What type of synths were used on MJ's Thriller Album? thanks

[ROYAL]

Happy Holidays to everybody!!!

I don't know if this is the right place for my question but i love synths and old music (late 70s to 84). I'm curious in knowing what synths some of my favorite musicians used on certain albums.

like anybody know what synths were used on Michael Jackson's Thriller Album? in particular the beg. of "baby be mine", "human nature", and the end part of "pyt". or songs like new edition's "mr telephone man" and 1 more snoop dogg's "Ain't no fun (if the homiez can't have none)"---anybody know what synth or particular sound that main synth is? thanks very much. Or if you don't want to post it here or maybe it's not allowed can you pm if there is any site/forum where i might could ask these questions, maybe like an oldschool synth site or something or maybe some of you professionals could help me. thanks and have a great holidays!!!

 

[NIC DIAMONDS]

That's not a bad question I wondered what old Q was using too there are some great sounds on that album.

 

[dansgold]

Uhhh, they used a lot of real string instruments played by actual musicians, in addition to a healthy dose of keyboards and synths added by a number of top-notch session players. The mixture of the two produces a "hyper real" sound that is difficult or impossible to reproduce on mere synths alone.

Quincy Jones was very tight with the guys in Toto at that time, and I can definately hear the "fingerprints" of synth god Steve Porcaro on several Thriller tracks ... Human Nature being a prime example. steve was big on the Yamaha CS80 at the time, so you can bet that's in there somewhere.

You can check out another example of this production style on Barbra Streisand's "Broadway Album", on the song "Somewhere".

 

[ROYAL]

thanks for all the replies

Uhhh, they used a lot of real string instruments played by actual musicians, in addition to a healthy dose of keyboards and synths added by a number of top-notch session players. The mixture of the two produces a "hyper real" sound that is difficult or impossible to reproduce on mere synths alone.

Quincy Jones was very tight with the guys in Toto at that time, and I can definately hear the "fingerprints" of synth god Steve Porcaro on several Thriller tracks ... Human Nature being a prime example. steve was big on the Yamaha CS80 at the time, so you can bet that's in there somewhere.

You can check out another example of this production style on Barbra Streisand's "Broadway Album", on the song "Somewhere".

thanks Dan, i know rod temperton did alot of work on Thriller also. I didn't know about Steve Porcaro was involved, didn't know Q was rolling with the Toto guys either. I'm going to check out the Barbra Streisand song, thanks. Yeah that Thriller album is incredible, i loved how they mixed all those sounds together, also great song writing.

 

[dansgold]

UPDATE: I made a couple of calls ... Steve Porcaro was actually all over Human Nature, and he wrote the sonng in the first place!

 

[Relevent Muzik]

Prolly some Moog's Voyager and something vintage like that... Arp

 

[mpctutor]

Moog Minimoog

 

[TWJMusic]

wow.

UPDATE: I made a couple of calls ... Steve Porcaro was actually all over Human Nature, and he wrote the sonng in the first place!

Wow...Speaking of Steve Porcaro, R.I.P. to his brother, Jeff.

 

[ROYAL]

thanks again for all the responses


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(album)
"
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"

* Written and composed by Michael Jackson
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Co-produced by Michael Jackson
* Rhodes and synthesizer: Greg Phillinganes
* Synthesizer: Michael Boddicker and Bill Wolfer
* Guitar: David Williams
* Bass: Louis Johnson
* Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa
* Trumpet and flügelhorn: Jerry Huey
* Trumpet and flügelhorn: Gary Grant
* Saxophone and flute: Larry Williams
* Trombone: Bill Reichenbach
* Bathroom stomp board: Steven Ray
* Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson
* Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones
* Horn arragement by Jerry Huey and Michael Jackson
* Background vocals: Julia Waters, Maxine Waters, Oren Waters, James Ingram, Michael Jackson, Bunny Hull and Becky Lopez

[edit] "Baby Be Mine"

* Written and composed by Rod Temperton
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Keyboards and synthesizer: Greg Phillinganes
* Synthesizer: Michael Boddicker and David Paich
* Synthesizer programming: Steve Porcaro, Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli
* Guitar: David Williams
* Drums: N'dugu Chancler
* Trumpet and flügelhorn: Jerry Huey
* Trumpet and flügelhorn: Gary Grant
* Saxophone and flute: Larry Williams
* Trombone: Bill Reichenbach
* Vocal, rhythm and synthesizer arrangement by Rod Temperton
* Horn arragement by Jerry Huey

[edit] "The Girl Is Mine"

