Michael Jackson SMOOTH CRIMINAL Original Studio Multitracks (Listening Session & Analysis)

oh my Chris Liepe here Michael Jackson Smooth  Criminal original studio multi-tracks all 50-something tracks this isn't stems this is  like every little thing I mean look at all these we've got lots and lots of wonderful flavors  and textures to go over here I'm so excited of all the Michael Jackson stuff I've done on the  channel so far I have not gotten anything this in depth with everything broken out like this  so I'm going to spend a little bit more time on this one I'm warning you this is

going to be a  longer video longer Michael Jackson video than some of the other ones I'm going to spend time  initially on some of the instrumentation and then after we've gotten a chance to really get that in  our systems I will spend more time on the vocals I did not realize well I did realize that Michael  Jackson was extra percussiony with his voice on this song but I did not realize the the complexity  of it or the Nuance of it until I got a chance to hear things soloed out so I'm really ex

cited to  get into this stuff with you for those of you just joining me this is an education Channel I teach  people how to sing I've got a free voice course that you should definitely sign up for if you  have any interest at all in improving your singing what that means is that I get to do things like  this under fair use Michael Jackson's copyright owners let me use these tracks to show you how  you can do different things with your voice there are some stipulations though I have to  start and

stop I can't just let things play for long increments I can't play the whole mix I have  to play parts of the mix there has to be a fair amount of time between playbacks and I can't play  things for too long either it might be good for you to give the album version a full uninterrupted  listen and then you can enjoy what I'm doing maybe a little bit more having a song Fresh in your  mind also I was given these tracks by a close friend who's well connected in the music industry  I'm not able to

make them available these aren't mine to give away but enjoy what we're doing  here enjoy what Michael and his amazing team of musicians and and producer was able to bring  about this is so special here we go when I got these tracks nothing was labeled nothing was  organized nothing was mixed so I've done a vocals up mix that you can you know pick out the  nuances of the vocals a little bit more but we're really going to be isolating things anyway so  it doesn't matter I've also grouped differen

t things down here so we can listen to the the  groups of different instruments or we can really hone in on just one thing I did want to start  out and just listen to some of the percussion all these little details in  here we've got acoustic drums scent snares interesting Toms that you can  hear you know sent Toms that you can hear that kind of thing really really neat  what I noticed is if we if we go here I mean that's good old acoustic stuff but I don't really hear that much on the on the  m

ixed version you have all this other acoustic snaps right and then these sticks like every other time so cool but it sounds far more acoustic when  you solo things out I love these sounds uh-huh and then right here these trashy sounds what you hear more on the album is this kind  of thing that scent Hat's pretty prominent it's also interesting how  constant everything is in this in this recording now let's go and let's  listen to some of the some of the bases there's lots of layers I had no idea

there  was so much going on with the with the bass check it out we've got like the synth bass sound  and this sort of like pseudo piano synth and then the more acoustic bass we'll start with the  acoustic bass which is what I hear the least of a little bit of drive on there then you add this stuff in I mean that sounds more  familiar right but what I really didn't realize is listen to this I didn't realize it these  sounds there's not much low in there foreign and the subtle differences in perf

ormances  and you know how everything's oh it's it's just incredible how how these blend  together and make the sound and I've got a little bit different balance even on  my you know horrible mix then then uh than they did in the original but I didn't  realize that all these parts were there foreign together so much Nuance so much Nuance the other one that  was really interesting for me to hear you know you hear the guitar in the in the mix but you  don't hear it in a way that that stands out mu

ch it's a very percussive thing and it  Blends in with the rest of the percussion it's so much more percussion than it is Melody or guitar or anything I mean there's a  little bit of Melody there but wow like when you listen to that  in the in the whole context you more just kind of feel  it than than anything else foreign it's interesting to look at these tracks  too because I don't know you know where they came from uh you know how much they've been modified  since they were recorded in the or

iginal tapes but look at the the difference in volume but you  can definitely hear more gain here listen to this versus this foreign it's performed a little bit different  he's digging in more here but you can tell that they they Juiced it they put a you know  clean boost in front of the amp or something I love hearing the squeaks and in  that that percussive pick attack there's nothing more difficult than grooving on  a consistent funky percussive sound and having to be really accurate and this

was recorded before  they were really able to do quantizing and stuff so being able well you could quantize midi all  you want but quantizing a guitar performance I mean that is some serious serious chops right  there another one of the things that's just so special is this string section and this is  another I'm really thankful to have access to these because I can listen to the the low  string Arrangement the cellos and bases and stuff and then and then the high strings let's  listen to the t

he high stuff first foreign foreign magical you can hear all the you  know tuning nuances and stuff like that and and uh the headphone bleed a little bit now let's listen to that same passage with  just the low string so I'll put them together I love string Arrangements I'm hearing  the real real thing no synth here there might be some synth in there in that one yeah I think there is definitely synth there's some real stuff in  there too but listen to the now you put them together though and  th

