Michael Jackson BILLIE JEAN Original Studio Multitracks & RARE Home Demo! (Listening & Analysis)
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- Опубликовано: 17 июл 2023
- The layers and nuances that MJ and Qunicy Jones worked so hard on have never been heard in such detail!
Free Voice Lessons: chrisliepe.com/free-your-voice/
Listen along with me to the full studio multitracks as well as rare home demo recording with scratch vocals! Hearing how this song evolved and became whole is quite the treat!
My Website: chrisliepe.com
#singer #michaeljackson #vocalcoach #reaction #analysis #billiejean #thriller 
Видеоклипы
MJ's copyright owners will allow this video to remain on youtube but there must be consistent use of frequent stops. No one part of the song in part or in whole can be played without frequent interruptions. This is partially why I stop and comment and sing during and after key sections that I play. If I just play the files, the video will be taken down. Presenting the files in this format with this kind of flow cements the FAIR USE intent which is why it can remain up on RUclips. Along these lines, I can not reveal where or link to the source files or I'll get a takedown notice as well. Giving away content that is not mine to give also falls outside of FAIR USE intent. Thanks for understanding and for enjoying the video! I'm excited for you to hear all the wonderful nuances! Btw... Here is THE guy who did the bass for Billie Jean showing how he did it. GREAT channel too. Show him some love! ruclips.net/video/zKzcR0sUvV0/видео.html
Lol laws are crazy. Frequent stops aren’t changing nothing 🤣🤣 thankful u got to use and share this magic with us fr 🙏🏾🔥
I just tried putting up a reaction video to a live MJ video and they flat out blocked it. Such a bummer but I guess I should try with frequent stops and see what happens.
:'(
Sounds fair enough! Thanks for this :) Just out of curiosity - I've heard that music (also audio files?) after 50 years of age is to enter public domain.. or how would it work with this song?
For Billie Jean, Bruce made a type of fabric sleeve that fit over the front of the kick drum with a small slit in the middle for the microphone to be inserted, thus we get a nice clean thump. I always thought as a kid that it was electric drum machine but no, just Bruce Swediens brilliant mic placement, layering, and mixingHe also uses ribbon mikes for metal sounds, jars clanking, trumpet solos, as it gives you a natural sound without the high clipping, thus when you master it it doesn’t sound loud and horrible.
Automatic like when I see a video about Michael Jackson. Legend.
I fully agree with this concept 😎
The story behind this song is insane. Apparently when Michael was planning this song in his head, he was so lost in thought that he didn't realise his car was on fire until someone passing by on a motorbike told him. When it came to record the final studio version of this, Michael nailed it on the first try in on recording, and Bruce Sweden mixed this song 94 different times. I think the second or 4th mix ended up being the final one that we know and love.
I was just thinking about this story days ago
2nd mix.
chills. this plus the meaning behind the song. unbelievable.
second
So it was fire from beginning to end.
I can imagine MJ creating every sound, every instrument, making the beatbox... bass, guitars, violins... a genius! And he hadn’t even turned 25 when he wrote that song!❤
He was not alone though
Wrote and produced the track … ofcourse he wasn’t alone but he created the song anything done afterwards was post production
@MrEOM41 i see you rock with medium man
Except, he did not do all that... it is only you imagining him of doing it.
Michael's voice is such an addictive drug. There are many reasons why his voice can hold a listeners' attention for so long, but the interesting discovery for me is that the magic is found beyond the voice itself. He was essentially an organic instrument. A very complex and layered instrument, and the reason he was able to beatbox entire compositions into a tape recorder. Not many singers use the full repertoire of the sounds their voice can actually make, but Michael does it so naturally.
I first noticed that percussive and breathing he used on OFF THE WALL the single. I k ow he stole it from other r&b artists but he perfected it on OFF THE WALL. He overdid it at the same time placed them well. I immediately tried sing it myself and you got to have those little sounds he proceeds with. I'll give him full credit on that one.
The way he can go from baritone, soprano, to falsetto and tenor throughout "Billie Jean" is amazing
I do not know if you already know this story, but I think it's a fun one: In his book "moonwalk", Michael tells that he was so focused on the song, that one time, while driving on the freeway with Nelson Hayes, a kid on a motorcycle had to tell them the car was on fire. And even when they were getting help and finding an alternate way to where they were going, he was still composing and adding things to the song. That is how involved he was with the song.
