Berichte von Leuten, die mit Michael Jackson im Studio gearbeitet haben!

    Auch Bill Bottrell postet übrigens neuerdings in dem Forum:



    Source: Bill Bottrell, Gearslutz Forum

    Zwei Emails, die der User DJP777 aus dem Gearslutz-Forum von CJ deVillar bekommen hat, welcher an "A Place With No Name" mitproduziert hat:


    Here's the last 2 email replies I got from CJ, the bass player/2nd engineer who worked on "A Place With No Name" circa 1998:


    Zitat

    I wish I had some of MJ's alt music but sadly I don't. Michael used to comb the studio before he went home looking for stray tapes and cd's to avoid his stuff getting lifted out of the studio. I didn't want to mess with Mike on that cuz he was so nice to me and payed me well. Besides, I signed a huge scary contract when I joined the team, lol. I'll tell ya though I saw/heard many unheard songs within my sessions alone. I wouldn't be surprised if his career total numbered in the thousands with hundreds of them in some sort of fully produced stage. Some of the stuff was very personal too.


    Cheers,
    cj



    Source: DJP777, Gearslutz-Forum

    Weitere interessante Berichte:



    Source: Rob Hoffman (robmix), Gearslutz Forum


    -> Demnach hatten Michael und Prince während HIStory ein Treffen, für das alle den Raum auf Prince Wunsch verlassen mussten und nur Michael und Prince allein im Raum waren.


    Auch sehr interessant:


    Zitat

    Hi everyone, i would like to ask if the song Tender Love recorded by the Force MD's in 1986, was originally intended for the Bad album, i have heard a half-minute demo sung by Michael. i'm guessing Michael rejected this song very early on in the sessions because the Force MD's version became a hit in the spring of '86.


    Source: waldo1, Gearslutz Forum


    -> Demnach behauptet dieser User aus dem Gearslutz Forum, dass der Song "Tender Love" von Force MD's zunächst für Michael angedacht war und Michael sogar eine Demo aufgenommen hat, die dieser User gehört haben will.


    1986 Force M.D.'s - Tender Love,
    written by James Samuel Harris III, Terry Lewis


    Zitat

    Catching up....


    I'm just browsing the thread and already find myself boggled! It's clear this requires more attention and time than I spend just answering my email. I will block out an evening soon.. I'm so pleased with this response..How cool are we? God bless us one and all....the "engineers".


    Source: Bill Bottrell, Gearslutz Forum


    Zitat

    Hey guys its JMH, Jean-Marie . i can honestly say i would love to answer any question that i possible can.Mind you i came late in the album when we were mixing an some tracking dates but mostly mixing.Teddy Bruce and Dave welcomed me in. Lord i was shitting in my pants LOL!!.Maybe we should ask Teddy as well to join in. Between Teddy bringing me in as well MJ an that happened to be my introduction as a mixer WOW.MJ passing is still a hurtful thought but i hope he'll finally have peace.So please ask away.


    Source: Jmh, Gearslutz Forum


    Source: Russrags, Gearslutz Forum

    Wäre geil wenn Bruce einfach nur posten würde "buy my book" :lol:

    [CENTER][INDENT]ACHTUNG dieser Beitrag kann im Gesamten oder in Passagen Ironie und Sarkasmus beinhalten der ggf. auch nicht für die Allgemeinheit sichtlich gekennzeichnet sein muss.
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    Zitat

    On the tour of his studio, it was unexpectedly very small, no vocal booth which was copied from the late Marvin Gaye and also he never writes anything down. He was in the process of working on about five songs for Michael Jackson when he passed away and plans on finishing that project. The oddest part of the whole studio besides there being no vocal booth present is that he had a mirror right next to the microphone and the keyboard that he records on.


    Bossip.com Archive *Exclusive* R. Kelly Comes Back with his Album “UNTITLED”

    [CENTER][INDENT]ACHTUNG dieser Beitrag kann im Gesamten oder in Passagen Ironie und Sarkasmus beinhalten der ggf. auch nicht für die Allgemeinheit sichtlich gekennzeichnet sein muss.
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    Zitat

    R. Kelly: Speaking of which, Kelly escorted his crowd down to the basement to his lab later in the night. There's no vocal booth — he records everything right at his keyboard, he said, the way Marvin Gaye did. There's a note on the wall (of his homestudio in Chicago) that reminds him he has to finish the five songs he worked on with Michael Jackson before his death. Another note says that Good News is the name of Kelly's upcoming stepping album.


    R. Kelly's Untitled Features Yodeling, Break-Up Ballads, More - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News

    Interview with Teddy Riley about Michael Jackson and Guy


    The feel is street, but the neighborhood is parking lot.
    We're not far from the frat bars whose lights illuminate the gloom off of Virginia Beach, and just a stone's throw from the kind of shopping mall we've all learned to tolerate. Places close early in this part of the country. Storefronts are dark and still. But here, in a smallish office cube hidden off of the main drag, a glow emanates from behind locked glass doors. And music mosquito-swat snares, skipping hi-hats, the throb of new jack swing starts, stops, picks up again, beat by beat, part by part, slowly piecing together yet another sure-hit record stamped with the name Teddy Riley.


    This is The Future Enterprise, a combination office, multi-room recording center, and living quarters for Riley. Born in Harlem, the 25-year-old producer, performer, and fledgling business executive makes this improbable facility his home base. With nothing but chain store outlets around him, Riley has created a space and built an operation attuned to his creative whims. Black wall patterns and thick black carpeting create the muted ambience inside. Brighter colors animate his studio, but in his private room the black motif amplifies, with stereo gear tucked into black shelves, a formidable glass-top desk on four thick black pylons, and a vast black leather couch that faces a TV screen big enough to accommodate the dinky theaters at the nearby mall.


    "I do business here from maybe one to three or four o'clock in the afternoon just like I'm doing now," says Riley. He's stretched out in his couch, barefoot, oblivious to the Mr. Ed episode galloping across his screen and the ringing from one of the three phones on the glass table before him. "I won't get started with my musical projects until six o'clock at the latest. But I'll stay with that until five or six in the morning. Then I'll sleep until I wake up, and I usually wake up when another musical idea pops into my head."


    Riley speaks in the kind of high-pitched whisper that seems to be fashionable in some African-American musical circles. Like Michael Jackson, El De Barge, and Babyface, Riley isn't known for his bellowing. Instead, his voice is delicate, as if all-night mixing and jamming have left him drained until his next session here or his next flight to L.A. for a spell of furious recording with some R&B or rap trend-setter.


    Whether by design or by nature, Riley's ephemerality only draws attention to his solid presence in pop music. Over the past five years, his style a tight, jazz-inflected variation on hip-hop has galvanized pop music. His sound seduced Jackson away from his long-time and lucrative association with Quincy Jones, and prompted Barbra Streisand to suggest a collaboration. Other producers have made similar waves Jones with Thriller, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis with Janet Jackson, L.A. Reid and Babyface with Paula Abdul. All have, to one extent or another, created sounds of their own. But only Riley has gone the next step and come up with a label for his sound. This, in a culture where packaging can be more crucial even than substance, was the master stroke, the brilliant touch that put his name on the lips of dance music superstars and his sound all over today's playlists.


