Studio That Rocked

Grohl has since joined the legions of Sound City fans. His feature-length documentary of the same name opened to a standing ovation at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and was screened in New Delhi by Sony Music. “The movie has an important message. Music is made best when people get together,” says the film’s producer Jim Rota,in an email interview.

It all began when Sound City shut down and the owners let Grohl purchase the mixing board. He decided to shoot the process of removal and its move to his own studio 606 for archival reasons. But by the time Grohl got home,he was already thinking about the movie. “It was important for Grohl to tell the story of the studio and that board because it not only changed his life,but the lives of so many others,” says Rota about the studio where Rick Springfield crooned Jessie’s Girl,where Johnny Cash gasped throughout Rusty Cage,where Cobain screamed Lithium and where Fleetwood Mac created fierce drum roars while recording their first album with singer Stevie Nicks.

Grohl ends up tracking down the Neve inventor,Rupert Neve,whose jargon about the board has Grohl amused. The film that comes with a crisp narrative and a number of heartfelt moments,including Springfield’s confession about regrets of dumping Sound City and its owner Joe Gottfried,is also a debate on analogue vs digital. Sound City began going out of business when digital entered the market. “When we start using technology to replace what makes us human,that’s when the problems arises,” says Rota,who adds,“An older console like Neve doesn’t have a lot that gets in the way of the sound you are putting into it. It is very pure and clean,almost like a vessel for the musician’s creativity.”

So when the analogue artefact found a new home,Grohl decided to create new music with old hands. So there is Paul McCartney playing his steel guitar and growling Cut me some slack,Lee Ving tripping on Your wife’s calling and Nicks’ phenomenal vocals on You can’t fix this. “Nothing that we do to express ourselves has to be perfect. It’s the imperfections that make it all unique,” concludes Rota.