1st Look At MJ’s “Smooth Criminal“ Bass

This is our first look at the bass sound on “Smooth Criminal” from Michael Jackson’s Bad album. In this video, former New England Digital (.) product specialist Kevin Maloney explains how he sampled a muted piano on the Synclavier that was later used as the key ingredient in the actual bass sound for the final recording session. Michael was looking for something unusual from Kevin and the piano sample performed out of range on the keyboard perfectly fit the request. Kevin breaks down that piano sample and demonstrates how some other components were later added for support such as a sampled Minimoog bass sound. A mock up of Synclavier drum samples similar to those used on the final version of the song are included in this video as accompaniment. Kevin also shows off some sequencer and sampling tricks that are particularly unique to the Synclavier. 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. Instagram: Website: Tiktok: @anthonymarinellimusic_t=8bgX8hhZ5gs&_r=1 Wikipedia: IMDb: