User reviews

I was a little skeptical going into this movie knowing that it was produced and directed by Dave Grohl who isn't exactly known for making movies. But BOY, is he passionate about MUSIC. I learned so much about music's history... from the Beatles to Fleetwood Mac to Nirvana to the current state of the industry. You will enjoy this movie if you are a music fan.

The movie is laid out like a typical documentary for the first 3/4 or so with interviews from many important figures who's music has impacted my life. Let me just say Neil Young is the man! The last bit of the movie involves Dave Grohl recording new songs with famous musicians and everything sounds really good. It was very interesting to see how songs can be created with some collaboration and they sure make it look like a ton of fun.

I was definitely moved by this movie...laughing at times and really feeling the passion that these musicians have for this industry. It totally rocks guys.

One of the greatest unsung treasures of the United States has to be Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, which recorded dozens of artists' hits beginning to 1969 and possessing the energy and following to continue doing it in 2011. This is a surprising feature because of the inherent primitiveness of the recording studio, as we're told, which has a very "secondhand" look, completer with brown-shag carpeting fit for a Volkswagen bus, cheap Velour couches, and other hand-me-down items. Yet what it's arguably most famous for, besides being the home of a dozen dozen records is housing an enormous custom-made soundboard made by engineer Rupert Neve, which was purchased by Sound City owners Joe Gottfried and Tom Skeeter for $76,000. We're told Gottfried's house, at the time, cost only $38,000.

The film, made by Foo Fighters-founded Dave Grohl, begins with a wordless intro of Grohl setting up the recording studio, getting ready to play, before introducing us to the wealth of history, insight, facts, memories, and legends associated with Sound City. Every artist in the 1970's and 1980's came to record at Sound City, not just because of its simplicity, but because it was known to have a terrific design to it which purified vocals and made electrifying sound quality for its singers' records. Kansas, Slayer, REO Speedwagon, Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham Nicks, Stevie Nicks, Cheap Trick, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rick Springfield, Neil Young, Pat Benatar, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Barry Manilow, etc were all caught under the Sound City spell, and another huge quality for them that attracted the singers to the lure of the studio was the fact that Gottfried and Skeeter genuinely cared about the music they were putting out. They weren't in it for the power, they weren't in it for their health, they weren't in it for the glory of anything at all, and they sure weren't in it for the wealth.

The first half of the documentary involves the singers that made Sound City what it was. In-depth interviews with Stevie Nicks, recalling her days with Buckingham Nicks along with Lindsey Buckingham, and Rick Springfield smiling and remembering his fame for his anthem "Jessie's Girl," yet choking up remembering how he left Gottfried to pursue another manager. Of all the interviews, I loved Springfield's the most. Not only a cherishable music talent, Springfield is a collective and inspiring talker who is less about the narcissism and more about the deep and flavorful memories he has treasured for years.

The second half of the documentary concerns the depressing end of analog recording and the introduction of computers, synthesizes, and heavy machinery other than the soundboard that began to dominate the music business. We see how computers killed the traditional star of the music industry, when high-tech equipment moved from the level of desirable to easily obtainable, which gave many musicians popularity for work that was more than half adjusted thanks to technological advances. I can assume the issue back in the day for musicians who felt they had something to share with the world was they had the heart and drive, but they lacked the materials essential for recognition and success. Today, anyone can easily get the materials, but do they possess that heart and drive that makes them deserve to be heard? Of course, this discussion can easily transcend to the debate of whether the internet and computers was a good or bad invention. Personally, it was an amazing invention, one of the most important the human race has ever seen. The sad thing about it was it made many, many unique things very common. Writing? Whatever. You can easily build a blog from the ground up by using a popular website as your footing. Music? Whatever. There are sites like Band Camp to release your works. Good luck standing out.

But I digress. The third half focuses on several artists, including Paul McCartney, performing, practicing, and simply rocking-out at Sound City, embracing the loud, boldness of the music and the cutting riffs of the music through its impenetrable walls. This is what, I assume, some people came for. I certainly didn't, but I did anything but discourage it.

Sound City is a documentary, that I dare say, needed to be made. It depicts a more primitive era in the music industry, when things were more wholesome and less barbaric. When social stunts and outrage attires were secondary stories, with the music being performed at the foreground. If we're losing our moral compass anywhere in the world, it's in the mainstream pop/rap music, where artists like Beyonce, Chief Keef, Ke$ha, and Nicki Minaj can recite their frothy, commercialized music that lacks soul and heart. It becomes a depressing reality when you hear the terrific anthems from yesteryear in this documentary (such as "Landslide" or "Time for Me to Fly") and begin to wish for songs like those again, you question, have we really advanced as much as we thought in some areas?

Directed by: Dave Grohl.

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.

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.

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.

