Tony Levin Quotes

I like being in a recording studio. I like watching a song go from the simplicity of the original music.

Each time I've gone to the studio, the songs have got better and I've got more confident.

When you record an album in six days, you don't have time to work out a lot of stuff.

For 'Twisted Fantasy,' I probably spent 180 days in the studio.

Nobody sets out to make a bad record.

I just continue to look for different material, great material, as good as I can find, and try to go in there and do as good a job as I can do in making it a record. That's all you can expect. That's all that you can do.

When I was recording from '70 to '82, I always played piano and laid the tracks down. But I used to talk to the other musicians while the track was playing.

Unlike motor sport, I didn't get into music for the live performances. I like writing and studio work and seeing how a song can come to life.

One always has to remember these days where the garbage pail is, because it's so easy to make sounds, and to put sounds together into something that appears to be music, but it's just as hard as it always was to make good music.

I go in and sing the song and arrange it and mix it and that's it. It's no different than playing in clubs.

I've always been interested in what happens in the studio.

I realized I liked being in the studio and working on translating the ideas into recordings.

With music, you're working with a producer, and you walk out of the studio six hours later with a track that's almost completely finished. There's an almost immediate payoff.

I started trying to do my own music at home, and I was like, 'You know what, I can play the guitar, sort of. And I can do these things, sort of. And I can make these crazy noises on my computer, sort of. But I need a ridiculously good drummer. I need someone to help me with string arrangements.'

Every record has been very different, so I can't really compare them. The first record was good. I originally recorded about half the songs on that one in 2003 or something, and then I went back a few years later and re-recorded them and added some other songs.

Well, for the My Generation album, there was nothing to be nervous about in them days. We used to take every day as it came. Every day was just a gig and I think we did the recording between gigs literally.

I usually make records very quickly. I usually go in and record them and mix them, and I'm done within a couple of weeks.

I finished the recordings I had started with Eleven. Matt Cameron joined for the rest of those sessions.

The actual making of a record is the most exciting part of this business.

All my writing takes place during the recording of the master tapes. I never do have songs when I start up an album. I actually write them while I record.

Some artists send their verses, and others record in my studio. Depends. I prefer them being there.

Jeff always had a huge part in making a song a record. You felt like you were capturing lightning in the studio. It was never boring. He always was there to serve the song.

Making records is hard work.

I've got my own studio, so I sit in my studio writing and if I get a great take, that's the take.

A good producer brings out the best in the artist he's working with. You shouldn't be able to listen to something and say, 'So-and-so produced this album.'