THE EVENT HORIZON – “SYNCLAVIER, MUSIC AND MICHAEL JACKSON” by Christopher Currell

Many people are interested in my work with Michael Jackson and have requested that I share some of my experiences. I thought about this and decided to talk a bit about my music interaction with Michael Jackson. We will return to “Out of Your Head” in two months.

Throughout the 70’s, I had been playing in various bands and doing recording sessions playing guitar. I had always been trying to alter or extend the sounds of my electric guitar. I found that, for me, the sound of guitar was limited compared to the sounds I heard in my head. I was always looking for some way to get some kind of abstract sound out of my guitar. I was already very familiar with the Moog synthesizer. But since it was attached to a keyboard and I was a guitar player, my access to new sounds was limited. There were no reliable guitar controllers for synthesizers at that time (circa 1970).

A big shift in my music career began when I was first introduced to the Synclavier II at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention in May 1980. The Synclavier was originally developed as the “Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer” by Dartmouth College Professor Jon Appleton, in association with New England Digital Corp. (NED) co-founders Cameron W. Jones and Sydney A. Alonso. The Synclavier would become the pioneering prototype hardware and software system for all digital non-linear synthesis, polyphonic sampling, magnetic (hard-disk) recording and sequencing systems technology that is commonplace in all music and sound effects/design today.

When I heard the Synclavier II at AES, I was completely mesmerized by its sound quality. It had 32 voices. It also had what was called a digital memory recorder, essentially a built in 16 track, 15,000 note digital sequencer. The musician could control the parameters via the front panel or through a computer terminal. I could type notes and events into the Synclavier to create my compositions. It was not as easy as playing my guitar but I could interact with this system in a musical way.

I thought that if I had the Synclavier, I could play all my music myself without other musicians. Around this time period, I had become frustrated with the band concept because musicians were unreliable. I would put in lots of hours in rehearsal time and promotion just to have a band member quit because he needed to get a day job or he was not spending enough time with the wife, etc. The idea that I could compose all my music and perform it myself on the Synclavier was very appealing.

The Synclavier seemed like an answer to my musical dreams! I wanted one right away! That’s when I had an extreme reality check…this system was $40,000.00! I could barely afford my $500.00 month rent! It seemed I would have to make some real money to afford the Synclavier! My current lifestyle would need to be seriously upgraded to make a Synclavier purchase a reality.

I started calling many people who had a Synclavier or had access to one and tried to learn as much as I could about the machine. I probably was quite annoying since I was always asking questions but I was always treated courteously. These people were very generous with their time and I was given much help and information. One of these people was the west coast NED distributer, Denny Yeager.

I first tried to get a business loan. I went to many banks. I learned a lot about banking doing this. Every time I applied for a loan, I had to ask Denny to send the cost estimates. This began to be a routine. After being turned down by ALL the banks, I changed my strategy and tried to find a sponsor or investor. Again I had to ask Denny for the breakdowns for each time I did a business plan and submitted it to a potential investor. Meanwhile, I spent my last $80.00 on the Synclavier manual, which was the size of an LA phone book!

After two years of unsuccessfully trying to acquire the funds to buy a Synclavier and my last hope for an investor went south, Denny commented, “You really want a Synclavier don’t you?” I said “Of course!” Then he told me he had one sitting in his closet and that he would sell it to me on time as a personal loan. I was thrilled to say the least! He sent it back to NED to make sure everything was working properly and up to date. It arrived at my house in the summer of 1982!

I started using the Synclavier for music productions. I was then asked to talk to UCLA students about digital synthesis and I used the Synclavier as a teaching tool. I was also asked to do a local cable talk show about innovation and creativity. It was while I was doing this show that a representative of Warner Bros Records happened to tune in. He was impressed so he called me up and invited me over to Warner Bros for a meeting. At this meeting, he gave me an artist to produce. He also recommended an engineer, Paul Brown. Paul is now the number one producer for Smooth Jazz. We hit it off well and started a production company and began producing artists. The Synclavier was our main production tool. We had a sound that other producers and artists could not reproduce. The Synclavier was a good marketing tool! I was able to pay off the original loan to Denny with no problems and I started upgrading my Synclavier.

