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Michael Jackson: the backing vocalist

^^ Ohh, that's awesome! See, people who really know music, who are musicians or composers, or both, or engineers, etc... people in the business of music making, they really understand how incredibly gifted Michael is as a vocalist. He's so underrated by people just in general who don't have enough of an understanding of singing to appreciate someone like Michael. People who think that belting or singing with a huge voice is what makes a good singer don't understand or appreciate Michael's voice, I've found. Even many of his own fans don't seem to understand when I try to tell them about Michael's brilliance as a singer. It's endlessly frustrating to me, lol. But it just reaffirms what I already know when I hear people who really understand the voice talk about how incredible Michael is.
 
arXter said:
BOTDF now, with some funky minimalistic sounds..


2h37dyq.gif


Superfly Sister (Backgrounds)

Blood On The Dance Floor (Backgrounds)

Morphine (Backgrounds)

Ghosts (Backgrounds)

Scream Louder (Backgrounds)
Click to expand...

arXter-Just beautiful, thanks again so much!!! :clapping::punk:

:chillin:
 
wannabestartinsomthin21 said:
Tell it like it is arXter, lol.

I've always been blown away by how Michael arranges and harmonizes his backing vocals. I've never heard anybody do it like him, or as well. Like if you listen to "In The Closet", "Monkey Business", "Cheater", "Leave Me Alone", "Blood On The Dance Floor", or even "Got The Hots", etc... You can really tell what a musical genius he is by listening to what he does on backing. The way he layers the different vocal parts, how he hears how higher and lower registers will work with one another and then makes them blend so beautifully, and then just the arrangement of the vocals, how he can have 3 or 4 different vocal parts and make them all work together. I ain't ever heard anything better. It blows my mind. He's underrated big time as a singer, in my view.

And wow, I'd never heard the backing vocals on "YRMW" isolated like that. I didn't even realize there were so many parts to it. That's the thing with Michael, he adds all of these parts which are essential to the whole wihout the listener even being aware. We just hear the final product and it sounds brilliant, without really noticing how much detail goes in to the final sound. But without just one of those elements, it wouldn't be the same. I wonder if there's a download of that available?
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Great post! I feel the same way. I often play Michael's music in my car- really loud. And I hear so many things that either I didn't notice before or that are just not audible when you're listening to the song with normal volume.

I remember when I was younger I found out that in "Will you be there" you can hear Michael stomp his feet during: "but they told me, a man should be faithful, to walk when not able [STOMP] and fight till the end". I heard that for the first time when listening to it with earphones on.

Also in Blood on the dancefloor the backing vocals are amazing. In the slow remix of the song, you can hear Michael do a really, REALLY high tone that sounds like "aaaaaaaaaaahhhh". Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
 
Dutchie said:
Great post! I feel the same way. I often play Michael's music in my car- really loud. And I hear so many things that either I didn't notice before or that are just not audible when you're listening to the song with normal volume.

I remember when I was younger I found out that in "Will you be there" you can hear Michael stomp his feet during: "but they told me, a man should be faithful, to walk when not able [STOMP] and fight till the end". I heard that for the first time when listening to it with earphones on.

Also in Blood on the dancefloor the backing vocals are amazing. In the slow remix of the song, you can hear Michael do a really, REALLY high tone that sounds like "aaaaaaaaaaahhhh". Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
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sounds like a good idea for a new thread :)

things you didn't notice in MJ's music that you later hear.... cos i got plenty, lol.
 
arXter, I love you man. I am absolutely amazed by some of these clips. 2 BAD has just become my favorite song again. LOL

Thanks so much for posting.
 
OMG thank you so much for these! I've always wanted to hear the backgrounds isolated. Every once in a while I'll be listening to one of Mike's songs and I'll hear something in the background, and I go to play it back again and I can't find it through all the things going on in the foreground. This was absolutely awesome.
 
using the same technique i ran "Speechless" through and mixed it with the normal track... i love the sound of it, it brings the out the arrangement more :)
 
yeah man these open up to so many mixing possibilities.

if anyone's interested further, i've compiled the isolation of every MJ solo Epic album in this thread:

http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59726

working on non-album tracks now, then pre-Epic MJ & Jacksons material.


