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The use of strings in Michael Jackon's music.

analogue

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If you strip away everything else and just listen to the string arrangements in Michael's music you'll hear some of the most beautiful and majestic pieces of music ever created. It honestly wouldn't sound out of place at a classical musical concert.

Smooth Criminal is a definate stand out for this and the song Bad
 
Thank you for making this thread mate. I was only thinking about this the other day

The strings on Smooth Criminal are devine. Nobody ever talks about that, it's sound as if someone's soul ascending (which you could say is happening to Annie) Such a wonderful piece of melodic music, that compliments the ferocious nature of the rest of the instrumental.
Brilliant layering

5.14 in particular

Details like this are what make Smooth Criminal a masterpiece

The strings on She's Out Of Life are wonderful too
 
Yeah, you're right, so many layers. It's a reason Bad would sound amazing in 5.1 surround on SACD.

In a way, on the 70s stuff you kinda take strings and horns for granted. But they're so good.

Slightly off-topic, but a few years ago I got Racine's album, she plays a dozen MJ songs on a violin.
 
Omg yes! Ok, so I can't post a YouTube video but has anyone seen Chris Liepe on YouTube? He analyzes MJs multitracks and for Earth Song ...there are some gorgeous string arrangements on there ...just so majestic...! If anyone can post it, the timestamp is 13:16 ...it's beautiful!
 
Arklove said:
Omg yes! Ok, so I can't post a YouTube video but has anyone seen Chris Liepe on YouTube? He analyzes MJs multitracks and for Earth Song ...there are some gorgeous string arrangements on there ...just so majestic...! If anyone can post it, the timestamp is 13:16 ...it's beautiful!
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Here you go!




There's quite a few Chris Liepe vids on the board, iirc ... there's a bunch on this thread 👇

The Best Michael Jackson reaction vidoes on Youtube - share your favourites and help spread MJs music

I think its finally time to create a thread dedicated to the best Michael Jackson reactors on youtube, not only do they give MJ fans a good time, they also introduce MJ to new audiences. On top of that it allows MJ-fans to converse in the comment sections and share the love for Michael. In the...
www.mjjcommunity.com www.mjjcommunity.com
 
Have to watch that when I have some time. I always admired how complex Michaels songs are. It happened some times that I listened to a song for the thousandth time and I'm like: wait there is something I never recognised before! I love that so much.
 
Michael was/is incredibly underrated as an arranger especially when it came to strings and vocals. I think that may be down to the fact that a lot of people don't really know what arranging is.

I've been massively into The Beach Boys for about four years now - Mike is up there with Brian Wilson in terms of arrangement (both troubled geniuses with overbearing dads who believed their songs came from divine inspiration) and I do wish he had used more prominent strings at times.
 
Yeah I was thinking the same thing when watching dua lipas special from London with an orchestra
 
Xeones said:
Michael was/is incredibly underrated as an arranger especially when it came to strings and vocals. I think that may be down to the fact that a lot of people don't really know what arranging is.

I've been massively into The Beach Boys for about four years now - Mike is up there with Brian Wilson in terms of arrangement (both troubled geniuses with overbearing dads who believed their songs came from divine inspiration) and I do wish he had used more prominent strings at times.
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SORRY but putting Michael at the level of Brian Wilson is just ridiculous
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Did Michael arrange the strings for Billie Jean?
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Interview: Jerry Hey, Pop Music’s Go-Go Man for Horn and String Arrangements​


"When did you start doing string arrangements? That’s a totally different animal from horns.

Yes, it is totally different. As I said, Seawind was on tour during the Off the Wall record. Quincy had called and asked me to write strings and horns for Off the Wall, and I said, “We’re on the road and we’re gonna have to fly back to do horns. I can’t really do strings, and I’m not really the right guy for it anyway.” He kind of went along with that. Then Rufus came along for Masterjam, and he said “You’re gonna write strings on this.” I said, “No, I’m not.” He said, “Yes, you are.” Literally, that was it; I didn’t have any choice. So, I started doing R&B strings on a lot of Quincy’s records. I wasn't really into strings at that point. I started listening to other people’s writing. I had been involved with Foster’s writing of strings, especially on I Am. I thought, “OK, I get that.” I started thinking about what string parts I really like and don’t like, especially for more pop music. I just came from Quincy saying, “Yeah, you’re gonna do it.” Did that, did “Billie Jean” and from there, did a lot of strings for people in the 1980s, like Whitney Houston. It’s not something I was really going after, but I got to the point where I thought it was pretty good."

