Caffeine gives me hope. Sometimes, when I brew my wicked strong Irish black tea just perfect, about halfway through the mug I feel a clear and overwhelming feeling of optimism. It didn't surprise me when a study a few years ago implied that suicide was much less likely among coffee and tea drinkers.

As a studio, you have to have a niche. You have to provide a service and there has to be a reason for your being around.

There's nothing like space and the ability to make unlimited amounts of noise at any time, especially in San Francisco.

Making love to robots will probably be great one day. It's just not a viable option right now.

Analog was perfected over 70 years, though. Digital will one day be fantastic. I'm sure of it.

Bands will always need studios. The more people there are recording at home, the more people there will be who are going to need a studio.

To make a live record - something that has a lot of life in it - is difficult. After slaving away for years in the studio, when I hear a No Age record or when I hear Yeah Yeah Yeahs' first EP or when I hear DRI or really early punk stuff, it's just so powerful, so raw - and I know how hard that is to create. It's very deceptive. It's like a Dardenne brothers film - it seems like just a handheld camera following some people around in a trailer park, but it's incredibly difficult to do that.