I've never been a huge fan of Nirvana or Foo Fighters (I do like a few things here and there but overall they're not my thing) but as a person I have a lot of respect for Dave Grohl. He seems like a great guy and it's really cool how he's dipping into film with his directorial debut Sound City, a documentary about the studio which is home to Nevermind, Rumours and all kinds of classics. I had no idea about these connections. I love a good Fleetwood Mac origin story, so although it was a few things I knew, it was still interesting. The first half works as a great chronological account of anecdotes, focusing on acts like Fleetwood Mac and Rick Springfield, and the highs and lows of the company. It really showed how Sound City was unique for its Neve soundboard and makes me want to seek them out. The documentary is shown in a very typically MTV way with its graphics and soundtrack but it makes it very entertaining (even if there's a very irritating use of flashing frames back and forth). However, the last half hour is devoted to the recording of the Sound City soundtrack that Grohl collaborates with artists formerly mentioned and as we only get snippets of each track, it feels like it's simply an endorsement to buy the soundtrack and it knocks the doc down a peg. Still a good start to 2013.

7/10

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

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 ****

Sound City was a recording studio in Van Nuys, California which began to make its' mark with Fleetwood Mac in 1972. Stevie Nicks made an album with Lindsay Buckingham which tanked and by chance, they joined up with Mick Fleetwood and made their first hit record, which put the studio on the map. Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame, is the producer and director, and he keeps it very interesting, with interviews ranging from Rick Rubin and Tom Petty to Trent Reznor and Rick Springfield, among many others. The music is excellent, including off the cuff sessions with Reznor and a rollicking jam with Paul McCartney playing guitar and belting out a new tune which reminded me of Helter Skelter from the Beatles White album. If you love rock and roll, you will especially appreciate Sound City.

So as a recording engineer that loves seeing gear and is obsessed with the magic of recording... I enjoyed it. I am a big fan of the book of work that comes out of Sound City and enjoyed a lot of the musicians in the movie.

I did, however, feel that the movie lacked initiative at times. It was confused between being a Neve documentary, a group of musicians performing, a slam on digital recording, or a documentary about the history of Sound City. This could be part of its charm but it wasn't glued together as well as I would have liked.

Now I do have an unpopular opinion about Dave Grohl in the recording realm. I think he is one of the best musicians and rock musicians to date. But his opinions on recording are ill informed. His rigid stance against digital recording is silly and if we all had millions of dollars to hire people to cut tape then I'm sure we would, too.

Feel free to read more here http://digitalrecordingschool.com/sound-city-documentary/

Everyone gave applause at the end of this documentary. It actually has relevance to anyone who enjoys popular music. However, musicians who see this movie will find a special message imparted to them.

During the 1970s, there was Disco. At this time, music became more repetitive, even boring to some listeners. The soul was being manufactured. Then another assault on soul or the "human element" began with the computer processing of tunes. What then makes that special element that says to the ears; "This music is created by humans with a heart!" This movie attempts to answer such a question. And it answers it through the many examples of artists who called this special recording studio "home". You will be surprised by the top names and albums that were recorded in this studio.

I saw this movie in San Francisco at a small theater; but the audience was packed. I felt that I had a more realistic grasp of the music industry and its unvarnished history as a result of seeing this film. I left with a good feeling; and, I would recommend this movie to others. There is no outrageous behavior that would offend very sensitive or religious people.

The quality of this movie sometimes approaches a "home movie" given that they are using real historical footage and personal pictures from the past; but it never seems scattered. It's always entertaining. There is a message to be told; and a history to be seen. It has been edited well. It was enjoyable to hear real confessions of top people in the industry on film. Another film of this same type or category, a combination "home movie with pro editing," would be "MAGIC TRIP" with Ken Kesey. IN THIS PARTICULAR CATEGORY of "historical home movie documentary" I gave it a "10". This movie has the stars, the unique history, and a beating heart.

I got my monies worth.

It quickly became clear I really wasn't really going to enjoy watching this documentary: this has been edited in the typical style tailored for short-attention-spans: the subject changes all the time, the person being interviewed changes all the time and music begins and stops all the time. Most of the interviews end up being just one sentence long soundbites often seemingly taken out of context. The doc spends little time trying to answer the question what actually made this studio so unique and separated it from the rest.

Then the last third takes a bit bizarre turn and the doc turns into a dragged out minidoc of a recording session, essentially becoming an egostroke of Dave Grohl and his old buddies (they literally had a product to sell - the album they made and later released as an official soundtrack). The film probably should have ended before this last segment.