In 1983, sampling and a new keyboard were added to my system. For the next two years, I was doing various sessions with the Synclavier. I had branched off on my own as a producer and Synclavier programmer. It was in the summer of 1985 that I got a call from Michael Jackson. He had heard about me from the New England Digital company. Michael had a huge Synclavier system and he asked me if I would teach him how to use it. Apparently he had had many programmers operating his Synclavier but not being musicians, Michael couldn’t relate to them so he decided to learn it himself. I put together a nice learning program and schedule for Michael to learn the Synclavier. We finally scheduled a time where we could meet and begin my teaching. I went to his personal studio at his house on a Sunday morning. He introduced himself and was very hospitable and polite. I liked him right away. We sat down in front of the Synclavier and began his first lesson.

He told me “I don’t know anything about computers.” I said “no problem, first, you insert this floppy disk.” He said “time out” and said he did not know what a floppy disk was. I realized Michael barely knew how to operate a cassette recorder! His hands on with technology was very limited! So I got more simple and we continued. After three hours, I had taught Michael how to power up and boot up the Synclavier, call up his sound library and showed him how to call a sound down to the keyboard for him to play.

He said “That’s all I can take for today, can you come back tomorrow for a session?” I said “sure!” Little did I know that this would be the beginning of the most interesting four years of my life!

I came back the next day and we worked on one of Michael’s songs. He wanted me to come back everyday. He said to me “I want you to make unusual sounds.” I said “sure, no problem!” I like doing that all the time anyway! This was not work, this was fun! I began to think…if I want to continue to be here, I have to expand my job. I had realized that by having so many programmers and musicians using the Synclavier in the past, his sound library was in chaos. I thought that no matter if it is me or someone else that uses Michael’s Synclavier, the sound library had to be in some logical order that can be accessed easily. There were thousands and thousands of sounds on hard disks and computer storage tapes everywhere and none of them were organized in any way! I presented to Michael the problem and that I could organize his library for him. He said “sure!” So I began working longer hours. I was at his studio from about 10:00 am to about 1:00 am every day. This job ended up taking me six months, seventeen hours a day seven days a week! The year was 1986.

In the meantime, I was continuing to make “unusual sounds.” Unusual sounds are fun but they have no real meaning unless they are in some kind of context, so I would create grooves and various musical pieces that would demonstrate the possible uses for the sounds I was creating. When I was finished, I would run them off on a cassette tape and slide it under his bedroom door every night before I would go home. Many times, he would call my house at 2:00 am and would be all excited about some sounds or groove. I could hear the tape I had made blasting in the background! Michael likes to listen to music LOUD!

After a few weeks of working closely together, we both realized that our ability to communicate together was a bit unique. We just both understood each other about musical ideas and grooves. We noticed that words were used less often and we just “knew” what we were feeling or thinking. It quickly got to the point where Michael would say to me “make me a sound that makes me do this”…and he would do a dance move. I got it right away…and I could make him the sound that he was feeling. I have never worked with anyone else where we had this kind of musical rapport.

After about six months working with Michael everyday on various songs, sound design and library work, I got the word that Michael was soon to start his next album with Quincy Jones. We had lots of songs demoed. I was wondering if I was going to be working with Michael and Quincy or if my fun job would finally close.

One day, I was working in Michael’s studio when his secretary came in and announced to me and the engineer that Michael was having guests that evening and we could all go home at 5:00 pm. I thought ok cool. I worked for a few hours and as it was near 5:00, Michael’s secretary came in and said that Michael said I can stay. I really did not think much of it. Everyone left and I was alone making music on the Synclavier. It was dark outside when I heard voices of people entering the studio in the next room. Suddenly the door opened and in walked Michael with Diana Ross and an entourage of people. I was very surprised! Michael was giving Diana a tour of his studio. He then introduced me to Diana and told her what I did and showed her the Synclavier. Clearly he was showing off! Then he continued the tour and they walked out. This kind of experience would become normal over the next four years.

