Michael Jackson's Ability In Studio Was Unmatched: w/ Dave Way
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- This is an excerpt from an in-depth interview with mixer, recording engineer, producer, and songwriter Dave Way. Here, Dave recalls one memorable session working with Michael Jackson; who's mind and ear for music was clearly genius.
You can find the full interview here:
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#music #musicproduction #recordingstudio #studiolife #michaeljackson #michaeljacksonthekingofpop #recordingsession
We need more documentaries on Michael’s recording sessions in the studio. Genius stuff. He was so talented.
Exactly! We need more of this! Unlike that dreadful Thriller 40 documentary which chose to talk about BTS and TikTok
@@Jordansparte I just watched Thriller 40. Thought it was good, loved the unseen footage but it defo had moments that were not needed.
Make it happen.
See The MJCast podcast; they have a plethora of stories on Jackson's greatness and vocal prowess by people who actually were around Jackson and saw his talent face to face.
Teddy Riley and Darkchild gave some good interviews on Dangerous and Invincible.
Michael didn’t have to study music , Music studied him. I saw him 3 times live and pure energy the whole concert from start to finish. The GREATEST TO EVER DO IT
He was around the greatest musician in our time in Motown, Berry Gordy explained he studied everyone.
MJ stated he loves classical music.
this is not accurate and not giving credit to how hard he worked and studied to develop his natural talent. Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and of course James Brown were just a few the Michael studied closely from a very young age.
Those breaths in his songs are one of the major reason his songs are so unique.
There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever, Michael Jackson was one of the most gifted recording artist and entertainers to ever live, if not the most gifted
He was the Greatest Of All Time, and the most gifted of all time!
no he was not... he was an incredible singer. He couln't handle a recording studio...he needed ingeneers, so stop saying all those bullshits about this guy... it's just stupid.
@@leahartlee29 Sorry Elvis Presley beat him to it in pretty every way even in death.
@@voyagein2thecoreofthenight700 Most artists need engineers, MJ wasn't the only one. He was a singer, dancer, performer, composer and producer. He did the choruses and harmonies for his songs. Tell me the number of artists who can do all this and more. Only some like Prince or David Bowie were more talented than him. MJ is among the most talented artists even if you don't want to accept it. Not all artists dance, write, produce or co-produce.
Absolutely true..and,that's why many went up to the level of enviousness and jeoulsy of him. And at last killed him
You can definitely hear all of the percussive sounds in MJ’s music, which makes his vocal performances stand apart
It makes it very unique
That is legitimately insane. that level of performative precision, amazing.
Yes he was unmatched in skill, effort, talent, and just pure genius.
Michael was one of a kind. Sorry to lose such a great artist.
A freaking genius Michael Jackson was.
I still don't think that level of fame exist today. If you think about how MJ had 90 million people watch his interview with Oprah that level of fame doesn't exist today. They have to put it on youtube for repetitive views vs everyone tuning in like it was a Super Bowl. That's a different level. Today, these starts can't even get people to watch them live on tv. All the award shows are low ratings, which speaks volume.
The power of internet my friend and the power of tv in jackson’s time
@@martnerby1don’t understand?? What’s your point.. those things still exist today..right?.. who has ACHIEVED that level of fame today?…
@@thesaintst1851 Good you ask, will explain my point and will get into the word achieving at the end. I think because of the internet people can differentiate much more in the artists they like because of the power of the internet. We have the opportunity to find a artist who relates/resonates 'better' to a individual. People listen to other 'big' artist then there friends and often we get to learn new artist from each other who maybe became big in there own respective genre or 'social media bubble'. Maybe that's not new, you always got to learn from friends if you where open to it. But maybe you can agree that there is more opportunity for differentiation in artists to listen to in the times of the internet.
In the time of peak mass media (Jackson's time, just before the big industry of streaming services and TH-cam and so fort, but in the upcoming time of MTV) radio stations and television programs had more influence on the public in what they listened because there was less alternative like we have with the internet now.
Jackson was a great performer and deserves the credit for the amount of people he reached, don't get me wrong. But i think if Jackson would have come up in this day and age i question if he would be that legendary as he is know. So to get in the word achieving: I think the power of mass media then and the power of the internet now has a lot to do with the achievements of artists
and how many people you reach on a mass scale like Jackson did.