    The label, of course, is new jack swing. Three words in one capsule, fashioned to slip smoothly down the media's throat snap, crackle, pop for the '90s. It's the hook of the season, the je ne sals quoi that everyone wants in their rhythm tracks. And everybody knows that Riley invented, patented, and unleashed the style in '87 on two epochal albums Make It Last Forever, Keith Sweat's breakthrough effort, and the eponymous debut recording of Riley's own band, Guy.


    Just how revolutionary is new jack swing? From the long view, the changes wrought by Riley add up to a mere bump on the back of R&B. Like everybody doing dance music these days, he almost always builds on the backbeat. Once the metronome starts slam-min' the two and four, he adds sweetening bass drum thumps, double-time hi-hat, and other details that wouldn't have seemed strange on old Van McCoy or TSOP records. Of course, it's all done with a crisp touch that many producers far beyond Riley's years can't manage. There's a lot of treble, not much reverb. When played through a battle-ready stereo system from a car adjacent to yours at a red light, classic rap assaults your guts with its maxed-out, sloppy bass. Under similar circumstances, new jack swing goes for your feet and your brain. It's as tidy as it is tight.


    So what if it differs from other dance styles only in nuance? Details can make all the difference. Check out Riley's arrangements on Michael Jackson's Dangerous. By keeping the beat straight-ahead, giving the snare extra pop, and leaving the bass out on "Why You Wanna Trip On Me," he brings Jackson's vocals out more than Quincy Jones did on some earlier cuts, and gives more exposure to the dotted eighth-note hi-hat pattern that essentially defines new jack swing. Though unmistakably a Michael Jackson performance, the uncluttered texture is also a Riley trademark, and thus passes this year's trendiness test.


    Riley was between sessions for the new Bobby Brown album when we met him at The Future Enterprise headquarters. He invited us into his inner sanctum, a honeycomb of studios, guest and private suites, a work space for his staff technician. An amazing amount gear overflows from room to room; a benevolent wraith, Riley drifts past rack after rack, gesturing at his favorite axes and accessories. "Our speakers were made by George Augspurger," he says with an affectionate glance at his monitors. "Everybody thinks Genelec is the best. Bobby Brown has Genelecs in his studio. But" a knowing smile "they can't stand up to these."


    Not too long ago, Riley was one of a crowd of hopeful musicians in New York, jostling through music stores and staring at gear he could only dream of buying. Now he's got it all the equipment, a company of his own, a private phone reserved for family and selected clients. (During our visit, Pepa of Salt-n-Pepa called to ask how she should spell her own name. Bemused, he replied, "You can spell it any way you want.") It's a powerful wave that Riley rides, one that seems at first glance to have sapped him of the strength that's evident in his music. In fact, he is more balanced than burned out. With all of his obligations to his 13-member staff, to the artists clamoring for his time, to the suits demanding his signature on their budget projections, Riley has learned to pace himself. As we left the premises, we watched him disappear back into his studio for another long night of work. Outside, darkness enveloped concrete America; inside The Future Enterprise, the lights burned nonstop until dawn.


    As we speak, you're deep into the upcoming Bobby Brown album. On one cut, you've got Bobby dueting with Whitney Houston. How did that come about?
    That was my idea.
    Did Bobby ask you to line her up for the album?


    Not really. They're very good friends, so he also called her himself. But he had to wait a while to think about whether it would be a good idea before he actually said, "I want you to do a song with me." One day she happened to call the studio. She was talking to one of my engineers, who then put Bobby on the phone. He said to her, "We're working on a song, and we're thinking that you should sing it." She said, "Let me hear it over the phone." She listened, and she loved it. So I waited on that one until she could do a rough [vocal]. Now we're gonna get the main vocals down.


    In preparing to record her, did you listen to how other producers worked with her to develop any insights?


    No. I wanted to push Whitney Houston my way. Everybody has used her in every way, but I wanted to use her in the new jack swing way. So much of her stuff is so wide and clean; I wanted to use her the street way. Her voice will still be warm not too dry. I'll have a little reverb, but you'll hear her. She'll be up front.


    How did the quality of her and Bobby's voices affect your approach to arranging that cut?


    The song that they're singing is classic to me, so I want to put real instruments on there strings and stuff that would complement them. I played some of the parts myself. I have a lot of Fairlight string sounds that I use if I can't get the string section sound that I want. It's hard to get the people you need to do what you need them to do, as far as the rhythm and the type of tune I want to do. They may not be able to lock in. But I'm setting up to record some real string players anyway. I want to try to arrange it all myself from the computer and print out all their parts.


    Do real string players still give you a quality that you can't get from samples?


    I wouldn't say that. I have the sounds of life in my machines [laughs].


    So why have real strings?


    It was my idea to run with that and get some publicity on it. I like doing things where you can draw good publicity, like using real strings or playing guitar on Michael Jackson's stuff. I don't play guitar, really. I can do funky strums, but no solos.


    What was your source for string sounds on Dangerous''


    Well, on "In the Closet" the beginning is real violins, cellos, violas, and basses in a computer.


    Those particular string parts follow the piano line pretty closely. Were they triggered from a MlDied piano?


    They were done separately. I played the piano in real time, so we had to feel it out. I kept the first take that I did because it's real. That's how they would do it with a symphony orchestra, so the timing is real.


    Were you playing a real piano?


    It was a Bosendorfer. On top of it I had a layer of one soft sustained string playing at the same time. All the other stuff was recorded separately behind it.


    So when you want a real piano, you go for a real piano.


    Oh, yeah. I got one at home, a Yamaha Disclavier baby grand that my brother bought me for Christmas.


    Is the Fairlight your main source for string sounds?


    I don't usually tell anyone what I use, but the strings that I did for Michael were from the Fairlight and the [New England Digital] Synclavier. Sometimes you can get the best string parts from the smaller keyboards something like the [E-mu] Proteus/1 and 2, or the [Ensoniq] VFX. I have a lot of key boards in my room that give me all the sounds I need. You just have to go through 'em to know what they can do. That's why I sleep here at the studio; I go through all my sounds. I had an Akai MPC-60 the first day it came out. I ordered the first one that came in to Sam Ash on 48th Street in New York.


    So even before you hit the big time, you we being aggressive about getting what you wanted.


    Yeah, I am very aggressive when I want equipment. Anything that's new, I like to get it before anyone. My keyboard tech, Julian Jackson, gives me the rundown on every new thing that's out. He always calls me: "You know this new thing? The [Roland] RSS?" "Yeah, man. I used that on a remix of 'D-O-G Me Out' [from The Future, by Guy]. I love it!" He tells me about everything that comes out even before he gets it.


    What was your first synth?


    Well, my very first keyboard was a [Hohn-er] Clavinet. Then I had a 73-key Rhodes. Af-ter that, I bought an [Roland] S-10. Then I bought a D-50. I was using an Alesis drum machine then too. "My Prerogative" [from Bobby Brown's Dance!... Ya Know lt!\ was done on the Alesis and a little eight-track.


    You had limited options with that kind of gear.