I was working one afternoon when Michael told me that he was going to start the new album very soon and that Bruce Sweden, his engineer for the Thriller album, was coming for a visit. Bruce was going to be the engineer for the new album so he was visiting Michael on a kind of combined social PR visit. Bruce came in the studio and was very friendly. Michael introduced me and told him what I did. Bruce acknowledged but was very focused on what he wanted to convey to Michael. He had just finished the sound track for a movie called “Running Scared” starring Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal. Bruce said that this was the first time he had done a whole project digitally and it sounded great! He was telling Michael all the details. Bruce then said that it was also the first time he had worked with the Synclavier and how amazing it was to be able to create sounds so fast and move tracks easily, etc. He said that the Synclavier operator was really good and a very nice person and that they had become friends. I knew who most of the Synclavier operators were, but not all personally. I knew the operator Bruce was talking about by name only.

I thought, wow, Bruce is promoting his Synclavier guy. It looks like I will be out of a job soon. I was a bit depressed but I had a good time the past six months and it had been a great experience. I was pretty sure I would not be working on the new album.

Everyone in Michael’s camp knew in a week, all the work at Michael’s studio would shift to WestLake Studios where the new album would be recorded. No one said anything to me. I did not know what would become of me. I just kept working as usual. Then the day before the work was to begin at Westlake, Michael’s secretary came in the studio and said to me that Michael wanted me to work on the album and to move the Synclavier to Westlake. Wow! Michael wanted me to work on the album! I was in! To say the least, I was thrilled!

Next month, I will continue my Synclavier and Michael Jackson story:
The making of the “Bad” album and the “Bad” world tour.

The Making of the “Bad” Album

Michael’s album project was to be recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in Studio D. Westlake is located at Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood, California. The day prior to officially starting the album, I had Michael’s Synclavier brought into the studio. The main tower was set up in a small room just outside the control room. The keyboard and terminal were set up in the control room. This was to be the Synclavier’s permanent home for the next 12 months. As I was setting up the Synclavier, Michael came in and we just chatted for a while. He was clearly excited that we were finally beginning to record his next album. One of the things he said during that conversation stayed with me always. He said to me, “The key to success in this business is to be humble.”

The next day, Bruce Swedien and Quincy Jones came in to the studio. I had already met Bruce but Michael introduced me to Quincy. Their demeanor was very polite but professional. I was thrilled to be working with these people. They were very top professionals in the music industry and the vibe was that we were there to make an album to top Thriller, the biggest selling album of all time! This was going to be a big task!

The Synclavier was new to Quincy. All he knew was that Michael had made his song demos on it. Bruce had a little experience on his prior movie score project for “Running Scared.” Both Bruce and Quincy had worked together many times so they already had a way of working together. Quincy’s way as a producer was to bring in combinations of various musicians and record them. Bruce’s way was to get the performance recorded as close as possible to what the musicians were playing live. The Synclaveir was about to change that idea of working.

My professional view was that I was there to operate the Synclavier and to be quiet and observe these talented people at work. For the next couple of weeks, I observed Quincy’s method of production and Bruce’s method of recording.

The main recording/production team that would work on the album nearly everyday for the next 12 months consisted of Michael Jackson (Artist, Producer), Quincy Jones (Producer), Bruce Swedien (Engineer), Craig Johnson (Second Engineer) and myself (Synclavier). Of course there were many musicians and technicians that would also be working as well. There are so many stories I could tell but there is not enough room to tell them all here, but here are a few.

