With so many musicians and other Dopers with a strong interest in Rock, Pop and almost every other genre of music posting here in the CS forum, I’m really surprised that no one has had any comments on this series, which I’ve found really interesting even though I don’t have any musical experience or training. So although I can’t contribute anything I was hoping some of our regular posters would.
I’ve been watching it. People don’t realize how much goes into a song or how much influence a producer has. Some of the most iconic music was created by changes made by music producers and studio musicians brought in to tweak the sound.
I’ve especially enjoyed seeing and hearing just how much George Martin changed and expanded the Beatles’ music, since it’s something my generation was able to experience as it happened. And the input from so many people in the industry has been fascinating. Looking forward to the rest of it, or maybe I’ll just binge-watch on the PBS site.
It surprised me to learn that multi-tracking went all the way back to the early 1950s. Last night’s episode had an old Omnibus clip (with a very young Alistair Cooke) where Les Paul and Mary Ford showed how they created the effect with just a tape recorder. A longer version of it is here
We watched the first episode last night and were wowed. Set up the DVR to record the rest. (And there are several more episodes coming.)
A really great episode. The highlight for me was the transition from Psycho theme to Eleanor Rigby. Had to go back and replay that.
Also liked the story arc of Johnny Cash ending up with a producer who was a big admirer of the old Sun Studio style and giving The Man in Black a fitting and apt finale to his career.
(One thing not mentioned regarding Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Free Fallin’ was how Lynne had a protracted fight with the label. The label thought it wasn’t a suitable song and was going to leave it off the album. Free Fallin’!)
I have the DVR set to record the first two episodes, but I didn’t want to fill it up so I stopped there. I see episode 3 is Adele as “The Human Instrument”. Can you post your thoughts on this so I can see if it’s worth watching too?
Much deja vu: I had just seen clips of The Beatles and George Martin in the studio, in the excellent documentary: Eight Days a Week (The Beatles Touring Years).
And I’ve now seen the story of Brian Wilson and Pet Sounds in 3 places: the Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy, the documentary The Wrecking Crew, and now here. But it’s a great story and bears repeating.
My thoughtful wife noticed this for me. I watched the first episode, and DVR’d the rest (I work nights). I generally liked the first episode. It says something that I had no complaints about it. I’ll probably binge the rest of if when I get off work Friday morning.
I can remember where I was when I heard Kennedy was shot, the first space shuttle disaster, and the first time I heard “Personal Jesus”. I was laid off and drowning my sorrows in a bar. When I heard it I said “WTH, is that Johhny Cash”? I actually cried when I heard “Hurt”.
Even Petty intimated it was a nothing song. Lynne suggested he drop the last note in the rift. Petty then made up the opening lyrics as a lark and his producer looked at him and said “free falling”.
I LOVE music. LOVE it. This series is wonderful. I had no Idea that the first Boston album was all done in Tom Scholz’s basement.
Here’s a list of episodes if anyone wants to keep track of where they are.
Episode 1 – The Art of Recording
Episode 2 – Painting with Sound
Episode 3 – the Human Instrument
Episode 4 – Going Electric
Episode 5 – Four on the Floor
Episode 6 – The World is Yours
Episode 7 – Sound and Vision
Episode 8 – I Am My Music
I have been involved in music production for over 25 years. I have been a live engineer, a recording engineer, a songwriter, a musician and, for my own material, a producer. And I think that what I saw in Episode 1 was excellent. Thank you very much for posting about this, HyacinthBucket.
I’m liking this show, but my DVR has the episodes all labeled wrong. I watched (what I now know is Ep.1) and it said it was Ep. 2. I figured I missed one, and I look today, and it recorded “Painting with Sound” and it is labeled Ep. 9!
Oh well. As long as I get to see them all. Great stuff. I always thought I’d have made a great Engineer or Producer.
Just finished Episode 2. It was similarly excellent, but I was disappointed that they didn’t mention Frank Zappa when discussing early multi-track recordings. Oh well, only so much they can fit into 53 minutes or so, I guess.
If the first two episodes are any indication, WordMan will love this not only for the content but because they feature Jeff Beck in the interview segments here and there.
Been too busy to watch the entire shows, but the bits I’ve caught have been really interesting, so I’m going to make a point to watch it. Glad you brought it up here.
More importantly is Neneh Cherry. My friend and former bandmate co-wrote and produced Raw Like Sushi and she is being featured in a series about studio production. I have reached out to him to see if he’d heard of it. But if she’s talking, and that’s her biggest hit, well, that’s pretty cool.
I will get to these over Thanksgiving. After the election, in order to unplug for a bit, I committed to rereading a favorite “physics and philosophy” type book that I love - Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt. Finishing that first - so good. Then, onto Soundbreaking.
Hearing the reference to Psycho and Eleanor Rigby’s strings bodes well. Nice way to put what Martin and the lads were doing in context - it was cited in other Beatles in the Studio deep stuff I’ve read and seen.
I’ll probably binge the rest of if when I get off work Friday morning.