shut up and listen

Fat, fuzzy synth bass drives this slow, lazy groove. Funk guitar (high end only) and lots of layers of melodic synths in the back of the mix, obviously needing to sit under the rap vocals. The drums and percussion are strangely sharp, the hats in particular are harsh, panned hard left, accents hard right. There are lots of special details that happen sporadically here and there (laughing, scratches, spoken word samples)  – an incredible amount of production work, especially considering they all sit buried under the rapping. There’s a lead synth line that appears in the intro, then drops out when the rap starts but then keeps reappearing under the rap. The lead rap vocal is characteristically dry with no noticeable effects on it (except for a delay on a single word later on…)

The chorus -if you can call it that – is only distinguished by an increase in the amount of background sound effects and the reappearance of the lead synth line. It really only feels like a chorus when it finishes – these elements disappear and the second rap vocal starts.

The second lead vocal (Snoop Dogg) gets a little group vocal reinforcement at one stage, but it is not a reoccurring element. There is a delay on the final word – ‘bitch’ – of Snoop Dogg’s first verse, panning off to the left. The vocals are dry, as is the hip hop style, sitting right on top, every word crystal clear. Compare the dry rap vocal with the female backing vocals (especially at the end when they can be heard on their own) and hear the reverb on the wordless vocals. These female vocals appear at the 3:43 mark (during the second and final “chorus”) and continue for the rest of the track, with rap over the top. Synth line is present here too – all these elements create the climax of the track, as they all come to a stop leaving the female vox to finish the track.

Overall quite an involved production, deceptively so, as at first the laidback feel of the track makes it seem simple. There aren’t any dramatic switches from section to section. Instead elements just casually slip in and out of the mix making it feel like one long flow rather than a structured piece of work. This is of course due to the bass line remaining constant and present throughout. The rap is obviously the prominent element, and interest is maintained by there being two vocalists trading verses.

There’s a lot to talk about in this production. The crowd sound effect fading out from the previous album track, the doubled piano in stereo, the ways the drums have been recorded and mixed to highlight the toms (like timpani) and de-emphasise the snare, the orchestral interludes, the layered reverbed vocal ‘aah’ after the middle section, the sustained piano chord at the end, the high pitched tone, the tape loop… but let’s just take a look at the use of stereo.

At the beginning the lead vocal (Lennon) is panned right. From the second verse it begins to slowly pan across to the left, coming to the centre on the lyric ‘lords’ and finishing far left on the line ‘I’d love to turn you on’.

In the middle section the lead vocal (McCartney) also begins hard right but doesn’t move.

In the final section when Lennon’s vocal reappears it is still hard left, and remains there until the final line ‘Albert Hall. I’d love to turn you on’ which is doubled with the vocal in both sides equally.

Lennon’s entire lead vocal is echoed, pushing it back in the mix, and the echo follows the dry signal across the stereo field. McCartney’s vocal has no echo or reverb and stands out as very dry, compared to Lennon.

These extreme panning positions of the vocals are balanced by instrumentation. While the bass and drums sit centre, Lennon’s first vocal (hard right) is balanced by piano, guitar and maracas on the left, although they don’t move as the vocal slowly moves to hard left. In the final section when Lennon’s vocal reappears hard left the piano, guitar and maracas now appear hard right. The mid section, featuring McCartney’s vocal hard right, is balanced with the piano and shakers hard left while bass and drums stay firmly centre. At the end of the middle section the reverb soaked ‘aah’ drifts from right to left and back again.

To close the track (after the piano chord dies out and the high pitched tone) is a tape loop – ‘Never could see any other way’ that also slides around the stereo field.

Overall an amazing use of stereo, especially considering how new the effect was at the time. Stereo has been used not just to create more space in the mix but as a way to further differentiate between the two vocal characters (one dreamy and floating around, the other matter-of-fact and firmly fixed in one position).