What do you think about that? Would Jackson be as big if he started now? And would a (same type of) artist become as big as Jackson was?
Wait. He’d just go from full take to full take, flawlessly, INCLUDING all the different harmony lines in the track and choruses??? Have you heard the harmonies on his tracks? To do this you have to be unimaginably talented…. I’m astonished
Only the elite could do it. Bowie was similar. Life on Mars is Bowie singing it twice. In contrast, a Billie Eilish song might by 90 pieces stuck together.
Yes, but at the same time, don't forget he had been singing and recording since age 5 or 6. So it's like the best musicians/players, that can play whole songs flawlesslyy from start to end and know every note.
MJ was so gifted it blows my mind over and over. Mostly everybody else is in kindergarten compared to him.
@@doogsiabrey as a singer & performer, he was immense. There were better songwriters, depends on your tastes. But completely mad.
Look up "Chris Liepe" going over the masters (or some version of the multitracks with the channels separated) -- there's so much juice in every second of his songs layered in and his interactions with his other self are so good and in sync you could probably mathematically average them
Reminds me of that Live Aid outtake where Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper were struggling repeatedly to nail their verses so Michael had to keep laying down his chorus so they could redo their verses. Every single time Michael's chorus was perfect.
The We Are The World bts footage was legendary 😆
When you're down and out, there seems no hope at all...
I just watched that a couple days ago! Its day and night the difference between Michael and those 2. Plus he stands a notch above Stevie Wonder, Kenny Loggins, Lionel Ritchie and all those who more or less helped carry the song.
Didn't come easy though. When you're both highly gifted AND diligently practiced, you'll invariably be the best. MJ had been at it from the age of 5.
By this time period he'd been professionally singing, performing and A-list famous for over 20 years. Longer than most celebs' entire careers. And by the time described in this video, good grief he could run vocals backwards and forwards in his sleep.
No discount to Michael, but he had known the song for at least for a week prior and Huey and Cyndi had just learned it hours earlier
great insight into the process of a genius
Hi Dan!
Not a genius, but certainly a pedo.
Because he was such a good dancer, people forgot what a good singer he was.
He knew that the key to perfect doubling is to know exactly how to sing it the first time through. He sang with conviction.
🔥🔥🔥
Money and awards and fans and fame is great... but to have the respect and amazement of your peers and other professionals priceless!!
The truth is that Michael was a great singer. One of the best. Actually, people who don't know these details underestimate it a lot. No matter how good you are, there will always be detractors who want to put you down or underestimate your talent. He was a great artist, you have to be objective and give him his flowers.
Yea its only overshadowed because of how amazing his dancing is. But he was an amazing singer with incredible range you cant fully grasp how difficult his notes are until you hear other artist try to mimick him. His one hiccup is done with crazy range and precision its hard to do as powerful as he does it. Just a damn hiccup
He’s got the best sounding male tone of all time. I’ve never understood why they question his singing except that his energetic dance style often marred his vocal performances when he did sing live combined with the lip syncing which was done to preserve vocals on massive tours however people don’t understand that part.
@@chazbayley MJ took advantage of his best moments and his youth. Bad, Destiny, Victory and Triumph are tours in which he perfectly combines singing and dancing. And all these tours are live. But people who look for excuses to put him down, only focus on the negative and only watch concerts or lip-sync performances. He proved that he was also a great singer on stage, but his last History tour ruined that reputation with his excessive lip syncing.
@@robertj.batista also people don’t realise these days how clever lip syncing has become with expert pre recorded live sounding vocals etc. on top of that, autotune / pitch correction is now available for live vocalists. The bad tour and much of the dangerous tour was still live too … people don’t realise unless they are a fellow artist how difficult it is to sing and move like that for nearly 2 hours several times a week for over a year sometimes more
@@chazbayley… and since the age of 5. My man was tired😂
There's nothing greater than listening to people talking about their passions.. Wish it was longer
This
Amazing. I can't get enough of people talking about his work ethic in the studio. What a brilliant human being he was.
Apart from the five kids who accused him and the payouts he made. Brilliant?
@@blackdogRexy Check the facts. You have internet and plenty of information, including the FBI files released after his death. He was innocent. Now you can choose believe the opposite as many people chooses to believe the Earth is flat.
