'Black Hole Sun' was written in a car when I was driving home from the studio one night. Pretty much everything that you hear was written in my head.
Little things can make such a big difference during recording.
I've been in the studio environment since I was young, so I know what to expect.
There are times pop music is the end result when I'm in the studio, but I don't really go in and say, 'Today I am going to make a pop song,' but it can happen.
I started using this outlet of creativity - you know, going to the studio, writing, meeting these writers and producers - as the best form of representing myself to my fullest potential.
Some very famous directors have started in the mail room, which is just getting inside the studio, getting to know people, getting to know the routine.
The first time I got into the studio, when I was 17, 18, I got to work with people who were some part of the Cheiron thing, who did all the early Britney Spears stuff, all the early 'NSync stuff.
Growing up, I was obsessed with Disney movies like 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Aladdin' and 'Beauty And The Beast.' I was always singing the songs from these movies, so to find myself in the studio with Alan Menken was an amazing experience. In fact, it was a dream come true.
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.
I must say, I've been in the studio with Jay Z, dog... I thought the freestyle thing was a myth. But, bro!
The first record we made in three days. We literally stayed up for three days making the first album. It was crazy, crazy, crazy for us to do that. We couldn't believe anyone would give us a record deal. I look back on that record fondly but with just the slightest bit of a cringe.
I've never been in the studio world; TV is as close as I get to the more corporate approach to making entertainment.
When I'm in the studio, when I'm warm, when I'm what people call improvising, I feel a very special connection. I feel the most right. I don't want to become too mystic about this, but things feel as though they're in the best order at that particular moment.
Recording at Compass Point was really fantastic. When you're in the studio, you could be anywhere: It could be snowing outside or whatever. But it's great fun when you come out of the studio and are greeted by nice weather and good bars.
In earlier years, I was more of a clown with a big bag of tricks. I'd show up in the studio and kind of go, 'Well, what do you want? Do you want the screaming banshee or the howling owl?'
When it comes to classic Disney, I've got it in my DNA. I mean, the guy who trained me, the man who mentored me when I first came to the Studio was Eric Larson, one of Walt's Nine Old Men.
It wasn't a problem for me drawing humans although I had originally come to the studio with the idea that what I had to offer them was my knowledge in the drawing of animals.
Music is the outlet for me because when I do step into the studio, I feel no barriers.
I remember, my first time in the studio, I was with my dad, Dark Skies. I was, like, 4 years old. It changed my life. I was like, 'I've found my playground.'
There was no such thing as production at Starday. We'd go in with the band, we'd go over the song, I'd look over and tell the steel player to take a break or kick it off, and I'd get the fiddle to play a turnaround in the middle.
I started out with the guitar and was a studio musician back in the 50s, and then got shot in my finger.
I like to be in the zone. I like being in the studio with the artists, with the producers, with the musicians, feeling it, and going there. I feel like I have a lot of content to start writing about.
Every time I go into the studio, it's some next level, man.
I'd do a demo recording by myself, layering instruments on top of one another, and while that's fun, it doesn't have the same impact as getting some great players together in a great studio with a great engineer and producer, then waiting for the magic.
I know when I feel good when I play. There's a closeness with musicians you only get from playing live, even in the studio it's still playing live. For me, it's what expands my soul.
