Ever wish you could record a kick drum track as
hard hitting as the one on Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean?
Well your dream is about to come true. For the first time ever,
ASC and Bruce Swedien have joined forces to recreate the original
kick drum cover used for Billie Jean. Recorded in 1982, Billie Jean
is considered to be one of the most revolutionary songs in history.
And now, after 28 years, the secret is finally revealed.
Here's the Famous
First Beat
The song was mixed by Bruce Swedien ninety-one times—unusual
for Swedien, who usually mixes a song just once. Producer Quincy
Jones had told Swedien to create a drum sound that no one had ever
heard before. Swedien was also told to add a different element:
“sonic personality”. “What I ended up doing was
building a drum platform and designing some special little things,
like a bass drum cover and a flat piece of wood that goes between
the snare and the hi-hat”, Swedien later wrote. “The
bottom line is that there aren’t many pieces of music where
you can hear the first three or four notes of the drums, and immediately
tell what the piece of music is.” He concluded, “But
I think that is the case with ‘Billie Jean’—and
that I attribute to sonic personality.”
Enter a
Whole New World of Recording Big Recording Engineers like Swedien didn’t
acheive fame and fortune by following the status quo. They invented
and innovated, employing all kinds of new approaches to old problems.
The Billie Jean Kick Drum Cover is just one of those innovations.
Equally important is the included guide which explains everything
you need to make your kick drum recordings come alive. Now anyone
can do it, and we hold nothing back, no secrets will go unexplained.
