Sound City Page #5

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burning sensation the next

morning.

Then they'd know we were there.

Some kind, some kind

of friend you turned out to be

I only did one record at

Sound City.

It was more family than any

studio I've ever been to.

You know, "family" might be a

bit heavy, but it was a warm

feeling between us and the

people that worked there.

Dio, "Holy Diver".

Yeah, you know that record.

Stand up and shout

Let it out

Stand up and shout

Paula was Italian.

That's an in.

Ronnie and I are Italian, so we

got on with her great, and they

just let us do whatever we wanted.

It was so cool.

We were having such a good time

at Sound City, almost like it

was a hang, and we just had to

play.

I think it was a lucky thing,

I think, for all of us.

I met Barbara there - I met her

for the first time in front of

that board.

Baby's got the cold feet

Oh, baby, stay

We got all night

I have a lot of stuff that

formed me in that place, in

Sound City.

You know, you're in your 20s

and you don't realize that this

might not last forever.

... On my knees tonight

Tonight

You don't know what's coming

after.

Considering its quality and

size, the compact disc most

certainly will become a part of

our lives in the future.

It's all based on something

called "digital sound," an

innovative technique that uses

lasers.

We've been sold a bill of goods

about digital being so great.

"You can duplicate it forever,

and you never lose anything".

The industry is behind it

unanimously. 11 companies,

from Mitsubishi

to Sony, have all agreed on

using the same compact disc and

the same equipment.

Everybody thought that was

great.

But the thing that was wrong was

they'd already lost everything

when they did that.

It plays, theoretically,

pure, perfect sound forever.

In the beginning, when they

created the algorithms that

decide how music is recorded

into the digital domain, there's

a mistake in it.

So, of course, you can duplicate

this.

You know, it was kind of a

mirage.

The official company

spokesman, Mr. Spock,

Leonard Nimoy.

The sound is great.

We've been using it on the

Enterprise for decades.

It's about time it got to

earth.

Everything changed.

You had a lot of things coming

at you at once.

The techno side of it...

This guy named Roger Linn,

who is a friend of ours, I

remember Tom and I once went

over to his house, and

Jim Keltner was there.

And there were all these wires

and gadgets out on the desk.

Roger was tinkering.

"What are you doing?"

He goes, "I'm building a drum

machine".

All the drum samples

were my own drums.

You had to be a drummer to

sample drum sounds in those days.

Hey

I got really, really good at

it, and I really loved it.

And it's just a tool.

It's just another way to make

music.

Don't come around here no

more

Digital was in its infancy.

In the '80s, everybody was

trying to be state-of-the-art.

People were saying, "You only

have 24 faders, and we want 32,

We want 72".

Whoop-de-doo.

Getting stronger

Don't come around here no

more

Keith Olsen left Sound City

and built a studio right next

door.

That was the weirdest thing, you

know?

You'd go out in the parking lot,

there'd be Keith Olsen.

I did this thing with

Rick Springfield.

I told Joe Gottfried, "I want

you to build me a studio.

And I will give you the specs,

and I'll put in the gear".

He told me one day, "You got

to see this studio I built".

You know, and so I go in, and

he's got a board with one fader.

And I said, "Well, what do you

do with that?"

He goes, "That's all I need".

You know, "It's all in the

computer".

He goes, "Wait till you hear

what I'm doing".

You know, and I thought, "Well,

I don't give a f***".

Hey

I want some sh*t to play with.

You know, I want to turn knobs,

and I can't trust this.

Keith Olsen clearly had a lot

to do with making Sound City

what it is.

But then, if you went to his

studio next door, it was nothing

like Sound City.

It was the precursor to the

digital studio.

That was an interesting time

in music, where sequencers were

starting to come out.

Now you can record audio

into the computer. Wow.

We could manipulate it in ways we

never could've done on tape before.

And then you can think about

stuff in different ways.

It was a whole new world.

Here I go again on my own

Going down the only road I've

ever known

But here I go again

In the '80s, everything was a

lot more digital.

Things started to get more

processed.

Everything started sounding

really overproduced, with a

cannon-shot snare.

Here I go-o-o-o-o

Sound City couldn't keep up.

Joe was way over his head,

and not just with the studio.

At that time, we made a lot

of mistakes.

We'd spent a lot of money

chasing other acts.

And then, one day, Rick decided

he wanted to go with the

younger, better manager, in his

opinion.

I was kind of talked into

switching managers.

And, um, I didn't do it very

well.

It was supposed to be that

Joe was like Colonel Parker, and

Rick was Elvis, you know?

That's the way we all thought

about it, you know?

Rick Springfield made some

money for Joe and stuff, but Joe

became like a second father to

him.

Rick was his baby.

This guy talked me into, you

know, dumping Joe.

And there was a lot of untruths

told, you know?

Joe was completely shattered

when it happened.

It shattered me, too, but not

personal like it did to him.

It was really a bad day for

him, you know?

That happened, then drum

machines and all that stuff.

And, you know, synthesizers and

stuff like that started taking

over.

It just got a little haywire.

By the late '80s, Sound City,

it just couldn't compete.

I guess there was a time when

studios got nicer and nicer.

Like, some studios had hot tubs.

But, at Sound City, you just

wanted to work and get the hell

out of there.

It was not a place you wanted to

spend time.

And it seemed like it would've

been so easy to clean it up.

But just no one took it upon

themselves to do that.

Aaaaaaaaaah

I got up, after nine years at

Sound City, $29,000 for the

year, no health insurance.

Joe took it away.

He couldn't afford it.

And then when Joe wouldn't give

me my second week vacation,

that's when I said, "I'm

leaving".

By the time I got to

Sound City, it was really dying.

We had a tech who was dealing

drugs, receptionist who wanted

to hang out with Keith Olsen

more than be at the studio.

So I got rid of her.

I remember Keith telling me

I was wasting my time and the

studio would be closed in

six months.

I told him to go f*** himself

and get out.

I took the last 200 bucks out of

my checking account and bought

paint, and we painted the walls.

Sound City was dead.

It was dead.

To be honest, I don't even

remember how the f*** we picked

Sound City.

It's a gritty place, but we

were used to living on the edge,

so it's just like - it was

roomy.

It was comfortable.

I think it was like 600 bucks a day.

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