Michael is the greatest entertainer in world history. Him and I were the same age, so I watched him grow up. He redefined the term superstardom.
I really enjoyed hearing these stories of Michael in the studio.
Miss him every day.
Michael Jackson was just so talented. A genius. That's why he is the King of Pop.❤
still discovering layers of music on Dangerous
A gift from God for our listening pleasure. Sad as a society we didn’t treat him very well.
Thank you for this! Michael Jackson was exceptionally talented.
Everyone can be that talented if they have to do the same thing since year 5 or 3.
@@simcax6087
Not just "anyone" can achieve this, no matter how long and early in life they start; life doesn't work that way.
I remember that the first time I heard Michael's isolated vocals on a track...I was absolutely mindblown. The level of precision and perfection in every single aspect of every single phrase...and the fact that it still somehow had a lot of personality to it without sounding robotic or emotionless....in an era where autotune wasn't even a concept...that's literally unparalleled vocal efficiency
Fantastically written comment!
This makes me very happy because I am not a native English speaker but I have a big passion for music @@andregant9980
To me he’s the best singer. A lot of people say Freddie is but so many people sing better than him
The name of that is genius
Michael had 25+ years of experience in the studio by this time, the man knew what he was doing and just how it was to be arranged and finished and he knew just exactly what he wanted in each song as far as his sounds, pitches, percussions, everything,....and let's not forget,...the man was a perfectionist...everything had to sound and be just right because if it wasn't, to Michael, it was garbage and would have to be redone to his liking, who can blame him,...he knew what he was doing and the producers knew that as well!! He was a musical and lyrical genius!!!!!!! #RIPMJ ♥
He was a perfectionist Thanks for sharing the story
There are a couple of books by Quincy Jones, and Bruce Swedien… about recording with Michael Jackson
In one of them, I forget, which one, Bruce details how he constructed a wooden platform for Michael to stand on, while he sang
Part of this he explained was so he could more easily attach and use more microphones to capture all of the footwork and other body sounds that were happening while MJ was singing
And just like Dave said, in this video, they kept all of those sounds, and the story is that when you would listen to just the vocals, in addition to any other microphones that recorded body sounds from different different angles, that alone made the song feel quite complete by itself!
All the music in his entire entire body, all the time
Remarkable!
Michael Jackson is the absolute best singer ever to me. I know all of his songs and I listen to my playlist 24/7 I literally won't answer my phone if it rings while one of his song's are playing ❤
"Literally"🙄
0:59 Michael’s fame is NOT common today. Social media has yall fooled, there is no celebrity right now has reached the heights Michael did.
Taylor is pretty big tho. Not a fan, but she is that big
@@roddyboethius1722 lol nah taylor swift isnt that big as michael jackson. Social media got you fooled
My 102 year old grandmother(RIP) knew who he was. She lived in a remote African village with no electricity and running water and was illiterate but she knew who he was because she loved watching his videos every time she would visit us in the city😊
@@roddyboethius1722 Taylor Swift? :D Haha. She's not even the biggest star of her own time. When MJ was alive everybody knew who he was. Nobody in a small african village knows who tf Taylor is. My 89 yo grandma doesn't know who Taylor is. EVERYONE knew the name Michael Jackson. Everyone.
@@roddyboethius1722 Taylor, Elvis and even the Beatles are nowhere close to MJ. They are primarily popular in Western countries, but MJ is known globally. I'm originally from a small island in Asia called Sri Lanka. When growing up, none of my friends knew Elvis or the Beatles, but everyone knew MJ. Once, I went to a remote village and asked a farmer who could not speak a word of English whether he knew who MJ was....he knew that he was an American singer. If I ask the same farmer whether he knows Taylor ... I'm pretty sure he won't have a clue .. lol
i knew exactly how great michael was already, but i still love to hear these stories to get a closer experience
Thanks for sharing this amazing insight into Michael by Dave Way. I don't think anyone ever has reached Michael's height of fame & certainly not today. Not a single artist today has anything resembling iconic songs & videos like Michael, & the consistency he had was incredible he was on another level.
John - thanks for sharing your 3D/surround recording of Thriller when I visited with you a few years back. Will never forget that experience.
