Soundbreaking (PBS documentary music series)

As described here:

http://soundbreaking.com/

Saw an advance of the whole thing last month -- here's my take, as I mentioned in a letter describing a possible pitch somewhere:

...pretty much the bulk of the series is rock-or-derivations (a bit of synth-pop, a variety of latter-day indie, lots of classic rock etc) but the second biggest is hip-hop, easily. And rightly, of course; arguably it should be at least coequal but hey. There's a *little* bit of pre-rock production stuff, but not much -- a hair of Bing Crosby, a bit more of Frank Sinatra, _Kind of Blue_ Miles Davis. Motown makes the cut (a bit), as does Sly Stone, James Brown, disco here and there via Chic, mostly, a very tiny bit of classic rave and techno, and a couple of moments of 'we swear we're hip!' EDM namechecking and interviews that already feels a bit dated. Some straight up pop if you count Phil Spector, Linda Perry producing Christina Aguilera, fun anecdote from The-Dream and his production partner talking about making "Single Ladies." The barest bit of country thanks to Rick Rubin talking about Johnny Cash. After that, well... (So, no other jazz or country at all, no metal, no punk, no funk beyond what I mentioned, and a REAL absence in general of just about anything that isn't American or English and/or anglophonic in those countries. Reggae? Salsa? What's that!)

Further, given that the putative idea of the series as a whole seems to be advances in sound, notable moments in production history, etc. I was a bit surprised that it doesn't quite turn out that way, and there's a bit of a neither fish nor fowl feeling about it as a result -- I kept wondering if the focus was supposed to be the striking genius of the artists or the notable decisions by the producers, and it never fully resolved on that front.

Expected audience -- a PBS audience, presumably skewing older, baby boomer or younger, not really up to 'what the kids are today' but comfortable enough at least with hip-hop not to chase it out the door (because their kids -- and/or grandkids! -- were totally in that world). And again, a lot of good and interesting stories, and I enjoyed watching it but man can you sense the problems too. Does it matter for that expected audience versus music freaks? I mean, it's the old story -- are you aiming for the 'general' or an in-depth affair? I can already sense the range of reactions to it as a result.

Plus, most of the commenters are (sigh) dudes. And white dudes at that. Only one woman producer is featured IIRC, namely Perry. A few more women musicians and a couple of critics, a number of whom are POC. Thank god for people like Questlove, Oliver Wang, Nile Rodgers, Todd Akin and others in all that because I was considering metaphorical bricks through windows.

I'll watch. Is each episode an hour?

Yup.

After watching the first episode, your summation, Ned, is how I expected the rest of the series to be. I had a small hope they would touch on dub, but considering the audience it doesn't surprise me that they don't.

I wish they would go into the studio and talk about actual techniques and recording technologies. But, it seems like more of a survey course on the history of production.

I would love to see some more footage like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAsgexYFtQA

There's a small hint of Lee Perry at one point IIRC but that's about it. Essentially it's all reduced to "And this is where hip-hop came from" in the hip-hop episode in question -- I think it's the sixth -- as opposed to talking about it in and of itself.

I will say this -- easily the funniest and most entertaining guy throughout the series is Roger Waters, and THAT'S a summary I never thought I'd type.

After watching the first episode, your summation, Ned, is how I expected the rest of the series to be. I had a small hope they would touch on dub, but considering the audience it doesn't surprise me that they don't.

Episode 6 of Soundbreaking, The World is Yours, explores the birth of Rap and Hip Hop from the Caribbean to the Bronx. Public Enemy’s Chuck D., DJ Spooky and Jason King look at the innovations in recording studio that brought the spirit of the mobile sound system, and the Caribbean tradition of “toasting” to the masses.

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365874414/

or, "as Ned said"

Idk how anything purporting to address the history of production could avoid dub, the genre's techniques played a huge role in shaping modern music.

Remixing, sampling, the producer as performer, the emphasis on low end, etc.

dub and disco both

Stevie Nicks sharing her opinions about the Tusk sessions was pure gold

Yeah once you stop looking for some sort of overall/overarching rigor in everything and just treat it all as a series of fun anecdotes, it's more enjoyable.

based on first two episodes, ned is otm. some great anecdotes indeed and some fantastic footage, but i figure there are two basic approaches you can take with a series like this: 1) use tom petty a lot. 2) don't use tom petty a lot. they seem to be going the former route. i love tom, but when it comes to the history of recording and producing, he's not one of the first 100 names that comes to mind. but he clearly loves making rock docs and i assume it doesn't take more than a single email or phone call to book him. i wish they would have spent more time trying to book dr. dre, whose absence is glaring unless you don't mind jimmy iovine representing for him.

(that all said, petty's story about how jeff lynne pulled "free falling" out of him is great.)

I was following the narrative arc of in #2 until Beck

I admit I prefer all the classic rock people on here over some of the newer folks they feature. There's kind of a ton of Ben Harper and Black Keys for some reason.

The footage of the Innervisions recording sessions was pretty amazing. Somehow after many years of loving those Stevie Wonder records, I had no idea that Tonto's Expanding Head Band were involved.

Dan Auerbach looks rather ill in this.