Interview: Jerry Hey, Pop Music’s Go-Go Man for Horn and String Arrangements

The Seawind trumpeter and long-time Quincy Jones collaborator on his career as pop's go-to man for horn and string arrangements.
daily.redbullmusicacademy.com daily.redbullmusicacademy.com
 
zinniabooklover said:

Interview: Jerry Hey, Pop Music’s Go-Go Man for Horn and String Arrangements​


"When did you start doing string arrangements? That’s a totally different animal from horns.

Yes, it is totally different. As I said, Seawind was on tour during the Off the Wall record. Quincy had called and asked me to write strings and horns for Off the Wall, and I said, “We’re on the road and we’re gonna have to fly back to do horns. I can’t really do strings, and I’m not really the right guy for it anyway.” He kind of went along with that. Then Rufus came along for Masterjam, and he said “You’re gonna write strings on this.” I said, “No, I’m not.” He said, “Yes, you are.” Literally, that was it; I didn’t have any choice. So, I started doing R&B strings on a lot of Quincy’s records. I wasn't really into strings at that point. I started listening to other people’s writing. I had been involved with Foster’s writing of strings, especially on I Am. I thought, “OK, I get that.” I started thinking about what string parts I really like and don’t like, especially for more pop music. I just came from Quincy saying, “Yeah, you’re gonna do it.” Did that, did “Billie Jean” and from there, did a lot of strings for people in the 1980s, like Whitney Houston. It’s not something I was really going after, but I got to the point where I thought it was pretty good."

Interview: Jerry Hey, Pop Music’s Go-Go Man for Horn and String Arrangements

The Seawind trumpeter and long-time Quincy Jones collaborator on his career as pop's go-to man for horn and string arrangements.
daily.redbullmusicacademy.com daily.redbullmusicacademy.com
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I hope people realize arranging is not the same as composing and don't start claiming this guy should get credit.

All these decades and no one has tried to claim the music on Billie Jean, but as we all have seen. Michael's death has allowed anybody to claim anything about him without fear of repercussion.

I fear as time goes on people will only get more emboldened to try and claim Michael's work. And certain people are more than happy to pave the way for them.
 
Victorious said:
We have to thank Quincy for these!
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Why does quincy get credit for it when he didn't write or compose any of it?

In fact if you look at the album credits for Quincy's own albums. he didn't even write or compose most of those songs. There are dozens of other people involved with the songs composition and arranging.

But for some reason Quincy is just automatically given this high level of respect as a musician while Michael is not. And Michael's talent and abilities are always doubted or downplayed in favor of other people.

I don't see anybody constantly bringing up all the other people who worked on Quincy's albums like they do with Michael.
 
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@zinniabooklover I genuinely know nothing about the process of arranging. I'm gonna guess it's like Garage Band, arranging sequences. Obviously MJ didn't play the strings but it was probably what he composed?
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
@zinniabooklover I genuinely know nothing about the process of arranging. I'm gonna guess it's like Garage Band, arranging sequences. Obviously MJ didn't play the strings but it was probably what he composed?
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I can't explain it properly bc I'm not a musician. It's one of those things that I understand but can't explain. But, basically, yeah, the composer writes the actual music and the arranger creates a 'version' of that, iyswim. The composition is obviously the melody, harmonies, basic idea etc. The arrangement is sort of an adaptation of the original thing. So if strings are going to be added to Michael's basic idea the arranger needs to decide which string instruments they are going to use (or the producer might pitch in with ideas about that, it depends). Cellos will obviously give the song a very different feel to violins etc. I think different arrangers can do different stuff, like one might just do a basic arrangement and another might re-do the harmonies or take the idea a bit further.

I don't know what to say, lol. In the recent Led Zep doc there's a bit where Jimmy Page is telling the story of the first time he worked with Robert Plant (they were going to do an old blues number) and he says to Robert, 'If you can sing that top line, I've got an arrangement that will go with it'. Stuff like that I can understand but don't know how to talk about it!
 
I've played both roles when creating my own songs! My writing style is also obviously influenced by MJ's as well, so I'll try and offer my own spin. I think Michael was both a composer and an arranger, and this is because, in my view:

  • A composer writes the music itself. The skeleton of a song usually comes about by playing or singing a melody / structure that you have.
  • The arranger will then take the piece of music and sort of 'direct' it. They'll say, okay, this part or line will be played by this and this instrument, you'll play it louder here, quieter there etc. This instrument will combine with that one to represent this part. All that kind of stuff. Basically, they are interpreters of already written pieces.
Nelson Riddle is my favourite arranger! When working with Sinatra, he'd take songs that had already been written and recorded before and create his own take by giving out parts of the music to different sections of the band. Brian Wilson did the same thing with The Beach Boys, with their vocal parts as well as their instrumental sections.
 
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