Feature: Recording The Boss

Last March when Bruce Springsteen was in Sydney, he stopped into Studio 301 to cut two tracks: High Hopes, a song from LA-based Havalinas, and a cover of The Saints’ jangly Just Like Fire Would – evidently, being in the middle of a massive world tour isn’t enough work for The Boss. Nick DiDia helmed the sessions, and High Hopes was recently released as the lead single and title track from Springsteen’s latest record. Naturally we were curious as to what went down at 301, and figured you might be too, so we asked DiDia a few questions about the sessions.

Firstly, how did The Boss come to record the lead single from his new record at 301?

I had been in contact with Ron Aniello (one of the producers) about coming to LA to do some recording, but it didn’t work out schedule-wise. So when they were here on tour, Tom Morello came down to 301 Byron and did some overdubs on tracks they had already recorded. After that they decided to track some songs with the entire band, so we went into 301 Sydney.

When working with someone with such an established sound, is there a temptation to either sonically replicate his ‘sound’ – or conversely, to kick against it?

From the engineering side it’s usually about capturing what happens in the room. I think with any great live band, the best thing to do in a studio situation is to try to eliminate the studio as much as you can, and not let the technology get in the way of the performance.

What’s the in-studio dynamic like with Springsteen and the band?

It’s usually pretty quick – the idea is to try to have everything ready so the band can walk in and start playing. That doesn’t always happen, but it’s the goal. And I was taught to always be recording – it’s easy to erase something you don’t want – but sometimes really difficult to replicate a performance or an idea. For me personally, it’s inspiring to work for Bruce and the band because they are all great at what they do, and they still continue to work really hard at it.

Can you talk us through the gear you used?

Some of the instruments were from their live rigs, although we rented a drum kit for Max [Weinberg]. I brought a few snares with me, along with a couple amps and guitars. Garry [Tallent] used an Ampeg B15 – Nils’ [Lofgren] was a Strat through a 65 London – Tom had his Hippo guitar and his Marshall rig – and Bruce used…

The rest of this article is in the Australian Music Industry Quarterly – out today. To read on, click here.