MJ’s “Beat It” Intro - Real Sound & Story
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- Опубліковано 20 лип 2023
- 🚨 UPDATE: Check out the update on the "Beat It" Intro story (and more) in Anthony's interview of Quincy Jones arranger Tom Bähler here • MJ's "Beat It" - The U...
In this video Kevin Maloney demonstrates how the intro sound on “Beat It” from Michael Jackson’s Thriller album was inspired by the blue vinyl LP titled The Incredible Sounds of Synclavier II. Kevin and Anthony Marinelli show you how the sound was programmed and performed in the studio for Michael to use on “Beat It”. This video also contains the story behind the sound and highlights how far Michael would go to satisfy his appetite for unusual sounds.
In this series Anthony breaks down some of the most icons synthesizer patches that he programmed for Michael Jackson’s Thriller
Anthony's musical touch as both composer and performer is connected with some of the most influential creative minds over the last 40 years. He’s composed and conducted original orchestral scores for over 80 feature films including Young Guns, Internal Affairs, The Man From Elysian Fields, 15 Minutes and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for his symphonic work "In the Family Way", written over one thousand TV commercials in a myriad of musical styles, co-founded Levels Audio Post (LA's premiere post production facility) and performed and arranged on big-box-office films and influential hit records such as Michael Jackson's Thriller.
His extensive work as a young arranger, orchestrator and performer for Quincy Jones, Jack Nitzsche, Lamont Dozier, Arthur Rubenstein and Giorgio Moroder was vital in launching his own career. His early years pioneering modular analog synthesizers along with his wide-ranging music scholarship positioned Anthony at the center of the music technology revolution. He attended the University of Southern California School of Music as a piano and composition major.
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🚨 *UPDATE:* Check out the update on the "Beat It" Intro story (and more) in Anthony's interview of Quincy Jones arranger Tom Bähler here ua-cam.com/video/LYEn8MdNrFc/v-deo.html
Imagine if MJ had liked the marimba more 😆
LMFAO 🤣🤣🤣
Thriller may have sounded like Nokia ringtones😂
😆😆😆👑
then we'd have Liberian Girl ;p
😂😂😂😂
Idc how old you are what culture you come from or what planet you're on. That's one of THE greatest sounds ever made.
I keep hearing the drumbeat in my head. One of the greatest songs ever
Boom kick boom Kah boom kick...boomkah.
Jeff Porcaro was an absolute legend
Which is very similar to the let it whip intro by dazz band.
Anthony immediately got the key to the sound... its changes drastically on how you press the key - no sustain, just a fast hit and that sound is there!.. thats FM!
I loved that idea behind the Synclavier. 2 operators but you could stack as many as you liked
I got that Synclavier II demo record in 1980, and used to listen to it fairly often. The first time I heard "Beat It" a few years later, my ears immediately perked up, recognizing it from the demo record.
Your remembering this 43 years later is quite astonishing. I don't even recall what music I listened to 10 years ago.
Lol yeah right lol
In case you didn't get the memo, I've gone public....I was the composer for Michael Jackson and wrote a few songs for Jackson 5, long ago.
I wrote my music, over 99 songs, back in 1969 and 1970. I worked with many, many bands, some took 10 years or more to put my music out there. Surprise!!!!
@@DebbieTomkoSUNSHINEabsolutely bizarre comment....
I’ll say it again these videos are absolute gold.
No kidding! I'm 45 and have waited a lifetime for these!!!
@@alexkx8599Same. Can you imagine if we had these resources when we were getting started in music? Becoming a self-taught guitar player was quite a struggle in the early 90s.
Michael: that goes hard! I want that sound from the demo disc!
*Beat It starts with playful marimba*
Incredible. Probably the biggest song from the 80s from the biggest selling album of all time, and the opening notes were taken from a sampler LP for the synclavier
At the time, that was SOOO radical compared to what most synths could do. Still sounds incredible. Keep up the synclav love!