    Yeah, but I was trying to do everything. I was playing pads on the Clavinet. I'd do the chops too, but that would be on another track. That was the only keyboard I had at one time, so I had to utilize what it could do. I did have the little floor model Boss chorus, which could make the Clavinet stereo. I didn't have the money in those days to buy whatever I wanted. But every time I bought a new keyboard, I made new songs because there were more sounds that I could spread around. As I got more things, more new songs came to my head.


    Was the piano your first instrument?


    Yeah, and organ. I played 'em in church.


    Are you self-taught?


    I took lessons for about one year from Thurman Thompson, and I took lessons with another teacher, a lady. It showed me that some of the stuff I was studying I already knew. I'm no great, fast, fantastic piano player, but as far as my chops go, I can do anything I want to do. The piano is my love. It's something I live for. Guitar was actually the instrument I started on, when I was three years old. I used to study Jimmy Reed, B. B. King, and those blues guys back around '69. Then I got into the Parliament/Funkadelic stuff that came out later. So it was one or the other: blues or funk. I went into funk, so I said, 'I don't want to play guitar, man. With the guitar, you have to move your hands and play a lot of stuff; you have to strum while you play at the same time with your left hand. I want to play drums.' So I played drums. I used to play drums for the bands in my elementary school and my junior high school. I was the top drummer, and I read music for drums. I used to play trumpet with the band too. But then I said, 'I don't want to play trumpet anymore. This is an instrument that would hurt my mouth, and I be looking funny.' And drums hurt my hand; I have calluses now because I still play drums. When I do all my sounds with my sound man, I'm hitting that drum hard; I create blisters every time. By this time, I wanted something that I could play all my life, so I wound up with the piano because that's something you can do when you're old. That's what I'm gonna be doing. I see myself, say, 20 or 25 years from now, maybe doing a piano record of my own music.


    How is your reading?


    I haven't read music in so long, since I started doing this street kind of stuff. But I'm gonna get back into it, because my daughter is taking piano lessons and I don't want her to beat me out: 'Daddy, this is the way you do it.' I want to know how to do it right, so I can show her. She's three years old, and she's trying to do the scales with these small fingers. Wow!


    So you want your daughter to be a player.


    That's right. If she wants to get into pro gramming music on computers later on in life, that's fine. But I want her to be a player first. I don't want her to make the mistakes I made. I was thinking computers when computers weren't even out. I do play, but I was always trying to get around it and not play too much. I wanted to put my music in a computer that could play it back to me, instead of having to go over the parts all the time in the studio. Some people may think I'm a slouch or not good at playing piano, but I try to be as good as I can at it.


    What was your first public performance?


    That was at the age of seven in church. Actually, we were doing music in the street when I was five years old. I was on 121st Street between Lexington and Third Avenue with some of my father's friends. We had little Fender amps, and we played outside. People loved it.


    Do you write at the piano?


    Yeah, mostly. Then I put it all in the computer. That way, if I do the Michael Jackson tour and he wants all the sheet music for what we did, I have it later on down the line. It's good that I documented everything. I document everything that I record, from the time the song starts all the way to the end the tempo, every part that's played, every program on every keyboard. You never know when you're going to want to come back up with the song. Suppose somebody asks you to do a song like something you did before? You're gonna want to go back to your sources and say, 'What did I use on this song for the strings? For the horns?'


    Do you think of each instrument as having its own specific function?


    Yeah. It's like going to a restaurant. If you go someplace that specializes in Italian food, you want Italian food. So when you buy a keyboard, you look for certain things that it does well. I like the stuff that E-mu did with strings in the Proteus/2. They specialize in strings. Roland, of course, specializes in everything. They're really good.


    Do you still play the D-50?


    Yes, I do. I have six or seven D-50s, five or six D-70s, four or five JD-800s. I also used the [E-mu] Emulator Three when it first came out that long, big keyboard that gave everybody prob lems. But I liked the first Emulator.


    More than the later models?


    Yeah, because the EMI was too compli cated.


    Did you stock up on much Yamaha gear?


    No, except back when they had the DX7. I used the DX7 on some of Keith Sweat's stuff, because it gave me the whole catalog of sounds that I needed.
    You've also used the Synclavier and the Fairlight, especially on ballads.
    They're both too clean, too polished and pop, for me. When I want a song to have street appeal, I wouldn't use a Synclavier unless I could put something pretty in there. But for ballads, they're both great. I used the Fairlight on Kool Moe Dee's rap project, How Ya Like Me Now. It was pretty rich on that one, with a lot of fat sounds, even though we got fat sounds and bottom out of little drum machines and the stuff we had for the Heavy D projects. With the Fairlight, everything is right in front of you. It's just, "Gimme this sound. Gimme that sound."


    What instrument do you like to use as your MIDI controller?


    The D-70. It has so much control right there. You can change all the presets so easily. Plus it has more keys than most keyboards, like the [Korg] M1. I used to use the M1 as a controller. I also used the JD-800 for about a week, but then I went back to the D-70 because it had a lot to offer.


    Do you use the D-70 strictly as a controller, with local off?


    Sometimes, but I also use the internal sounds. I'll bring up five or six sounds at the same time.


    You're often seen in photos with a strap-on Lync controller.


    I love the play the Lync on live gigs. I run it through a vocoder.


    You seem to use completely different sets of instruments for your slow and your faster tunes.

    Not really, but as I create a ballad I go into a different mode. I change all my sounds. I don't like using the same sound twice on an album. My floor plan is to make the whole carpet colorful.


    But you also go for a certain kind of unity. Your snare sounds throughout Dangerous differ from cut to cut, yet there are similarities as well.


    Yeah. They're all hot. My engineer and I always have our drums poppin'. We used a variety of drum machines, but we compressed all our snares to make 'em pop.


    You reverse-gated the snare on "She Drives Me Wild" in a way that nicely anticipates and sets up the actual backbeat hits.


    There are lots of elements on that song. In fact, the whole percussion track is motor sounds: trucks, cars starting, cars screeching, motorcycles idling, motorcycles revving, car horns. Even the bass is a car horn.


    Where did you get those samples? I made them myself. You just took a DAT machine out to the parking lot?


    We usually do that. We even sampled Michael's tiger. We got tiger sounds, lion sounds, monkey sounds.


    What about your regular drum sounds?


    We sample most of our drums. If not, we work on and edit the drum sounds in our machines so they don't sound like stock sounds.


    One of your most noticeable arrangement techniques on that album involves frequently leaving the bass out. In those sections of "Jam," "Why You Wanna Trip On Me," "In the Closet," and other titles from Dangerous, did you ever consider not taking out the bass line?


    No, we didn't. We always just did it the way we felt. When we dropped the bass, the rhythm was always pumpin'. The rhythm was between my music and Michael's vocal. As long as we were hittin', if we didn't have to use the bass, we didn't use it. A lot of people think that having a lot of music is the key to putting an arrangement together. But we don't just add music or instruments just to be adding. It's more about what you feel in the music, what you think is happening. Anything can go, as long as it's hip or street.


    When you do have a bass part, it often has a strong analog feel, as on "Remember the Time."


    For me, that song was true R&B. I didn't put hip-hop into it until the remix. For that, I used a real upright jazz bass on a hip-hop beat. I really like that one. I also changed the organ part on the remix and did it with my voice through a vocoder.


