There are many legends that surround the music industry, but Sound City was an actual place that embodied a mythology. Located in Van Nuys, California (i.e. the Valley, i.e. this is when you groan), Sound City was an outdated dump that refused to let the digital revolution through its front doors, but bands continued to seek it out because of two reasons: the staff that welcomed you in like you were one of their own, and the Neve console. The beautiful board that lived at Sound City was custom ordered and gave the studio its signature sound – a perfect distribution that made even distortion sound good. But it was not that this board was magical or that the studio was designed to create this effect (it ironically was not designed at all, just lucked out on having such good acoustics), it was thanks to the “magic” of analog recording which provides a warmth that digital is not yet able to duplicate. Dave Grohl‘s documentary Sound City is certainly a story about the studio and all the artists that recorded there, but that story focuses truly on this board and the one-of-a-kind sound it was able deliver.

Sound City Studios in Van Nuys has had a hand in creating 7 of the 500 greatest albums on Rolling Stone’s list. It’s a legendary spot, one rich with sonic history and a sense of American Rock ‘N’ Roll when it was far purer than it is today. It’ll no doubt make an engaging doc subject, and Foo Fighter/Nirvana member Dave Grohl plans to make sure that his directorial debut celebrates that musical birthplace in Sound City. According to Aint it Cool, Grohl is making himself mayor of Sound City after buying their Neve 8028 recording console (that was used to lay down tracks for everyone from Neil Young to Nirvana to Nine Inch Nails to bands that didn’t start with the letter N). The press release from Roswell Films calls the movie “a film about America’s greatest unsung recording studio.” Another phrase for it? A damned cool project.

Rejoice in another fantastic Reject Interview! As you can imagine, when discussing a movie of this emotional weight and dramatic consequence, we end up discussing Robin Williams’s penis for most of the piece.