Sound City Page #3

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drums.

You have all of those

individual mikes spread over a

number of tracks - 16 tracks or

So then you can bring the faders

up or down and balance those tracks.

Once you get a good drum take,

then it's like, "Oh, okay, great.

Now we got the beginning of a

song.

Now we can actually start

putting more sh*t on it".

With the lights out, it's

less dangerous

Here we are now, entertain

us

I feel stupid

The way to pick studios is

through blind-testing drums,

because you can record the

guitars pretty much anywhere,

and they could sound pretty much

like your guitars.

But drums really change from

room to room.

That room shouldn't, on

paper, be a great drum room,

because it's like a big old

square room.

Sound City was a Vox factory

in the '60s, I guess.

They built Vox amps there,

and then they built the

"A" control room in '64.

It's one of those spaces that

just randomly, haphazardly

turned out to be fantastic to

record a drum set in.

That room is the space.

It's, like, what happens between

the notes, what you're playing.

There's a sound that's pretty

magical.

Every room has their sweet

spot for that sound, you know?

This, I think, has always been

Sound City's real sweet spot.

And the freaky thing is,

no one designed it.

A lot of people claim they did.

But no.

It's just luck.

Luck and magic.

Not meant to be.

And you can't control those

things.

Selfishly, the drum sound was

probably why we went there.

I confess.

'Cause when the lovin'

starts and the lights go down

There's not another living

soul around

None of it is planned.

Sound City was welcoming, and we

knew that we had a home there.

It's a church.

By the luck of whatever, I have

the ability to open that door.

Say that you love me

From that Fleetwood Mac

album, then we'd get Santana and

Grateful Dead.

Once you have big hits like

that, that was huge.

Dancin' in the streets

Dancin', dancin', dancin'

The first real Heartbreakers jam

to just feel each other out

was at Sound City.

The studio was fine, but we

just didn't have our sh*t

together.

We weren't ready.

We didn't have the songs.

We didn't know how to play

that well.

This is how you make a

record.

It was cruel, 'cause it

sounded so real.

And you'd go into the control

room, and they'd crank up the

speakers, and you go, "Man, I

just - I suck".

I think the vocal mike is

just a little bit loud.

That no-frills, no effects,

no place to hide - everything

coming out of an amp or

everything coming right out of a

speaker or right off a

microphone - that approach,

that was Sound City.

By our third album, we wanted

to get, you know,

somebody that could make

a good-sounding record.

So we hired Jimmy lovine.

He'd been a recording

engineer, and he'd worked with

Lennon and with Springsteen.

And they were recording live

tracks.

They weren't overdubbing a ton of

stuff. You had to learn how to play,

and you'd go in and play it.

I hired Jimmy as an engineer to do

"Damn the Torpedoes" there,

but he showed up with an

engineer without telling me.

He manipulated his way into

being the producer of the

record, along with me.

Jimmy is brilliant. I mean,

he now owns the music business.

When we showed up with Jimmy

at Sound City, he was just

horrified.

Just horrified, like, "What is

this place?"

And the first thing he said to

me is, "I don't know that we can

make a record in here".

Somebody should firebomb this

f***ing place.

I said, "Yeah, I think you'll

be surprised".

We tracked live, and we

didn't edit from take to take.

So we had to get it right from

top to bottom.

When you're tracking live,

pressure's on the drummer

big-time.

Until you get that,

you've got nothing.

I just thought I should play

straight.

Throw it where the shaker's

trying to go.

Whoa!

It was emotional.

But, at the same time, I mean,

we all wanted to learn.

"Refugee," we played like

You're trying to get

lightning in a bottle.

That was great.

Yeah, I'm still not

comfortable for some reason.

I'm not quite on my thing here.

I think we should do one

more and listen.

Okay.

Then, you go back and play

the damn song again.

You don't have to live like

a refugee

You don't have to live like

a refugee

It might look easy, but if

you're trying to go for

greatness - and a lot of times

you're gonna fall short, and you

got to live with that, that

night - it's brutal, you know,

on your soul.

God damn you!

You're driving me crazy!

You are gonna drive me f***ing

crazy!

Ohhhh

It's a tough room.

You know, music really isn't

supposed to be perfect.

It's all about people relating

to each other and doing

something that's really from the

soul.

You know, it must come from the

soul.

Oh! Oh! Oh!

Tom was great. You know,

his whole approach - low-key.

He'd come in like it was his own

garage studio.

Paula - she was kind of like the

field general. You know?

She was in the front lines, you

know?

Paula - she's great.

She was just unflappable.

You know, just nothing bothered

her.

Paula, I think, took over from

Jemima when Jemima left.

Jemima Eddy, aunt Jemima, had

this assistant who was a little

girl named Barbie who ended up

being Rick Springfield's wife.

She actually was answering

phones when she was, you know,

the bands, of course.

And then, after Jemima, there

was Paula.

I took one look at her, and I

was totally in love.

She was smoking-hot and as sweet

as can be.

Do you know where your

woman is tonight?

Think about it.

Paula Salvatore, italiano.

Yeah, italiana, italiana.

Every musician that went in

there thought that Paula was in

love with them.

I think.

Or maybe it was just me.

But I don't think so.

Do you remember Paula?

Yeah, I do, actually.

The girl that ran the studio?

Paula - dark-haired girl?

Curly?

I was "Paula at Sound City".

That was my last name for years.

Paula was, like, a one-woman

audience, you know?

Do you know where your

woman is tonight?

Whenever we'd get a mix or

whenever there'd be a

performance that I was really

proud of, I'd always go and say,

"Paula, come on.

Check this out.

Check out what we just did".

Paula would say, "I really

like this one," you know?

That could lift my whole day,

because I knew she didn't have

to say that and that she heard

music all day long.

But it made me think, like,

"Well, wow.

Maybe this one's good".

Paula sang on the first

Masters record, actually, yeah.

She and a friend did some backup

vocals on it.

A lot of girl backup singers

ended up, like, working and

being secretaries in studios.

When you need a backup singer,

just, you know, call the front desk,

and there's one sitting

there.

That was my dream, to play

music.

And I didn't get that.

You know, and before I knew it,

I was kind of in the thick of it.

It's totally attitude.

"I want to do this.

I'll do whatever it takes.

And I'm here".

It's a training ground.

You know, six months driving a

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