    Some of Michael's early work with Quin cy Jones was much more fully orchestrated. Were you consciously deciding to go in an opposite direction in your collaboration?


    As far as my production, yeah. I didn't want to go the same way Quincy went, but I also didn't want to leave his style. So I took a little bit of each. I had my style and his style in my head, and I put them together.


    What is there on Dangerous that reflects Michael's earlier style? On "She Drives Me Wild," for example, there seem to be some chordal echoes of "Thriller."


    Well, that's what he wanted. He said, "You know what I'd like to have overlaid to new jack swing? I'd still like to have my strings. I want the strings to be really wide." So that's what we did, even on "Dangerous."


    They're wide, but they're not overwhelming.

    I know. They're part of the flavor. We liked the strings so much that we tried to turn them up as loud as we could get them. But we turned them back down when they started dominating the other tracks.


    Michael also seems to be referring to "Bil-lie jean" in his falsetto vocals on "Dangerous. "


    "Dangerous" had already been recorded by Bill Bottrell [co-producer of four cuts on Dangerous), but the music didn't move Michael. I told Michael, 'I like Billy. I like his producing, and everything about him. But this is your album, Michael. If this is the right tune, I can utilize what you have in your singing. Let me change that whole bottom and put a new floor in there.' He said, 'Try it. I guess we gotta use what we love.' And we did. I'm quite sure that if anyone else had come up with a better 'Dangerous,' he would have used that. So it's not actually about me or Billy; it's about the music. I always say that the music is the star.


    Was there an element of having to follow in the formidable footsteps of Quincy Jones on this project?


    Well, that's my plan. I want to be like Quincy Jones. I've always looked up to him, more than to any other producer out there. He's the one. Like Quincy, I just can't stay in one category. I'll do any kind of music. It's like being a scientist: You have to find the right method for solving a problem or curing a disease. That what producers do. When you're working with someone, you've got to find the right style, the right sound, for them. You have to draw a circle around each artist and make them fit into that circle.


    How much of your work on Dangerous was based not just on finding a sound that works, but on finding a sound that contrasts with the one that Michael and Quincy developed?


    Almost all of it.


    So if you came up with something that sounded a bit too much like Thriller, for example, that was reason enough to abandon that approach and search for something different.


    Yes. We didn't want to sound like another Thriller. We wanted to top it, even though that's impossible. I guess some people are saying that Dangerous is better than Thriller or Bad. But I won't say it's better until it sells as much as those albums. If Dangerous doesn't sell more than Bad, even with the recession that we're having, then I don't feel that it's better.


    Do sales really have that much impact on how you feel about the quality of your work as a producer?


    In a way they do. I don't want to say that sales have an impact all the way about how I feel. I don't check up on how many copies are selling. I just think that if it sells that much, it's a great album. Everybody tells me it's a great album, that they love what I'm doing with Michael. I like that; that's cool. But I don't have an ego about it. I just say thank you and be on my way.


    You play keyboards on all of the cuts that you produce on Dangerous. But a number of players in addition to you are also credited as keyboardists on the opening song, 'Jam.'


    Well, 'Jam' was brought to me as just a drum beat. Rene Moore and Bruce Swedien came up with the idea and gave it to Michael as a beat, so you can't take that credit away from them. But it was just a stripped tune until Michael did his vocals and I came in with the icing. I actually added most of the keyboard parts, all of the percussion elements, all of the horn parts, and all of the guitar parts to make the tune what it is today.

    How did you formulate the idea of new jack swing? Did you used to play more straight-ahead hip-hop grooves?


    As a kid, I was playing gospel, funk, hip-hop, R&B, and pop grooves. We couldn't call it all of those things, so we came up with one name for it all new jack swing. In reality, it's all types of music.


    Does jazz also factor into the new jack swing concept?


    Modem jazz does. There used to be modern jazz festivals during Harlem Day every summer. It was like Mardi Gras in New York, and a lot of musicians would come out and play Chick Corea and those kinds of guys.


    That influence is reflected in the dotted eighth-note patterns you generally lay down for your hi-hat parts.
    Yeah.


    So is the hi-hat part the element that distinguishes this style?


    It's in every element of the percussion. I can do some things with the hi-hat that will make a song stand out. I can do some things with the bass drum that will make the song stand out too. I don't just rely on one instrument. Lots of people try to do what I do, but they don't know how to do it. Everybody is trying to catch on to my technique.


    A lot of it seems to boil down to common sense. When you change the snare timbre slightly going into a new section of a song, it's usually for a good musical reason.


    You could say that.


    The snare sound on the Guy ballad 'Let's Chill,' for example, becomes more authentic when the vocals begin.


    That song starts with a high conga sound that's actually a high-pitched [Roland TR-] 808 snare. I use that on most of my ballads because it's a nice cross between a conga and a snare. It's really small on the track because everything around it is wide. The snare I added was a real snare, high-pitched. I also made some 808 sounds of my own warm sounds and funky sounds. That was one of my first drum machines. But I didn't think it was nothin' then, so I sold it.


    Did you use the 808 to get that big boomy rap-style bass drum sound?


    Oh, yeah. That long bass. But I don't do that anymore, because I wanted to make a change. You gotta change. If you don't, somebody will beat you to it. You gotta be on key as far as style, but at the same time you want to be at least one or two steps ahead of everybody else.


    The drum part on "Let's Chill" also feels like something a real drummer would play.


    Yeah. It's like "Long Gone," a slow song that I sang on the same album. It has Phil Collins-type drums. I was trying to use real drum fills on that. I think it came out good.

    Do authentic drum patterns work better on ballads than on up tunes?


    Yeah. On up-tempo tunes, anything goes.
    Like most dance music, your up-tempo songs empasize a strong backbeat. But not always: "jam" has a more complex snare part.


    That's new jack swing. You can do anything with the snare in new jack swing. You just have to change the pitch to take it somewhere else. If you keep one straight snare, you can put breathing on it. [Riley articulates rhythmic breathing around a steady beat.] That gives the snare more rhythm and actually brings the snare out. Sometimes you don't realize that you're doing that kind of stuff until it happens, and then somebody else notices. That happens a lot with me. I don't really notice that what I'm doing is unique, because it's natural to me.


    What sequencer do you use for your drum tracks?


    The MPC-60. Now that they have the SCSI port for it, we can use the hard drive to load up sounds. I play a lot of live stuff into it. I like to do all my percussion live and in real time, using sounds that I made and put into the Akai so it will come out the way I want it to swing.


    Do you also use a software sequencer?


    I use [Mark of the Unicorn] Performer when we go on tour. It's the best program because the Mac holds so much. For the last Guy tour, we ran [Opcode's] Studio Vision, even though it drives a lot of people nuts. I still get calls from people who want to find out how to do this and that with it. There's so much stuff you need to make Studio Vision work the way you want it to work, where you can just pick up an instrument and it comes in on the right MIDI channel. But for me, it's easy.


    Why didn't you take Performer out on the last tour?


    Because I wanted to record a live album with Studio Vision and [Digidesign's] Sound Tools. But we didn't get a chance to do that. We stopped the tour when our show was at Madison Square Garden. We were supposed to have more shows after that, but that was our last one. I was just too busy with other things to keep going.