I remember one day very early on, Quincy had his favorite session keyboard player Greg Phillinganes come in to record. The approach Quincy had was to re-record the Synclavier tracks with live session musicians. Quincy told me to play the Synclavier version of the song “Smooth Criminal” for Greg. I played the song and when it was near the end of the song, Greg asked if there was anything different on the fade out. I said, “No, it just repeats.” So he said, “Ok, let’s do it!” I called up the first sound and hit go. Bruce began to record and Greg proceeded to play every single part on the song…with only one take on each of the tracks! This included all the drums and percussion, the bass, the chords…everything! Perfectly! But what really amazed me was that he had only heard the song once! I was mind boggled! No wonder he was Quincy’s first call keyboardist!

Another day, Quincy brought in bass player Louis Johnson from the Brothers Johnson to play bass on some of the tracks Greg had played. Slam’n bass!

But I soon began to notice that there was no attention being paid to synchronizing these tracks with the Synclavier. There are many reasons why the Synclavier should be in sync with these recordings. I saw a possible train wreck in the near future if this was not addressed. I decided to break my usual silence and explain to Bruce. He basically told me that they have everything under control. So I said “Ok.”

I would arrive every day at about 10:00 am and we would work until maybe 7:00 pm or later. I would then drive to Michael’s house and work until about 1:00 or 2:00 am. We would work on Saturdays at Westlake but usually take Sundays off. But on Sundays, I would go to Michael’s house and work on songs all day and late into the night. This was to be my basic schedule everyday for the next 12 months.

One interesting note, for the first two weeks of working, Bruce would comment out of the blue everyday how he and the other Synclavier operator from his previous movie project, would do such and such and how cool it was and how good a Synclavier operator he was. Talk about pressure! All I could do is acknowledge and do my best. Then one day, again for no particular reason, Bruce turned to me and said, “You know, you are a lot better than (un-named)!” I was totally surprised! Bruce never mentioned him again! Wow!

One morning, John Robinson, drummer extraordinaire and another of Quincy’s top guys brought in six of Michael’s songs that he had programmed on an Oberheim drum machine. Most drum machine parts I had heard sounded very mechanical. Not so with these tracks. They sounded amazing! The feel was great! John said “He programed them in real time and were not quantized to a click.” John said He finished just in time because he was going on tour the next day with the famous group The Band. We recorded his drum tracks from the drum machine to digital tape. That day I was just observing. The next day, Michael came in to hear the tracks. I told him they sounded great. He listened and was dancing. When we finished listening, Michael agreed, they sounded great but…the arrangements were completely wrong! John was already gone on tour so he could not redo the tracks!

Bruce was perplexed as to what to do. I said, “I can put those tracks into the Synclavier and then rearrange everything correctly.” So he said “Ok” and I did it. This is when Bruce realized the importance of being able to sync the recordings with the Synclavier. So we proceeded to redo everything that we had already done, so we would have a solid framework from which to do anything. We could replay parts, change sounds, change arrangements…anything. I could even make a breathable click track from John’s drum machine performance so as to not mess with the feel! So for a few more weeks, the Synclavier became a “Band Aid.” We re-recorded everything in order to begin at square one.

Also, early on, when live tracks were being recorded, Michael would listen and say he liked the Synclavier versions better. This happened all the time, so soon, Quincy changed his way of working and we began to use the Synclavier for everything.

So many interesting people came into the studio during the making of the album. All friends of Michael or Quincy. People such as Oprah Winfrey, Elizabeth Taylor, George Lucas, etc., etc., etc. Very interesting!

After about six months of recording, Quincy decided, as a change of pace, to bring in a group of the best session players to record a ballad. I think it was the song, “I can’t stop loving you.” Everyone thought this was a good idea. As I recall, this group consisted of, among others, Greg Phillinganes (Keys Synclavier), Nathan East (Bass), N’dugu Chancler (Drums) and Paulinho da Costa (Percussion). When this group of musicians got together at Westlake, they realized that Michael was using the Synclavier. Nathan said, “So YOU’RE the reason why no one was being called.” What was interesting, these Los Angeles first call studio musicians had been aware that Michael was working on a new album but they were wondering why no one was being called to record. I was not received well by these musicians at the time because they thought I was taking away their work. What a great introduction to LA’s finest studio musicians! Yikes! Actually, I had never even considered that I was taking away work from anyone. I was just using the Synclavier as a creative tool for manifesting Michael’s musical ideas. As it turned out, Michael liked the Synclavier version of the song better…Wow!