Michaels voice was so soft and powerful at the same time
No auto-tune necessary for the gloved one!💪🏻🎵
Billie Jean without the other instruments, is basically a movie score...
the symphony of the orchestra is just beautiful it almost fits for a training montage for Rocky or a dance movie or something
It's about 33% too much. Pop songs don't need quite that many instruments. It bothered me at the time. I am so sick of this overproduced song. Now ROCK WITH YOU is busy but satisfying
@@markr.devereux3385 I would disagree... I actually find "Billie Jean" to be one of MJ's most simple songs - sonically. The production is heavy and very layered; but even if you listen to it very carefully, you won't pick up or isolate all it's nuances because of how well it was arranged.
I guess... we can agree to disagree.
@omgnetwork5231 quincy Jones thought it didn't belong and he's usually right.
@@markr.devereux3385Not that time..greatest pop song ever recorded!
@sandrasanders706 no a tough choice but BEACHBOYS GOOD VIBRATIONS just leaves me overwhelmed. Billie Jean just super tired of it.WANNA BE STARTIN SOMETHING or PYT? HE could have used the new coreigraphy on several others. The only thing that grabs me is the great intro when the bass comes in and the chord progression.
Michael Jackson showcased his greatness as a all around artist on this classic. Vocals, background and the story telling. Incredible 40 plus years later. Respect
Lots of dx7 Sounds in there😀
@@johnupdate
No DX7 this was recorded a year before the DX7 came out. Its all live instruments. CS80 and Emulator for the synth parts.
The violins absolutely elevate the song in the second bridge. They take this song from immaculate to made by the gods. Same with Human Nature when the horns come in at the second bridge to add more depth. Absolutely magnificent
Yeah those synths and the chorus guitar shimmering throughout. I always wait for PYT
We live in a crazy time where we can listen to Billie Jean Stems... Nuts. Thank you.
🤪
This always sounds like a song he truly enjoyed writing and singing. U can just feel it
It's incredible that people that know what they want to the detail of having so many layered vocal tracks. He was a true musical genius
Some of his perfectionist traits take a lot of tinkering. The guy had been in studios since the jackson 5 days. I would hope he could knock out 3 part harmonies with no trouble. You can't underestimate the contributions of QUINCY ROD TEMPERTON and now I see James Ingram was there and the talented musicians who played there parts. This stuff takes musical notation good board engineers and hard work. It's amazing there was so much good top notch material. It's historical maybe never to be seen again.
17:36 I love those "Hoah" sound he makes. Every time the chorus is coming up on that part it hypes me up. He knows how to make adlibs build things up so well. Like listen to the song normally and when you hear the "hoah" sounds faintly in the background, it’s just signature Michael and makes everything sound better. The song wouldn’t be the same without that extra seasoning
Every instrumental sound… every single moment of every melody… is fuckin' signature. It belongs solely in this song: the sonic world of Billie Jean.
When I first heard this song in 1983. I had a JVC boom box in my bedroom. I wore out the cassette playing this song over and over. I could t get over how unique and amazing it was. And downright FUNKY.
i have never heard Billie jean more beautifully anywhere except here. flawless. Michael would would always remain the king of music. i stuck around til the end of the video. one of my favorite songs...
MJ home demos are EVERYTHING ❤
Incredible
@@zuzanazuscinova5209 ❤️
Here is THE guy who did the bass for Billie Jean showing how he did it. GREAT channel too. Show him some love! ruclips.net/video/zKzcR0sUvV0/видео.html
And here is Anthony Marinelli‘s and Steven Ray’s second channel with live recreations played by Greg Phillinganes and more interesting interviews of everyone involved in Thriller: m.ruclips.net/video/ljGYJZkagkE/видео.html
I was about to post it too, then I saw your comment.
I was gonna comment/say this! haha Anthony Marinelli!!
One part of Michael's musical genius derives from James Brown's all rhythmical composition which means that MJ composed his songs based on the beat and/or the baseline. Everything he composed, he built on top of those components. So that is why you hear guitars playing some sort of drumlines, or even trumpets getting in the groove, but each and every element has a part, a role of it's own. They don't sound the same, obviosly, they play their own part, which is amazing.
