Sound City

Reviewed by Sandra Doyle. Viewed at The Lobero Theatre. Taking us back to some of the greatest artists of the 1970’s through the 1990’s Sound City has seen some talented musicians enter the doorways of the dingy based studio based in Van Nuys, California. Director Former drummer of Nirvana and current Foo Fighters band member David Grohl makes his directorial debut and tells the legacy of the music that was made at the studio. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham recorded their early work at Sound City as Buckingham Nicks and would later return with Fleetwood Mac. Tom Petty, Rick Springfield, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, all recorded at Sound City just to name a few. However these big names couldn’t carry their success through the decades when the record was replaced with the CD. At first artists were skeptical of the new digital technology and people underestimated the role that computers would play in the music industry. Musicians were arising from the average person and the integrity of the industry was at stake resulting in an anti-digital culture that Sound City was a part of.  They were against it because digital sounds were often over produced and performance was subdued immensely or even eliminated altogether along with the soul that goes into it. The music industry was forever changed by this breakthrough and “Sound City” analyzes the struggle of this particular studio to accept the dawn of a new era. For David Grohl this is a very personal story to tell since Nirvana recorded their album and hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Sound City, which revived the studio at a time when it really needed it. Despite its hardships, Sound City seemed to have a certain draw for various famous artists in the raw and grungy ambiance.  “Trying to capture lightening in a bottle” is not easy, yet Platinum records lined the walls of a place where so much greatness was created. One of the four ever made consoles resided for years at Sound City and David Grohl did the honors of returning it to its former glory at his personal recording studio where it is put to good use. “In this age of technology where you can manipulate anything how do we retain that human element?” David Grohl explores the answer to his question in his documentary of the legendary recording studio Sound City. Overall this film is highly entertaining because of the history and content alone, but it is also beautifully shot and edited tactfully. The various musicians and employees of Sound City are quite the characters for a documentary film and there are laughs as well as heart wrenching memories shared. “Sound City” will take audiences back to times when truly great musicians and artists came together and their compilation was a fantastic piece of art for generations to come. Grohl takes such an intimate approach that one cannot remain unmoved at the end of this film. Ironically it might inspire you to try to create some music of your own on the recording/mixing software Pro Tools that you have at home on your computer, which is exactly what this film is in spite of.