Sound City (2013)

Dave Grohl, front man for the Foo Fighters is one of the best at his craft and one of the best in the industry. His love and appreciation of music always shows in his work. With Sound City, Grohl takes on a new and ambitious role as director. Thanks to Grohl’s passionate approach, Sound City succeeds in being both a compelling and informative documentary.

The documentary focuses on Sound City, the popular recording studio that was located in Van Nuys, California. The history of the studio is explored and various musicians who recorded at the studio are interviewed, and so are the people who ran it.

Sound City is a documentary that benefits from having not only a musician’s perspective on the recording process, but also the perspective of the producers and technicians too. They each have a huge role in the recording process, and they’re all co-dependent on one another. From a technical standpoint, it’s cool to see and learn about the equipment that the studio used, like the Neve console for example, which was originally developed by Rupert Neve. While the film doesn’t go totally in depth in regards to the recording process, it still covers a lot and offers more than just a brief glance at it. What really makes the documentary a lot of fun is seeing musicians such as Trent Reznor, Lee Ving, and Stevie Nicks record with Grohl and the Foo Fighters on the Neve console in his very own private studio. All of them worked and recorded at Sound City, and it shows love for both the studio and the recording process itself on their part.

Sound City is a compelling and intriguing documentary overall. It documents both the good and bad times of the studio. Even in the bad times, it still stood strong because the owners and technicians refused to compromise the signature analog sound they created in face of the digital revolution. A strong and poignant statement is made in this documentary in regards to the digital landscape that music is today: It’s passion and patience that make a quality musician, not the manipulation of music tools and software.