Did anyone see the first episode of Soundbreaking tonight? It seems to be a pet project of George Martin that was picked up by his son Giles after George's passing. Lots of great vintage footage going back to Elvis and Sun Records. To stay on topic, they had Brian Eno and Roger Waters offering some insights. Lots more to come, I suspect. The first episode was pretty much an overview in broad strokes, but I'm hoping it will drill down to the nuts and bolts of recording as the series progresses.
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
I noticed on my PBS affiliate's schedule that two episodes were coming up tonight and tomorrow night. The first show is sort of an intro: "The Recording Artist"; tomorrow night's is "Painting With Sound", which sounds very interesting; The Beatles, Beach Boys & Pink Floyd are mentioned in that episode's listing.
Good Morning...
Thank You Kindly for the heads up on that PBS show. Sounds rather interesting Indeed!
Carry On
Chris Buckley
Recording the first two episodes. The Wednesday night show is mostly about female vocalists I have no interest in.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Did not even know about the program. Will be watching in future. Thanks for the heads-up.
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
Thanks!!
I just set up a series recording beginning tonight with Ep.2, but couldn't find a way to watch Ep.1. Suggestions?
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Some PBS stations are rerunning episodes in the middle of the night. Check your DVR listings. There's a website for the series but it doesn't look like the complete episodes are posted.
http://soundbreaking.com/
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Caught the first episode by chance, and set up the DVR for the rest. Looks like it should be interesting, just adding another show to the queue of stuff to watch.
After seeing parts of the first 3 episodes (I'll channel surf for awhile during "dull" bits), I'd say that this series is geared towards people who don't know much about music. I've seen all the old clips, the sound bites they use by people like Roger Waters don't reveal anything, and the need to pull in a younger audience means you get lots of recent stuff that doesn't interest me. I'll keep watching, but so far I've seen little worthwhile.
THANK YOU!!!Originally Posted by fiberman
Off to watch episode 1.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
I like seeing the "old guys" like Waters and Daltrey, as well as learning about younger artists I may have only heard about, or less. I love music, so it's all good. Only problem for me so far, is if they have someone I don't recognize onscreen (usually a producer or engineer, rarely an artist) and I don't catch their name when they give it, then every subsequent time they are onscreen I have no idea who they are.
As Peter Green once said, "Oh, well."
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
Yes, I'm finding the overall content of the series to be very superficial. They seem to get a bunch of people saying the same thing, like "multi-tracking changed the recording industry". Thanks.
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
Each episode has a tracklist for the music they use. Based on those, I don't think I'd be interested in putting in the time to watch.
I'm liking a decent amount of this, although it does seem to have a taste bias.
I guess seeing Imogen Heap in there I follow, but Christina Aguilera? the only basis of that seems to be the fact Linda Perry was interviewed, thus they had to show someone she produced. Not that I like her much either, but between Aguilera and say Pink who Linda Perry also produced, I see Pink at least being more "sound breaking."
The episode about Music Videos is tonight, and if the filmmakers actually did their homework, they will show something about Michael Nesmith.
While I enjoy it, a lot of stuff is thrown together piecemeal.
I did like the feature on Johnny Cash. I've never been a big fan of his, but I did like how they showed him working on the later album.
One other thing that annoys me is when they show a new face that I've never seen and they don't even show their name. For all I know, they could be interviewing Joe Blow off the street. When I hear someone's opinion, I'd like to know the basis of their experience before I evaluate it.
Some producers are amazing, and some are simply one trick ponies.
Some of these guys are names I was familiar with, but had never seen before, like Giorgio Moroder.
I don't even know who Linda Perry is. Must be one of the faces onscreen that they didn't identify, or did so when I blinked. Never kept up with producers. Why would I know what one of them looked like?
That Imogen Heap vocal loop was impressive.
I agree it would be good to see something about Michael Nesmith, but I'm not holding my breath. He won his lawsuit against PBS in 1999, so what are the odds?
I may have forgotten to watch last night's episode. D'oh!
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
Last night was the first one I've been able to catch, and I thought it was pretty interesting. I thought it presented a pretty balanced view of how hip-hop evolved, etc. And I loved how they talked about how you can use samples in a creative way or in a very derivative way, as they played P. Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You" over the background.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
Well, that was a major disappointment. Talk about an 8 part series with absolutely no thread of coherence or concept. A bunch of interviews (superficial at best) strung together to sort of make a point of view. Still waiting for something to do with "cutting edge". RIP, Sir George. I'm afraid, they did not do you proud.
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
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