MJ’s “Beat It” Intro Breakdown on Synclavier

🚨 UPDATE: Check out the update on the "Beat It" Intro story (and more) in Anthony's interview of Quincy Jones arranger Tom Bähler here • MJ's "Beat It" - The U...
In this video Kevin Maloney and I demonstrate how the intro sound on “Beat It” from Michael Jackson’s Thriller album is constructed on the Synclavier II using four partial timbres from the FM synthesizer engine playing all at once (with heavy chorusing). The sound can be found on preset bank 2, entry 5 named “Pop Tune Intro” on factory preset disk #3. The sound first appeared on the recording titled:
”The Incredible Sounds of Synclavier II Demonstration Record” released by New England Digital in 1981. The preset was later played by Tom Bahler on his Synclavier II for the “Beat It” recording with only Tom, Michael and engineer Bruce Swedien in the room. Tom was the person that introduced Michael and Quincy to the Synclavier. We also point out that the sound can be in your hands today using various released inexpensive versions of the Synclavier.
Anthony's musical touch as both composer and performer is connected with some of the most influential creative minds over the last 40 years. He’s composed and conducted original orchestral scores for over 80 feature films including Young Guns, Internal Affairs, The Man From Elysian Fields, 15 Minutes and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for his symphonic work "In the Family Way", written over one thousand TV commercials in a myriad of musical styles, co-founded Levels Audio Post (LA's premiere post production facility) and performed and arranged on big-box-office films and influential hit records such as Michael Jackson's Thriller.
His extensive work as a young arranger, orchestrator and performer for Quincy Jones, Jack Nitzsche, Lamont Dozier, Arthur Rubenstein and Giorgio Moroder was vital in launching his own career. His early years pioneering modular analog synthesizers along with his wide-ranging music scholarship positioned Anthony at the center of the music technology revolution. He attended the University of Southern California School of Music as a piano and composition major.
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[@anthonymarinellimusic]

🚨 *UPDATE:* Check out the update on the "Beat It" Intro story (and more) in Anthony's interview of Quincy Jones arranger Tom Bähler here kzbin.info/www/bejne/goqon2uDmbOlfMU

[@Oioisavaloy]

People (including myself) who started music production after 2001/02, take for granted sound design because we're spoilt for choice with stock sounds. This series has shown me what an art form this truly is and I love that i can finally put faces to the "Synclavier/Synthesizer programmed by…" on Michael's album sleeves. I genuinely can't express how much the sound of Thriller, Bad, The Dude, Donna Summer (her eponymous record produced by Q) have influenced my tastes in art. Love it. 🖤

[@buzzfunk]

Thanks for acknowledging that.

[@187onasimp]

Actually gear came with stock sounds even way back than. A lot of those sounds artist would just use on Albums. Michael wanted a whole different vibe on his album. So he had people designing him sounds. What's interesting to me is that they went through this much trouble to create the sounds from scratch to give Thriller a fresh vibe. On Bad Michael and Quincy just straight up used factory presets from the Roland D-50 on a bunch of songs. Makes me wonder why were preset sounds so taboo on one album but the other a green light? A lot of the magic about Thriller is the mystery of not knowing exactly how they mad such and such sound but man over the years so many have tried till these guys finally decided to grace us by showing us.

[@Oioisavaloy]

@@187onasimp I think you've misread what I said. I said we're now spoilt for choice, meaning the amount of original sounds from the hundreds of VST's, sound design isn't a necessity. Also I think the difference between the Bad and Thriller albums was the choice of instrument. With Thriller, they were almost exclusively using analogue instruments that needed to be tuned, filtered ect. By the time Bad came out they had a choice of digital synthesizers that (at the time) would've had incredibly interesting stock sounds.

[@djpopcorn]

​@@187onasimpbut this is a stock sound, and Michael liked it. I've been in a few studios and it's truly a combination of presets and custom sounds.

[@thischannelisdeleted]

I hate how low society and art have fallen 😢

[@heckensteiner4713]

28 minutes of two guys geeking out over 7 notes... AMAZING!

[@RogerSartet007]

On the Arturia version, the sound is called 'Phased gong' for those who would be interested. It needs a little tweaking, but that's the one. Thank you guys for these educational videos! Best regards

[@tonycowin]

Yeah and it's almost bang on which makes me wonder why this iPad version sounds so different.

