The Billie Jean Chord Stack - It’s 4 Sounds!

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ABOUT THIS VIDEO

In this video I'll show you how to re-create the the iconic "Billie Jean" Chord Stack. It's the famous sound on "Billie Jean" that goes ooh, ooh...ooh, ooh. It consists of 4 completely different sounds that all play at the same time. Back in the early 1980's It was unheard-of to use this many tracks of tape to record just one musical part. Sound 1 is stringy Sound 2 is brassy, Sound 3 is voice-like and sound 4 is actually Michael singing ooh's in two-part harmony. Although "Billie Jean" may appear musically simple, it's sonically rich in its orchestration. 

The original sounds were programmed on a Yamaha CS-80, so I'll be showing you how to make the sounds on that instrument ...I'm also going to show you how to make Sound 1 "Stringy" on a more familiar Prophet 5. 

If you haven't seen my video about how to make the bass sound in Billie Jean, it's called "MJ's Billie Jean Bass - It's 4 instruments!". This bass sound also exists on multiple tracks. Literally 4 different instruments make up the bass sound. It's deep, just like the "Chord Stack". It's yet another example of the complex and expressive arranging style utilized by Quincy, Rod and Michael. I'll be using that bass track to play the chord stack against it in this video. 

There is one more thing for you to know. I was told by my buddy Matt Forger (assistant engineer onThriller) that he utilized the vari-speed function on the tape machine so the pitch may be different at certain parts of the song.

I hope you enjoy my breakdown of the "Billie Jean" Chord Stack!  If you like this video and would like more of this type of content, please remember to share, like and subscribe. It's all we need to keep going.

00:00 Introduction
01:09 "Billie Jean" Chord Stack with 4 Yamaha CS-80's
01:44 About the Yamaha CS-80
02:36 SOUND 1 CS-80 "Strings" Breakdown (How to make it)
04:21 SOUND 1 Prophet 5 "Strings" Breakdown (How to make it)
08:56 SOUND 2 CS-80 "Brass" Breakdown (How to make it)
13:32 SOUND 3 CS-80 "Oohs" Breakdown (How to make it)
18:18 SOUND 4 Michael Sings 2-Part Harmony (The Special Ingredient)
19:07 Wrap Up

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ABOUT ANTHONY

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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