Bruce Swedien, the Genius behind the Sound of Michael Jackson.
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- Опубліковано 10 чер 2024
- Bruce Swedien is widely regarded as the godfather of modern recording and mixing. The methods and techniques he developed help to revolutionise the record industry culminating in the biggest selling album of all time, Thriller with Michael Jackson. Here is an overview of those techniques and how we can use them in our own productions.
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#bruceswedien #michaeljackson #recordingmichaeljackson #michaeljacksoninthestudio #recordingtips
Bruce Swedien always encouraged aspiring producers to, "keep the mix privative." Adding that, "at the end of the day you are trying to touch peoples souls, so try to write great songs that reach the heart." My favorite quote was when he told a group of students, "nobody ever walked out of a record store whistling the mixing desk."
I didn't know he passed away! For those who don't know, or never looked it up. Mr. Swedien engineered some of the greatest music of the 20th century from Leslie Gore to Frank Sinatra to The Brothers Johnson, to Missing Persons, and scores more..
Bruce’s recording method is severely under appreciated and often misunderstood. I’ve read all three of his books, and I think you’ve done an outstanding job with this video! Well done!
Thank you so much Matt, I really appreciate it 😃. I think ‘godfather of modern recording and mixing’ isn’t too grand a title for him, a true genius!
He has books about music production?
@@thebellbrothers3279 Many people have books on that subject matter.
The thing that differentiates much of Bruce’s work was how he used space in his mixes, capturing that space through his various mic techniques. It wasn’t just that he recorded in stereo, it was the complete sound he captured, and how that subsequently influenced how overdubs were recorded. The recording techniques pushed the sound in a certain direction early on in the recording process, and I think he had a clear vision of the sound he was going for for each track. I suspect that there was no “we’ll fix it in the mix” with Bruce.
@@tiltil9442 what are some of the best?
The greatest sound engineer ever arguably
Sonic Fantasy. That sound at 4years old listening to Thriller cassette was something special. Nothing held me in like that album at the time. The best way to describe his recording process and mixing is “Sonic fantasy”. Chasing the sounds. That’s what’s missing these days. And the harmonys with Michael’s flawless blending and Bruce’s technique was what set MJs sound apart. Was like ear candy. And back when prologic was introduced the harmonies would be in the back and I loved it. Bruce was something special and was let down at the lack of acknowledgement after he passed. I really hope the documentary Sonic Fantasy about Bruce will be available soon. It’s been at film fests so far and one the best award for documentary. I always thought the drums from Billie Jean were electric but nope. He made a special cover for front over kick drum that the mic would slip into. He was a beast. I wish I could’ve watched him work
I'd love to see that documentary!
One of the best sounding albums ever...Clean, punch, dynamic..Not over-modulated and muddy which is the standard today.
"Not over-modulated and muddy which is the standard today." what does this mean
@@xopurp look up loudness wars
and overcompressed
You are making a fantastic brilliant point. I had a useless garbage hi fi system called Amstrad. The album sounded brilliant. Billie Jean the thumping bass and high end tops, beat it the high end tops and guitar sounded out of this world on a useless hi fi system. When I finally bought a decent hi fi system, I was blown away by far the best audio album I have heard!
@@lionheartroar3104 modulation doesnt have to really do with the loudness wars tho also most mixes today are definitely not muddy infact id argue they're the opposite of muddy. most pop mixes are overly bright and compressed and limited. if you really wanna talk about whats causing the loudness wars it definitely is really good limiting plugins that allow to make a song louder while still sounding good along with streaming services normalizing tracks.
Bruce was my idol and hero as an aspiring sound engineer from the early days of his collab with Q. Like him, I always have believe that the best sound to get on tape is simply what you hear and maybe more importantly where you hear it. I have recorded drums live with just three mikes strategically placed and the recording is amazing. Capture what you hear and only fill in what you need with a more direct source. Also, always treat the room, not the recording, as much as possible to deliver the sound you want/need. Bruce was one of the all time absolute best and we lost a genius and a maestro when he passed.
I love Bruce's work. Clean punchy tecordings . All the early Van Halen albums have that same "cut through" quality about them
@@lionheartroar3104van halen wasn't bruce swedien it was don landee
Bruce was a musical genius. RIP Bruce and Michael !!! Thanks for putting this out.