e realness of these high strings incredible I don't know I go back and forth on whether  those are Cynthia or not they fooled me with the full mix for sure this section here yes that's this part right here if  we if we get rid of everything here stopping but you get to hear it like this oh man foreign the other thing I think is so cool is during the finale that sounds like keyboard to me they did a such a great job of blending the the approach between the the real strings  and the scent strings

wow and then finally before we get to really diving into the vocals  check out some of these amazing synth layers the way they're arranged you know that there's  a call and answer happening right here right between that sort of radio  Sound got the roads coming in those robot Sounds here that's what I notice about these wonderful  arrangements and particularly this one you've got so much going on there's so many parts but there's  all these little conversations going on between all these all the

se different sounds  you've got the robot sounds you got the synth horns you've got the little Plucky sound you got the radio something all of them  are like hey over here oh yeah I hear you Infinity going on and it's it's so fun to  listen to I hope you're listening in headphones really like that road sound here this section is awfully special  too right here except horns everybody now oh and then you know these these  fresh sounds this kind of I called him two cents wow so yeah keep in mind th

is call and answer  thing works great with vocals too but as you're arranging your own music okay let's  now get in to listening to these isolated studio quality I mean there's no compression going  on in terms of you know data compression anyway with these vocals you can see here I've got I've  got four tracks and we've got two lead vocals and the waveforms look different to me I don't think  it's a left right like I've seen from the other sections it might be that he's singing into two  differ

ent mics and and for the original um now for the eventual recording the mix they ended up  using a little bit of both so I'm gonna and they don't conflict there's no phasing issues you know  when we when we solo out these these vocals here and I'll play more in a minute but you don't  hear like oh that they didn't use both of those mics or whatever so I'm not sure what that's  about if anybody knows please let me know um and then we've got these which  is a it's a background vocal sum okay so wi

th that in mind let's  do some listening here from the beginning again there's so much  wonderful percussion that happens that's covered up uh by the little cynthy stuff  at the beginning it's cool to hear that by itself into his body he's a walking percussionist as he's odd  as I came into the window was the sound of a crescendo he can make the whole  apartment he let the blood stains on the carpet the shipping underneath the  table he could see she was a neighbor notice how ever he is spitting

the words out and  he's so intense but he's not tense you can tell in his from what we hear of his body language when  you see him dance this is intensity as its best this is not tension we need to as singers get  this separated you can't be intense and engaged if you are tense I talk a lot about that in other  videos but when you hear him just really going at it and being really rhythmic I realize I'm being  kind of a cartoon here as I'm doing a horrible imitation of what he's doing but this i

s the kind  of Freedom that we need to have if we want to have the passion that Michael displays we're not going  to be able to sing like him or do what he does but taking a little bit of his mindset and attitude is  going to go a long way so she ran into the bedroom she was stuck down it was okay are you okay Annie  Annie are you okay so Anna you do okay are you okay so anyway are you okay Danny and you do okay  are you walking Annie ah so I love that you can hear the proximity effect of him mo

ving around and  sometimes he sounds like he's off the mic a little bit more sometimes he's he's in it a bit more I  like that you can hear that you can't hear that anywhere else when you've got all the compressors  and Plug-In or well compressors and other Hardware going on but you can hear him moving around even  in the midst of the mic and I I soloed out the uh there's the lead vocals there let's  let's listen just the background vocals are you okay and you're walking are you okay any and  it

gets closer to the mic are you okay are you okay that's how he gets more raspy  oh it's it's really interesting how he he can be calm calmer and more full voice and  then raspier take cues it doesn't matter if you can't sing as well as him put these  things in your own voice and see what happens to this stage whisper are you are  you hearing me I think you are but he's every bit as loud as though he's  full voice yes background vocals that love those signature Michael Jackson wonderful  percuss

ion but you ain't heard nothing yet let's listen to the the leads there over that section  again I have to stop at regular increments in order for this video to even be up so just  uh thank you for patience and understanding apartment that the blast is on the carpet  and then you ran into the little punch there on the Goblin and then they ran into the  bedroom probably not a punch probably a comp uh because he's he's so in the moment that  would be really hard to punch there but you can hear may

be go in between different takes wow  what's kind of fun is to hear him singing up there okay the design of the wonderful Soulful  grit right and then you hear these clean even yeah he's singing up there in his  in his head voice and he and he's singing as high in his chest voice here with the  grit and the blend is just impeccable notice how the the Tom those like sent Toms come in on the on his percussion with he  does with his might with his mouth brilliant brilliant arranging you've been hit