I am an enormous fan of music and devour all things related, even if not the style of music I enjoy. Having said that I was unsure I would like this movie as I am generally not a fan of Nirvana or Foo Fighters. While working late on a data migration project and watching validations occur each 5-minutes I went to Amazon and looked for movies. This was never top on my list but I am happy I watched it. The history and musical weight behind this project was astounding and well worth a viewing. I will watch it again and again. The history, talent, music and sheer joy shown by those in the film are worth the 1.5-hours invested. The artists who appeared in the film (not light-weights but heavy hitters) showed great respect for Sun City and the art produced there. If you are even a tangential fan of music this is appointment viewing. Dave G put together a compelling and historical piece with great respect and reverence. I went out and found some great recordings as a result and walked away with new respect for Dave and the passion he and others truly have for the craft that has allowed them to make a living. Well done, sir.

I watched this documentary soon after encountering MUSCLE SHOALS, a similar documentary about another famous recording studio. Structurally speaking, both documentaries are strikingly similar; there are interviews with those involved in its creation, plus many of the famous artistes who have recorded there. In terms of Sound City, they include Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame). The account of the two studios' origins is also similar; both of them began on the proverbial wing and a prayer in surroundings best described as primitive, but owing to their unique sonic qualities, they both became popular with recording artistes and thereby acquired both sufficient finances and reputation to continue their operations. There is a distinct sense of "make do and mend" about the studios' origins; the founders did the best they could on limited resources, and it was only due to their persistence and drive that the entire venture succeeded. Thematically speaking both MUSCLE SHOALS and SOUND CITY are a testament to the success of the American Dream, told in reverent yet nostalgic terms by a series of interviewees. SOUND CITY is worth watching if you like this kind of thing, but I do wish it had been thematically a little more adventurous.

It's often interesting to hear artists, of all stripes, talk about the creative processes that go in to their work; and in this documentary, David Grohl (ex of Nivarna) tells the story of a studio where he and a number of other rock musicians recorded some of their most famous work. It's also a story of failure (when new technology finally drives the studio out of business) and partial redemption (when Grohl himself buys the analogue mixing board that was the studio's most famous asset, and uses it to make new music). Personally, I'm not a great fan of most of the artists we hear from here, and as they bemoan the days of laptop production, they fail to make the case that their nostalgia for the old days is anything but exactly that, they're not opposed to technology per se (after all, the board Grohl saves was itself once cutting edge), just conservatively preferring the technology of their youth. Finally, the whole point of Sound City appears to have been that it wasn't a very nice place, no-one hung out there, and while the records got made, there aren't that many real stories. Yet just to hear musicians talk about making an album, in a no nonsense, no hype way, has an interest of its own; by the end, I felt a bit nostalgic for that mixing board myself.

What made this so great is it was made by a musician. Dave gets it. This had a perfect balance of music, technology, personalities, and performances. It could have morphed too much on the magic of the sound board, but it did not. It could have morphed on the early years, but it did not. It brought the complete history together.

I dig how Dave gave the core SC personalities equal time. Only someone who listens would allow the "gals" who worked at SC to get their due. They played a HUGE part of those sessions. It did not get tangential. It served its purpose with feel...and in the end, that is what made SC so magical...it was the feel.

I am stunned how in the name of progress the magic was lost with technology and a new sound emerged. In my estimate, this was the regression of music, not progression. Music must be captured by technology and that is in performance...let the tape capture the story. The story is NOT the technology.

Ending this with Paul must have been a mind-blow for Dave and the boys. McCartney looked and acted like he was 30ish. How does that happen? He was so comfortable being PM. The cat is smooth as glass and so fresh and alive. Crazy-weird experience playing and making music with your idol...and knowing he is cooler than you thought! A rare experience of meeting your hero and NOT being disappointed.

Thanks Dave...seriously, this was really great...and I grew up right around the corner from this place during the magical years. Who knew?

There is something of a disconnect in this film. One of the main themes is that you need to get musicians together in one room (the studio) to make great music, yet so many records made at Sound City were anodyne, Adult Oriented Rock albums. REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar and Bachman Turner Overdrive were all acts that recorded at Sound City.

Most of the film is a straightforward documentary featuring present day interviews over archive photographs. But the end section gets really self-indulgent. Stevie Nicks reading out a letter she wrote to her folks while recording her first album is particularly cringe worthy, and a long jam session with Paul McCartney, who never recorded at Sound City in the first place, could have been much shorter.

My low score does mean that I think that this is a bad documentary-- it just did not appeal to me. I assume that this may well be the reaction of the average person as well, as the film seems designed to appeal to musicians. If you are like me, and have almost no musical ability and a tin ear, then the nostalgia and giant jam session (the last third of the film) just won't be that wonderful. I am sure, though, that a lot of musical types would love to look back nostalgically to the good 'ol days before digital music and the heyday of Sound City Studio. As for me, I am less concerned about this--I just want some nice music to listen to and learn a bit of history. A film definitely for a select audience. If you are a plebeian, like me, try watching the similar but much more watchable film, "Muscle Shoals". In this one, you see a lot of great musicians and hear them sing but without all the technical stuff that just left me feeling bored.