Thiller is a musical and sonic masterpiece.
Thank you Bruce Swedien, we are forever in your debt.
The number of exceptionally talented individuals involved in the making of the Thriller album is just mind boggling.
They collectively set a standard that's unlikely to be reached again, at least in the foreseeable future.
RIP Bruce Swedien. Thanks for the mixes!
Long live Bruce 🙌 A pioneer in every sense of the word.
Great tribute to a true master of the craft.
Thank you!
We used to watch a VHS tape of Bruce walking through his techniques in the 90s.
and the way you record voice is top notch! Never heard a speech so clear here on UA-cam! Bravo!
Thank you!
Got to meet Bruce at AES in NYC. I read his books and he signed one of them. Still use his techniques.
Thriller still sounds better than anything today, meaning production wise.
REAL AUDIO ENGINEERS KNOWS THEMSELVES.
KUDOS TO BRUCE AND MJ.
BLESS
RIP Bruce. Thanks so much for this video.
Thank you for your kind comment 😀
This is amazing epic and legendary i will be putting this techniques to test one of this days also ❤
Thanks so much
This guy is a genius ❤ from Burundi 🇧🇮
Undeniably the GOAT and the standard for the future. RIP Bruce
From what I've heard, the Accusonic recording method was A) recording everything in stereo, even vocals, and B) syncing multitrack recorders together to enable high track counts.
Tom Scholz slaved 2x 24trk machines for the first album, which was recorded in the bsmt of a rental house - BY HAND because he heard flaws in the SMPT chase track. THAT is next level.
@@MoreMeRecordingI think that was Third Stage. My understanding of the first album was that Tom re-recorded the songs on the Mother's Milk/Boston demos out to a remote rig (truck?). Brad's vocals and 'Let Me Take You Home Tonight' were mostly done in LA.
And C) recording just the room by adding mics to strategic points in a room, and mixing it all in. That's why he slaved two multrack machines. And, when he recorded and mixed Michael Jackson's "Bad" album, he did it digitally, though he later stated that he didn't like the way digital made Michael's voice sound.
@@platterjockey Yeah, I remember when Bad came out, I felt it sounded a little cold compared to Thriller. This was early digital, so just 16 bit 44.1khz or something like that. There were no plugins back then, but no doubt they used plenty of outboard gear and big 'ol analog mixing desks, but yeah something is missing from the sound IMO.
@@Andronicus2007and then they kept pulling Bass frequencies out of mixes. No clue why but most mid to late 80s suffers from it. Yes the digital doesn't have that rounder bottom frequency like tape but it would've helped if all the mixes coming out at that time weren't devoid of Bass. Phil Collins stuff during that period was the same. My guess is the boom box craze made it less important for engineers to fill up their mix headroom with bottom end that wasn't going to be heard much anyway. It also allowed for hotter more compressed masters. Just my theory.
This channel is in another level about mixing and engineering... Keep going!
Thank you, with encouragement like this, I have to!
Bruce told me that he and Quincey liked making the competition believe that there was a piece of "mystery gear" making their records sound so good. Yes, "Acusonic" is now understood to be an overarching term for all of Bruce's amazing techniques, but at the time, it's my understanding that he just enjoyed messing with the industry.
I do remember thinking it was a piece of magic gear back in the 80's.
If they were from the 21st century, they would have ‘actually’ manufactured a device, build a brand and made billions out of this hype! 😅
What a Channel! It will grow massively with your talent Sir!
Thank you for your kind comment, its really appreciated :-)
The proof of the pudding... Thriller sounds amazing.
I had a similar experience hearing it and also hearing Welcome To The Pleasuredome.
Love these insights.
Absolutely! I loved the production on ‘welcome to the pleasuredome’ too, that was also groundbreaking!
@@mixingmasteringonline I'm no expert btw and I would have been around 8/9 years old hearing those LPs over my uncles (impressive to me) Hi-Fi.
My passion is hardcore and early jungle where the low rate digital production was a feature of the sound!
I sometimes find myself in a quandary about what a 'good' sound is lol.
Regardless, still I love learning about these pioneers who brought music to life (rather than the about face that some purely electronic music made).
