Recording in unusual spaces

- A perfectly tuned, sound-proof studio is oftentimes really uncomfortable to be in, so why would you do it? Why would you spend time there? It's sterile usually, the furniture you know, comfortable furniture usually doesn't even fit in it. So I'd rather be in a house with couches and, beds and a kitchen and, with all the noise of all that, and add that into the, the, the sound of the record. So I started recording in unusual spaces and, bought a, actually a theater in Weed, California, it was the Weed Palace Theater and, a 600-seat theater and put the recording equipment right in the theater. No walls, no nothing. The artists would stand on the stage with their band together, maybe it's a band, they'd all be together playing. It would be like they're playing to an audience, but it's an audience of ghosts or whatever but, there would be a completely different type of performance, when they're playing on a stage, then they would in a perfectly, climatized studio environment so, I thought to myself well, why the hell would I ever go back into a studio again? So, after the theater, I started seeking out other places to work and, I found these churches, and these castles and, other really unique places to record and, recently we just got this church, and it's more comfortable in the sense, that it's smaller, but it's still a very versatile space. It's a little noisy but, so what? I, I just think, especially with rock music, it doesn't matter. And it's versatile because we can actually record in the lobby, we can record in the bathroom, we can record in the basement, we could go anywhere we want in here, and do anything we want. We could build walls if we want or, oftentimes, I've got a truss system, I'll just hang tarps up on the truss system, and create smaller rooms or spaces with that, if I wanna do that too. So, I have fun with spaces. When I had the theater in Weed, a producer named Ross Robinson, who did Corn, and Limp Biscuit, he came up to record a band called From First to Last, and he went down into the dungeon, underneath the stage in this oppressive little tight, hot little room, and he had the band set up in there, they could barely fit in there, they couldn't stand up straight, and they had to play this super aggressive music in this tight, tight space, and I think the fact that they were all crammed into this little space, really enhanced the recording. And it was a brilliant record. The singer of that band From First to Last, his name is Sonny Moore and, you'll know him today, as Skrillex, so he's completely new persona today but, wow, he's good.