[@bob-rogers]

The synclavier seems really complicated, but the lighted buttons make it approachable. Really interesting instrument. I might need to get that app just to be able to understand these videos better 🙂

[@alphabeets]

Ok that’s it! You just won the award for the best synth channel on KZbin. Awesome video, guys.

[@808music3]

All the sounds on MJ thriller would have been very expensive to program due to session time. I believe MJ budget was to be unlimited at the time, and so it took time for the right engineers and record producers to come in studio to sit through each phase and make the legendary album. That’s what i think!!

[@daanfischer9816]

Crazy to think that thriller album was recorded in 8 weeks All the sounds and all the songs in 8 weeks You guys are genius ❤

[@mitchelstephen7536]

Limitations can be turned into strengths sometimes.

[@b00ts4ndc4ts]

Mr Bruce Swedien, one of the engineers said that Michael Jackson was one of the most prepared artists he has worked with. Michael Jackson would be one of the first people there and would know everything by heart. I also heard that because the brief for the album was to make something ground breaking, everyone was on the top of their game and gave it their best. Be the best you can be:- Bruce Swedien.

[@-KingOfKhaos]

I only just an hour ago had your channel recommended to me… and I can’t believe the WEALTH of info you selflessly share with all of us! What a gem on KZbin! A sincere thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge… 👍🏻👍🏻

[@stephenanthonythomas3533]

This was incredible gentleman! Thanks for this deep dive not only into the famous sound but a full blown Synclavier lesson!

[@cashhousebuyersteamatlanta5817]

Love this! So many great brains went to making this historic recording. I really feel like Thriller re-charged the sound of the 80's and beyond. This is a award worthy upload and channel. So many jewels. Thanks Mr. Marinelli.

[@mitchelstephen7536]

Thank you guys so much for this. Even today I struggle with my DX7 II, most of my best sounds are still happy accidents with that machine. Back in the early 90's I wanted to learn how to make similar sounds. I would sample 5 different DX7 sounds and play them all at once as a stack with my Emax II, then bounce that sound to a nice casette deck, then resample the stack back into the Emax II.

[@drillbag]

The crazy things we would do to get a sound prepared for a hardware sampler... Would hardly bother doing any of that these days for software based samplingr!!

[@a.s.847]

Were you satisfied with the sound you created?

[@mitchelstephen7536]

Yes, you can make utterly massive sounding clangs and gong type samples doing that. Today I do it by recording a bunch of sounds into my DAW, stacking them and bouncing them to disk, then importing the sample into a software sampler. But occasionally I miss the tape saturation and DAC artifacts of the old days :).@@a.s.847

[@b00ts4ndc4ts]

I love it when you get limitations and you have to get inventive, but saying that I think some of my favourite sounds have come from happy accidents and all it takes sometimes is just one setting and you're writing a song.

[@cactus-wren]

Very nice video! A total X-ray of this mysterious but lovely intro. It was very insightful, and the iPad part was kind of complex. And the part that crack me up was when Kevin showed his phone app version and sounded instantly better than the iPad. Hahaha! Greetings, Anthony!

[@brysonedwards4466]

Also you can’t forget bruce’s engineering was a big part of the sound

[@anthonymarinellimusic]

Extremely true !!!

[@pongmaster123]

no, only the preamp matters ;-) (old gearslutz joke)

[@buzzfunk]

/eye roll. Well duh

[@PorchBass]

Seeing this series though, everyone has such talent it seems hard to go wrong! What a team!

[@annother3350]

@@buzzfunk silly

[@albeckwall]

What an amazing view into sound design on the Synclavier!! That chorus is incredible. Thank you

[@GeorgeAmodei21]

Thx guys for showing us this! George Amodei :)

[@poppopw5305]

I may not understand the terminology, but just seeing what goes into a sound and a song is nothing short of amazing. First time I heard of a Synclavier was when Hall & Oates used it on their Big Bam Boom album, then the famous Cosby Show episode when Stevie Wonder appeared and used his. Great video!

[@arianahunt1073]

I don’t know what to say! I don’t know what to say! Jammin on the one, j-j-j-jammin on the one. Baby! B-b-b-baby.