It's a bit the same story as the Fairlight. They were such incredible astounding machines back then and today people that dont know the history will just be like "seriously .. my phone sound sounds better than that.." What I find amazing about FM synth's is that it kinda is the father or basics of virtual modelling. Add an advanced computer program to analyze an instrument sound and you can come up with an algorithm of operator's to recreate it
It's crazy how they redid the sound because they didn't want to use the pre-recording. When todays producers would have just sampled the record and threw some effects on it and called it a day.
I wonder how many Synclavier patches are involved! I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of stacked sounds on the bass of Billy Jean!
Me too - It would be very interesting to know how those were mixed later on. Those mixes were really great!
Absolute fun to watch as a Michael Jackson fan and producer. I remember during the early youtube days, I tried to find how they put songs together in studios back in the days and couldn't find anything. This just fuels up my hobby!
Absolutely Crazy that he didnt get any writing credits or royalties. This intro really made the song. 😶🌫️
The whole tune made the intro mate.
Yikes…
They may not given credit because it is a part of Synclavier's factory preset. But... Quincy Jones and team licensed the sound after it is used on "Beat It", so no other artists or records can use that sound since then.
The sound may be a factory preset but the seven note composition was not
bingo... how did that not infringe@@subg8858
Beat It is my favorite song of all time so thank you with all of my heart for the backstory of my all time favorite 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
You're welcome, now Beat It
Also my all time favorite!
I think so. Years ago I saw someone making a pretty good argument that it was a sample off the Synclavier demo record. But then again, there were actual Synclaviers being used on the Thriller session, with access to all the Synclav presets.
When I heard the Synclavier demo record, I did wonder...
With how clean the sound is on the Thriller recording, I figured they didn't just sample the vinyl demo record, as it would not likely have sounded that clean, so I always figured they just replayed it on the Synclavier they had in the studio.
@@MacXpert74 Yeah it looks like that's what they did, an early example of sample recreation.
MJ Was A Genius💯
Plagiarism isn’t generally a hallmark of genius, but ok
Thank you for these wonderful, in-depth videos, Anthony! It's so cool that someone who's worked with some amazing artists (let alone the King of Pop) is so willing to share their experiences and knowledge.
So happy to be seeing this. It's such a great window into the history of production.
The video is barely started and I've already clicked Like because it's nice to see a record not being pinched between thumb and fingers 👍
Pure class!! Wonderful insight !! Thanks ❤
I LOVE these videos. Huge MJ fan and majorly into synths and music production, so this channel is perfect. Thank you Anthony Marinelli for all the insight.
this is priceless content. absolute music legends
Watching you guys talk about this stuff is pure musician nerdom gold and I find it so fascinating! I can't wait to watch your other videos on this stuff!! Thank you for sharing this 😊
I am on a marathon of this channel and i am loving it.
This is gold, I never knew. Thank you!
This was so much fun to watch. Great ear for Michael to have caught that and brought it into the Beat It process!
Now, that's an interesting story. The sound is still amazing 40 years later and it's my favourite patch from Thriller.
Well, that and, "Human Nature". 😁
Easily one of the best up and coming UA-cam music related channels. I feel like I’m watching early days Rick beato and Justin Hawkins which is to say we are lucky to have you and appreciate you Anthony!
And I want to say I was here before you became Uber massive!
Anthony, I’ve been a fan of yours since seeing an interview of Brian and you by David Hartman once upon a time. Thanks for keeping alive these memories of a ‘thrilling’ time in culture!
Keep those videos coming! I have finally found something worth watching on UA-cam!
Once again, my mind is blown! So many layers to the making of Thriller, and even more layers to come I’m sure.
Cant wait !!
Amazing story. Thanks for sharing
Loving those insights on production!
A fascinating video!
Thanks for bringing such great content. ❤ from Burundi 🇧🇮
Excellent (one more time) to hear the real sound from the machine itself. You cannot imagine (well, sure you can) how vaulable these videos are for synthesist/keyboard players / public in general. Thanks!
Super, I tried it with my Volca FM +compressor+plate hall (effect pedals) and it goes exactly in that "FM" direction, good inspiration, thanks Anthony and Kevin !
All this is priceless. Pure history.
