7 More Incredible Documentaries For DJs + Producers

Written by Dan White on August 30th, 2012 49 Comments

After a week full of new product announcements from the DJ industry heavyweights, we decided everyone could use a break from companies trying to sell new shiny merchandise. We’ve rounded up seven of our favorite documentaries (new and old) that we think are important for producers and DJs alike to watch and enjoy – watch them all right now after the jump!

THE CHEMICAL GENERATION

One of the most prominent cultures that expanded around a certain type of music was the Acid House movement in the UK. There are a number of documentaries on Acid House, but this one not only relates the story of the music and the DJs in the UK underground, but also explores the rising club scene in Ibiza and the mind-altering substance (MDMA) that made a large part of the movement possible. Keep an eye out for clips in the Hacienda as well as interviews with household names like Paul Oakenfold.

1988 AUSTRALIAN DOCUMENTARY ON SAMPLING

For a Australian TV station to do a documentary on sampling in 1988 is pretty great – but for them to include interviews with Prince Paul, Will and Jazzy Jeff, Tom Petty, Russell Simmons, and more – is incredible. It’s a pretty good primer on how contriversial sampling was at the time, especially for our younger readers! Hard to believe that in most countries around the world, nearly twenty four years later, there are still no sensible laws that encourage and properly accomodate this style of sampling.

SECONDHAND SURESHOTS

Some things change, while others stay the same – this is perhaps one of the coolest documentary experiments on sampling wizardry out there – Dublab sends acclaimed beatcrafters Ras G, Nobody, Daedelus, and J. Rocc into thrift stores to purchase just five records to make brand new tracks out of. Getting to watch and hear their process in such a seemingly intimate way is not only highly entertaining, but also incredibly valuable.

IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES – BRIAN ENO

Any experienced or aspiring electronic music producer can learn a lot from ambient composer Brian Eno’s incredible ability to craft magnificent musical creations out of pure inspiration. This forty minute documentary offers a chance to relate to this auteur and learn about how he views his creative process – great stuff!

FLYING LOTUS – FLY FIRST

Shifting gears quite a bit to a more recently-famous electronic producer and live performer, Pitchfork’s mini-documentary on the LA-based genre-transcending beatmaker Flying Lotus does an incredible job of capturing a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a touring artist in the modern festival circuit (this was shot just a few months ago).

BAD BOY BILL @ 1989 DMC

Less of a documentary and more of a pure classic clip from DJ history in the making, I was encouraged to seek out this incredible performance after a comment on my article last week on DJ name drops:

“I come from mid 80s House …and it’s funny to me that this article has to explain what was obvious then. I guess the younger generation need coaching. Remember Bad Boy Bill scratching his drops ?” – Luiz Fueggo

It had been a while since I’d seen this performance, but it’s more than worth watching to see just how incredible and performative the championships have always been. Be sure to watch all the way to the end on this one for his lewd and hilarious finale.

HOW CLUBBING CHANGED THE WORLD

This is a very recent documentary taking a macro view of clubbing (from a UK perspective) and exploring how it has become the giant commodity and industry that it is today. Apparently this has made pretty regular rounds on the BBC in the UK, so it might not be anything new to some of you, but we would absolutely be remiss in not putting it on this list! Hosted by actor/DJ Idris Elba, you might have heard of (we hope) some of the DJs who make appearances in this one: David Guetta, Armand van Helden, Pete Tong, and Skream.

Watch More DJ/Producer Documentaries Now:
Round One | Round Two | Round Three | Round Four

Have any awesome (free to watch online, not well-known like Scratch or Maestro) documentaries about DJs and producers or the culture that surrounds them that you want to share? Link them in the comments below and we’ll add them to this article with credit to you!

Filed Under | Controllerism, DJ History, News + Culture, Videos
Tags | acid house, bad boy bill, brian eno, dj documentaries, djs, documentaries, flying lotus, Pete Tong, producers, sampling, uk

http://www.facebook.com/FiliTico A.j. Flores

search slices dvd on youtube. amazing 10-15 minute doc of all kinds of electronic artists!
http://twitter.com/beau_bryte Beau Bryte

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZaUCYLoEks
The history of universal Techno! Must see!
rfb

Link to original article?
Shane Says

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcpWFiriv3w
History of House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcKdA2F37YE

Early DJ Culture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e79l0GrCjU

Techno – Hi Tech Soul

http://www.getdarker.com/audio/sets/the-story-of-dubstep—part-1-radio-1—06-12-10/

The Story of Dubstep
Koalafy

RIP A Remix Manifesto should be on this list for sure.
DonmecZ

Hey Thanks for this Article, I have not seen any of these yet except for the 1988 sampling one which oddly enough I just saw on Tuesday for the first time, It is quite revealing. I remember that vibe back then, I was only 9 years of age but I can definitely say that the chopping ninjas of back then really laid the foundation for most producers and production equipment now adays… You also get to see the level of greed and blatant selfisheness the Record Industry has always displayed and desguised as a crusade for intellectual property rights… bull sh!t… lol

Thanks for these! Imma get my watch on this weekend :D
DonmecZ

Dubfiles – Dubstep Documentary (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFTu33uW8gA

02:43 Hrs
Nick

There’s a pretty good clubbing documentary on 4OD (UK) at the moment. It’s presented by Idris Elba (the guy from The Wire, Luther, Prometheus etc. Turns out he’s very into dance music… who knew?). It’s called ‘How Clubbing Changed the World’.
twintip

Making Contakt, Richie Hawtin and friends during the experimental 2008 stage show tour, Contakt. I attended twice, and no pre-programmed Mau5 head/cube hijinx can ever compare to this.
Nick