Btw, Billie Jean's a story, not only a song, you have to understand it this way. Billie Jean was a groupie involved in a relationship with, let's say, Michael, who pretended to have a child with him, and the melody, the guitarline is exactly the crying part, saying something like „I won't do it again!!”, over and over, „she says HE is the one, but the kid is not my son!”, so on and so forth. So, you have to analyze it in terms of the story. Michael was a storyteller through his music. You won't understand him otherwise.
Talented beyond what we already know about this man!
He was a total genius!
He lived and expressed his instinctive vibe for his own song creations. It must have been magnificent to be taken seriously by Quincy Jones and allowed to completely express his artistic idea's about pop music.
This was fascinating from beginning to end.
Thanks so much for this. I'm a dedicated new subscriber!
I will stand by this statement when I say…Billie Jean Is Thee Most Perfectly Constructed Record/Song To Ever Be Composed! Long alive The King Of Music Michael Joseph Jackson!✍🏽👑💖🌟💯
Better than GOOD VIBRATIONS which I have never tired of in 50 years. Billie Jean I tired of very quickly.
Michael is one of my musical heroes. I love the way you broke this down. It's such a treat getting to hear the many layers of this song from the vocals to the instruments.
that's why mj was and still is the greatest of all times ... he wrote, composed, came up with the dance and choreograph all by himsel. many people claim "mj isnt a real musician because he couldnt play instruments" which isnt true. first of, he could play instruments. he is credited in many of his songs playin instruments. but the thing is, he didnt need to .. he WAS an instrument ... most of his songs he beatboxed ....
Also he was a great pianist
He wasn’t credited as playing and instruments. He was credited as a writer and composer. His instrument was his voice. If I am wrong please provide a link showing he was credited as an instrumentalist.
@@chazbayley there are many songs. Fot example Morphine
@@xabun I would like to see evidence of this listed in his album sleeve but I don’t have it to hand
MJ is Incredible
Keep The Faith pleaaaaase, with this final ❤
Let's push this comment on top guys
Up up
Let's goooo
I don't have Keep The Faith files yet, but I'm looking :) !
Oh yeah! That would be so cool!
Oh my god!!! It is finally here.. been waiting for Billie Jean. Can you please do Dangerous, Stranger in Moscow and In the Closet?
I have files for all of those except Dangerous... but the other two are coming!
@@chrisliepe Thank you so much!!
@@chrisliepe do you have Tabloid Junkie?? That one has so much beatboxing, I feel like it would be similar to 2Bad, what a beast!
@@alannakennedy5779 Unfortunately, the multi tracks haven't leaked for that song yet.
@@alannakennedy5779 I love his vocals on Tabloid Junkie. 'You're a parasite in black and white' is probably my favourite line, and perfectly describes every newspaper 'journalist' lol
I think, everyone who is 25+ is able to recognise this song from the first drum note. In 80-s it was very good, some tragic minor tones we can find in "Joy", "Modern Talking", "Arabesque". Its a little sad, that disco music disappeared or changed standards, but this simple and smooth melody is looks like a time machine. Later Michael will try to do the continuous song "Who Is it?", but BJ will stay the most popular song from MJ. Twice his prophecy worked (I can die in my dream in "Love You Again"). Unreal but true. This is a long video, but I was watching with no problems. This is so interesting!!!❤
Its so fun, what is the computer writes doing the vocals:
Billy genius
Billy's jeans
Billy Chinese
😮😅😅
I don't know exactly if you meant the same but since I discovered the early stuff of Modern Talking I recognized how I love all the different instruments and layers it has. You have a choir, classical instruments, church bells or something like that. Which I couldn't find in any other music. Today's music has mostly only one beat that always sounds the same. That is so sad. Something like it is shown here in the video makes a song so much more fun and interesting and you can listen to it again and again.
Michael's sad prophecy I also recognized a few days ago :(
"Bruce" is Bruce Swedien, Michael's sound engineer, who recorded all of his albums, from Off The Wall to Invincible. Regarding the home demo, there are not any info, other than, it is a 1981 home demo of Billie Jean. He recorded that with Bruce Swedien as well, which the "Bruce" at the end of the recording indicates it.