    Do you sample a lot off of records?


    I try not to. It's really becoming a hectic thing for artists, especially for rap artists, because they're afraid of getting sued. I don't want that to happen to me.


    What about sampling an individual drum hit from a record?


    I don't do that either, because it's not strong enough. I can't take something from a song that's not strong enough for me to put on a record, that isn't clean enough for me to hit hard onto tape.


    So it's a combination of practicality and legal safety.


    Well, it's not about being legally safe. It's more about being creatively safe. It's about the difference between taking a sound from a CD and having the real thing. I like to hit things hard. My snare drums have to hit hard. If I did that with a sample from a record, it would come out distorted.


    Running a business like The Future Enterprise is such a different process from playing music. Why move into something that's so far outside the range of activities you've enjoyed throughout your life?


    You want to do it all. You want to grab up there for what you don't have. You want to go for everything.


    How did you decide to put your own business together, instead of just working as a producer for hire?


    I didn't look for it. If you look for something, it never comes. This deal came to me. I wasn't even prepared for it. Someone from MCA called my lawyers and said, "We're ready to do a deal with Teddy Riley." "What kind of deal?" "We want to give Teddy Riley his own label." At this moment, I still don't know to the fullest what to do. I only know what to do musically. As far as strategies for promoting records and staying on top of who's gonna do what, I don't know. I just hope MCA is behind me on it. I'm still looking for a president for my company someone who has the ability and experience with promotion, artistic development, and knowing the music industry, so I don't have to answer for all that. My thing is being creative. I don't want to get into the business aspect, because if my records don't sell I can't make any more records.


    Your outside projects forced you to bow out of your own band's last tour. Now you seem to be worried that you might be overbooking yourself with the business side of your career.


    [Whispers:] That's right.


    With all these pressures, with so much of your work cocooning you here in this facility, are you in danger of being too isolated to do real-life music?


    No. I never let anybody keep me in. I'm always gonna hang out and do what I need to do to stay on the street vibe.


    By Robert l. Doerschuk keyboard 1992

    Im Forum mjhideout hat jemand ein Teil dieses interessantes Artikels von Michael Boddicker auf Spanisch gepostet. Der Artikel wurde in der US-Zeitschrift Keyboard veröffentlicht und verrät interessante Details über die Synthesizer, die Michael im Studio und für This Is It verwendete. Ich dachte, das passt ganz gut in diesen Thread. Hier der komplette Text auf Englisch:


    Michael Jackson: Keyboard Sounds of His Signature Songs, Then and Now

    Part 1


    On June 25 of this year, the world lost one of the most prodigious musical talents and greatest entertainers who ever lived. Keyboard had been in close touch with our friends working on the new This Is It concerts planned for London, including musical director and keyboardist Michael Bearden, supertech and regular Keyboard columnist Mike McKnight, and master sound designer Dave Polich. They’d intended to give us a comprehensive, behind-the-scenes tour of the talent and technology that went into this production, as soon as their work schedules and agreements allowed. We’d even been told that due to our June ’09 cover story on Bearden’s playing at President Obama’s inauguration, Michael Jackson himself was aware of the magazine and open in principle to doing an interview.


    We can think of no better way to pay tribute to Michael than to explore the sounds that, for all keyboard players, are as indelible a part of his musical legacy as his soaring voice and inimitable dance moves. Below, we’re privileged to have Michael Boddicker — part of the Thriller dream team that included fellow keyboard titans Greg Phillinganes and Steve Porcaro — recall how key sounds on Thriller and Off the Wall were originally created. Also, recording legend Bruce Swedien reminisces on a life of working closely with Jackson. Then, Dave Polich goes into painstaking detail about designing sounds and dividing keyboard duties on recent This Is It rehearsals. Don’t miss Dave’s “Billie Jean” synth bass tutorial here, and click here for exclusive info on the live keyboard rigs.


    Click here for an an interview with our own Geoff Grace, who played keyboards and did orchestration and arranging work for Jackson during the Bad and HIStory eras.


    Above all, keep this music alive by playing the tunes and recreating the sounds yourself. —Stephen Fortner, Executive Editor
    THEN: The Vintage Keys of Thriller


    by Michael Boddicker


    The recording of Thriller, now universally known as the biggest-selling album of all time, assembled an incredible creative team that was a life-changing experience to be a part of. From Michael to Quincy Jones to us musicians, all the way down the line, everyone was completely focused on making this record a game-changer. Here’s how we originally did many of the keyboard sounds.



    The “Beat It” digital gong. Tom Bähler played a demo sound that came with his Synclavier — literally a factory patch, right out of the box. He had the good taste to discover and apply it in exactly the right place at the right time in musical history. Part of producer Quincy Jones’ production strategy was to assemble a team of people who were capable of writing, arranging, and producing records in their own right. Tom is a brilliant songwriter.



    The “Human Nature” signature synth string part. That was Steve Porcaro’s track. He used a Yamaha CS-80 with glide (chromatic instead of portamento) at the head — it’s got that nice little CS fuzz around the sound. That fuzz was also part of a multi-layered sound I used for the four-chord basic string vamp on “Billie Jean” — Michael Jackson himself played that part on a CS-80 in one take. No punches. No repairs. No sequencers or time correction. Seven minutes. Perfect performance.


    We fattened the pad a little on the body, and the line that counters the vocal on the second half of the first “Human Nature” chorus is my sound playing a line written by Rod Temperton. The sound and part were later supplanted by background vocals, but the basic, main lines, solo and most layers are from Steve Porcaro — based on a demo he wrote when he was 17 years old!




    The “P.Y.T.” synth noodle that answers the chorus vocal. That was a Roland Jupiter-6 “wang bar”-style pitch bend doubled with, and controlling, a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, thus the sort of smear you can hear on the “wobble” between the top two notes. I recall the keyboards were set on the very top of a stand so they were practically at ear level!



    The big synth blasts that begin “Thriller.” A Roland Jupiter-8 in double four-voice mode, with the modulation “wheel” opening the filter. I was always afraid it sounded cheesy, but it’s withstood the test of time. There’s no shape to the sound, just a sort of fizz or buzz, until the hold where I close the filter. It was tracked multiple times with a slightly different timbre and tuning each time.



    The main comping sound of “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough.” Andy Leeds owned an Eddy Reynolds-modified, flat-top Rhodes 88. This was the same Rhodes used by David Foster and David Paich on so many hit recordings of the ’80s. We put that through my Paul Rivera-modified Roland CE1 chorus. The key ingredient, though, was keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, whose pocket is deeper than the Mariana Trench.



    The lush pad on “P.Y.T.” (after Michael sings “I’ll take you there . . .”). It sounds multitracked, but really, it’s not. It’s a singletrack sample of Michael Jackson’s voice, done on an E-mu Emulator I — serial number 1, in fact! We then used this mode the Emulator had where you could sample the sound twice, then detune one of the voices while in “unison” mode. It was recorded with lots of top end added, and Bruce Swedien’s special reverb known as “spit.” Quincy Jones would say, “Sven, put some spit on it!”



