‘Watch The Sound With Mark Ronson’ Is Personal Account Mixed With an Examination Of Music Technology

Is Mark Ronson a producer first, or a musician? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Sure, he plays a variety of instruments and has put out records under his own name, but he’s no virtuoso or frontman. Meanwhile, he’s produced no shortage of hits for any number of artists in a variety of genres, but somehow it always seems like you’re listening to a Mark Ronson record, not just a record “Produced by Mark Ronson.” Maybe the truth is that first and foremost, Mark Ronson is a music lover.  You can hear it in everything he touches, regardless of the singer, songwriter, player or name on the record label. His omnivorous infatuation with recorded sound saturates the new Apple TV+ series Watch The Sound With Mark Ronson, which premiered earlier this summer.

Watch The Sound With Mark Ronson falls into a distinct sub-genre of music documentary series which explore the mechanics of music making and the creative process. These include such predecessors as Soundbreaking, Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La, the podcast turned Netflix series Song Exploder and McCartney 3, 2, 1 (Rubin again, but this time with Paul McCartney in tow). Like Song Exploder, it makes brevity a virtue, with each of its 6 episodes running just over a half-hour. Interestingly, the series was created by Morgan Neville, who’s had his hands in two of the aforementioned shows and also directed such noted documentaries as 20 Feet from Stardom and Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain.

According to the series description, Watch The Sound “explores the intersection of technology and musical innovation.” It’s about that, sure, but it’s also about Ronson and his favorite music, musicians, recordings and recorded sounds. Each episode covers a different recording element, from hardware (“Auto-Tune,” “Synthesizers,” “Drum Machine”) to practices (“Sampling”) to effects (“Reverb,” “Distortion”). At times the discussions fixate on a particular paradigm-shifting piece of equipment, the Roland TR-808 drum machine for example, but you don’t need to be a gear nerd to follow along and learn something. Aiding Ronson in the discourse are some of the biggest names in music, many of whom he’s worked with and others he’s admired since he was a kid.

Softspoken and nebbishy, Ronson has a retiring presence on screen and one can only assume in person. The art of being a producer is often about the ability to make an artist feel comfortable, unthreatened and free, and it’s not hard to imagine these are skills at which he must excel at in the recording studio. They work pretty well as the host of music documentary series too, as he lets the artists share their experiences and insights on the subjects at hand. He seems positively starstruck interacting with legendary hip hop producer DJ Premier, showing a vulnerability most other multi-million dollar hit making producers would probably hide.

Ronson begins each episode with a brief introduction and some sort of a mission statement. Auto-Tune, for example, is “the sound of cheating,” he says of the software which can turn the most off-key singer into the next… Cher. After a brief history lesson, he  begins poking holes in what we know about the subject and what he thinks he knows about it. In the end there is a new understanding about what the technology does and what it can do in the hands of adventurous musicians. Yes, Auto-Tune is used to make bad singers sound good but it can also be used to make a singer sound otherworldly, bizarre or barely human. The only limits to technology are the user’s imagination.

In some sense the episodes on drum machines and sampling could be combined into one super special about the history of hip hop production but that wouldn’t tell their full story. While sampling’s roots lay in 20th century avant-garde music, the drum machine is ultimately the descendent of the clock. Interesting stuff. Perhaps the best episode is on distortion. When applied to the electric guitar it helped created heavy metal and punk rock but nowadays it’s used by hip hop and EDM artists on vocals and drums. As Ronson says, “distortion just makes things sound cool.”

While many other series have trod similar ground as Watch The Sound With Mark Ronson, few have done it as well. Each episode is packed with useful information, interesting  tidbits and wise insights into music technology and how they inspire and influence creativity. Part of this lies in the show’s quick pace, it’s inventive direction and skillful writing. The other part is in its host, who seems only too eager to completely geek out on all his favorite shit. “Anytime you hear a sound that you’ve never heard before is the most exciting thing,” he says near the end of the final episode. “That’s what you’re always looking for.”

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC. 

Stream Watch The Sound With Mark Ronson on Apple TV+