by you've been  hit by a smooth criminal oh that I knew it was there I'd heard it sort  of but to hear it like this listen again I wasn't sure what was you know other synths  and other percussive things because if you listen with the full mix right to this part I  could barely talk sorry listen to the full mix the other things going on that you  you don't really give it credit for the fact that this is all his voice  just perfectly in time and groovy so the camera outweigh it was Sunday what a

black  such genius percussion and you know there's a lot of people who who do good beatboxing and do  stuff like this that's you know just out of this world I think what impresses me so much  about Michael in in particular is that he just he can do anything with his voice I mean he's  got the high cleans he's got the high gritty soulful gospel sound he's got the the percussive  dance I mean it's just such a wonderful hybrid of things that really nobody's ever been able  to do I gotta listen to t

hat one more time yes it was Sunday what a black day matter  resuscitation and what's interesting too is how he's able to transition into more Melody  oriented things again he's doing this all this is one take right here uh this isn't layers  he's doing so many different things with his voice the percussion the melody the rasp the  the words I mean all these things in one voice it sounds like it should be  layers but it's not missions just love those those uh  calling answers right there ah now

this is another thing I never  really noticed I thought maybe I you know added Reverb or whatever but listen to his  proximity on his mic he's like he turns away so he leans back into the mic here but it's  like he he turned around almost right you know and then he he gets back into it that's how  much he was he was into the performance where he's just kind of I can just see him and you you  know I've seen him footage of him uh recording he is so so lost in the art  of what he's doing anything s

ounds like he's practically  across the room are you walking any Dallas days on the carpet ah listen to this this  proximity I love hearing stuff like this ready the blood stains right here that close to the mic you've  got some of that going on in in this recording and of course they just  kind of left it where that capsule is being popped just a little bit big deal I  think you've been into the bathroom you've been hit by you've been struck  by a smooth criminal oh foreign the the Precision he

's dancing with his voice and you know what makes this you know when I  record stuff and I know a lot of people these days when they record there's this sense that  you're you're sort of piecing your stuff together but we know that for the most part he was very  he was a very linear recording artist in other words he start from the beginning and he'd  record to the end and they might do multiple takes and comp things together but he was about  being in the performance as a whole as opposed to wh

at more of us do today it was like oh it'd  be cool to like dub this in or put this in or let's punch this these three words or or this  look oh they put a little percussion you know beatboxing thing right here because you didn't  do it when you were singing earlier no this is his inspiration and it's happening linearly which  makes it even more inspired and fun to realize wow the intensity of those Stomps ha all the claps and stuff even the breaths you don't ever hear right listen  to how even

this section if I bring this up check this out you would never  hear this in on the album those little those little inhales and  exhales those they're not something you hear but they're something that you sense  within the performance even though they they get totally buried by the rest of  the arrangement even with them up listen you don't hear them but you do feel them uh and all the different Yelps are so different  it's not like he's just got one flavor of of Yelp I mean listen to this one v

ersus  this one and this one that was similar but that more you know forward sound and then  that's more of a sigh right and then he's got the gritty you know sort of fry  based thing up so many fun textures longer this part is I don't know notice the side at  the very beginning of each one and you got those little inhales at the beginning you can tell it's an inhale because listen right here this thing he's inhaling exhaling inhaling Isn't  that cool listening in context again and then perfectl

y hitting that pitch up there and then switches characters switches voices in a  way that you don't hear him do it this blatantly in a lot of in a lot of the recordings listen  here he's this desperate High Angelic sound and then right into it that garment baby that that gritty Soulful gospel sound man now listen to these this is incredible here you can tell that that's like some sort of  rehearsed thing because he's done it it's not the same every time I mean you  can even see here I mean it's

it's a different performance of course but he  he's got that rhythmic thing between the what he's doing with his tongue and his  breath and I mean it's it's incredible ah you know what I think of sort of here this sort  of scatty thing is I I think of Jonathan Davis uh on uh with Freak on a Leash it's that same  sort of thing where you've got this command over your inhales and your exhales and your your mouth  percussion and and how it ties into your singing and other phonation it's really reall

y special  and very difficult to do check out my video on Freak on a Leash where I really break down how  he does that kind of stuff it's pretty neat also love it you can tell he's a he's a true  bodily instrument here because listen how how um constant his foot tapping is on a pot he did stop stomping there but  he would got right back into it foreign I love it bigger Stomps wow thank you so much for joining me for Smooth  Criminal isolated multi-track breakdown Galore I have so much fun this m

ight be the most fun I've  had doing MJ's stuff uh so far hopefully more will be coming thank you for your interaction and  all your comments on these again if you have any interest in singing click that link below and join  my free voice course I'll help you discover what your voice can really do in light of some of the  Inspirations you hear on guys like Michael Jackson Chris Cornell Lane Staley Freddie Mercury some  of my favorite vocalists we'll see you for more