Review of Sound City (2013) by Alex R — 23 Mar 2013

Dave Grohl's directorial debut is a phenomenal documentary about the legendary Sound City Studios, a studio where some of the most legendary records in music history have recorded. Grohl interviews many musicians who have used the studio and they give their insight as to why Sound City was such an integral part in their creative process to create something memorable on tape.

Sound City Studios was a studio that used analog recording equipment instead of digital to record its artists. No matter the genre of music you enjoy, this is a must see documentary that is truly impressive.

The stories told by the musicians are wonderful. Grohl goes deep into the subject matter and give his film the human connection of making music with a band, and not simply a computer. Analog tape is an obsolete technology in terms of recording, and the film gives us an explanation as to why recording with tape is the best way to record music.

Grohl gets his point across very well by stating that with tape, you can hear every little mistake and imperfection, which makes the music more real, while with digital you can easily fix it, tweak and perfect it, but at the same time cheapening the feel of the art form.

With that being said, I have a profound respect for this dying form of recording and the stories are simply stunning. Dave Grohl interviews everyone from Mick Fleetwood to Stevie Nicks, Neil Young, and Lars Ulrich to producers Rick Rubin, Butch Vig and Ross Robinson.

I've seen plenty of music documentaries, all of them were great, but Sound City is very different. This is a film not just about a studio, but the human element of creating real, pure music from the heart, something that most popular artists of today have forgotten all about.

Everything nowadays is all about auto tuned vocals, electronic, computerized beats and not about playing an actual instrument. Sound City is a film that will delight music fans as well as those interested in this classic recording method.