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Parents' Guide to

Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson

By Marty Brown, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Music insider gets great guests; has profanity.

TV Apple TV+ Educational 2021
Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson Poster Image

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What's the Story?

WATCH THE SOUND WITH MARK RONSON looks at how different pieces of technology have influenced pop music throughout the years. Ronson digs into a different aspect of music in each episode, from Auto-Tune to reverb to synthesizers, bringing in musicians and experts to give a satisfying introduction to aspects of songwriting and producing that viewers might otherwise take for granted.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

A lot of music docs feature lesser-known musicians talking about popular songs; here, Mark Ronson is able to go straight to the sources. Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson stands out amongst its peers in part because of Ronson's access. For the episode on sampling, for example, Ronson brings in Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad and the living members of the Beastie Boys, artists who had their hands in the creation of two of the three albums in the hip-hop sampling Holy Grail (Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, and Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique). Thus, the series takes on a feeling of intimacy and urgency that is absent from most talking heads docs, and allows it to bring new insight to well-covered topics and travel to illuminating places that others would never be able to reach.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about technology in music. Did Watch the Sound change how you think about creating or listening to music? What elements of songcraft and production were new to you? Did anything surprise you?

  • What are some of the ways the featured artists experimented or innovated with technology? How did this change the sound of the music? What were some particularly successful choices? What made them successful?

TV Details

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