Documentaries about Music Production

Anyone have a good recommendation or two?

I’m talking about stuff like Phil Spector and the wall of sound https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound

if it’s more avant-garde/electronic, that’s good too (maybe preferred)

we really live in a cultural void right now, and I’m having trouble finding the kind of thing i’m looking for.

im sure there’s a good one about Eno, but I’m more interested in specific techniques than necessarily a producer themselves

This is my fav, about the BBC radiophonic workshop: 

You might enjoy the Redbull Music Academy interview with Brian Eno, I enjoyed it a lot. He really loves music and has a lot of interesting insights into music, music production, culture, etc. Four Tet was also in the audience, asks an interesting question at the end: 

If you like Hip Hop music, you can't go wrong with the netflix doc series Hip Hop Evolution. It's in its third season now, and I have not seen all of it, but the first season was excellent. The guy who hosts does a great job of organizing things into a cohesive historical narrative and also keeping the social, economic, and cultural contexts on point. 

If you like the Phil Specter doc, you'd probably also enjoy this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_in_the_Shadows_of_Motown

not too in depth but there's this doco which focuses on a few german artists (my interest was mainly Roman Flugel). contains some scenes of them messing around in their studios.

  On 11/4/2019 at 4:05 AM, acid1 said:

 

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Such a classic! The wanky DNB guy with the big studio being followed by Tom Jenkinson whipping out that Yamaha is THE crowning moment of IDM.

It's not about production exactly, but this documentary about Harry Partch is pretty much mandatory viewing:

  On 11/4/2019 at 6:02 PM, TubularCorporation said:

but this documentary about Harry Partch is pretty much mandatory viewing:

this looks swell, never heard of this guy before. My synthesizer has alternate tunings, and I really like playing with Just Intonation, looking forward to checking out this fellow's music. Where's a good place to start, which albums, recordings, or compositions would you recommend?

  On 11/4/2019 at 6:21 PM, Drum Up said:

this looks swell, never heard of this guy before. My synthesizer has alternate tunings, and I really like playing with Just Intonation, looking forward to checking out this fellow's music. Where's a good place to start, which albums, recordings, or compositions would you recommend?

If you're into synth music made with odd tunings, definitely check out the album Beauty In The Beast by Wendy Carlos. May be hard to find online but I'm sure a bit of digging will turn it up...

  On 11/4/2019 at 8:29 AM, soup said:

not too in depth but there's this doco which focuses on a few german artists (my interest was mainly Roman Flugel). contains some scenes of them messing around in their studios.

 

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Is there anywhere to watch that in full?

  On 11/4/2019 at 6:21 PM, Drum Up said:

this looks swell, never heard of this guy before. My synthesizer has alternate tunings, and I really like playing with Just Intonation, looking forward to checking out this fellow's music. Where's a good place to start, which albums, recordings, or compositions would you recommend?

To be honest, the singer in an old band of mine was really into Harry Partch but I never got deep in to him, I'm more in to his ideas than his actual music (it's good but I rarely feel like listening to it).

Delusion of the Fury is the one I know the best, but if you can find the bonus disc that came with the vinyl edition, "The Instruents of Harry Parts" (or something to that effect) that's really worth a listen.  It's him demonstrating all of his different instruments but it also includes a 5 or 6 mintue rant that basically amounts to tempered tunings being a multi-generational conspiracy that has ruined music and it's pretty entertaining.

Anyhow, he's one of those people like John Cage whose music I like more in theory than in practice, but his APPROACH to msuic and the instruments he built are fascinating.

Also worht checking out is Godard's "Sympathy For the Devil," both as a sort of time capsule piece of late 60s arthouse cinema and because watching 90 minutes of (mostly) the Rolling Stones trying to record the same song is pretty educational, whether you like them or not. I'm kind of lukewarm on both Godard and the Stones but I liked it a lot.

Even though I do mostly purely electronic solo music these days I still try to approach it like I was a band recording a decade or two before I was born, so 60s adn 70s production i s definitely relevant to my interests.

i'm quite fond of this one

Produce like a Pro with Warren Huart's great is you want insight from producers who worked on some "classic" albums from the 90's (other decades too, but most of the people he's had on had their biggest records in that era).

Mixing with the masters is the same kind of thing, but the full vids aren't available on youtube.

  On 11/5/2019 at 5:47 AM, TubularCorporation said:

also includes a 5 or 6 mintue rant that basically amounts to tempered tunings being a multi-generational conspiracy that has ruined music and it's pretty entertaining.

Nice. Aphex Twin says similar things in the interview he did with Korg designer Tatsuya Takahashi, very interesting reflections about tunings: https://item.warp.net/interview/aphex-twin-speaks-to-tatsuya-takahashi/

  On 11/4/2019 at 9:39 PM, psn said:

Is there anywhere to watch that in full?

not sure, just had a look. i found a copy on a sharing site but that was long ago. there's also a german bluray but without english subtitles.

  On 11/5/2019 at 12:36 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

not a docco, but here's an interesting podcast series about "The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds."

 

https://www.20k.org/

hellz yeah, i fux heavy wit this podcast, you just reminded me to reach out to them!

found this list on mubi: 

https://mubi.com/lists/electronic-music-documentaries

Short thing on Squarepusher:

Ken Marshall, guy who's been involved with Skinny Puppy production since Mythmaker, has been doing production tip vids for a little while.  He's very smiley.  This is an interesting look at some of the vocal production on Weapon:

Some cool ideas in there.  Might have to try out that subharmonic thing.

  Quote

From the Film Australia Collection. Made by Film Australia 1987. Directed by Jamie Robertson. Kevin Peek, composer and guitarist with Sky, teams up with Mars Lasar, composer and ‘Fairlight’ whiz, to take an unusual and experimental voyage of discovery into the untapped potential of the Australian continent. With cinematography by Jim Frazier, this beautifully crafted film interweaves the sounds of nature and song recordings of rare Australian birds—the Victoria’s Riflebird, Lyrebird and Emu among others—with synthesized music that celebrates the Australian landscape and its wildlife. Superbly photographed, Sounds Like Australia breaks new ground in bringing music and the natural world together. Narrated by Robyn Williams. Developed by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie in 1979 the Fairlight CMI went on to be a dominant device in late 70s and early 80s music and film production. It was used by such artists as Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Elton John and Jean Michel Jarre.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRflfzzP8i4

  On 11/11/2019 at 9:24 AM, soup said:

found this list on mubi: 

https://mubi.com/lists/electronic-music-documentaries

Good that people are into Mubi. Kill the netflix. Criterion and Mubi is where it's at.

Also... got me hooked again...

Gonna put the record on right now...  mad mofo.

Also, U.S. Mubi has Coda by Ryuichi Sakamoto on for rent. Good, but also very sad watch. About his dealings with cancer and music and life.

  On 1/31/2020 at 2:24 AM, Psychotronic said:

Good that people are into Mubi. Kill the netflix. Criterion and Mubi is where it's at.

Also... got me hooked again...

 

Gonna put the record on right now...  mad mofo.

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Ah fuck...