His Bad demo he says "Break it down Bruce" referring to Bruce Sweden
Rip to both of them
its actually crazy how close the home demo was compared to the final album version if you look it up its on youtube. the composition is basically the same except its missing some additional intruments like the strings.
absolutely.
also says a lot about how little quincy jones added to this song, production wise. this should really be labeled "produced by mchael jackson". especially when you consider that jones didnt even like the song, tried to have it not on the album, and when jackson insisted, famously tried to convince him to "at least cut the boring intro".
lots of respect for jones' work on many other projects, but as far as this goes, the story that jackson even had to fight for a coproducer credit (when really jones should be thankful to receive a coproducer credit for the little he contributed) isnt a good look to say the least.
this song has been so imbedded into my brain that even when you don't play some of the instruments in some parts, I still hear them haha
Layering is the key to music magic. Bruce Swedien Quincy Jones And Michael Jackson is the brains behind this Masterpiece.
MJ wrote, composed & performed the song, Bruce captured the magic magnificently, Quincy picked the mix# that got officially released (though initially it’s said Q didn’t even like the song)
Oh Chris, what a treat! Thank you💞 How do you even comment on this masterpiece, the layers are just amazing. Love the strings and his vocals. Love Billie Jean. Love Michael 👑🎶
Just Incredible what MJ was able to do in the studio what a legend to ever touch the mic ❤️❤️💎💎😌😌🎚️🎚️😎😎
I don't know what to enjoy more? MJ's performance, or Chris' kid-on-Christmas-happy-face? 😀
🇩🇿 I love it. Sounds like classical music.
I like the way you dissect MJ’s song
Thank you
Thank you so much Chris for sharing another MJ song, it is highly appreciated. Amazing to hear all these tracks of Billie Jean. The huge amount of work MJ put into his music, all these details are incredible.
MJ wrote music for the ages. It never gets old. The "Billie Jean" character ("She" was a bad mamajama) is also mentioned in "Wanna Be Starting Something. Billie Jean was the ultimate stalker🤣🤣🤣🤣😈💯
Mike’s vocals were typically recorded on an SM7! Thank you for breaking these down!
I remember hearing Billie Jean for the first time at a very young age.. It was the first time I became aware of music, and it was then that my dream of becoming a musician got conceived.. I'm very pleased to have come across this video..
This is so crazy!!! I literally tried looking for your Billie Jean analysis this morning, got back from gym & you posted it😂🔥🔥🔥🤞
haha... NICE! :)
16:40 😂😂😂😂 you were feeling it lol you stunned yourself for a second 😂
Nice! There is a very recent interview of Steve Lukather, who recorded the guitars, by Rick Beato. Steve says that Michael composed almost all the parts, including the guitars, with his voice. Therefore almost all the ideas where there. Quincy Jones recorded the studio version keeping a lot of the demo, building new tracks around the demo 😉
Luke didn’t play on Billie Jean.
That’s David Williams on Billie Jean.
This is incredible! Absolutely love it. The strings are stunning and hearing Michael's voice isolated wow. I remember YE used the strings for his remix of of Billie Jean from thriller 25
You have all my appreciation for what you are doing with the Michael Jackson videos! Keep it like this! I wish you could make videos of his unreleased tracks as well because his way of creating music is magical and amazing!❤
Chris, Thank you SO MUCH for your work. I have no idea how you came to Michael's multitracks but this is the best possible way to understand the craft of an hit song. I love watching and hearing those multitracks along with understanding the process and beauty of layering instruments, dynamics in mixdown and so... Big up 🤙👌👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Your MJ breakdowns are awesome man , you really get into the fine details and show us what makes it so special.
He was a darn musical GENIUS!!!!!!
I'm gonna save this video for later so I can give it my full attention. Thank You.
Love everything you said with the exception of there being imperfections…… There are none in this song it’s 100 percent perfect in every way possible. There wasn’t a lot of technical things going on into a hit like this it’s all soul and amazing musical energy.
This is basically how I behaved when I first encountered the multitracks, as Billie Jean is my ALL-TIME favorite song!
After YEARS of enjoying a demo here, studio acapella there, finally, the whole package is out there and videos like this exist. :D
thank You for doing this For Michael, this is the Michael the world needs to know always.
In my opinion these little abrupt stops in his breathing are not only for beat and groove purposes but also a kind of a method that he developed to help him breath.
