George Michael ist mit 53 Jahren verstorben

[rip.michael]

Doch ich , werd aber bestimmt kein public piepen draus machen ... gesetzt den fall, dass ich dich überhaupt überlebe und noch einigermassen piepen kann
Stell dir vor, wir begegnen uns auf der reise dann irgenwo zwischen himmel und hölle ... wäre das nicht echt zum piepen

Debbie Reynolds in "Tammy, das Mädchen vom Hausboot" ... ein teil meines kindlichen TV vergnügens. Erinnere mich sehr gerne daran.

R.I.P. Debbie Reynolds & Carrie Fisher

[Marcel_MR]

--

Praying For Time

I only met George Michael once, but I'll get to that in a moment.

I'm a sucker for a good popsong, especially when it is delivered by a great singer. On October 30, 1987 an amazing album was released by one of my favorite singers of all time - George Michael.

Back in those days MTV was amazingly powerful - it was a window into pop music, culture, fashion, etc. There was no Twitter or Instagram - MTV was your primary source for info on people in music. Even in the studios we would typically have one of three channels on the TV: MTV, CNN or Food Network (which debuted in 1993). It's hard to explain the impact that stars like Michael Jackson, George Michael and Madonna had on pop culture, but it was huge.
At the risk of sounding old (sigh), you could basically take Bruno Mars (who I like), and multiply his persona/image/music times 100 and you would starting getting close to what Michael, George and Madonna were doing back then. They were dominate because we were a much more captive audience.
During most of 1987 I was working in the studio on the remixes, video mixes, dance mixes, single mixes, etc., with Bruce Swedien on the Michael's iconic Bad album. Week after week Bruce would finesse these incredible songs, and the mixes would glisten.
The funny thing with working on music that you really love, and working on it for hours and hours and hours is that when you are not working on it, you don't really want to hear it. You need a break, but you still want to listen to something. So along comes Faith.
I can't explain why I loved that album so much, but I did. I played it endlessly. I studied it. I knew every note, every nuance, every word. It was like an advance class in singing, restrained arrangements and mixing. I studied Chris Porter's recording and Shep Pettibone's mixing. I tried to emulate the some of the effects in the studio, but quite often I would just have it playing as I prepped the studio.
The album became one of my "go-to" reference cd's when I set up a new studio for Bruce, or if I was testing a new compressor or EQ. I knew it like the back of my hand, and I could feed it into a pair of channels on any console and hear if there was issues (phase, level, distortion, EQ bumps, etc.) between them.
This is absolutely true: If we moved into a new studio, I would actually play Faith through all 72 channels (or however large the console was), channel-by-channel to insure the room was "Michael ready". Looking back on it I almost wish I could have let George Michael know that I was using his album often to prep the studio for Michael Jackson. He might have been amused.
As I started building larger music systems for other clients, Faith was still one of my primary reference pieces for EQ'ing, setting the crossovers, etc. If I could make Kissing A Fool sound stellar on the carousel at Neverland, I knew I was on the right track.
When Listen Without Prejudice came out three years later, I think I bought it the first week. I'm not a music reviewer, so I won't drone on and on about an artist maturing and such, but he was clearly growing up. I didn't love the album (remember when we used to call them albums?) as much as Faith, but the song Praying For Time was in a class by itself.
Just a few days before his passing I was listening to a radio station out of Switzerland (thank you Tunein Radio) that was playing Christmas music, and a version of Praying For Time started playing. I am a weirdo who has fairly large bookshelf speakers on my desk, with a 400 watt amplifier, so I opened the song up a bit and let myself just enjoy it. Insane vocal control and emotion. I started remembering the one time I briefly worked with Mr. George Michael.
I know this seems odd to hear, but I'll bet if you ask any studio rat from that era if they remember each session and artist they worked with, they will say the same thing: the details are a bit foggy. No, not from chemicals, rather studios were like a revolving door of amazing and not-so-amazing talent. It was a constant treadmill of music.
I am fairly sure, in fact I am 99% sure my George Michael session was before Faith. I remember it being at Westlake Studio A, possibly in 1986, and it was just for an afternoon/evening. I think it was a keyboard overdub session (I am certain he didn't sing), and I remember his being friendly and confident.
The only other memory of note was that his companion looked and dressed remarkably like him, which was a bit unexpected.
I don't claim to be George Michael's number one fan. I don't even claim to be Michael Jackson's number one fan. But I have tremendous respect for them both.
In the case of George Michael, his passing makes me sad on many levels, but for the sake of this article I am sad that we have lost such an incredible vocal and songwriting talent. I won't make comparisons or grandstand about "kids nowadays...", but man he could sing.
Rest In Peace George, I humbly commend your incredible talent and thank you for so many great songs which - unbeknownst to you - were a vital part in helping me test and calibrate countless music systems over the years.
Respectfully -
Brad
www.inthestudiowithmj.com

[Marcel_MR]

George Michael You Have Been Loved Documentary