One of the greatest hits was a copy from a demo disc!
Wow, love this thanks guys for the chat about it and the keyboard demo, brilliant, who would have thought it!
yeah this is awesome. To hear the background about how something was made but then name drop the guys who are responsible for even the preset..whew love it
I knew the story already, but it's really cool to hear it from that 1$ lp. Great video as always.
I’m really happy you had Kevin on here
Amazing 🎉
Amazing insight straight from the source!
i love that! thanks!
Fantastic, thanks guys. So fun
Thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Great to see stuff like this.
Bro that's intro is the exact beat it intro. No doubt about it
Fascinating video Anthony. That sound is immediately recognizable. Those 7 notes are music to my ears. The Synclavier, along with the Fairlight were instruments that we could only dream about. The huge price tag meant that only superstars could afford them. Great channel from someone who knows what they are talking about. Subscribed.
And Benny Andersson bought two, one for the studio and one to have at home.
Wow! The Synclavier II! The Rolls Royce of synthesizers! I heard MJ had one in his home studio. Love this video Anthony! Keep ‘em coming!😌🎶🎹❤️👍🏾
Rolls
@@sl3102He/she probably confused it with the band lol.
@@sl3102 Thanks! Rolls. I was thinking of the ‘band’ Rose Royce.🤣🎶👍🏾
Awesome!!
This always makes me think of the 1990 TMNT movie because it reminds me of the "The Shredder's Suite" by John Du Prez, and also just conjures up nightly images of wet streets with fog and steam.
Dude when Anthony just intuitively knows you need to hold the note longer @ 3:10 without even touching the keyboard. That is some F**ked up level skills man. The man knows exactly how to make the sound sound like the record before he even touched the keys. 🙀
These old men telling you the facts.
I love that!
'
legend
The way one can flip the sides of a vinyl ,just by using palms , barely moving them…. Only the chosen ones (elders) can achieve that . Peace guys !
Back then even kids could do that... the analog generation 😄
@@jimbotron70 I m an Elder one , now its time for Kids (2) Return 🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️🤸🏼♀️
lol. it's just natural when you grew up with them. but nowadays they are probably expensive af, so you never get the "training" cause you are always too afraid to damage them
For those who own records, it's natural. You don't want to leave oil and grime on the precious groove.
That is the proper way to hold a record.
DOPE!!! It's Music Trivia Night tonight!
That's great !
Michael found the best use anybody could do of this preset and of those 7 notes. Bravo !
MJ also "borrowed" the bass line from Hall &Oates. He met them years after the fact and apologized to them but they were cool with him using their bass line in this song. No writing credits either.
I don't think abusing little boys was the "best use" for his wealth and fame
Very cool!!!
Like a child, I started jumping around because this guy has the same turntable I have in my living room 🤣
Ahhh love ❤
Beat it is one song I recognize from the first chord ❤
I own a Yamaha MODX7 which has that patch called "Beaten Gong". Think about it, "Beaten", "Beat It". Coincidence. It's amazing to find how that patch became the intro of one of his greatest songs ever.
thanks for the synclivier ..education
I absolutely love hearing about the Synclavier history! I like to refer to it as a musical mainframe computer since it combined so many features into the refrigerator sized units! Thank you for producing these Anthony!!!
Happy new year dear Anthony 🍾🎈🎉👍👍👍
Great history lesson
That Beat It-intro most likely will always be my fave synclavier tone. That sound is incomparably aesthetic but still some kind of brutal. Unimaginable that it's basically a mix of 4 relatively simple 2OP-FM tones thickened by Unison. Fortunately synclavier 1 & 2 demo records are fully audible on yt.
It sounds like a cross between a tone you'd hear in an old school kung fu movie, and a church clock tower. It's probably just me projecting onto the song, but I always thought it had a similar vibe to if you ever heard the church bell ringing the hour in the middle of the night, but then some shit goes down.
Fun fact: that same preset is used for the intro to (at least) two other songs from the same era: Depeche Mode’s Love in itself and Tangerine Dream’s Kiew mission.