Musician will be here for ever
Chris This Seems Like The First Time I Can Actually Hear Michael Sing "The KID is Not My Son" as To Sounding Like "But Chad is Not My Son" lol Just Saying.. Thanks Again For A Great Upload!! Always a Pleasure To Watch and Get Inspired at The Same Time :)
I always thought it was Jack is not my son 😂
The child is not my son.
@@plan4lifeThis is always what I thought it was for ages . Like a Mandela effect for me when I found out it was “kid”.
The most famous basses in the world, we all know...(Yep, Marinelli is truly sensational).
And the strings... Oh my God! Could have been a wonderful soundtrack for a criminal story.
And MJ's "hidden" vocals, those hoo-hoos...
He really puts some of his best, most complex work into this. Every second is genius, every second is a treasure! So visual all the way through... So much POSSIBILITY in this song... Not easy to see it all through. This is what is out of this world and makes MJ who he is! It's really something from Above, a charisma he has received from God.
The vocals have amazing layers too, but we've already gotten used to that from him. MJ's vulnerability in this + all her songs is one of his greatest strengths...
Thanks again, Chris!
Marinelli's channel is awesome
youtube.com/@anthonymarinellimusic
41:12 I’m glad you brought that up with the vocal shift between “she’s just a girl” and “claims that-”. It’s a vocal shift that is so minuscule that it often gets overlooked but it’s such a good part of the vocal composition transitioning from the build-up to the soft head voice. I wish it was as noticeable in the final studio version but still fun to listen to in the demos nonetheless!
Michael's voice control was so crazy 🤯
Amazing! All the fantastic attention to detail in Michael Jackson's vocals that are unique to Michael msking his signature sound! One of the things I totally love and appreciate about Michael's music. I've been a fan since kindergarten when Thriller was first released! "The making of Triller" sealed the deal for me at 6 years of age. I was hooked on Michael Jackson's song, dance, creative genius, and the superstardom that made him Amazing!!
every time I watch these videos I have a deeper appreciation for the song and the effort Michael and his team put in to the songs. you dont just hear music or sounds you hear magic.
I never thought making music is this hard, you have to understand and love the passion you had to make the instruments and other things I don't even know😭 Michael was soooo PERFECT with his musics, he wanted it all SPECIAL, MAGNIFICENT, and AMAZING. I'm shocked how details it is even though I play his songs everyday. Thank youuu, Chris for this session🤍🤍
I was lucky enough to watch his entire career, from a child prodigy in the Jackson 5 to the end of his legendary career. RIP Michael, we miss you.
Michael was such a genius! You can enjoy his songs by just listening to every little chorus, whisper, beatbox, sound....any part. Incredible. Incomparable. Unreachable.❤
For the "kid" part... Back when I heard this song for the first time, I was just started to learn English (at school I became a pro in English because of MJ, btw...later I became a translator too 😌), and I always thought he was singing "chair", but that didn't make any sense to me. 🤔😅 Obviously we didn't have internet back then, so I was sitting as close to the cassette player as I possibly could, and tried to figure out the lyrics (with a dictionary in my hands) 😂 It was fun.
Chris man just blessing up with content thank you
You need to do 'Invincible '. There's a lot of gems on there. Being that was his last studio album, he put a lot in that album. Which that album should have been a major hit had Sony promoted it fully.
I need 2000 Watts that song is so abnormal for Michael I need to hear his isolated vocals
He was also able to keep most of the songs on that track as long as he wanted, minimizing the need to edit them shorter to fit them on the cd as the size capability had increased over time.
Although I agree with you that there is a lot of gems on that album, he literally said himself that he owed Sony a last album. And it was essentially just his throw aways that made the album invincible.
Please spare us.. although some of the stuff on BAD needs a deep dive. Billie Jean bass line is legendary.
@@tyroneevelyn yeah you can tell. Doesn't ring my bell.
King of Music
you know through your vocal analysis of MJs vocals and other artists ive noticed in the past few months that ive been paying a lot more attention to how artists sing and pronounce words and the rythms and all the little details you point out in your videos. especially with MJs songs, i notice a lot more details and style choices and have become more aware of my own voice that way, your videos have helped me a ton over the years, so thank you for that.
Yeah that is a thing
I'm here cause I love Jackson's music creation. But also to see Chris hot arms😮
Thank you so much! That's really interesting for me! It answers a lot of questions about that particular production that I have always asked myself. At the same time, I find it encouraging and inspiring to think even less in the context of my own productions in favor of spontaneous ideas and inspiration.
Chris, this is an amazing video. Dude, thank you so much!!! It is unreal that we can dive into these tracks like this now.
Imagine if those voice to MIDI systems existed back in Michael's heyday, the stuff he would have come up with would be mind-blowing.
next please the song heartbreaker, invincible or 2000 watts that would be 🅒🅞🅞🅛 because those are exciting beats
Powerful stuff and great analysis. Every aspiring recording artist, producer and arranger should study this. Just amazing how all these musical decisions come together to give you the magic that is Billie Jean- timeless!
If you could get hold of any Earth, Wind and Fire tracks, that would be awesome!!
51 minutes?!? Oh yeah! Getting some popcorn for this one! Thanks so much again! These are just fantastic to behold!
Wonderful
The iconic song of all time.
Chris, each and every one of your MJ videos is just a pure pleasure to watch and listen. Your work of showing the most interesting parts and learning from your knowledge, together with his music, is just the perfect combination to make a great video to learn from. A 50 min long video is a dream😂 Thank you so much for what you do!!!!
Agreed!
The genius of Michael Jackson. Great video!
I'm dogshit, but I appreciate this video. It may look long but it's the right thing to do. You're a cool person for putting this out and not being scared to go in depth and give it your best.
I really respect this, and your work.
Thanks.
I hope that one day Multitracks will be released just as much as the songs themselves do. I learn so much from other artists' multitracks, and also I love mixing it how I want it to sound.
did you know there are 6 home demos for Billie Jean. each one different than the other. ad libs are amazing on all of em too
And to think that he was only 23 at the time he recorded this!! Such a baby yet so incredibly intelligent and philosophical. Such an amazing artist who was swallowed up by a disgustingly savage world. We are SO lucky to experience this and be able to connect with (and understand) his talent better. Thank you! 🙏
I can remember listening to this song on the radio in our old work van. I'd put my ear next to the speaker so i could hear all the the things he was doing with his voice! ❤
He was so genius musically and gifted one. All those sound heard in his head.
As a songwriter who loves MJ, I love the excitement that you have for discovering these extra sounds that you never heard before and I'm enjoying this the same! And damn, I love the string arrangement!
Greg Phillinganes recently showed us how they played this song as well as thriller
Honour, treasure the magic forever presence. God bless Michael.
I absolutely love how his doing these deep and aggressive breathing while he’s singing. You can tell he was so into it
Great explanation on vocal width on the chorus! 36:55 That's top notch breakdown man. I feel like I'm becoming a better listener because of your videos. Thank you!
This was awesome. I really enjoyed it and seeing all the amazing nuances in this song. It has actually inspired me to create multiple vocal recordings to build out the variance and fullness of a song I'm working on. I really appreciate you sharing this.
Worth the wait 😇 another mj 🐐🐐🐐
ill never forget installing a 3K stereo system in my car and the first song I played was "Billie Jean". I had NEVER heard that distorted note on that bass note before and flipped out thinking I blew the cones on the speakers. Fun fact. The song demo for "Thriller"was originally called "starlight". go look it up on RUclips, the whole song is there and its crazy. Pretty much same music but COMPLETELY different vocals. "We need some starlight, starlight sun" ha ha..
I just listen to your voice while studying or cleaning my house after long shift. I listen to all of your (MJ only) vids. Thank you and i hope you keep on going!
It really sounds like he’s dancing while singing, even in studio. He was so cool! Loved him!
I admit when it comes to this song I know it better through the dancing than singing but these tracks are some of MJ's cleanest and smoothest no pun intended that he did in my opinion.
Thank you so much for this video, I never heard those different tones in this song, one of my favourite and I have listened this song thousand times. Good job. Michael is Amazing, Speechless.
Didn't expected that u would do the breakdown of billie jean😊😊, thanks for that
Dude that guitarist on this track is sick... It make the whole song. Also, I noticed there is a TON of compression on Michaels voice.
Fantastic, Chris. Thank you. I’d love you to get hold of the ‘Keep The Faith’ stems! ❤
And here comes the kings magnum opus!