One day, Quincy informed me that Jimmy Smith was coming in to play. Quincy decided to bring in his modified MIDI Hammond B3 for Jimmy to play. We could record his performance via MIDI into the Synclavier. We could then have the possibility to modify his performance or change the sounds after the fact. Quincy said, “Jimmy is good for only a couple of takes so make sure you capture his performance the first time.” Quincy was correct. I got his performance into the Synclavier no problem. I even sampled every note of the Hammond sound he was using after he left the studio. Later, Quincy decided to crossfade his Hammond performance with a more modern synth solo by Greg. This is what ended up on the album.

I remember when Run-DMC came to Westlake for a meeting with Michael. Quincy thought Rap music was going to be the next big thing and he wanted Michael to do a collaboration with them. After the meeting, nothing seemed to happen. Later I asked Michael how it went. It seems they were very arrogant and demanding. Wrong attitude for them! Michael thought the vibe wasn’t right. Anyway, I asked Michael what he thought about Rap music. He said, He did not like it very much. It was not musical enough for him. He liked melodies and real singing.

Michael liked to double and triple track his vocal harmonies. Generally, Michael liked to really go for it on one set of harmonies to get the emotional impact. Then I would put those in the Synclavier and insert them in all the places in the song where those harmonies appeared. This procedure also reduced vocal fatigue from just repeating the same things multiple times…especially on repetitive out-choruses that went on for 5 minutes for dance mixes.

At one point in the project, Michael became concerned that for some reason, the songs were not sounding the same as we had originally recorded them into the Synclavier at his house. He had discussed this with Bruce but he did not seem to understand Michael’s concern. Michael liked to listen LOUD!!! When he would come into the control room at Westlake to listen to something…

everyone would run out of the room as he turned up the 25,000 watt speaker system to nearly full! He wanted to “feel” the music! Quincy even joked that during the making of Thriller, the speakers actually caught fire. This was taken as a sign for a hit album! Westlake blew a tweeter while we were doing the song “Bad”!

Anyway, Michael was concerned that the “punch” of the music was being lost somehow. Michael called a meeting with me and his manager Frank DiLeo to listen to the original tracks of the songs at Michael’s studio on the Synclavier. Frank agreed that there was a difference. Michael especially noticed this on the song “Smooth Criminal.” More attention began being put on this aspect of the recordings.

On “Speed Demon,” the original demo had a synthesizer sound doing a sweep up in the break before the solo. I thought that this was not very creative or interesting and had nothing to do with the song’s content. My idea was to replace it with a race car shifting through gears. I dropped the sounds into the Synclavier, made a patch, which included the gear shift sound and I played the race car shifting through the gears in the right timing with the groove. Michael loved it, so it is what you hear in the final song.

I don’t remember who’s idea it was to record Michael’s heartbeat for “Smooth Criminal.” It was an interesting project. Michael contacted Dr. Eric Chevlen and flew him down to Westlake from the Bay area. Dr. Chevlen had special equipment for recording the human heart. I recorded Michael’s heartbeat directly into the Synclavier in stereo. I digitally processed it in the Synclavier to give it a bit more clarity. I then controlled the speed of his heart digitally, slowly speeding it up. You can hear it in the beginning of “Smooth Criminal.”

During the recording of “Smooth Criminal,” Michael began shooting the dance scenes for the video. The song was not even close to being finished. I remember messengers coming to the studio every couple of hours to get the newest mix of what I was doing on the Synclavier so they could use it for the dance choreography over at the video sound stage.

