PURELY DICTA CURRENT AFFAIRS Swedien is due to release a book titled In The Studio With Michael Jackson in the near future. In it he elucidates how Jackson recorded in complete darkness, always dancing as he sang and then moving away from the microphone, only to return at the precise moment to utter the next note. In their time together, Swedien recalls that Jackson never once sang with sheets — the lyrics were committed to memory and he had an uncanny ability of nailing vocals in one-take. The pair trusted in one another’s natural ability. So in the studio when Jackson asked for more bottom and kick to help make his track stick, Swedien went to work to give Michael exactly what he wanted. He devised a special zippered enclosure to house the microphone connected to the bass drum. To make that distinctive throbbing all the more recognisable, Swedien elevated the drum kit from the floor. Precisely eight inches. A homemade plywood deck, sans varnish not because there wasn’t some lying around, but because Michael and Swedien realised that without any extra coating on the timber, the drum was dampened just the right amount. They added the bass guitar — that bass line — and what started as layers of percussion and melodies in Jackson’s head became the track that changed the course of music history. “Billie Jean” paved the way for black artists on MTV and Michael Jackson the artist had finally emerged. Stating the numbers here is not my purpose — the unparalleled album sales that followed, the amount of television airtime, sold-out concerts, awards won and records bro
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ken — as much as these facts matter Michael’s genuine feats came from a more pristine temperament. In an unguarded interview he gave to Jet in the 1990s, Michael told then editor Robert E. Johnson: “Deep inside I feel that this world we live in is really a big, huge, monumental symphonic orchestra. I believe that in its primordial form all of creation is sound and that it’s not just random sound, that it’s music.” At his most comfortable when pushing the boundaries of creativity with his mind alive and spirits high, Michael Jackson found a way to make music feel like magic.
Purely Dicta Ed. 2 2009