* Written and composed by Michael Jackson
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Rhodes: Greg Phillinganes
* Piano: David Paich
* Synthesizer: David Foster
* Synthesizer programming: Steve Porcaro
* Guitar: David Parks and Steve Lukather
* Bass: Louis Johnson
* Drums: Jeff Porcaro
* Vocal: Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
* Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones
* Rhythm arrangement by Quincy Jones and David Paich
* Synthesizer arrangement by David Foster
* Strings arranged and conducted by Jerry Huey
* Concertmaster: Jerry Vinci

[edit] "Thriller"

* Written and composed by Rod Temperton and Michael Jackson
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Featuring: Rap by Vincent Price
* Synthesizers: Greg Philinganes, Rod Temperton and Brian Banks
* Synthesizer programming: Anthony Marinelli
* Guitar: David Williams
* Trumpet and flügelhorn: Jerry Huey
* Trumpet and flügelhorn: Gary Grant
* Saxophone and flute: Larry Williams
* Trombone: Bill Reichenbach
* Vocal, rhythm and synthesizer arrangement by Rod Temperton
* Horn arragement by Jerry Huey
* Effects by Bruce Cannon and Bruce Swedien

[edit] "Beat It"

* Written and composed by Michael Jackson
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Co-produced by Michael Jackson
* Featuring: Guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen
* Rhodes and synthesizer: Greg Phillinganes
* Keyboards: Bill Wolfer
* Synclavier: Tom Bahler
* Synthesizer and synthesizer programming: Steve Porcaro
* Synergy: Greg Smith
* Guitars, electric Bass: Steve Lukather
* Guitar: Paul Jackson
* Drums: Jeff Porcaro
* Drum case beater: Michael Jackson
* Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson
* Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones

[edit] "Billie Jean"

* Written and composed by Michael Jackson
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Co-produced by Michael Jackson
* Rhodes and synthesizer: Greg Phillinganes
* Synthesizer: Greg Smith
* Synthesizer and synthesizer programming: Bill Wolfer
* Guitar: David Williams
* Bass: Louis Johnson
* Drums: N'dugu Chancler
* Emulator: Michael Boddicker
* Vocal, rhythm and synthesizer arrangement by Michael Jackson
* Strings arranged by Jerry Huey
* Strings conducted by Jeremy Lubbock

[edit] "Human Nature"

* Written and composed by Steve Porcaro and John Bettis
* Synthesizer and synthesizer programming: David Paich
* Guitar: Steve Lukather
* Drums: Jeff Porcaro
* Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa
* Emulator: Michael Boddicker
* Arrangement by David Paich, Steve Porcaro and Steve Lukather

[edit] "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"

* Written and composed by James Ingram and Quincy Jones
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Synthesizer and synthesizer programming: Greg Phillinganes
* Vocoder and emulator: Michael Boddicker
* Portasound keyboard: James Ingram
* Guitars: Paul Jackson
* Electric bass: Louis Johnson
* Drums: N'dugu Chancler
* Handclaps: Michael Jackson, Louis Johnson, Greg Phillinganes, James Ingram and Steve Ray
* Arrangement by James Ingram and Quincy Jones
* P.Y.T.'s
o Janet Jackson
o LaToya Jackson
o Becky Lopez
o Bunny Hull
* Additional background vocals
o James Ingram
o Howard Hewitt

[edit] "The Lady In My Life"

* Written and composed by Rod Temperton
* Produced by Quincy Jones
* Rhodes: Greg Phillinganes
* Synthesizer: David Paich and Steve Porcaro
* Guitar: Paul Jackson
* Bass: Louis Johnson
* Drums: Jeff Porcaro
* Emulator: Michael Boddicker
* Arrangement by Rod Temperton

[edit] Technical credits

* Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien
* Technical engineer: Matt Forger
* Assistant engineer: Steve Bates and Mark Ettel
* Additional sound sources recorded by Humberto Gatica and Matt Forger
* Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo on "Beat It" recorded by Donn Landee

"



What's a synthesizer programmer?

 

[Relevent Muzik]

the person thats does the presets and programs it for the person that is playing it...

if there not the same person...

 

[mano 1]

Prolly some Moog's Voyager and something vintage like that... Arp

Moog Voyager is a 3 year old model


I like Dan's post! Dansgold Power in the house!v

 

[THM]

The most used synth on several tracks was the Roland Jupiter-8. Of course there were used more synths than that one alone, but the Jupiter-8 was the red thread.

 

[THM]

Old post - but I don't know if this was mentioned yet: the strings of e.g. "Billie Jean" are 4 layers of a Yamaha CS-80 string sound.

 

[blaknif]

The Dude's name is Jerry Hey not Jerry Huey. He is a very popular Horn arranger.

 

[beaglin]

Toto was a beast..one of my fav groups..the porcaro bros were dope and this dude named david paich...and steve lukather

 

[BillJV]

The Yamaha CS80 was a precursor to the DX series - and it was used on this record heavily. The trusty Fender Rhodes (not an imitation!) was used as well extensively.