Notes: Because A Day in the Life is the last track on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album that loop at the end was intended to be a locked groove. So, instead of the needle reaching the centre of the record and triggering the automatic lift off it remains locked in a circle, playing the loop endlessly (until the needle is manually lifted). It would have been quite a surprise to people used to listening to vinyl records come to an end automatically. Kids, ask your parents about vinyl

see here for a fascinating travelogue of locked grooves

This sounds so simple and straight forward now, and in many ways it is, but at the time it was a new style, and a new sound.

Acoustic guitar, upright bass, electric guitar and a single vocal. No overdubs, no editing, just the one effect (slapback echo). There was no multitrack recording and no stereo. What could you do without the freedom to multitrack, drop in overdubs and mix (in stereo)? Could you invent a new style of music???

Being the fifties it is understandably mid sounding – no deep bass and no sparkling highs. The double bass is hard to hear, despite the percussive thumping playing style. The acoustic guitar also has a percussive, clacking style of playing. In the instrumental breaks (there’s two) there is a distinct percussive sound, like sticks… but no drummer is credited so it must be part of the guitar or bass playing?

The playing is effectively a totally live performance, with the electric guitar played in a muted style during the singing to sit under the vocal and then playing more assertively in the solos.

The most noticeable quality is the slapback echo on Presley’s voice. There is heavy compression, presumably natural compression of the recording equipment, that allows the vocal to stay up front from the low first line ‘Blue moon’ to the higher ‘Well it was on some moonlit night’ . Presley also modulates his singing so that he is pushing out the low notes and easing off on the higher notes. Remember, none of these guys were recording pros – it was new to everyone involved. they were just trying to make it sound good in the room they were in.

The now iconic slapback echo is what makes this such a powerful recording – it makes the vocal stand out above the instrumentation in a totally new and exciting way.

Notes: Sam Phillips was trying to emulate the sound of juke boxes in little restaurants and burger joints where the sound bounced off the hard walls of a small room. He was conscious of the artificial dead sound of the recording studio and that people preferred to hear something familiar. Ironically he created a totally new sound based on a familiar sound – the sound of our one’s voice bouncing back off the bathroom wall as we sing in the shower perhaps?

Distorted drums/percussion intro for one bar off to the left slightly – tambourine, snare/timbale, kick or tom thud. Bass joins in – busy and constant (like Billie Jean).

Strange owl like hoot off to the right occurring just the once on the 3rd bar…

When lead vocal comes in the bass drops out, replaced by electric guitar riff, EQed to sound like a radio with slight distortion. Vocal is hard right with a EQed double on the left, hard to hear at first but it gets louder and is easily heard in the chorus.

Chorus: elec gtr drops out, bass returns with new riff, real kick comes in with steady beat, keys stabbing double time on the beat, hard right. Lead vocal is doubled, as described above.

Second verse, the intro/verse/chorus pattern repeats: bass and percussion intro but this time real kick remains, with bursts of elc gtr panned hard left and double hard right, verse (bass and kick drop out, elc gtr comes in) chorus (bass returns, gtr drops out, keys stabbing)

Instrumental break: drums are less intense although real kick remains, bass riff from intro returns, elec guitar solos in bursts – panned right but shadowed by a double or verbed version off to the left.

Verse 3 breaks the pattern of first two slightly; starts with just the percussion and guitar riff, fuller and thicker than previous verses, lead vocal with EQed double comes in after 2 bars with a tambourine/lagerphone rattle on the off beats, a second guitar part, thinner and sharper, reinforces the first riff. The vocal(s) pause for a bar before completing the verse, at which point main gtr drops out as well as some percussion to increase the impact of final chorus.

Final chorus: as before (bass returns, gtr drops out, keys stabbing). Ends with intro bass riff, guitar bursts to the left, guitar riff ‘looping’, interspersed with vocals ‘Blood makes noise’. Fades out for 30 seconds – which is a long fade considering the whole song is only 2 and a half minutes!

