Adrian Younge

“I remember those moments in my life when the tape came out on that Tuesday, and I went to Sam Goody to cop it. And sitting and listening to it. In awe of the music I was listening to, but also imagining this music at the hip-hop clubs and with the homies in the car.”

“I started buying ill, obscure records, and then I saw Portishead and Air live, and my mouth was on the ground.”

“I always say to people that I left hip-hop in '97, meaning that I departed from listening to predominately hip-hop and just started really getting into records from the late '60s, early '70s. And once I made that change, I realized how much great music was made back in the day, and it started to become apparent how much we've lost in music.”

“A lot of people record on a laptop and use plug-ins, which might be OK for the kind of music that they're doing. But for the kind of music that I'm doing, that just doesn't work. I can't cut corners; everything has to be organic.”

“Basically, if you work hard and practice an instrument every day, you'll learn how to play like a professional. You'll get better and better each day. And that's how it works for me. I wasn't magically inclined to play. I had to keep practicing and practicing to train my fingers.”

“People don't realize how much it means to your music to record on tape, whether it be for new music or old music. People don't realize how much or how imperative it is to use actual hardware when making drums because those are actual percussion samplers. They're hardware instruments that are made to have the drum hit.”

“To me, the Ennio Morricone kind of sound is a derivative of soul music.”

“I love the song 'Picasso Baby,' and I think the performance art piece was brilliant. I love that fact that Jay Z is continuing to raise the bar on hip hop.”

“When Curtis Mayfield made 'Super Fly,' he used the lyric to make a statement.”

“I don't like to focus on just hip-hop because with hip-hop, I can only do so much; with a vocalist, I can only do so much, but the limitations are varying.”

“When you're recording live, really good vintage instruments onto two-inch tape, it's the best fidelity you can get.”

“I always feel like young people are more emotionally in tune with new and timeless music.”

“My studio is fully analog. There's nothing modern. There's not even a computer in my studio.”

“Cee Lo - to me, his voice is classic; I've personally said to him before, 'For me, your voice is as special as a Michael Jackson vocal,' because of what he can do, his range. I said that to him, and I mean that.”

“We love high-end art, but when you're looking at high-end art in music, a lot of the time, it's appreciated academically, but you can't feel it as much.”

“I'm a huge Stereolab fan.”

“I know all my different formulas to get certain sounds. I've been doing this so long that I don't experiment anymore. Or let me rephrase: I've been doing this so long that I don't have to experiment as much. You always want to evolve and change, but if I go in and I know it's a certain type of song, I know exactly where I'm going to place the mics.”

“A lot of Ennio Morricone's music is just - it's very soulful, very cinematic, and very psychedelic.”

“I want listeners to feel as though they went through an experience.”

“The ramifications that you set for yourself can inspire you to do things that you would have never thought of because, once you're trapped, your job is to persevere.”