Very interesting
cool history on the Beat It intro
I had a nice chat and demo with/from Kevin Maloney at the Synclavier Regen launch at SynthPlex 2022 (Burbank) 🙂
I have that rare blue vinyl of the Synclavier II sounds as well - my only clean samples of one until the many recent VSTs came out including UVI's The Beast.
Love the Synclavier line...
So cool video thanks 👍👍👍
I noticed, I'm doing something right :) around 3:22 Anthony hits the keys and instantly raises his arm, as if it bounced off the keys. That's the way I play synth parts with extremely short notes.
Anyway, this youtube channel is pure gold. It's actual music production history.
Wow! All these years of being a Michael Jackson fan, and I never knew the "Beat It" intro was a sample from another album. Albeit, a replayed sample. I wonder how Denny Jaeger felt about his composition being used in "Beat It." He must not have cared, since he never filed suit.
It’s not a sample. They recreated the exact same sound
@@dilloinitaliano Hence why I said "replayed."
Regardless of replaying the sound, the melody was jacked
Cool.
This is now my favourite channel par none!
Thank you for being you!
Those who sampled a Casio synth bank in the Eighties either in a Department Store or that a relative gifted them know exactly the memories this brings back... 🤘😂❤️
I had taken a course from Jon Appleton that used the Synclavier the year before Beat It came out. I laughed out loud realizing it was bank 1, patch 2 (iirc). I was like, couldn't you have tried more patches than the second?!
well that's pretty cool
very interesting!
makes sense!
The Marimba sound sounds like a cellphone ringtone 😂BTW, the Beat It intro would be a nice short message ringtone.
The additive FM engine on this keyboard is trully a beast, i love what Arturia made with the rebuild version software emulation , the original creator was involved , synclavier was trully a beast , Sting made amazing song with that .
you tend to think when you hear a new record that it was an original idea,but in fact most come from another era,tweaked and shaped on more modern instruments of the day.
I remember seeing the video and hearing this sound for the first time. It was on the program called CountDown, in the Netherlands. Nothing was the same after that.
Like the callout to Don Dorsey, famous for his work on the "Main Street Electrical Parade." There's a video about the MSEP from the 80's showing Don editing the music for part of the parade using a Synclavier II.
I have to double check to be 100%, but I'm 90% sure that patch is on the Arturia CMI soft for some reason. Weird that it came from the synclavier, which is also in the v collection, but it ended up on the CMI. Sounds a little different on the synclavier, the analog has way more high fuzz.
It is. But I keep losing / forgetting where it is 😂😂
The synclavier V also has the sound, it is a bit thinner than the one on the demo record. I forgot the name though.
I got this sound on the Korg opsix by literally reading the numbers from the Synclavier Go app and entering them as is. I couldn’t copy the 4th Partial, though, since the opsix has only 6 operators and it would take 8 (4 carrier/modulator pairs).
You could tell Michael Jackson liked the album. He seems to have a great time in the music videos. Not to mention Thriller
yeah i watched it again :D
Kinda off topic, but I noticed that your brief bio in the video description mentions you worked with Giorgio Moroder. As a Moroder fan, I look forward to seeing/hearing those stories on this channel!
I shaped the different "phased gong"(?) notes (with Arturia Synclavier V Demo(?)) for the more authentic/organic Beat It intro by using those very short notes in certain different lengths (and probably added some lower frequencies in another way too... I don't remember now without checking) and turned it into the Westminster chimes melody with d'n'b beat and what not (happy rich church organ sequence as well). (Just playing around)
Synclavier V/PK PSMT! Great keyboard. The preset was called "Phased Gong" I think.
I had no idea what they were talking about until I found it in print: The 'Synclavier', which I have heard of. I had always pronounced 'clavier' /claw-vee-ay/.
Technics SL-1900 Turntable Through a Marantz and some Vandersteens? What a cool walking around stereo
As soon as i heard that Beat It intro from the blue record i began beat boxing the rest of the song🙃
If you made a video specifically about combining different types of synthesis and live instruments, that would be interesting. And anything more about restrictions that help productions. Thanks.
Wow, my whole childhood was built from this album.