    The synth basses on “Thriller,” “P.Y.T.,” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” Those were my two Richie Walbourn-modified Minimoogs, set side by side, with engineer Bruce Swedien’s special multiple-mono compression.


    On all of the great records I’ve been involved with — Cheap Trick, Lionel Richie, Toto, Barbra Streisand, and Michael Jackson — the producers made real decisions along the way. They didn't leave everything to the mix phase. It takes guts to make commitments. Bruce Swedien has an approach to recording that says, “What are you afraid of? If you don’t like it, let’s erase it and get it right.” Quincy Jones had guts and a tight hold on the reins. The rest is musical history.
    Bruce Swedien on Michael Jackson



    Left to right: Producer Quincy Jones, Jackson, and über-engineer Bruce Swedien, who worked on all of Jackson’s recordings. “Michael was the most focused musician I’ve ever known, with a supernatural work ethic,” Swedien told us by phone. “He’d do something over and over again until he felt it was perfect. At the same time, he was a warm human being — totally respectful of your time and ideas. He’d often do lyrics with the lights out, singing from memory. I don’t recall recording any other artist who didn’t have a lyric sheet in front of them. I also don’t remember him ever showing up to a session late; he was usually early. I’d also like to attest to the integrity of Quincy Jones, as Thriller changed pop permanently. At the first session, Q said, ‘We’re here to save the music business.’ And he meant it.” About the Michael Jackson whose personal life was subject to lurid media voyeurism, Swedien is emphatic: “Nope. I never met that guy.” -Stephen Fortner



    Tracking the “Workin’ Day and Night” Brass



    [Though not originally played on keyboards, keyboardists in cover bands are often called upon to play this monster horn line from the Off the Wall album. It features a rapid-fire sixteenth-note figure with many layers, and sounds like every other note is panned to the opposite side of the stereo field. In fact, that’s just what they did. –Ed.]


    This was Jerry Hey’s horn arrangement, with the usual suspects playing: Chuck Findley, Larry Hall, and/or Gary Grant on trumpets, Larry Williams and Kim Hutchcroft on saxes, Bill Reichenbach on trombone — all incredible musical athletes who, under Jerry’s direction, actually split the chart to play every other sixteenth-note on alternately-panned tracks! At the same time, they were working the mics to create spatial dynamics. This was the pre-DAW days, dudes and dudettes! There was no time correction, just brilliant musicianship, conception, and execution — and Bruce Swedien’s engineering.


    We sweetened the punches to put some “special sauce” on the big hits at the end of the break — but did they really need it? Bruce Swedien tweaked the EQ on a Harrison console. It took what in those days seemed like forever, but it was only maybe 15 minutes. This era was pre-cell phone and pre-video game. Everyone in the room was completely and utterly focused on making the best possible record . . . but I digress. Maybe Keyboard — or Psychology Today — will one day ask me to write an article on why such great music came out before the Internet, video games, and cell phones took over our corporate attention spans. -Michael Boddicker




    NOW: Sound Design and Keyboards for the This Is It Concerts


    by Dave Polich



    On April 21st, Bob Rice, the synth programmer originally hired for Michael Jackson’s This Is It concerts in London, asked if I could replace him, as he was taking on another tour. It took me two seconds to answer “Yes!” The next day, I visited a rehearsal, and by the end of that day, I was hired. Over a celebratory dinner with my wife, the magnitude of the job I’d taken on began to sink in. This was to be the biggest music show on earth, and the sounds had to be the signature sounds from the records — only larger than life.



    Key Choices


    The first order of business was to decide what gear we’d use. For musical director and keyboardist Michael Bearden, we went with a Yamaha Motif XS8, a Korg M3- 73, and an Open Labs Neko LX5 and Muse Receptor 2 Pro, both running many VST soft synths.


    Morris Pleasure, our second keyboardist, got a Yamaha Motif XS8 and XS7, another Korg M3-73, and a Korg CX3 organ run through a new Leslie 3300 miked below the stage. The Motifs all had 1GB of sample RAM, and the M3s each had EX-MB memory and Radias virtual analog expansion boards. Both keyboardists had MacBook Pros running MOTU Digital Performer 5.13 to control patch changes. [For keyboard diagrams, and more info on program changes, click here. –Ed.]
    Props for MVPs


    Putting together and maintaining all this gear, designing and ordering cases, trunks, cable connection systems, stands, snakes, seats, even lights for each keyboard rig, wouldn’t have been possible at all without two amazing techs — Tim Myer, a veteran of past Michael Jackson tours, and a producer/musician in his own right, and Keith Uddin, an upand- coming mixer/producer who has twirled the knobs for No Doubt, the Cure, Bono and many other artists — Keith dropped everything for the Michael Jackson gig. Tim and Keith kept track of everything in “keyboard world,” and were true beacons standing in the middle of all the craziness that surrounded this gig.
    Making Audio Tracks into Synth Patches


    Next were the sounds for the songs themselves. For each song, I got split-outs of the separate keyboard tracks from Mike McKnight — he always came through! If he didn’t have isolated tracks, I’d get them from Mike Prince, who had all the original multitrack sessions. One afternoon, I saw them both walking towards me with faked looks of horror on their faces, like the last thing they needed from me was another track request. That cracked me up for the rest of the day!


    For sounds like strings, brass, pianos, EPs, and organs, I would listen to the isolated tracks as references, then decide which synth to use, then try to match it as closely as possible. For signature sounds such as the “Beat It” gong, nothing but the original sound from the record would do.


    So, I’d cut the original track up into individual notes in BIAS Peak, then use Celemony Melodyne to re-create the missing notes, so I’d have at least a full octave of samples. I then loaded those samples into either a Yamaha Motif XS or a Korg M3, and created a patch using the samples, so each player could trigger them in real time. I always wanted at least an octave for each sound, because we weren’t always sure whether the song would be performed in the same key as the record.


    Other signature sounds for which I took this approach included hits and stabs, originally done mainly on Roland samplers. For incidental sounds such as the “Smooth Criminal” machine gun or the footstep and suitcase noises for the bit Michael would do right before “Billie Jean,” Mike McKnight recorded new sounds from scratch.


    The synths were always in their multitimbral modes — “Performance” on the Yamahas and “Combi” on the Korgs — so there could be up to a four-way split or layer of patches.


    Sound Sources


    Without question, our go-to source for string sounds was the “String Ens Sustain” patch in Project Sam’s library Symphobia [See our review in the Dec. ’08 issue. –Ed.]. It just sounds like a real string orchestra in a hall. Michael Bearden played Symphobia from Native Instruments Kontakt 3 running on his NeKo. Morris Pleasure triggered Symphobia strings and brass in Kontakt 3 as well, only running in a “V-rack” in DP on his MacBook Pro. The Motif string and brass sounds came from my own DCP libraries, specifically Complete Orchestra and Brass.


    Generally, Michael Bearden played most of the acoustic and electric piano sounds, along with some strings, pads, and signature sounds. The majority of his Motif acoustic and electric pianos were custom voices I’d done — a few electric and acoustic piano sounds were on his M3, and a couple of Synthogy Ivory pianos came from his Receptor, triggered from his Motif XS8.