Ah you added it to the main post. Although it was on Channel 4 not the BBC, not that that really matters :P
Daniel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvGo7wfqBd4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Spin

Completely agree, great movie.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Foster/1410024062 Brian Foster

Don’t forget the excellent “High Tech Soul” about the Detroit pioneers.
http://www.amazon.com/High-Tech-Soul-Creation-Techno/dp/B000GCFYOY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346435185&sr=8-1&keywords=high+tech+soul
Guest

No.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Foster/1410024062 Brian Foster

Clubbing sucks… at least my interpretation of it does.
tr4gik

awesome djtt … :D u made my day. i was bored thinking of something to watch.
tr4gik

I think they posted that docu. on a previous blog post, search fo’ it
lexor

PressPausePlay is really good. It goes beyond just music and talks about how the digital revolution has affected art. http://vimeo.com/34608191
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1269257451 Sebastian Gonzato

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jd2Lr7C0nc

This is a Jungle documentary that’s unfortunately split into 3. If only I’d been there at the time…
AbstractID

Ooh! Great inspiration for the long weekend, man. The Secondhand dublab film is fantastic. Love that feeling of finding some treasure in the used bins and creating something new. Thanks!
http://www.facebook.com/ivan.o.jr.9 Ivan Oliveira Jr.

You forgot the Modulations – cinema for the ear(1998) and Synth Britannia(2009) from BBC.
http://www.facebook.com/jakob.winther.7 Jakob Winther

Can anyone tell me the name of the track that starts at 1:30:34 in ” How Clubbin Changed The World” ?
Djzion

Man this Brings back memory’s hell I still have a documentary on VHS about the club sin and raves and house music
rfb

The link to the first documentary article links to this very same page :/
Ryan Supak

Re: Bad Boy Bill routine: I feel that exposing oneself is a weapon in the DJ arsenal that has, sadly, been overlooked for too long.

If a guy did that on the subway he’d get maced, but behind the decks: entertainment gold!

rs
http://www.facebook.com/jakob.winther.7 Jakob Winther

“Blind faith” by Chase And Status :o)
http://www.facebook.com/nomisbackwards Si Mon

Surprised to see no mention of Pump Up The Volume – a 2001 documentary on the orgins of house music and the evolution of genres through the 70s, 80′s, and 90′s!

Also worth checking out are Nate Harrison’s short documentaries Can I Get An Amen – on the origins of the most samples 6 second drum loop, and Baseline Baseline – on the Roland TB303 and its impact on modern electronica.

ez
http://twitter.com/Razzlesnaz Razzlesnaz

Second hand sure shorts just blows my mind from an Inspirational standpoint. It is clear I need to obtain another record player and start my search for pieces of gold that can be brought into this post modern dance music era. Thank you DJTT for this find.
http://www.facebook.com/a.vitalik ??????? ???????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6qRkUai5WM
latvian deejay.
Reedo

there is nice, short documentary about DJ derek, a reggae/dub DJ who is in his late 60s, but still touring, and is somewhat of a legend in his hometown of Bristol, England.
part 1: http://vimeo.com/1758371
part 2: http://vimeo.com/1758440
Anonymous

Great documentaries, all of them. Keep posting. PS: In “Flying Lotus”, loved the “grin” (smile) on the guy at 4:29. :)
http://www.facebook.com/Bu3nDiaz Julio Diaz

Pump Up The Jam is also a good documentary about House and other forms of Electronic Music
http://www.facebook.com/paolo.ciminari Paolo Ciminari

probably you have lost this one
http://www.maestro-documentary.com/
about the history of house music in New York
w0rdup

the secondhand sureshots one was dope…all about true diggers.
Redskyy

Awesome may i sugguest American Massive great doc
@skatizle

watched how clubbing changed the world a couple of weeks ago quite interesting whould be cool to see armericas take on the subect.
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.duran.940 Christopher Duran

I put this video up, yeah I had to deal with the 10min upload, but now I can upload as long as I want I will probably stick the whole thing up now in one, its a great doc from channel 4 in the early 90s, I was there at the time…$%^& me i’m getting old lol.
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.duran.940 Christopher Duran

Ok so I make no apology for saying this is the definitive dance music culture documentry, Came out on Channel 4 in early 2000s i think, I got the book and the sound track it is that good. If you like dance music this is a must watch, think there was about 4 episodes of an hour ? Either you will learn some s^&t if you’re not an old git like meh :P http://youtu.be/jpX6EnBmpPY
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.duran.940 Christopher Duran

I watched it in 2001 and video taped it, but the tape got old. Best doc I have ever seen, have you got a link to the 4oD page bc I have searched a few times over the years and have never found it on there ?
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.duran.940 Christopher Duran

ere is the full doc..2hrs15! on youtube, there some better quality rips on there but this is all in one.
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.duran.940 Christopher Duran

Opps forgot the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw-tRL9PUNg
http://remixabrasil.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/4-documentarios-incriveis-para-dj%c2%b4s-e-produtores/ 4 documentários incríveis para dj´s e produtores « Remixa Brasil

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Galea/538186159 Andrew Galea

Came across this great documentary about Richie Hawtin and the early Detroit Techno scene and raw footage from the late 80′s / early 90′s – great watch and very informative

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc6474KUBV8
http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrew-Galea/538186159 Andrew Galea

Great documentary about Richie Hawtin and the early Detroit Techno scene and raw footage from the late 80′s / early 90′s – great watch and very informative – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc6474KUBV8
Page Won

It was on the first one.
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