[@poppopw5305]

@@arianahunt1073 That's the one! 😂

[@WoodyBReal]

Awesome! Just fyi, synclavier pocket is discontinued now since synclavier go is available on both iphone and ipad

[@lesfuller5984]

Anthony, these videos are just so educational and enlightening! Kevin and yourself are naturals at this! 👏

[@MaxFury_Official]

What about the breakdown on Thriller the "Bass/acid sound" (hard to explain) during Vincent Price talk? That's a cool one! Hard to explain how it sounds, but acid might be one way to put it! You did walk thru the simple "Alien/ufo" sound but not that sound, unless i'm mistaken!

[@TurkmanSouljah]

The maestro explained somewhere Thats its some kind of casio frog preset. Amazing

[@jimbotron70]

Interesting sound indeed.

[@mathiasdeschamps1637]

Olalala i love all of these vidéos ! That’s so Amazing ❤ thank you

[@oberday]

I LOVE your videos Anthony. Thank you for taking the time to do this. I think it's important to tell the stories of how these iconic songs were made, because with the passing of time, none of us will be around forever and we want future generations of music affectionatos to be able to learn from you. I personally think music from the 60-90s is timeless and will live on, perhaps for centuries. It was that good.

[@YoshixVR]

Thanks to both of you! Grettings from France, as usual!☀

[@Roland_Tr909_Swing]

I got this sound out of a Yamaha dx200 by accident..should never have got rid of that groovebox..they are so rare now

[@FransvandenBergeMuziekschuur]

This is such a treasure trove. Thank you.

[@shtivik]

Crazy how much knowledge and experience you guys have, thanks for sharing.

[@KoljaBeckmann_music]

Its amazing how the partials work together and the chorus brings it to another level. Each of the partials alone sounds really not so great (but the first one perhaps) but together they sound stunning.

[@stephan167]

Thanks for sharing these fascinating insights!

[@joonglegamer9898]

Love it, thanks for this walkthrough.

[@bigglesfm]

Thanks for this detail on the synclavier very interesting. I want to compliment you on the vid. Production too. There are so many vids on KZbin where the video is chop chop chop every few seconds, I don't know why they do that. Best wishes A

[@anthonymarinellimusic]

Wow, thank you!

[@Swat-ed5bt]

Awesome breakdown. Michael forever ❤

[@arieloxford6790]

Really enjoying this series of breakdowns of stuff we just take for granted. More please!!

[@reyngel]

Fantastic breakdown video. I look forward to more content from y’all. 👍🏻

[@cjmarsh504]

This is some legendary stuff. I'm glad that you guys are doing a tutorial on the Synclavier.

[@Leonel53795]

Just love these videos! Keep goin'!

[@cactus-wren]

I just love all your content, I love all the instruments that you and your friends use, is just ageless. Definitely I will subscribe!

[@JamesMyddelton]

Thank you Anthony, these videos are *incredibly* useful & important

[@Keyboardistmatt]

There are surprisingly few KZbin videos on the Synclavier just now, but Anthony's channel totally nails it. I'm a bit of a Synclavier fan - always very excited to see each new Synclavier video - excellent!

[@justinb9387]

how do you keep doing this !!! 1 after 1 showing the tracks - and for so long we were tricked into thinking it was those other two QJ and that producer - YOU ARE THE LEGEND BEHIND IT ALL

[@enprisezzz]

Wow. That's awesome stuff. Thank you.

[@GlassTarantulah]

30 minutes?? Christmas has come early!

[@warrengday]

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks.

[@dnashofficial]

not only is this an amazing video about an amazing piece of sonic history, i'm also thrilled to see angklungs lining the walls :-). i have a full set in my studio as well. very cool!

[@Riostevens]

As a producer in college and a huge fan of Michael Jackson I’m learning lots watching your channel!

[@dynamiketiger]

Thank you! This is my favorite MJ song!

[@brujua7]

Amazing video, you are amazing people. Thanks!

[@rosalindwebb7729]

Perfect sound. Fabulous thank you for sharing.❤

[@dstrats]

Great vid! Wow! And amazing the apps to give us all the ability to play a Sync!

[@luigi_border]

i’m loving this series……

[@tonyharrisson6823]

Think I love this channel…,Legends!!!

[@AKB_0516W]

GREAT Video and GREAT SOUND❤

[@BlackRose-vi2yg]

Brilliant insight 🤘🤘

[@JamBurglar]

Wow, pretty noticeable difference between the real Synclavier and the app. Not the first time engineers have tried to duplicate older digital gear, only to find out the analog components ("hardware") in that original gear really color the sound (in a good way). This is why Dave Rossum sought to replicate the SP1200 as close as possible to the original hardware when he recently reissued it, and it turned out pretty spot on. Love this stuff!