Overall a very textural production. All instruments, including vocals, have been treated in some way to change their tonal character. Heavy use of the stereo field to help separate elements. It makes what is essentially a two part song (verse and chorus) much more interesting with the very first percussive intro grabbing the listener’s interest and then constantly switching the elements throughout. (By ‘switching’ I mean elements are either in or out. Nothing fades in or out nor does anything move across the stereo field.)

Opens with 2 bars of the simplest drum beat, and yet somehow it sounds so original. Think about it – how many bands, with a typical drum sound, would dare start a song with just drums playing 2 bars of this beat? It’s hard to identify but this drum intro sounds unique somehow… it’s just kick, snare and hats playing a straight 4/4 beat but that kick and that snare are so recognisable as being Billie Jean.

Then the ‘cat on the prowl’ bass line enters with a shaker on the off beats panned right. On the 5th bar of this there is a little whispered vocal ‘chicka chicka’ that is echoed and rapidly panned from left to right. Another 4 bars of just bass and drums and then the keyboard stabs enter, reinforcing the tonic note of the bass line. The stabs sound somewhere between an organ and backing vocals, probably a synth effect. They are back in the mix thanks to a generous serve of reverb.

When the lead vocal enters (30 seconds into the song!) it begins with stuttering hiccups and gasps which then punctuate the vocal throughout. High frequency reverb on the vocal which makes the sibilant words splash in the background; on ‘She’, ‘scene‘ and ‘said’ of the first two lines – ‘She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene, I said don’t mind, but what do you mean I am the one’. The next line ‘Who will dance on the floor in the round’ is harmonised with falsetto vocals hard left. And again for the final line of the verse.

Another verse the same as above and then the bridge. The bridge features the removal of the synth stabs being replaced by slow string swells, horn counterpoint panned right, whipcrack with reverb, and falsetto backing vocals building to the climax of the chorus.

The chorus is musically the same as the verse but with a new vocal melody. The instrumentation gets fuller for the chorus – the stabs hold for longer, a hand clap joins the snare, plus two hit tom fills, funk electric guitar and a doubled lead vocal. There are several vocal overdubs overlapping ‘hee hee’s and ‘no, no, no’ and they are either hard panned or pushed back in the mix sounding a little thinner (EQ).

The next set of verses feature a new synth part that reinforces the vocal and chord change. The vocal gets a bit more sophisticated with a new melody for ‘just remember to always think twice’ getting the falsetto double treatment and then the line ‘Do think twice’ appearing hard left, EQed to sound like a radio voice.

The next bridge has a high string part panned left and no horn counterpoint. The following chorus also has new string parts. The repeat chorus has a new funk guitar part and high horns (synth?) in counterpoint.

The instrumental break features the funk guitar that first appeared in the previous chorus, brought to the front of the mix, reverbed. High string stabs play counterpoint with the guitar solo.

The guitar stays for the rest of the song but drops back in the mix for the vocal to sing out the final choruses. Lots of vocal hiccups and ‘woo’s in the background scattered around the stereo field. The first line of the chorus then gets repeated like a loop ‘Billie Jean is not my lover’ with the funk guitar repeating the solo as the track fades out. A few ad lib vocals add interest to the fade out.

Overall quite a minimal track in terms of instrumental material. It is very clear – everything is easily heard, which i think is due to the bass line being almost the hook, so a lot of space has been left in the mix in order for us to hear every note of a busy bass line.

Notes: Apparently Quincy Jones didn’t like this song and argued for it to be left off Thriller. He also argued with Jackson over taking full production credit – apparently the demo Jackson did on his own sounds very similar to the finished Jones version so Jackson felt he deserved a co-production credit. Also, legend has it Jones got Jackson to sing vocal overdubs through a long cardboard tube – but i reckon that radio effect on ‘Do think twice’ is EQ. Lastly, it was apparently mixed 91 times by Bruce Swedien when usually he only mixes a song once – I dunno, sounds like Wikipedia bullshit to me.