As a producer for the series, I developed the overall concepts and format for the episodes, and conducted dozens of interviews with legendary musicians and producers from across the musical spectrum. I also worked closely on creatively producing/directing three of the series eight episodes, “Going Electric” “Four to the Floor” and “The World Is Yours”. Overall the series was an immersive dive into the last 50 years of recorded music, that was thrilling and inspiring, and an incredible adventure to produce.
Soundbreaking was nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award for best Music Film or Series, and received a 2017 Emmy Award for best Music and Sound.
Episode Four: Going Electric
With electricity came the birth of new instruments and new sounds that changed music – and the nature of recording – forever.
Going Electric is the remarkable story of modern recording’s most crucial element – electricity – and what talent and a spirit of invention could do with it. The invention of the electric guitar ignited a chain reaction that brought the Delta blues beyond the South, exploding into the gritty rock and roll of The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. Artists began to experiment with other electric instruments like the synthesizer, which was a key player in the soundtrack of the 70s and can be heard in Stevie Wonder’s series of classic albums and The Who’s innovative rock ballads. The evolution of recording is all about pushing the limits of technology to create new sounds, and ultimately redefining what music is altogether.
Episode Five: Four on the Floor
The rhythm track is music’s heartbeat; the pulse that stirs our senses, elevates our souls, and fulfills the most primal and eternal of musical imperatives: to move our bodies.
The rhythm track is at the heart of modern music making; it is the foundation upon which a song is built. Since the early days of rock and roll, the drum tracks have been an important part of musical experimentation. Little Richard and James Brown set a high bar with their driving rhythms, and throughout the 60s and 70s many bands devised their own signature drum sounds and bass lines. With the advent of the drum machine, the beat became more mechanized, lending itself to the disco and dance tracks of the 80s. Today, electronic dance music is among the most popular genres of music worldwide, and its influence can be found all over the pop charts. But no matter how the beat is made, whether with a live drummer or a machine, it is still a unifying force, the thing that brings us all together on the dance floor.
Episode Six: The World is Yours
Whether it is plagiarism or tribute, theft or homage; once the art of sampling took hold, the world of music recording was never the same.
In the early 1980s, groups like Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys began to experiment with building songs by borrowing fragments from existing records, and the art form of sampling was born. Artists and producers like Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Rick Rubin recount their experiences as pioneers of early hip hop, making music that came from the margins and upended the establishment. Sampling as a recording technique found resistance in copyright laws, and even after thirty years the industry has not been able to draw clear lines between theft and artistic inspiration. But borrowing beats and riffs has nevertheless become an accepted practice across all genres, not just hip hop. As with all technological innovations in the music studio, it is just another tool in the toolbox.