[@davidreidy5750]

I'm loving this!♥️🗽

[@sorbusogvrsgo4465]

I know this is a channel focused on synthesizers, but this episode really inspires me to go oldschool on my next project, and recording analog sounds realtime - for instance banging on a container, a piece of cardboard, my childrens xylophone and plucking the spring of an architects lamp and create a sound from that 😄

[@fender1000100]

I remember hearing that intro for the first time. And it was like nothing I had ever heard before. Like something out of a science fiction film. Terminator before terminator. Just all out awesome and so memorable. And with the 808 under it before the heavier beats came in. Just WOW!.

[@DJOZER5]

Les génie de la musique!!👀🎶❤️‍🔥🔥

[@yumeh0tf1re54]

This whole video was really interesting to watch! Could you do a breakdown of the Thriller Minimoog Lead?

[@mmmdanner]

This is so interesting! I'm going to try this technique with my Elektron Model Cycles, which is an FM synth with 6 voices. It wasn't meant for additive synthesis, but I can use some additional hardware to make all 6 voices play simultaneously. Thanks for the vid!

[@ReginatorNet]

Ok, I'm amazed! I'm gonna try this on FM8.

[@karanjeet-ne1qk]

Kevin Maloney is great

[@yvesturgeon9585]

Awesome!! Hope you will do Wanna be startin' somethin'

[@totallypixelated]

Interesting dive into the Synclavier. I didn't think of them as anything other than early samplers until your videos. I'd guess the sampling features came later.

[@stephenanthonythomas3533]

Unrelated - I dig the Angklung in the background.

[@ingostromitzky497]

Amazing video thank you, what do you think about the Behringer model-d in your Studio?

[@therealsamho]

I watch stuff like this and I'm assured that AI generated music will never match this. The level of care and thought behind curating sounds is wholly human.

[@Leon60062]

Thank you !

[@vipinled4591]

Thank U sir.💙💚💜

[@Gerald_Daniel]

Thank you very much for breaking up the original sound! Without chorussing, one suddenly appears when programming FM synths having already stepped across some more or less similar sounds, without even noticing it. I assume even an underrated KORG-DS8 theoretically could be capable of that particular tone, or at least of another version of it, but the latter is very noisy what the synclavier though the "same" narrow resolution absolutely is not. Some people called Nordlead 3 the present synclavier by its crystal clear sound. Since I don't have VSTs, after your decipherage it should now be possible for me recreating it with Nordlead 3, at least when layering 2 or 4 FM patches.. NL3's engine's actually 4OP but algorithms can still be emulated. Even additive synth Kawai 5000's Formanfilter reminds sometimes of the long partial from Beat It's intro.

[@andyjones760]

Subscribed, thanks for the great videos and the time you put into making them. I wondered how does the new Regen compare to the original machine, particularly in terms of the DACs used. I guess I'm thinking are there discernible differences with identical patches loaded?

[@omariraqiman]

hello from iraq , good job and warm memories sir

[@signaltouch7413]

you are amazing

[@ezquimal]

The most crazy thing are that any new sinth workstation can made everything that made the synclavier. That's are incredible that a hardware from 40 or more years can be irreplaceable fora sound design

[@falcolebt-feinstewienerstr8724]

For my english is not good enough, therefor I just saying: THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[@KingMJForeverAndEver]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@garywatsonjr.2060]

Most or all of the various sounds that you guys are exploring, can also be produced with the Yamaha PSS-460😉!

[@wackerburg]

Fantastic episode, again! One question; what software is running on the Macbook? Some kind of librarian or even editor for the #Synclavier ?

[@ischmidt]

It's just running a terminal emulator, as I understand it. The Synclavier originally was used with a terminal, like it was a mainframe or something (I guess it kind of is - the main box is pretty massive). You can use just about any computer ever made to substitute though, it's just easier with a laptop.

[@drillbag]

I think Depeche mode also used this sound in "Love in itself" as i know they did use the Synclavier back then

[@jimbotron70]

Yes, very similar or same sounding preset.

[@KingMJForeverAndEver]

⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@ianroberto.]

