The story behind "McCartney 3,2,1"

The L.A. Daily News talks to director Zachary Heinzerling about creating the new music documentary, which sees record producer Rick Rubin and Paul pulling apart Beatles and McCartney solo tunes and looking at how they were created. The six-part series premieres on Hulu on July 16.

Q. Who is the audience for this – the hardcore fan fascinated to hear Rick and Paul discuss the isolated bass track to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” or the casual fan who might not know the story of the “Band on the Run” demos being stolen in Africa?

That’s a good question. You want something everyone can watch, but you also want something where Beatles aficionados can learn something new. The way Rick and Paul play off each other and the intimacy of the conversation, the spark and joy in the way Paul is answering the questions can make it universally watchable.

But I think our audience is primarily people who are fans and this is an opportunity to dig further in and see the real musicology. There’s the story about the Beatles wanting to increase the treble of “Nowhere Man” so much it would go past the red on the console. [McCartney explains how they persuaded the engineers to experiment.] They wanted that buzz inside of you, an emotional response to that sound. Stories like that are the pride of this project.

We wanted to capture the essence of a genius musician who has the ability to feel the magic in a moment and to capture it and infuse it with music that touches so many others.

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