Sound City Movie

[dreib]

Wasnt sure where to post this but I figured all you analog dudes would appriciate, at least to some degree , albeit with maybe a little jealousy, this documentary.

No matter the level success you or whoever, have achieved, be it as a musician, engineer, producer, etc, we all remember moments when magic would happen between fellow musicians, bands etc. The human element really is disapearing in todays music and im not even sure if some younger musicians really know what they are missing...anyway, I wont go on a rant yet, I just thought this is a nice tribute, in some small way to analog and humans making music and knowing that back in the day it was REAL. There werent as many places to hide back then as there are now thats for sure, the performance had to be there.

[j.harv]

Im really looking forward to seeing this.Do you think it will be released on DVD.?

And you are totally correct about the human element missing from music recently.
If you were to put "artists" and I use that term lightly,like Rihanna and Mr Bieber in an analog only studio,they would probably
break down and cry and throw tantrums because they would have to actually work hard on their craft.

[dreib]

Its available for download right now, just google it.

Ive always wondered what some current pop artists would do with only guitar, bass , drums and a piano, no protools and only 24 tracks.

[j.harv]

Ive always wondered what some current pop artists would do with only guitar, bass , drums and a piano, no protools and only 24 tracks.

They would probably ask "what's a guitar?"

[jpmorris]

You know, I'm not sure that's really fair. It's not like it's even a new phenomenon, it goes back at least as far as Les Paul and Mary Ford (think 'Mockingbird Hill').

It also blindly ignores the sheer effort involved in producing tape music from scratch - listen at some point to 'The Visitation' by White Noise... it took three whole months to create, and if you can perform that live without using prerecordings or samples I would be fascinated to know how. Similarly you also have the Dr. Who theme which is unlikely to have been as widely remembered if it was performed in a live orchestral manner as the composer intended.

Then we have Vangelis - supposedly Albedo 0.39 was very much ad-hoc, kind of composed on the fly ending up with several hundred edits to the 2" master (a Sculley 16 track, I might add, it's not like he even had the full 24 tracks to play with). As a rule, he played every instrument himself, drums, bass and keyboards. Chariots of Fire sold 3 million in its first year alone.

Oh yeah, Tubular Bells. There have been live arrangements of that since, but the original LP was done solo by Mike Oldfield, and it sold something like 16 million copies.

Yes, high-end multitracking makes it a lot easier to turn a complete lack of talent into something saleable, and yes, the results with a DAW are often pretty bland and samey. But saying that everything can and must be performed live is throwing out an awful lot of good music done by solo artists, most of which you would never have heard at all were they not able to record it themselves.

EDIT: Further, I should probably point out it was listening to these artists that got me interested in the idea of making music at all. If I'd had to recruit a band to even record a demo, I'd have failed at the first hurdle.


...but I look forward to seeing the film.

[dreib]

Whats not fair? Im confused?

[j.harv]

Whats not fair? Im confused?

Me too.
I play al the instruments on the songs I record.Part by part.
And that takes alot of work.But in todays music,alot of pop artist dont have to spend nearly as much time in the studios these days.
They can sing a phrase once and not up to snuff,and then have it corrected and moved to different points of the song instead of have to strain their voice and sing it over.Just to make a song,that they didn't even probably write sound perfect.

[The Ghost of FM]

There's something to be appreciated about technology and all of it's advancements. It's true that many of today's pop artist seemingly rely too heavily on the digital technology that's all around them and if anything, that's more of their personal problem then it is the equipment's fault. Sort of like guns making it easier to kill people but it still requires the human decision to pull the trigger or opt instead to beat their enemy to death with a club...you know, the analog way!

And that same analogy applies to all the technologies that we enjoy because they make our lives easier. True, it's more artistically honest to play your parts all the way through without mistakes and with perfect pitch and dynamics, but we also have the option to do punch ins and do retakes many times to get it right. And even that's cheating compared to being up on stage and playing live before an audience where you've got one chance to be perfect and not get booed off the stage.

Cheers!

[sr71rules]

The Movie is excellent and well worth the cost. I pre-ordered mine months ago and got my download last week. I was a little concerned that it was going to be a pile of self-indulgent garbage but it's not. It's awesome. Better than a lot of independent documentaries I've seen lately. Will it stand up to time as well as 'Tom Dowd and the Language of Music' has for me? Only time will tell...

The first 2/3s is a history of the Sound City studio as well as the artists that made it possible for it to stay open. The final third is all about the Neve console, it's importance to the studio and it's new home at Grohl's 606 Studio. They did a series of sessions on the board with many of the artists that used it at Sound City. Rupert Neve himself even makes a small appearance.

I liked it and many of the people in the analog section here will I'm sure as well.

(I'm not a shill but the thread seemed to need some refocusing.. )

[Mr Clean]

I watched the movie last night. It's a pretty awesome and awe inspiring story, from the studio beginnings to the end and the albums that were recorded there. Even if the music made there doesn't interest you, the story of the Neve Desk alone is worth the watch. I'm not a fan of Dave Grohl but damn he did a fine job with this film and is a lucky SOAB owning that fine piece of equipment now. Better to be used than in a museum though, I think.