(You know, Nirvana should have scrapped that awesome take anyway if they couldn't play it for real to tape in the studio, right?)īack to the top: Pro Tools killed Sound City? Tape and a Neve console is GOOD and Pro Tools is BAD? That's, in part, what I took away from watching this documentary. Remember that era? Everyone was buying Pro Tools rigs so they could rent them back to studios and sessions. what about the early Pro Tools rig they used to 'fix' Nirvana's 'Something in the Way'? I'm sure they rented that rig, or even had one on permanent rental at the studio. Really? They had obviously dropped $80,000 a piece for new Studer 24-track tape decks at some point. Nick Raskulinecz, who's a great guy, even implies (probably a bit out of context) that Sound City wouldn't spend $20,000 on a Pro Tools rig.

The final capper is that we're told that Sound City didn't buy a Pro Tools rig. And yet they did keep that studio rolling for many years after Pro Tools came out. During the film we're also told that Pro Tools allows people to avoid using a real studio, as if that's what killed off Sound City. Untalented people have always made records, and the entertainment business has always propped up pretty faces as artists. But where I have some real issues is with some of the implied messages that Dave attempts to deliver throughout the film.īut, instead of telling us the real story behind Sound City closing, we're told that what has fucked up the music industry is the evil of Pro Tools, because Pro Tools allows untalented people to make records. As wonderful as they are, that strikes me as a bit misguided.

One thing that's confusing is that Grohl seems to be attributing the arc of his career to the magic in a Neve console. I mean, just the fact that Rupert Neve gets a cameo here (albeit with silly 'thought bubble' graphics superimposed over Dave's noggin) is a real treat. And I loved watching Sound City it's full of the same nerd-heaven stuff that we cover in Tape Op. I don't want to rag on Dave Grohl - he's always seemed like a straight up dude, comes from the same underground world as so many of us did, and heck, he really is one hell of a drummer. That's cool it's a fun romp of a movie, even if Dave can't decide whether he's making a film about a Neve console, a dying studio, a rock star jam session or an anti-Pro Tools rant. Everyone has been talking about Dave Grohl's new documentary Sound City a lot lately.

The storyteller grohl