Subbed.
@@mixingmasteringonline and while I'm rambling, Trevor Horn definitely worked plenty of other worldly sound into that LP which was part of the wow factor.
And not exactly absent from Thriller either! Ok I'm done haha
@@rleriche5044 Thank you! I'm with you on that , there's always room for 'Hi Fi' stuff and music with pure character and grit; I love both!
Bruce Swedien¡¡
We hear and learn about his name, He is such a genius!
Well put. Also by him using the particular 3M M79 24 track recorder did help pull out some of the transient and information on tape, due to the isoloop tape path that had less wow and flutter. Later on he used the Studer a800 after westlake ditch the 3ms like on George benson give me the night and so on, and of course he went digital with the Mitsubishi digital recorders and still kept the 1/2” ATR102 analog sound for mixdown, he did the alesis Adat recording thing for a short time like in Qs jook joint, and eventually he went back to analog 24 track (MCI/Sony) and the DA88s. He had quite of a media journey there
Great info there, thanks! I didn't know he went with Alesis ADAT for a bit, I suppose most tried it out when it was new though.
@@mixingmasteringonline yeah trying new things out but he eventually went to the Tascam DA-88 or 98 one of the 2
@@damesystemexec4161 I remember recording on those back in the 90's. Seemed great at the time, quite primitive looking back now though..
Nicely done. I inhale everything I can about Bruce
Thank you!
Bruce really made me understand stereo. I always thought a stereo mix was basically panning mono signals. Fuck no!!
Nice guitar playing BTW
Thank you! 🙂
I didn't know any of this despite Thriller being my first record at 3yo. Cheers, and thanks for the great video!
Thank you! What a great first record, definitely sets the bar pretty high!
This is amazing. Thanks!
Thank you!
wow an education ........I'm a crazy enthusiast of the recording process .
We both had similar reactions listening to "Thriller" for the first time. I'm not a musician, but to my young naive ears, it sounded like the tracks were recorded in the studio, live, one take, and then on to the next track. A few years later, when I was listening to Michael's "Bad" album, I assumed the same thing. But wait, Michael was singing main AND background vocals. So how were they able to achieve that "live in the studio" sound? I learned it was Bruce Swedien and his Acusonic recording process.
Huh? MJ always sang backup vocals on Thriller. How can you not notice that?
You joker. Lol.😂
@@strats991you missed the point
Great video 😊 very interesting and to the point
Have you seen the video where Bruce stated most/many of the techniques used with Michael Jackson were actually developed years earlier in Chicago while recording Eugene Record and the Chi-lites? "Have You Seen Her?" "Oh Girl". The Brunswick Studio 1449 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, Il had on the wall HOME OF THE AUCOUSONIC SOUND......
Thanks for putting things in their deserved place
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Fantastic educational video about somebody hardly mentioned. Thank you. 😎
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you sir I always wondered this also.
Mj king bruce grande😊
That was cool!!!
🌠
Knew this about bruce long ago.
I think Bruce's most important thing was harrison recording consoles.They add amazing colour and richness to the sound .
There is more to the story than just that, there were other people behind the scenes who helped Bruce and Quincy on getting the sound they wanted.
The Synth sounds for example. If we are going to talk about someone "behind the sound" , the first thing that comes to my mind is the person who create the Synth sounds and plays the synth lines.
Antonio Marinelli did exactly that. He combined several Synths for the big intro chords to thriller.
If there are anything that defines that album it is exactly that legendary intro!
He WAS the man behind the sound. Literally!
inovations, exploring, playing with sounds with buttons exactly what michael Cretu from Enigma did,Hans Zimmer as well and myself!
How is it possible to make a video about Bruce Swedien recording technics without mentioning his beloved Harrison Mixbus32C console? That console is a large part of the sound he created and a console he used for decades.😊
People are so obsessed with gear these days. I think it's nice that the focus was on the technique. Harrison do love to cling on to the fact that a couple of good albums were made on their console as were the 1000s made on a Neve, ssl etc.
Yes, a couple of albums from Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, ABBA, 10CC, Super Tramp, Janet Jackson, AC/DC, ELO, Genesis, Blondie, ......and by the way Harrison made the first inline console....
