Sound City [Blu-ray]

Five stars for the content, minus two stars for (ironically) the sound production. Some of these guys talk so quietly you can barely understand what they're saying. OK, so I'll turn up the volume. But then it cuts to a scene with loud heavy rock music and now I'm turning down the volume, only to have to turn it back up a few seconds later. OK, I'll just turn on closed captioning so I can at least read what these quiet guys are saying. Nope, that won't work either because the closed captioning is out of sync where the captions will pop up a few seconds before the dialogue happens. Couldn't make out that one sentence? Too bad, the captions for what he said popped up three seconds ago. It's really distracting to try to read captions in anticipation of not being able to hear the dialogue. You have to commit 100% to only reading the captions in order to make this work, which shouldn't be the case.So I guess I'll have to "ride the faders" and manually adjust volume every few seconds. Hmm... maybe that was their intent?

This is the most emotionally moved I've ever been by a documentary. Having been born in the early 1960's, I came into my teen years accompanied by pretty much the whole Sound City catalog. Then, after moving to California in the early 1980's, I lived and worked in Van Nuys and knew every block of the Western San Fernando Valley. A couple of years later, I got hitched and had a son, who I raised to love all the music I grew up on and as he grew, so did all the great music from Sound City that was a part of our lives every day. And where did we live while all this was going on for the next 30 years? A couple of miles from Sound City. We used to drive past the Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch) factory and eat chili burgers and the best fries in the world at the Original Tommy's across the street from "The Bud", but only if it was a downwind day. We were oblivious all that time that just around and down the road, history and magic were being made. God bless Sound City and all the folks there that made it happen and God bless all the wonderful musicians and producers and engineers who gave us what was and still is the soundtracks to our hearts and souls. P.S. Analog Forever!!

Even though the volume/levels of this show is... weird and unbalanced, I still wholeheartedly give a 5-star rating. I have been a full-time musician for many years (at least prior to covid) and this was sooooo incredibly inspiring. It was a brilliant reminder of how important it is to remember why we're all doing what we do, and that the quality and humanity of the recordings we do REALLY MATTER. Thanks again to Dave Grohl for showing us all how we should be doing this music thing. OMG so inspiring.

Hands down an absolute must-have for any serious rock music fan!Dave Grohl really dives deep into the history of the Neve recording console and the history of the studio in Van Nuys CA known as Sound City. It's one of those "if these walls could talk" documentaries that truly gives an honest take on what the music biz and recording industry was like back in the 1980's. ( ok I was involved in the music biz in the early to mid '80s so yeah, it's real. Not bragging just saying )It's not dry in the least; it's filled with personal and honest interviews with folks who were actually "on the scene" back then.There are just enough technical details to satisfy an audio engineer and enough shots of the past to satisfy fans. The music throughout ROCKS!Folks who aren't involved in the music biz might wonder why this would interest them...because the music created in the Sound City studio using the Neve console rocked your world back then! I guarantee just about any rock music fan will have an " I remember THAT song " moment or 3.I also got the CD of the music and well, I bet you never expected some of the artists involved, Rick Springfield for example, could rock this hard. Paul McCartney jumps in with both feet!If rock docs are your thing, or if this is the first one you're considering, I consider this to be well worth it! Biz vets will enjoy the trip down memory lane and fans will see an unusually honest glimpse behind the scenes of the rock scene from the 1980's forward.

What a GREAT film Dave Grohl has created here, telling the behind the scenes story of Sound City, a landmark studio in the heart of the recording scene-past and present-in southern California. I am so thankful he brought this "insider's only" look behind the curtain as this story is also a story of so many studios from the 60s forward. Only Dave could get all these studio people on camera, from past studio managers who played a key role in keeping everyone together, to the engineers who are also part of the creative process, developing "the sound" of so many bands. These interviews with Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks and other legendary musicians were priceless. This is an important piece of music history you can watch over and over.

This is a really gripping music industry film , with so much reality and so enjoyable to watch. If you are a budding musician it will enthuse you onwards to aim for greater things. I play drums in a band and we gig, this film just makes you want to practice and do just more off what you inwardly love to do daily. I blatantly shows what it is all about and why you do it . Thank you Dave Grohl

This documentary weaves several different themes into one another seamlessly in a beautiful story of a record label that has definitely touched your life unless you've been living in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan since 1970. The documentary uses a specific piece of technology - the Neve mixer as a corner stone around which the story of music and people are anchored. Essential watching for anyone interested in the modern history of music. It is remarkably informative and makes connections between people groups and styles of music that are both surprising and captivating. It's examination of music technology is fascinating regardless of whether you are watching as someone who enjoys the featured music or not. The soundtrack itself is a catalogue of favourites that have by now been mostly forgotten by the mainstream media. Unfortunately the documentary does become a little self-indulgent and sentimental by going beyond the history and filming the making of a new tribute album which is heavy in feeling, completely empty in lyrical content and stinking to high heaven with ego.

Having heard some amazing songs from the Sound City album I also bought the DVD documentary by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. The documentary charts the story of a grotty little recording studio in LA which surprisingly was where some of the greatest albums of all time were recorded. A truly heartfelt documentary about a small studio which saw some amazing artists create their masterpieces and used real recording techniques despite the advance of digital trickery. It's a fascinating journey and it is well worth a watch if you are a music fan. Some of the stars talk and reminisce about their experiences and you get to see and hear some of them record the Sound City CD too. Buy the CD and DVD and enjoy some truly great music and history too

As an avid fan of the Foo Fighters and everything that Dave Grohl touches, I simply had to see this film when it came out. Not sure what to expect, I was treated to the story of Sound City from it's inception in the 1960s, through Fleetwood Mac, Rick Springfield, Nirvana and Slipknot, to it's closure in 2011. A real in-depth documentary, Grohl interviews musicians who have recorded there, as well as engineers and producers who helped shape the music that came out the door. Brilliant insights make for compelling viewing, which culminates in all the stars of the show going round to Grohl's house to record an album. Even this is brilliantly interesting, seeing all these famous faces coming together to record and mull over their musical greatness.For any curious music fan, Sound City is a great watch, showing how music has evolved through the decades and how a music studio in California was right in the heart of it. Very, very good!!

Well....what can i say. Awesome doesn't cover it really. All i can say is, that it is obvious that Dave Grohl kept the pick of destiny after filming with Jack Black and Kyle. Everything he turns his hand to becomes the best thing ever! This is a piece of art at the end of the day but not the kind of art where you get all teary eyed. The kind where you throw your fist in the air, sing along and rock it!! On some song you can of course sit back and just listen with your eyes close. The different sounds that come from the instruments and the way they conjoin is fantastic. BUY IT!!!