OTW-logo.png


Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough
Rock With You
Workin' Day And Night
Get On The Floor
Off The Wall
Girlfriend
I Can't Help It
It's The Falling in Love
Burn This Disco Out

OTW.rar




Thriller-logo.png


Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Baby Be Mine
The Girl Is Mine
Thriller
Beat It
Billie Jean
Human Nature
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
The Lady in My Life

Thriller.rar


P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008
The Girl Is Mine 2008
Billie Jean 2008
Beat It 2008
For All Time

Thriller-2008.rar




Bad-logo.png


Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Speed Demon
Liberian Girl
Just Good Friends
Another Part of Me
Man in the Mirror
Dirty Diana
Smooth Criminal
Leave Me Alone

Bad.rar



Dangerous-logo.png

Why You Wanna Trip on Me
In the Closet
She Drives Me Wild
Remember the Time
Can't Let Her Get Away
Heal the World
Black or White
Who Is It
Dangerous

Dangerous.rar




HIStory-logo.png


Scream
They Don't Care About Us
Stranger in Moscow
This Time Around
Earth Song
D.S.
Money
Come Together
Tabloid Junkie
2 Bad

HIStory.rar




BOTDF-logo.png


Blood on the Dance Floor
Morphine
Superfly Sister
Ghosts
Scream Louder (Flyte Tyme Remix)
2 Bad (Refugee Camp Mix)

BOTDF.rar




Invincible-logo.png


Unbreakable
Heartbreaker
Invincible
Break of Dawn
Heaven Can Wait
Butterflies
Privacy
Cry
Whatever Happens
Threatened
Shout

You Rock My World (Bg Vox Acapella)

Invincible.rar


TUC-logo.png


Beautiful Girl
Cheater
Dangerous (Demo)
Fall Again
In The Back
Monkey Business
Someone Put Your Hand Out
The Way You Love Me
We Are Here To Change The World
You Can't Win

TUC.rar


​
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Great job again arXter. Thanx so much. I'll d/l them next week sometime.
 
i have gone through alot of songs myself through adobe audition... highlights for me that haven't already been mentioned would be "Just Good Friend" the versatility and richness is beautiful. especially how he sings "mmmmmiiiiiiinnnnnndddddd"

Speechless is worth it just for the way he sings "speechLESS" as the song begins to expand.

The Lost Children
 
That was awesome giddyup! Thanks for posting. I didn't even realize while listening to "TLC" that Michael sings "them home" in a more upturned way. Michael's backings are so involved that you don't even hear what's actually happening just by listening to the final product.
 
^^ Yeah, complex indeed. I can't imagine the time it probably took to record each and every one of those vocal parts ... and probably multiple takes for each one, too, since Michael is such a perfectionist. :)
 
wannabestartinsomthin21 said:
That was awesome giddyup! Thanks for posting. I didn't even realize while listening to "TLC" that Michael sings "them home" in a more upturned way. Michael's backings are so involved that you don't even hear what's actually happening just by listening to the final product.
Click to expand...

i'm getting new speakers in a week worth quite a bit for music production..but i can't wait to play MJ on them, dissect his music even more, lol. :D
 
also to add to this thread is how he works with the backing.

while listening to "serious effect" i love how his voice jumps up and down in the chorus and works beautifully with the backing.

attention to detail.
 
I noticed that Jam and Lewis used a bit of Janet's "The Knowledge" in "Scream". There were heaps of vocals on 2 Bad I had never heard of before as well.
 
