When Michael Jackson decided to conceive the HIStory album, he set the
stage for musicians, engineers, producers and an arsenal of equipment to
come together to tackle the assignment of a lifetime: Creating HIStory.Barred up in the studio with one of the biggest-selling artists of all time, Jackson's crew spent months producing underscores and other musical elements for his latest release. Creating this absolute technological experience required some of the best programmers in the industry utilizing only the highest quality equipment available. Employing an arsenal of keyboards and sound modules, Jackson's crew sought numerous E-mu® products and libraries to be included their electronic armada.
Seven EIII's, two EIV's, and one e64 were only some of E-mu's contributions to Jackson's fierce display of digital samplers. While in the studio Brad Buxer, Jackson's tour director and primary programmer, has been known to run as many as seven EIII's, fully expanded to 32MB RAM, with an optional sampling board, 105 MB internal HD and external 128MB MO drive - blasting out the creative environment Michael insists on.
"Of primary importance to me is the eminent E-mu Emulator IV and the incredible E-mu sound libraries. We have many samplers, and access to their libraries as well, but none of these compare to E-mu's vast array of sounds or high output performance capabilities," explains Rob Hoffman, programmer and engineer for HIStory.
Regardless of whether you groove with the white glove, you can't help but marvel at the incredible technology utilized to captivate his tracks. Some of the best keyboardists, programmers, producers, and sound designers have worked on the creation of Michael's latest album, but with even the best talents being credited for the new material - HIStory could not have been created without the wonders of digital technology.
Holy Samplers Batman! Ever wonder where noise from a "Bat-Car" and "Bat-Jet" come from? How 'bout that "Bat-transport pod?"
This years' Batman Forever movie featured many cool "BatSounds" created by Lance Brown and E-mu's Emulator Four Professional Digital Sampler. Sound Storm Studios in Burbank was venue for the movie's post production and sound effects score. Using an EIV with 40MEGS of RAM and a Magneto Optical for storage, Brown built sounds for "Two-Face's" helicopter, the Riddler's various mind-bending contraptions and the ambient sounds that brought the "BatCave" to life.
To get the right effects needed for Batman's dream sequence scene, Brown needed to capture the sound of a rocket blast-off. Rather than take a trip to Cape Canaveral, Brown set up remote control rockets that ranged from four to twenty feet in height, and recorded them using mics mounted on a platform twenty five feet up. The guide wires used to stabilize the platform proved almost disastrous as they rattled and vibrated in high winds during the recording process. Brown says his EIV came to the rescue because he was able to isolate and remove those troublesome frequencies using the EIV's powerful filters. Brown feels that his EIV is a super-flexible tool that affords him versatile options not found in any other samplers he has used in the past.
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