Chad Smith Quotes

Sometimes I like them artificial and sometimes I like them real. And the reason is because sometimes I like a real close sound. And I like a very specific snare sound and I can't get that in the big room.

Being in a recording studio is a very different feel from performing onstage. I mean, obviously, you can't just go in and do what you would do onstage. It reads differently.

My live sound does not work in the studio, which is a completely different animal. Every little thing is detrimental to the sound. And if someone moves a mic, you've lost it. It's pretty much a case of 'lock the door and set up a police line.'

It doesn't matter if one is live on-air or sitting through a commercial break. There aren't any on or off switches on a lapel pin microphone; it is always 'hot.'

We record a lot of our shows, we record our soundchecks.

A good microphone is an essential thing for a singer.

A lot of bands, they take a lot of planning to do a live record. They have to hire a crew, and they have to have a recording truck and all this equipment, and they record every single show.

I knew absolutely nothing about recording. I had this four-track recorder, and I'd plug my electric guitar right into it, which sounded real bad. I moved any fader that made a drastic change in sound. I thought that was cool - that it was communicating something. I didn't have the skills to do anything subtle. It was just like screaming.

We gave up on the idea of trying to make the record a good representation of the live performance.

And I'll never forget the first time I took the possibility to project sound every day for six or seven hours with special devices which were built for me.

Micing it from two different angles in front of the speaker sounds huge, and it's so simple.

The equipment you've got really dictates what you're going to do. When I started touring, there were no monitors, so I had to take the sound from the hall, and of course it was on a delay, so I would sing, and then I would hear it back, but later. It was very weird.

I can't get that live and I don't have the time to take the tape, after I've finished recording it, into a little studio somewhere else where I can get a different kind of percussion sound.

I've had the luxury of owning my own studio, 24 analogue, 48 digital, endless effects, endless hardcore gear, that I don't have to rent, I don't get stuck with the bills, it's all mine.

I could have gone on to be an engineer full time, except that there was more demand for my playing. But the love of working the board never leaves you.

Well, they put me in a booth and then did some nice things to the speaker to make it come out sounding ok.

I was 17 and just learning what high fidelity was, what good sound was, and learning the mechanics of tape machines. It was a real education, going right from the consumer end to the record factory.

I want to take some jams and really concentrate on hooking up with Page because, since he's the only one not next to me, and his sound is mainly coming from my monitor rather than through the air, it's a little harder for me to hook up with him.

I'm sure I'll go back again and record in the digital process.

I have a pro tools rig that I carry in my backpack.

At the age of 15, I bought a USB microphone on a trip to the United States with my family, and that was my first recording studio.

I remember discovering that I loved recording - that breakthrough when I was in high school getting to record for the first time.

My studio was built with a team of experts to record the sitar at the highest level possible, and I'm very happy with the results.

I don't really look at dubbing from a singer's shoes.

I started recording in my sophomore year in high school. I recorded things on my cell phone in my basement.