Dave Sitek Quotes

I put music on and I drive around town.

I love what I do: there is no pressure. The music doesn't like pressure.

Music is not a work for me - it's a form of meditation, and you don't need to work hard for it.

After I left the Pumpkins, I went home and just sat around. I have a studio in my basement, and I found myself writing all these songs, just taking advantage of the relaxed situation. I wrote about 30 songs in about 30 days.

When I think of the future, I think a lot of Quincy Jones and how he is an inspiration. Look at the quality of his work over so many years. He didn't even make his best record, 'Thriller,' until he was 50. That gives me something to look forward to. Nothing pulls you back into the studio more than the belief that your best record is still ahead.

I just want to live my life a little freely and not adhere to any schedule - just make music and have fun.

Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story, but music sometimes, just music itself, can turn into more of a maths problem. I guess everything in life is a math problem, but it can be more about an empirical route to getting the symmetry that you want, and this vibe, sonically.

I've never forgotten a single record I cut or a song I wrote.

As I get older, I don't aggressively pursue songs. All the great ones just appear.

I'm wallowing in the whole idea of just being a guy out there with a band, with songs. It's a real enjoyment.

Onstage I'm the one in control - I'm not at the mercy of how an editor chooses to put the scene together later. I can do things onstage that I would never do in real life. It's very freeing.

I thought I wanted to go to drama school or university, and that would have been a completely different life. But what got me was the sound, and hearing it. Hearing everything so loud, I loved that back in the studio. I loved that from the very beginning.

The main thing is that I've been studying composition for the last four years. I'd say it's the life experience combined with the lessons that enabled me to go much further.

There's not a day goes by that I don't appreciate the freedom that I have to make music and tour and spend time with my family.

I'm into sounds, man.

My favourite thing to do as an artist is record. It's a super therapeutic thing for me. Not to sound corny, but it literally is a stress relief for me.

Being able to have a home studio is the greatest thing ever.

For me, creating music is just as relaxing as sitting down and doing nothing.

Recording should be fun.

One of the most fun parts about my job is that when the music gets recorded live at the end of the project and real musicians play it, I still get goosebumps every single time.

I feel like I have time to think when I'm in L.A. There's something about the spaciousness of it.

I think the sound that I have had on all the records that I've been a part of have been important and special.

I think one of the reasons that we are able to actually keep making music that we want to make, and that we're inspired by, is because there is a certain amount of instability constantly, and I think that mirrors the instability of any given life.

Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas.

Jazz music is the power of now.