Robert Smith Quotes

I lived in a pretty big house, and we had a guesthouse, so when I was 14, I built a studio in my bedroom, which was pretty big. It was two rooms connected, so I turned the second into a studio and ran the mic in my closet.

Songwriting is different from music, although I don't deny now that it would be nice to have a little more background in music theory.

Because our daughters have school and it's just such a hassle going down to New York all the time, we can really only go on the weekends, we kind of... Steve came up here and worked out stuff for the second half of the record.

So it helped me to just let go of all my tensions and feelings about that world and say 'OK, this is for my fans in Japan. They'll be nice and get into it and have fun.' And it was the first record I made at my home studio.

I have a rough idea when I walk into a studio though.

I've not really spent much time in proper studios. The room itself where you're recording, and how you live while you're there is what appeals to me.

If months were marked by colors, November in New England would be colored gray.

The fact I even get an opportunity to make one album is crazy. But if all goes to plan, I'll get to make five albums. That'd be nice.

About two months into the Whisky, I borrowed some money and rented a remote recording truck.

I probably had the most fun recording For Richer For Poorer in Nashville.

The one thing I've always done, because I like the sound of my guitar from where I sit - meaning not in front of it - so what I do is, I put microphones around my ears. I have them around my head, too. I don't know if it's a superstitious thing, but it's actually how I recorded my first album.

I like to record records in Los Angeles. It's less distracting than New York, where I was based.

I do have electric guitars, because I've always believed, especially when I'm working in the studio with other bands as producer, that there should be a really nice Strat around.

We spent a month in LA using a pool of musicians, a string arranger called Benjamin Wright, some great backing singers, and it gave tracks like Dynamite, which was written there, that kind of flavour.

Hey bands, you're all welcome to fly me to some exotic location and I'll record you there, Y'know that right? You don't have to come to this God forsaken place. Hope I can visit you all in Australia one of these days that would be hot! We'll talk again soon.

After that initial success, every chance we got we'd hire that remote recording truck and just record stuff at the Whisky because it was so inexpensive.

You can tell the difference between songs that were created in a garage and songs that were created in the studio.

I walk away from writing what I consider to be a good song - with a good character, a good story in it - with all I'm gonna really get out of that song. My greatest pleasure is to create it, not to record it, not to hear anyone else play it, though that can be nice too.

I decided to build a studio in my house. We built it in my basement kitchen. I had the drummer up by the fish tank. I was in the toilet singing. The bass player was out by the shelves in the living room, and the guitarist was on the couch by the telly.

It was incredible to have J Dilla in your dining room making beats - it was one of the greatest experiences I've had.

I find myself wanting to make music at the dining room table or in the bedroom - I'm kind of a mobile writer, so I sort of move around the house. But the attic is definitely where I can make the most noise. While everyone on the lower floors screams 'Earthquake!' But no! It's just my bass!

After a couple years of occasional lessons with Pass I moved to Boston to attend the New England Conservatory.

When I write for an album, I'll always have about 30 different types of instrument around me. I set them up in a small room with my computer running GarageBand, which is always set to record.

I bought an audio technician mic and Pro Tools SE, the demo version and was recording in the basement.

I recorded 'Play God' in a shed. I don't know how we got it to sound as good as it did.