‘Soundbreaking’ Recap, Episode 1: New Docu-Series Breaks Down The Mystery Of Music Recording

There have been countless documentaries made over the years about great musicians, whether famous and obscure, and the various scenes and musical movements that shaped pop music. Far fewer have been made about the process, both creative and technical, of actually creating music. The loftily titled Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music, attempts to do both; to talk about the art and history of recorded music, while also profiling some of the most important musicians, producers and engineers to ever step inside a recording studio and press the “Record” button.

Created in association with legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin, the eight-part documentary series aired on PBS in November and is now available for streaming on Hulu. The first episode, titled ‘The Art of Recording,’ attempts to unwrap the riddle of what a “record producer” is, and what he or she does. To do so, it profiles a diverse array of music’s greatest producers, and studies the various techniques they use to unlock the best in a performer, songwriter or song.

So, what exactly does a music producer do? It depends who you ask. A producer’s job can entail everything from the actual technical application of recording techniques (though recording engineers also do that), to helping select material for an artist (though A&R persons – A&R means, literally, Artist & Repertoire – also do that), to actually creating the music the artist performs over (Dr. Dre and million other hip hop and modern pop producers do that). Most crucially, though, the best producers enable an artist to dig deep within themselves and find something their talent may have hinted at, but never fully revealed.

As Quincy Jones, who oversaw the recording of Michael Jackson’s career-making solo albums, says of the relationship between artist and producer “There’s a connection you have to make in producing, and it’s got to be love and respect.” Don Was, who’s produced everyone from The Rolling Stones to John Mayer, says his job is to “create a vibe of safety,” where the artist can open up and isn’t “afraid to fail.” According to U2 producer Daniel Lanois, “I never thought of myself as a record producer. Somebody else named me that. I was just a guy that was making records and was good at helping people.”

Soundbreaking reaches back to the early days of Sun Records to illustrate this point. Always on the lookout for something “unique,” producer and label owner Sam Phillips saw the potential in a young Elvis Presley when he walked into Phillips’ Memphis Recording Service, even if the singer didn’t. By giving him and his band room to experiment, and the comfort to let loose, they hit upon a million dollar idea; rock n’ roll (you know the rest).

From there it’s on to George Martin’s work with The Beatles. Again, the elder Martin had a “get feeling” about the band, and with his technical and musical acumen facilitated their rapidly evolving compositional genius. The musical contributions of “the Fifth Beatle” to their music cannot be overstated; however, Martin never tried to claim the credit for himself. His self-effacing, workman-like, avuncular style is contrasted with Phil Spector, the “first rock star producer,” as Jimmy Iovine calls him. When you heard a record he produced, no matter who sang it, you know it was a Phil Spector record. Spector understood pop orchestration was no different than classical orchestration, and enlisted multiple drummers, guitarists, bassists, keyboardist and horn players to playing in unison to create his “Wall of Sound.”

As rock and pop music moved into the ’70s, however, new approaches developed. To singer-songwriters like Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell, the producer represented the music industry hack, sent in to make sure the artist delivered a hit. A sympathetic, hands off was needed. To independent minded artists, such as Sly Stone, producing one’s self was the ultimate manifestation of complete creative control.

The episode then rather awkwardly jumps 20 years into the future, trying to link Stone’s work on 1971’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On, with the advent of hip hop and the contributions of Dr. Dre. It kind of makes sense and kind of doesn’t, though; there’s certainly no doubting the musical contributions of Dre are equal to those of the other producers profiled. Things then rather conveniently come full circle, detailing Rick Rubin’s work with Johnny Cash. Rescuing the OG Sun Records’ great from the Hells of dinner theater, Rubin encouraged Cash to sing the songs of his youth and also explore new material, without a care towards industry expectations. It’s a little too obvious, though, when Cash says of Rubin, “I like the way he talked. He reminded me of Sam Phillips.” If these final segments are a let down after the excellent first 3/4s of the episode, that’s OK.  Any good producer knows not every note is perfectly in tune, and there’s seven more episodes for them to get it right.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician whose first interview subject was Yo-Yo.  Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Watch "The Art of Recording" episode of 'Soundbreaking' on Hulu