Rodney Jerkins on Mike's backgrounds:


start_quote_rb.gif
To the question " Who are some of the Best vocalists you've worked with , and what did you learn from them? ", Jerkins replied: " Michael Jackson is the best by far . I don't know who taught him how to cut background vocals , but he does things that no one else does . He'll do a hundred tracks of background vocals. He would do eight tracks of what he called accent vocals . He'd barely be singing but he'd hit the chorus line with a hard, syncopated rhythm . It was almost like he was talking, but it's not talking. He'd stack that over and over , and it would give the vocals aggression and bite . I've never seen anyone use more mics. He would have all these great mics in the room and then go through each one to figure out which one sounded the best for the track. A lot of artists are in too big of a rush and they don't take the time to do that stuff . He also taught me that you don't have to be right up on the mic on everything . Before I would tell the artist to breathe in the mic, to eat the mic. I wanted the vocalist right in your face. Michael would do that, but then he'd go in the corner and sing the next four tracks . That would give it a room sound , but without using a machine. That taught me so much. I never understood ghost tracks until I watched him work. He'll do these things that you think you can't hear, but they fill in the mix and make it bigger. "
end_quote_rb.gif
EQ Magazine; 2003​
 
Interesting and insightful. I always enjoy reading about how MJ works in the studio. I have to say though that text is very hard to read , hurts my eyes, but thx for posting that. Very cool.
 
Great read Arxter.
Its fascinating and enjoyable to see how MJ does his thing in the studio.
He's very creative to say the least and definately knows what he's doing. :)
Rodney Jerkins seems to be in awe of the genius a work.
 
arXter said:
Rodney Jerkins on Mike's backgrounds:
start_quote_rb.gif
To the question " Who are some of the Best vocalists you've worked with , and what did you learn from them? ", Jerkins replied: " Michael Jackson is the best by far . I don't know who taught him how to cut background vocals , but he does things that no one else does . He'll do a hundred tracks of background vocals. He would do eight tracks of what he called accent vocals . He'd barely be singing but he'd hit the chorus line with a hard, syncopated rhythm . It was almost like he was talking, but it's not talking. He'd stack that over and over , and it would give the vocals aggression and bite . I've never seen anyone use more mics. He would have all these great mics in the room and then go through each one to figure out which one sounded the best for the track. A lot of artists are in too big of a rush and they don't take the time to do that stuff . He also taught me that you don't have to be right up on the mic on everything . Before I would tell the artist to breathe in the mic, to eat the mic. I wanted the vocalist right in your face. Michael would do that, but then he'd go in the corner and sing the next four tracks . That would give it a room sound , but without using a machine. That taught me so much. I never understood ghost tracks until I watched him work. He'll do these things that you think you can't hear, but they fill in the mix and make it bigger. "
end_quote_rb.gif
EQ Magazine; 2003​
Click to expand...

Great quote.

It's what I love about MJ tracks: most of his backing vocalists are really just him, but the way he layers his voice he gets so many unique sounds out of it. It's incredible. And you always hear something new in his tracks. Songs you've listened to a thousand times but failed to pick up on one of his quips or lines or backing phrases, something he shouted randomly in the background. Or you listen to a hook or chorus and tune out the strings/drums/etc. and you hear new vocals you never heard before. It's awesome.

I'm gonna see if I can mess around in audacity and find some that have yet to be done.
 
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arXter said:
Rodney Jerkins on Mike's backgrounds:


start_quote_rb.gif
To the question " Who are some of the Best vocalists you've worked with , and what did you learn from them? ", Jerkins replied: " Michael Jackson is the best by far . I don't know who taught him how to cut background vocals , but he does things that no one else does . He'll do a hundred tracks of background vocals. He would do eight tracks of what he called accent vocals . He'd barely be singing but he'd hit the chorus line with a hard, syncopated rhythm . It was almost like he was talking, but it's not talking. He'd stack that over and over , and it would give the vocals aggression and bite . I've never seen anyone use more mics. He would have all these great mics in the room and then go through each one to figure out which one sounded the best for the track. A lot of artists are in too big of a rush and they don't take the time to do that stuff . He also taught me that you don't have to be right up on the mic on everything . Before I would tell the artist to breathe in the mic, to eat the mic. I wanted the vocalist right in your face. Michael would do that, but then he'd go in the corner and sing the next four tracks . That would give it a room sound , but without using a machine. That taught me so much. I never understood ghost tracks until I watched him work. He'll do these things that you think you can't hear, but they fill in the mix and make it bigger. "
end_quote_rb.gif
EQ Magazine; 2003​
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing that quote ^_^
 
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