Despite all the controversy in Michael's life he really was a musical genius and a fantastic singer and very great dancer he took music seriously and he had the talent to carry it through Michael Jackson was not the King of Pop for no reason
Michael was sooo much more than just an entertainer and a dancer. He was one of the best pure vocalists ever and people seem to forget that. This was a great reminder. 90% of today's popular artists could not do what this engineer described without the assistance of technology.
He was a beautiful soul
The GOAT❤❤
Thank God there are still people who make him justice! RIP, King of hearts 🙏🏻👑❤
I agree more recording sessions! For SURE!!!❤
I have been following his vocal coach,Seth Riggs. He said Michael's coaching sessions sometimes were for 4 hours.
Nope, Seth Riggs came in later - he didn't train him from the very start - similar to Michael Bolton who Seth Riggs started teaching later on
In other words, don't credit MJs vocal ability to a coach - his voice wasn't built by one, maybe refined
But I would even say Seth Riggs style of coaching might have limited Michaels singing
Vocal coaches are known for listing their clients as if they built their voices - when in reality these famous artists were already talented, it's easier to just refine a talented voice and then claim credit
Much harder to help someone build a voice from scratch, no natural talent
Re: Seth Riggs, I don't know when he started coaching Michael Jackson who probably had many vocal coaches from his early days at Motown. I was mostly surprised at the length of the sessions.. When it comes to natural talent, MJ was had plenty.
Seth Riggs has an unusual style. I found him after searching for Stevie Wonders vocal coaches. . @@CrimsonHeart3
Not surprised at all, I mean... Michael has been doing the perfect craft since his childhood and he was always a perfeccionist.... So why the surprise? Right? .... Surely we true fans really wanna see more of his work inside the studio because all we know is from the concerts, videoclips and albuns. Theres nothing more exciting imagining or hearing his studio stories!!! I love Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson wonderful and Magical 🦋💖 The best in the world ✨👑✨ Thank you very much ✌️
Incredible great story. Knocked out the chorus in 20min
Cannot fathom and imagine it being THAT great.
I met MJ in the summer of 1994 at the Hit Factory studios in New York. He had a small room where he kept all presents and letters from fans and he even brought some into the studio next to where he sang for inspiration ❤️
Don't forget, he started recording vocals as a child with his dad watching.
...and we all know what Joe put those kids through.
That's called um... incentive.
You need audiophile equipment + uncompressed or at least lossless format to really appreciate what he was capable of with his voice, but he really was that damned good.
People have to remember Michael Jackson was from the '60s. He started with Motown all those cats could do it Stevie, Marvin, even Diana.
They could do what? Or what are u trying to say?
Those breathes and sounds he made was where the magic happened in his songs. Sometimes I play the songs over and over in those moments. Especially in Human Nature.
Thanks for this beautiful piece of history work.
MJ was from an era where you came prepared. They danced and sang live. No auto tune. The amateurs today cant even sing thru a song thru.
Total pro
I am happy for the people who have had such amazing experiences with Michael ...
Thank you for sharing 🙏🏾
Michael Jackson is the GOAT.
I love that he wanted to leave those breath and clapping and tapping noises in... That's the groove. That's the stuff that makes you vibe to the song, but you're not quite sure why... When you clean that all up lose a lot of the groove. Like when John Mellencamp talked about playing Jack and Diane without the clapping.... There was no song without the clapping, because there was no groove.
Theres so many haters, particularly fans of Prince who diss MJs music ability coz he didnt play every instrument like Prince 'apparently' did....i love Prince i think hes a genius. The fact that MJ didnt play instruments but knew how to compose each part with just his vocals is incredible and a rare gift....thats total creativity
Very true
That was EXCELLENT, I enjoyed that so much, thank you! The best 4minutes of my day 🥰
I love hearing these technical stories about Michael and how deep his knowledge of music went, I was listening to his brother Tito today on a Vlad interview and Tito said Michael would do things as a kid in The Jackson 5 that he and his brothers and Motown never thought of I was born the same yr as Michael so I got to see his evolution from 1968 til "This is it" the greatest entertainer of all time, quoting Berry Gordy and I wholeheartedly agree 👍
Although Michael wasn't a person who had studied music he was nevertheless a genius, one of a kind.