On the song “Bad,” Michael was hearing a very specific bass sound. He was looking for a certain feel. This proved to be a bit of a challenge. I tried many bass sounds. Michael liked them but always there was something missing. In the end, the solution was to mix all the sounds Michael liked into one bass sound. To accomplish this took nine different bass sounds, which included synth sounds, organ bass pedal sounds as well as electric bass sounds. The composite worked and it is what you hear today on the song.

Michael really liked the demo of the song “Bad” so he made a special appointment for Quincy to hear it. Quincy liked it and thought it would be the hit single off the album. Quincy then played the tune for the executives at CBS and they liked it, too. Michael then thought the title of the album should be called “Bad.” Quincy said that the album better be good because the critics will really have a great time with that title!

I remember when Michael had hired Martin Scorsese to direct the “Bad” video. All of a sudden I was informed that I might have to go to New York with the Synclavier in case Michael needed it during the shoot. We were also working on other songs at Westlake (as well as working at Michael’s house) so there was a bit of a panic. This is where the phrase, “Chris needs to be cloned” became popular! It was common that I needed to be in two or three places at once! Finally, the day before we were supposed to leave, it was decided I should stay working at Westlake! Never a dull moment!

When the “Bad” video was rough edited, it was discovered that there were a few spots where Michael was singing some vocal effects on the video but there was no sound to go with them…such as his popular high pitched oooooo! So…I had to go find some of those ooooos on other recordings and drop them into the “Bad” track in the right place so it looked correct! It was then that Michael noticed that there was no intro to the song on the video. The job was given to me to create an intro for the song. I did this at my own studio on the Synclavier. Jerry Hey had just finished a terrific horn arrangement on “Bad” so I thought I would sample some of the horn hits from other sections of the song. I then re-pitch them, mixed in a percussion hit and a metallic sound and used this composite as a single keyboard sound. I then played in the intro that you hear at the beginning of “Bad”!

Michael liked the idea of the song “Bad” so he decided to call the upcoming tour the “Bad Tour.”

Michael became dissatisfied with the recording of “Smooth Criminal” so we re-recorded it. Michael liked it better but was still not convinced. More on this later.

Since nearly a year had passed of recording, CBS records wanted the album finished, so suddenly there was a flurry of activity at Westlake. Two rooms were going at the same time to put finishing touches on the album.

The making of the album was starting to wind down. Many people were asking me to work with them. Including Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd and others. Since there were some holes in my work schedule, I thought I might find a bit of time to work on these other projects. When I mentioned them to Michael, he said “No”…he needed me to work on videos, the tour, as well as finish the album. He had not mentioned these things before so I turned down all other work.

I asked Frank DiLeo when Michael’s tour would start. He told me that he was working on opening in Japan in three months. I then asked Michael, I have some time, so maybe I should start preparing the music for the tour. He said no, that the album had to be finished and done correctly or there will be no tour. I thought ok…no problem. Another month passed. The dates that DiLeo had mentioned were coming closer. I asked Michael again if I should be working on the music in preparation for the tour. He gave me the same answer. Michael was keeping me busy, but there was a bit of time to work on tour things and I always like to be prepared. I knew the band on the “Victory” tour with Michael’s brothers had rehearsed for three months. Since there was no word about the tour, I thought, there is no way that with only about eight weeks left that the tour would begin in Japan as Frank suggested.

On June 29, 1987, I remember coming home from Michael’s house in time to turn on the 11:00 news. Suddenly, the announcement came on, “Michael Jackson announces world tour to begin September 12, 1987 in Japan!” I had been working for Michael for over one and a half years nearly everyday and I find out about the tour on the 11:00 news! Wow! Essentially, we had to prepare maybe the biggest tour ever with the most famous singer of all time in about eight weeks! There was no band, no musicians…nothing!

The next morning my phone was ringing off the hook as everyone was in a panic!

SOURCE: Christopher Currell