Just for fun, I decided to google Glen Ballard and see if he mentions Siedah in any of his interviews. So far, I haven't found any that he mentions her as a co-writer either, but I ran across this really interesting one from 2003 where he talks about his work with Quincy as part of the Quest songwriting team. I know Michael wrote and talked a lot about Quincy's gifts in the past of choosing the right songs and knowing what was right for him and what he would like-and I do think Quincy is extremely gifted.
After reading this, I just couldn't imagine what it would be like to have an ear like that to know exactly what to do with a song or what you could try with a singer that could take something from really great to phenomenal. Glen really gives some good examples of Quincy's gift. And he mentions 'Man In the Mirror' as an example.
AN APPRENTICESHIP WITH QUINCY JONES
Glen learnt his chops under the masterful direction of Quincy Jones, so I asked him how Jones' way of working compared to his own. Ballard: "Our production styles are actually pretty different. I'm in the trenches creating the songs first for most of the stuff I work on, but he did less of that — he's obviously a great composer, but he wasn't out writing a lot of the material. He was the conductor of the orchestra as much as anything. He would get really talented people, give them a context, and let them be creative, letting him mould that. He was brilliant at doing that, and he was great at casting the right players for the right songs. He also knew exactly where the arrangement needed to be different, or what could be improved. When I started out working for him, I always wanted to make sure that I learned as much as possible, and I always brought my best stuff with me because nothing gets past him and he hears everything! It was like a masterclass in arranging to have him saying 'This should be here, this should be up an octave,' or whatever. With a few seemingly minor corrections, he just elevated the whole thing. When we were making 'Man In The Mirror', the bell sound at the beginning was an octave lower originally, and he told me to take that up an octave, to make it really high and eerie. We did it, and it was exactly right.
"Quincy always kept the right atmosphere in the studio. He was an encouraging and warm presence, and you wanted to do well for him, but not because he was intimidating, but because he genuinely loved people. He'd always do positive things to get the best out of people, not negative things. He wanted everyone to work hard and make it a joyful experience, with the egos left out of it. I never saw him lose his temper or his composure at any point — even when he was under deadline pressure and a second engineer had erased something, which I've seen happen. He realised that throwing a fit wasn't going to help anything. I've seen other people behaving badly in the studio, and there's no point to it — it makes everybody uncomfortable. For me, if we're not having fun on my sessions, I want to know why."
This is a pretty good article, especially good reading for those that are interested in how songs are constructed, etc. in the studio and the types of equipment they use and why.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar03/articles/glennballard.asp