    Morris Pleasure played a lot of orchestral sounds, pads, bells, guitar sounds, some special effects, and organ parts — always from the Korg CX3. Sometimes I layered string and brass sounds from the soft synths, along with strings and brass on either the Motifs or the M3s.


    Who Played What


    Here’s a breakdown of what each keyboardist played on key songs from the This Is It set list. To get this info for even more tunes from this set list, read this story at keyboardmag.com.


    “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”


    Michael Bearden: Wurlitzer electric piano on Motif XS8, string pad on Korg M3, and orchestral hits from Symphobia on NeKo LX5.


    Morris Pleasure: Pads on both Yamaha Motifs, horn parts on his M3, and agogo bell sound for the chorus vamps on his XS8.
    “Human Nature”


    Michael Bearden: Main FM piano sound, which I custom-built using Native Instruments FM8, running on the Receptor and triggered from his Motif XS8 keyboard. Also played a high string sound on Korg M3.


    Morris Pleasure: Analog string and pad on Motif XS8, signature synth-horn lead sound on Korg M3.
    “Beat It”


    Michael Bearden: For the signature intro “gong” sound, I took the sample from the original record, and using Melodyne, created an octave of “gongs” which then were loaded into a Motif voice mapped to the lowest octave of his XS8. Above that was a layer of DX electric piano and chorused Rhodes. Additional analog strings on the choruses came from the Korg M3.


    Morris Pleasure: Analog strings layered with pads on XS8, more strings on M3, and sound effects on Motif XS7.
    “Thriller”


    Michael Bearden: The primary sound was the “Thriller Rhodes,” a layer of FM and Rhodes-like electric piano and on the Motif XS8. The pipe organ during Vincent Price’s “rap” is “Majestic Pipes,” from one of my own DCP libraries for the Motif XS — it’s a slight variation on the “Toccata” voice from that library. The acoustic and synth brass layer for the big chords at the top of the song was programmed on the Korg M3s.


    Morris Pleasure: Sweeping analog pads, the synth marimba from the middle section, and additional brass stabs on XS8, the eerie theremin sound (from my DCP library Vintage Keys) on XS7, and dark brass comps on M3.
    “Billie Jean”


    Michael Bearden: Signature brass and vocal “hooh, hooh” sound on Korg M3, along with a chorused FM electric piano and Rhodes layer on his Motif XS8. He also triggered a layer consisting of Symphobia strings and NI Pro-53 strings on the NeKo LX5.


    Morris Pleasure: Fast string runs on M3, which was triggering Symphobia strings. Analog strings layered with an emulation of the famous Roland D-50 “Fantasia” patch on the XS8, and analog synth horn lead, programmed on his XS7.
    Off the Wall Medley: “Shake Your Body,” “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough,” and “Rock With You.”


    Michael Bearden: Piano and electric piano duties on Motif XS8, and sforzando brass parts for “Don’t Stop” on Korg M3. Additional string lines were Symphobia layered with the Vienna Instruments French horns in Kontakt 3 on the NeKo LX5.


    Morris Pleasure: Fast string lines from Symphobia in DP, triggered from a zone on his Motif XS8, and layered with some XS8 strings. He doubled the brass parts on the Korg M3 as well. For “Shake Your Body,” staccato brass morphing into a brass “fall” cluster was called for, so I created a staccato voice on the XS8 which would switch to the “fall” when assignable switch 2 was pressed. Then, I put that voice in the song’s Performance on his XS8. This was probably one of the most complex Performances I had to set up for the show.
    “Jam”


    Michael Bearden: Signature “Jam” stabs on his Motif XS8, sampled from the original record’s stabs created by Teddy Riley. Bright analog synth brass on the XS8, and a split on the Korg M3 which had a pad in the lower octaves and some section horns in the upper ones.


    Morris Pleasure: Doubled the “Jam” stabs on his Motif XS8, and played a vocal/synth pad on his XS7, plus section brass on Korg M3.
    “Smooth Criminal”


    Michael Bearden: The machine gun came from Mike McKnight — I put those samples on the lowest keys of Bearden’s Korg M3, and a chorused electric piano on the upper octaves. The signature FM “comp” sound was on the lower half of his Motif XS8, up to middle C, and above that was a shakuhachi-like lead.


    Morris Pleasure: He triggered strings and pads on his Motif XS8, along with a Minimoog- style lead on his XS8, and some brass ensemble sounds on his XS7 and his M3.
    “The Way You Make Me Feel”


    Michael Bearden: The brass comp sound for this song, originally a Yamaha CS-80, came from Bearden’s Motif XS8. He also played Symphobia string lines on his NeKo. I created some brass and string stabs for him on his M3 — he played these to accentuate some of the dancers’ moves. Those hits weren’t on the original record, but Michael Jackson wanted them for the show.


    Morris Pleasure: Additional string lines using Symphobia (again, running on the V-rack in Digital Performer), layered with strings from his XS8 and M3. He also played additional Symphobia brass hits triggered from his XS8 and XS7. Morris had a lot of moves to handle — what seemed like a ton of zones and splits!
    Jackson Five Medley: “The Love You Save, “ABC,” and “I’ll Be There”


    Michael Bearden: Acoustic and electric piano on his XS8, with additional strings on his M3.


    Morris Pleasure: Covered strings and brass parts on both Motifs, which were also triggering Symphobia string sounds from the Digital Performer V-rack. The signature harpsichord and vibes for “I’ll Be There” were on his M3.
    “We Are the World/Heal the World” Medley


    Michael Bearden: Acoustic piano layered with DX7-style FM electric pianos on his XS8, along with a deep analog synth pad, which was also on the XS8 and levelcontrolled via a slider in Performance mode. He also triggered Symphobia strings layered with Vienna Instruments symphonic brass on his NeKo.


    Morris Pleasure: A soft, Rhodes-style sound on Motif XS8, along with some analog-style synth pads on Korg M3, for “We Are the World.” For the start of “Heal the World,” Morris played a glockenspiel sound on XS8 to accompany Bearden’s piano lines, then switched to an arpeggiated acoustic guitar on his XS7 with his right hand while playing string lines on XS8 with his left — quite a workout!


    Except for synth pictures and where otherwise noted, photos in this article are used by permission and courtesy of Hal Leonard, publishers of recording engineer Bruce Swedien’s new book, In the Studio with Michael Jackson. You can order it at musicdispatch.com, and just for reading Keyboard, get a 25% discount — enter promo code NY9 at checkout.
    Bass and Percussion


    Synth bass and percussion called for two of the best musicians on the planet: Alex Al on bass and Bashiri Johnson on percussion.


    The synth portion of Alex’s rig (left) included a Minimoog Voyager Select, a refurbished Minimoog D, and a rack with two each of Studio Electronics SE-1s, Roland D-550s and XV-5080s, and ’80s-era Yamaha TX802 FM synth modules, controlled by Roland Alpha-Juno synths. On some songs, Alex actually played bass guitar and synth bass at the same time!