@@SteinarHauge all of which made great albums on other consoles?
Very interesting I was never a fan of compression either amazing how he was m’articulais about mic selection instead !!!
Cool doc - but you’ve shown the 24 track machine twice when talking about a 16 track. I’m sure you can find a pic of one somewhere. Would feel more accurate.
Compression is for kids. damn i felt that lol
I read that when Thriller was finished they all listened back and it sounded tinny and dull so they spent 8 full days re-mixing it.
They did have to edit the album after listening to the vinyl. It was too long for a good sounding record so they had to cut it down.
Yep!..and MJ was in tears 😢
Tinny AND dull at the same time? Man that takes me back to my early days of mixing!
@@RealHomeRecording 🤣🤣
I heard 👂 MJ broke dwn crying 😢..and Quincy said they went thru 900 plus songs to pick 8 for the album
Amazing video!
#SubscribingImmediately
Great, Thank you, :-)
🙌
Thanks man! This is very well put together!
Also what synth is that at 4:20? It sounds amazing!
Thank you, it was definitely a soft synth. I think it was the Arturia minimoog.
@@mixingmasteringonline Thanks!
He was the original DAW.
2:39 Which chord progression did you play right there? It sounds beautiful 🥺
Thank you, its the chords for a song I wrote many years ago, G---D/B--A7---C---G---D---G
What is the model of the microphone you used to record the guitar?
I used the Oktava MK-012 stereo set.
is this the guy that in smooth criminal live and in video says ''Okay i'd like everyone to clear the area right now'' before the lean
Yes, that's him!
OOOOOO THATS SICK
What mics are pictured through the video?
Its The Oktava mk012 stereo pair.
and now you can find these great albums "remastered" with the loudness punched up and no dynamic range. it's a shame.
I still try and find the original CD or Vinyl to get the best versions.
It's a shame they had to compress this album for future releases as much as they did. Barely impossible to get the original mix.
It is a shame, I have an original vinyl copy but its pretty well played by now...
@@mixingmasteringonline digitize it before it's too late!
I hope someone will get their hands on the OG tapes and release an untouched version of it one day...
👍🏻✅🤍🤍🙏🏻🕊
The stereo acoustic guitar is all over the place. Because right is on top of left, it's really difficult to listen to. Higher strings go to a different channel than lower strings. I'm not a fan of that example.
... Um, 'Mixing Mastering Online'- guy. Your own voiceover is distorted.
Im a musician i need to learn that in a easy way i got a 24 track digital multitrack machines but i need a monitors
I wonder how much of is genius was cut out of the "remastered" MJ albums. Looking at them in a sound editor the new ones are clearly compressed to the max. Completely flat with no transients.
ua-cam.com/video/NMfppnJs3vM/v-deo.html
I remember seeing this video about Michael Fremer serving as an expert witness when Quincy Jones sued the Estate of Michael Jackson in 2017.
Fremer used a high-end stereo to demonstrate to jurors how poorly the 30th anniversary remaster of _Bad_ compared with the 1987 CD mix (which he told the jurors would reproduce each instrument in three dimensions). He was so convincing that the estate lawyers got his testimony suppressed.
After 2002, Sony somehow got away with releasing several subpar mixes with Michael Jackson listed as "executive producer." I'm glad to hear of Quincy Jones not allowing the same butchery to happen in _his_ name (and Bruce's).
Yeah stereo sounds much better on my samsung galaxy with one buzzer.
There are no "stereo" 8 track recorders in the studio.
16/2 = 8. Stereo takes up 2 tracks.
He was being droll ... but that is in fact how he used a 16 track machine
The inflationairy use of the word Genius..is not Genius. Bruce Sweden is one of the best Audioengineers ever. But he just knew his craft and had 60 Years professional Worklife in Stock. But its not documented that he has an IQ over 140. The real meaning of being a genius. just saying. But, hey, what do I know. I live in a country with an schoolsystem that actually teaches writing and reading and math.
Wow, anal _and_ condescending? 🎁
Most interesting! ❤
Thank you!
So, it was a white guy after all. Black & white are Beautifull.
Yes, and the key songwriter on many of those hits was a white guy from England, who used to be in Heatwave. 🎶