I love listening to all those breathes and tapping in MJ music it makes him real, the beatles also did the same
What a beautiful story. Thanks for telling it.
Michael definitely didn't get enough credit for his work in the studio as a producer.... He was always thinking outside the box. Genius ❤
I love hearing stories of MJ in the studio... I wish I could have recorded with him.
WOW thanks for sharing that ❤❤❤
There’s no one at that level of fame since MJ.
Love MJ
The fact with MJ is that u can litswn to his songs with passion and u feel.like dancing or can chsnge the world or something..u csn do it everyday for 20 years easily. The man was something else!
Super interesting. Thanks for posting. Yeah, MJ was the King.
I remember when I was 15 using Cool edit and realized I could mix my chorus waves down into one then cope and paste them accordinglingly. I had no one teaching me, just learned as I went and got better as time went on
He was a gifted, 🎶🎵talented singer! Miss him so much!💔
Michael Jackson was a deep musical rooted soul and got his notes and music down pat. He was all business and he nailed it all.he layered and smoothed it out.
An insight into how records are made nowadays As well as a nod to a tremendous performer. TY.
Oh I LOVE Blackbird❤
Love this, Michael Jackson was a creative brilliant mind, energy and genius. Forever the king of Pop! Adore hearing these stories of him in the recording studio. A perfectionist and an angelic sweet kind charming gentleman. He is missed. ❤ ♥️ 🎶🎵🎙️ 👑 💎⚜️🏆
Mj was a Musical genius. Wish all of this stuff came out when he was alive
He was a professional that's why ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Would love to be in the studio with MJ even just for a day. Especially when he's taking his divine vocal. People who worked with him saying he moved his entire body, clapped here and there to the music. James Ingram witnessed that for P.Y.T. session. He was in awe and then MJ asked him: "What do you think? Did I do good?" LOL!
Dangerous is my favourite album of all time, great to hear some inside details of the recording process!
More of this! I was 12 years old when the thriller album came out. There has never been anything like it, every song was a hit, maybe one of the most talented artist ever to record music! Prince would be second!
That is the honest way, moko moja way, 1 full track non stop 💯💯💯💯
He was a legend of his time & future 😊
This was an amazing story of one of the greats!!!!! He is truly missed! I love hearing stories like this about artist who are just dope🤩
So fascinating.
Wow 😮 so cool 👍
Think you so much 👍👍👍
Old school talent vs. new school shlock. Michael was the real deal and what music is supposed to be.
Genius MJ GENIUS. NO OTHER LIKE MJ
MJ …
the One & Only…
never before…
never again…
ever …!!!
INSANE LEVEL OF TALENT!!!!!!!
I was working in studios during 80's/90's and flying it in was standard, listening to this it takes me back...engineers were different then (the ones now are amazing), but the old boys did everything on the fly...great interview.
I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce Swidein, recording engineer for Thriller and other albums. He told me Jackson memorized all his lyrics (didn't read off a sheet, and, if I remember correctly, sang in the dark), as Jackson thought it sounded more authentic and sincere. He also stood on an elevated platform so he could tap and stomp his feet which would get picked up in the recording.
Undeniable champion of pop.
Reel to reel to reeling a chorus or using a downgrading it by outing it to a sampler is wild to me. I would never and I use samplers for tons of songs.
THE BIG 🐐 nothing else like him!
Rolling Stones only saying he's in the 80s in the 200 Greatest Singers pissed me off. I'd say he's at least Top 20. His vocals are like....unreal!
I have heard a lot of MJ’s studio vocals and some of them sound better than the ones that didn’t make the Final Cut. He was truly a God Gifted Vocalist indeed.
"Don't erase the breaths." Exactly.
While I'm not really a country music fan, this reminds me of the story of Willie Nelson recording "Red-headed stranger." After playing the first song, the producer went to stop the recording and Willie's manager told him to keep recording. He played all 13 songs straight through, packed up and left. Talent delivers.
Been look for something about MJ vocals for a min🔥🔥🔥
incredible
Thanks for sharing !!
Michael Jackson was a musical genius.
So there you have it! 2:33 Multi tracking vocals with a perfectionist, you don't stop til you got enough.