Home Truth

"If you're a new band, you shouldn't go in a studio and record," he adds firmly. "You should not. Get a four-track, record your songs, show it to your friends, see what they say."

Despite Hoffman's insistence that he could be coaxed out of his living room for the right price, there's something wistful in his voice that says even if he were offered a record deal, he'd still hole up for days on end and make four-track records.

"There's things you can do in the studio that you can't do at home, and there's things you can do at home that you can't do in the studio," he says. "But it's the songs that matter. It doesn't really matter how it sounds, unless it's inaudible and there's so much fucked-up hiss that you can't even hear the melody. That's a problem. But if the song gets across and the people hear the melody, they hear the words, they get the spirit, the vibe of the song, then it doesn't matter how it sounds.