When I started making my own records, I had this idea of drowning out the singer and putting the rest in the foreground. It was the background that interested me.
A studio is an absolute labyrinth of possibilities - this is why records take so long to make because there are millions of permutations of things you can do. The most useful thing you can do is to get rid of some of those options before you start
I like to make records sound good. I'm more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what's the point?
Solace is my favorite song. It was the last song we wrote for the record. It was right when we really started to mesh as far as music goes and we started really connecting with each other.
If you're not Jay-Z, a record leaking isn't going to affect you.
I'm going to ask the three executives here to raise their hand if they flew here commercial. Let the record show no hands went up. Second, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand if you're planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. Let the record show no hands went up.
I'm happy to have the opportunity to record the records I want to - I'm very aware that that's a privilege.
I think that it can be said of a lot of artists, and myself included, that we made the same record over and over from the beginning.
There are many things about living the gospel of Jesus Christ that cannot be measured by that which is counted or charted in records of attendance.
I also tried to avoid doing obvious dance records.
I felt that making records in a traditional way - putting them out in the same way, wasting loads of money - was just a pointless exercise.
I think these days, as an artist, you have to be slightly entrepreneurial. ...Nobody really sells records anymore.
I havent had a big hit record in America since 1987.
You don't have to look a certain way to have a hit record.
I would sell 2 million records, a million went to teenagers and a million went to the adults. So, when The Beatles became so popular, I lost a million to the teenagers, but I was still selling a million to the adults.
I saw an Elvis Presley movie Jailhouse Rock, where he gets out of jail and makes his own records and takes them to the radio stations himself. And then, he puts records in the store. After seeing that, I made records an put them in stores.
I must tell you, to get started today must be very difficult 'cause whatever it takes today is very tough. They have to invest a million dollars in a video just to see if you have a hit record.
If I made records for my own pleasure, I would only record Charley Patton songs.
Stop telling the truth about my record!
On taking office, Obama promised the 'most transparent' administration in history; yet his record as president has been anything but transparent.
I didn't have a lot to do with the first record.
If I have more creativity that I want to get out of me, I try to find other ways than pursuing solo records so much.
I certainly have gotten caught up in the music business at various times in my life, mostly because you want to get along with whatever record company you're dealing with. I don't want to be flaky. I don't want to be some temperamental, hard-to-work-with musician.
Bob Dylan is quite a songwriter, and a great singer and musician. I won't bother with comparing myself to him, but I will say that I heard his records at a very young age and I still listen to all his records.
I don't make records that way, where I'm trying to please the marketplace or anything. Not because I have anything against that, it's just never been a part of my aesthetic, even when I was with the Pixies.
