AudioMedia - March 2009 - (Page 21) he was a master. That took the sonics of that piece of music way ahead of anything else at the time.” Quincy jones, Michael Jackson, and Bruce Swedien. Recording Engineer Bruce Swedien, recognised with a Grammy for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical for Thriller (on his way to a career total of five), Jones was adamant that Thriller would be a momentous album from the very beginning. “Quincy’s mandate to all of us involved in Thriller, including Michael, was that this had to be the most unique, most unusual sounding recorded music ever,” recalls Swedien, now in his s and still working hard. “Quincy’s real mandate was to make an album that was recorded with sounds that people had never heard before. It would have been easy to try to duplicate whatever was the flavour of the day, but Quincy and I never wanted to do that.” Swedien, who had previously worked with Jackson and Jones on the Off The Wall album, continues, “The first session on Thriller was at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, April 1 4 , 1 9 8 2 . I t w a s a t We s t l a k e A u d i o’s beautiful new Studio A on Beverly Boulevard in Hollywood. That first session was Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney recording The Girl Is Mine. To have those two in the studio, singing, was a joy beyond compare.” Much has been published over the ensuing decades about the recording of Billie Jean, a song that is instantly recognisable from the very first beat of the kick drum. Responding to Jones’ challenge, Swedien, with drummer N’dugu Chancler on Billie Jean, worked hard to create unique drum sounds, using a combination of a custom kick drum cover, plywood platform and isolation between the snare and hi-hat mics. “I still use it on almost all of my projects,” says Swedien of the bass drum cover, adding, “I still use a lot of the techniques that started on that recording.” Another Level At the opposite end of the technology scale was a gimmick Swedien employed for a vocal Looking back, he says, “I absolutely love Off effect on Billie Jean, for the background response, The Wall, but Thriller took us to another level. “Don’t think twice/Do think twice.” He explains, Working with Quincy and Michael is such a joy. “I wanted a very unique sound on that one little Quincy and Michael have always allowed me total line but there was no processing equipment at freedom when it comes to creating these sonic the time that would do it.” By chance, someone landscapes, and I think it shows in the work.” ∫ had left a six-foot-long mailing tube in the studio. “Michael had his earphones on in the vocal booth and he sang the line through this tube. It gives it such a wonderful filter and a unique effect.” Jackson, who added some rhythmic parts © Copyright Mojo Working International 2009. by playing on drum cases with his hands on All Rights Reserved. Beat It, also added some foot percussion (he’s credited with ‘bathroom stomp board’ on Wanna Thanks to Mojo Working International for putting Be Startin’ Something). “If we had him stomp on this feature together. the floor, we found that the sound of that coupled Mojo is a PR company for the global recording, across the floor with all the low frequencies going post, and creative markets. new_rec_ad_AM_JUNIOR.qxd 4/3/09 1:09 PM Page 1 into the other microphones, had no presence,” www.mojoworking.com I n The B ackground says Swedien. “So I had the studio carpenter build a two-foot-square platform to keep the sound off the floor.” Studio E - Metropolis Studios, London, UK owners of more than 20 ADA-8 and ADA-8XR interfaces. Orpheus RECORD | MIX | MASTER Prism Sound has been supplying successful high quality analogue and digital studio products for 22 years and has continued to lead the way in technical excellence and personal customer service. The near fanatical loyalty of Prism Sound users is a testament to the success of its product range. Whether it be Multi-track recording, mixing, cd-mastering or on location Prism Sound products deliver robust, reliable performance every time. The sessions, which stretched into early November (the album was released November ), involved some new technology, he says, especially on the title track. “We had a huge [New England Digital] Synclavier, which was Michael’s. It’s a fantastic piece of equipment, and could do just about everything we can do today with digital audio workstations.” Swedien had hoped to encourage his Great Dane, Max, to perform on the title track. “We had a small farm in California and we took Max out by the barn at night to listen to the coyotes and see if that would inspire him, but it didn’t. We ended up having Michael do all the wolf howls.” He continues, “There’s a whole 24-track just of the intro elements. Much of the sound effects I ended up editing on the Synclavier. It’s very difficult to use, but we were really blessed because we had Chris Correll, who did the Synclavier work; Wolfish Techniques FireWire multi-track audio interface ADA-8XR MMA-4XR Multi-Channel AD/DA Interface for Pro-Tools HD with optional FireWire, AES, SPDIF and DSD interfacing Audiophile microphone pre-amplifier To arrange a free demo or talk about your requirements contact us now. sales@prismsound.com | www.prismsound.com The Old School | High Street | Stretham | Cambs CB6 3LD | +44 (0)1353 648888 NOTE: Pro-Tools | HD is a trademark of Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology Inc AUDIO MEDIA MARCH 2009 21 http://www.mojoworking.com http://www.prismsound.com http://www.prismsound.com
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