock, about making music with your soul, it's about the true essence of music, us, the humans, and them, the instruments and our interaction with both. It doesn't, in any way, like most are saying, defend analog over digital. The message is clear, make music with new technology, but do not let new technology make music for you. As I said, I'm truly touched by this. After watching I felt like: "God, I wish I could rehearse tonight to kick the ***t out of my guitar with my band." It's an inspirational documentary for us musicians. To have the chance to see this guys, together in a room, writing songs... I mean, McCartney and Grohl, and Reznor and Homme, among many others. This... This is something special. Truly special. I wish I could shake these guys hands, but I can't, so here are my words for them: Thank you very much for this. It blew me away.