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Rodney Jerkins:
Michael Jackson is the best by far. I don't know who taught him how to cut background vocals, but he does things that no one else does. He'll do a hundred tracks of background vocals. He would do eight tracks of what he called accent vocals. He'd barely be singing but he'd hit the chorus line with a hard, syncopated rhythm. It was almost like he was talking, but it's not talking. He'd stack that over and over, and it would give the vocals aggression and bite. I've never seen anyone use more mics. He would have all these great mics in the room and then go through each one to figure out which one sounded the best for the track. A lot of artists are in too big of a rush and they don't take the time to do that stuff. He also taught me that you don't have to be right up on the mic on everything. Before I would tell the artist to breathe in the mic, to eat the mic. I wanted the vocalist right in your face. Michael would do that, but then he'd go in the corner and sing the next four tracks. That would give it a room sound, but without using a machine. That taught me so much. I never understood ghost tracks until I watched him work. He'll do these things that you think you can't hear, but they fill in the mix and make it bigger.
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