    Bashiri (right) had tons of acoustic percussion, but played electronic parts from two Roland SPD-20s, plus six Flat Pads and four Fat Pedals from DrumTech. “I was actually Michael’s first live percussionist,” he explains. “My mission was not only to lay the groundwork for myself, but for future percussionists who might tour with him. So [tech] Brian Girard and I really pushed the envelope on this rig.” Sound sources included the SPD-20 internal sounds and a Roland TD-12 (V-Drums) sound module. Dave Polich


    The Michael Jackson gig was three months of 14- to 16-hour days, seven days a week. It was without a doubt the most demanding gig of my life, but also the most unique and rewarding. It surely wasn’t a job for the faint of heart or weak of knees, but it definitely made me a better programmer and led me to think up solutions to problems I’d never have otherwise encountered.


    Quelle: Michael Jackson: Keyboard Sounds of His Signature Songs, Then and Now

    Einige weitere interessante Berichte aus dem Gearslutz Forum:



    Source: Russrags, Gearslutz Forum


    Zitat

    Hey guys its JMH, Jean-Marie . i can honestly say i would love to answer any question that i possible can.Mind you i came late in the album when we were mixing an some tracking dates but mostly mixing.Teddy Bruce and Dave welcomed me in. Lord i was shitting in my pants LOL!!.Maybe we should ask Teddy as well to join in. Between Teddy bringing me in as well MJ an that happened to be my introduction as a mixer WOW.MJ passing is still a hurtful thought but i hope he'll finally have peace.So please ask away.


    Source: Jmh, Gearslutz-Forum



    Source: Rob Hoffman (robmix), Gearslutz Forum


    Zitat

    hi everyone, i would like to ask if the song Tender Love recorded by the Force MD's in 1986, was originally intended for the Bad album, i have heard a half-minute demo sung by Michael. i'm guessing Michael rejected this song very early on in the sessions because the Force MD's version became a hit in the spring of '86.


    Source: waldo1, Gearslutz Forum


    Source: robmix, Gearslutz Forum


    Zitat

    "Streetwalker" was recorded during the "BAD" sessions, not after. As Epic records began putting pressure on us to finish the album, Humberto Gatica was brought in to occupy Westlake Studio "C," this way we had two Studio's under one roof operating in high gear. I know he worked on "Streetwalker" for a couple weeks or so, as I was there. This move later became a thorn in Bruce Swedien's side, when it became Grammy time.


    "The Making of BAD" yes Michael did bring in a film crew ... I'd love to see the footage, it was an exciting few days in the studio with them.


    Source: russrags, Gearslutz Forum

    Hier übrigens eine "Insider"-Info:


    "mickyj007" (MJJC) treibt sich seit Jahren im GearSlutz-Forum unter dem Namen "DJP777" herum und sendet dort regelmäßig PNs an alle möglichen Produzenten und Studio-Techniker mit dem Ziel von diesen unveröffentlichte Songs zu kaufen (natürlich ist das dann illegal).


    So kam er auch an das Snippet zu "Can't Get Your Weight Off Of Me". ;)
    Und auf dem selben Weg erlangte er auch die "We Be Ballin' "-Tracks und verscherbelte die ne Zeit lang als Raubkopien auf eBay.



    Jaja, ein ganz schön verlogenes Schwein ist das. ;D


    Ja, war mir bekannt, dass er sich da rumtreibt und versucht an Songs ranzukommen. Er hat ja selbst im MJJC, oder im MaxJax, geschrieben, dass ihm der komplette Song wohl für 4.500 Dollar angeboten wurde, er aber niemals soviel Geld zahlen möchte. Nun, wenn er versucht Songs zu bekommen, sollte ihm eigentlich auch bewusst sein, dass diese ihren Preis haben.

    Noch einiges von Bill Bottrell und anderen:



    Source: Bill Bottrell, Gearslutz Forum



    Source: daveway, Gearslutz Forum


    Zitat

    I'm not working on anything related to Michael, and I have not heard of anyone I know working on it. . . . .


    I have no idea why all the engineers have gone "underground". Certainly not everyone would have gotten the call to help finish what could be released. Bruce has been very quiet, and I would personally think that trying to sit in the studio and finish mixes for one of your dearest friends so soon after his passing would be extremely difficult. I'm sure something is in the works, but have no idea on the timing, what it will be, or who will be working on it.


    Source: Rob Hoffman, Gearslutz Forum

    Zitat

    MJ and Prince Met in 1994 During History Sessions, According To Sound Enigneer Who Was There


    For what it's worth, MJ and Prince did have a meeting during HIStory as well. We were all kicked out of the room however (Prince's wishes, not MJ's), so I don't know what was said.


    Source: Rob Hoffman, Gearslutz Forum


    Zitat

    Swedien told B&W Magazine in 1994 that Prince showed up @ the Hit Factory in NYC.


    Source: Midas57, KOP Board


    Rob Hoffman:


    Zitat

    "At one point Michael was angry at one of the producers on the project because he was treating everyone terribly. Rather than create a scene or fire the guy, Michael called him to his office/lounge and one of the security guys threw a pie in his face. No further action was needed . . ."


    Zitat

    "We recorded a Christmas song during the summer of '94 that needed a children's choir. Michael insisted that the entire studio be decorated with xmas lights, tree, fake snow and a sled for their recording. And he bought presents for everyone."


    Here's a quote from Russ Rags:


    Zitat

    "One fear of mine was that I knew there’d come a day that it would be just Michael and I in the same room one on one. I’d rehearsed it in the mirror over and over, just what was I going to say to this guy??? Well that day came, and what was probably seconds, seemed like a very long time. Catering had arrived at the Studio and here Michael and I were standing by ourselves. I was looking at the floor and said to myself, “this is it, this is what I‘ve been afraid of, I’m going to have to break the ice.” I took a big deep breath and raised my head to speak and … wham .. I got hit with a handful of corn, I thought, “oh no this is going to be war” … I picked up some pickles and threw them at Michael, then he threw something else and it went back and forth for a while. We were laughing so hard (I had to clean it all up later of coarse) but for three weeks we couldn’t look at each other without laughing. What a great way for him to make me feel at ease. Michael really has a great sense of humor, he just loves seeing people do a 3 stooges act and fumble all over themselves. I wish there were more people in the world exactly like Michael Jackson, he is truly one amazing human being."


    Here's a quote from Bryan Loren:


    Zitat

    "I still have the Fedora I took off his head while he was annoyingly poking at a plate of food I was eating at the studio one day, making him recoil because he had ‘hat-hair’(lol). I remember clearly the day he brought Bubbles(the chimp) to the studio, and Bubbles hit me(open-hand) in my chest(that s$%t hurt!). I wanted nothing to do with the chimp after that. Michael said it meant he liked me. He could not have been more amused."


    Here's a quote from Bill Botrell:


    Zitat

    "There was also "Streetwalker" a true orphan, I made that track while MJ was on tour for Bad. Holed up at Smoketree for a couple weeks, played all the stuff, and my friend Jasun Martz came and played the blues harp solo, when I sent it in Michael said, "Billy that harmonica is ignorant!" (and not in a good way) I wrote the whole thing off until noticing a week ago that they released it! As is."

    Aus einem Interview mit den Bodyguards von Michael:



    Source: New Bodyguards Q&A: Michael Jackson loved Subway, Had a Facebook and the new book coming out Aug 29 - MJJCOMMUNITY - OFFICIAL FORUM

    Schon etwas älter, wurde hier aber noch nicht gepostet:



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