❤

[@AviPFine]

I love this sound, and tried lots of times making it not with FM , but using wavetables by themselves to make it - and just couldn't get it. But I do have a hardware 6 op fm synth I started trying this on, and its not super close, but def closer than what i had. Its kinda close. Thanks for listing the ratio amounts that helped. I hear some quick filtering at the beginning of the note. And the way you hit the key to get it to ring, its almost like velocity, no - exp or release velocty? is dialed up to decay or release amount or something.

[@brysonedwards4466]

I Also forgot to mention what’s strange on this part is that when you play the two keys one key can have a lot harmonics and the other key 🎹 doesn’t 🤔

[@PaulHardcastle19]

Had a Synclavier in 85 also had the first Direct to Disk system, but was unreliable, I do believe I ordered the first one and they had to send an engineer over for two weeks Here's some video of it being delivered Buy CRANE ha-ha

[@davidreidy5750]

I can actually pull that on my korg Volca fm,almost exactly cause it's not really easy to .A lot of sub/add synthesis and carrier,ADSR,chorus octave etc going on to get it right.🗽♥️

[@Zeta9966]

Arturia already has the preset just so ya know

[@itswg1007]

This guy’s never left the 80s

[@KingMJForeverAndEver]

✨👑✨

[@shadowsoflife000]

Cool and interesting video, Anthony and Kevin, thanks for sharing this! I have the Arturia Synclavier V, and I posted this video in the Arturia Synclavier V group on Facebook, in the hopes of showing other Synclavier fans how the sound was made. But does anyone know where to get the Synclavier Pocket app Kevin was demonstrating? It doesn't appear in the Apple App Store. I think I remember hearing about it when the Synclavier Go! first came out, but I can't find it now.

[@jimbotron70]

John Chowning would be proud of you guys! 👍

[@rikkshow]

Cool stuff. Probably easier to follow if you use the Arturia version in full screen.

[@PostingCringeOnMain]

"back when I was your age, our synths only had one voice and we had to share it with our siblings"

[@arieloxford6790]

The difference between the iPad app and the original appears to be down to the keyboard velocity tracking working very differently from the app with a MIDI keyboard. Was the Synclavier keyboard generating pure Midi data, or was it an analogue system?

[@jimbotron70]

The Synclavier was part FM synthesizer, part sampler, it could have MIDI or not according to the year it was manufactured in, from late '70s to early '90s.

[@arieloxford6790]

@@jimbotron70 gotcha, but what I mean is, was the stock Synclavier keyboard generating MİDİ data, or did the keyboard generate analogue data which was passed into the rest of the machine? İf you are saying that MİDİ was an option, then I'm assuming that the stock keyboard was producing analogue (CV/Gate or their internal equivalent) output?

[@jimbotron70]

@@arieloxford6790 Yes, MIDI was added in 1984 ("reluctantly, as they felt it was non professional when first released"), before I believe CV events-triggers.

[@mikegeary8056]

What about the new Sinclavier ? The desk top box that just came out. Would love to see you do a demo of it.

[@ischmidt]

It comes with a preset bank programmed by Anthony so I'm sure we'll be seeing (and hearing) more of it.

[@PhilAndersonOutside]

Shame none of these guys aside from Bahler ever got even a "synthesizer programming" or footnote "thanks to" credit on Thriller, especially considering Michael took the exact sound and notes played on the record (written and played by Denny Jaeger), for the intro to Beat It. 😥 Michael was very talented, dedicated, and it's a shame he's gone. But Quincy Jones is one of the few legitimate people who was critical of him, saying he borrowed from many other people, even calling him greedy.

[@robertj.batista]

I don't quite believe what Quincy says about Michael. He never said that Michael "borrowed" some things when he was alive. Now that he's dead, everyone takes advantage of his death and says anything about him, whether it's true or not. MJ can't defend himself and deny anything.

[@arieloxford6790]

Can anyone recommend a good technical introduction to how FM synthesis works? I'm fully conversant with Subtractive synthesis, but never dived into FM. This is making me really want to get my ears dirty..

[@aromafromheaven]

✅

[@Aruba-ei6xx]

The worst part about Anthony’s videos is when they end

[@nbuehster]

8:43 to 9:13, 10:49 to 10:52 and 24:19 to 24:27 "Eight six seven five three oh nine"

[@MathieuFiset]

The real deal is rrrrreally better ! Kinda surprised here. Or is that app just too cheap ?

[@yohanone]

Can you do something from Dr Dre The Chronic or Chronic 2001 please?