Special Report1814: Rhythm of a NationFact: the American National Anthem was penned in 1814. And a better world through joint effort was surely likewise onJanet Jackson’s mind as she, Jam, and Lewis conspired on her hit album of 20 years ago, Rhythm Nation 1814.MOJO WORKING discovers the vein of ‘God Bless America’ that continues throughout.Released 20 years ago, JanetJackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814,the singer’s fourth studioalbum, confirmed the youngerJackson’s position in the rarifiedatmosphere already occupied byher brother Michael. Rhythm Nationbecame the only album in Billboard’shistory to spawn seven top five hitsingles (Michael, with Thriller, andBruce Springsteen, with Born in theUSA, had earlier achieved seven top10 singles) and is the only album tohave generated #1 Billboard hits inthree consecutive years: Miss YouMuch (1989), Escapade, and BlackCat (1990), and Love Will Never Do(Without You) (1991).Jimmy Jam (born James HarrisIII) and Terry Lewis, having verysuccessfully shepherded Janetthrough Control, her first albumproject with the production team,were the obvious choice for thefollow up. But this was not to be acarbon copy of the previous album.“It was sonically different and itwas certainly thematically different,”recalls Jam. “Even though herlast album was called Control, thiswas her breakthrough record as awriter, also.”The making of Rhythm Nation,which lasted six months, beginningin late 1988, took place during therelocation of the production team’sFlyte Tyme studios in Minneapolis.“It was the first to be mixed atthe new studio and the last tobe recorded at the old studio onNicolette Avenue,” says Jam.The old studio featured a singleroom with a Harrison MR4 console.With the pair working on multipleprojects simultaneously, a previouslyunused garage space hadbecome a second room, outfittedwith a Harrison Raven. Jam wasin the smaller room working on asong when Janet walked in andasked who it was for. “I said, ‘you’,”Jam recollects. “I pointed at a keyon one of the keyboards, a stringpart, and said, ‘press that’.She ended up playing the stringpart on the chorus of the song thatbecame Miss You Much. That wasthe start of the record.”It was during the songwritingphase that the project began toevolve into a socially consciousconcept album, according to Jam.“We would always have the TV onin the lounge, and we started gettingreally affected by whatwe were watching on CNN orwhatever was on.”If Janet got stuck on a lyric,Lewis, busy also supervising thestudio relocation, would step in,says Jam. “We had come up withthe theme for Livin’ In A World (TheyDidn’t Make). Janet knew what shewanted to say but couldn’t figureout how to say it. Terry walked inwith wallpaper and carpet samples.I gave him the concept and heproceeded, in about 15 minutes,to bang out the lyrics.”The typical Flyte Tyme writingprocess often began with arhythm track. Control had utilisedLinn Drum, but the producers,ever eager to use new technology,brought in an Emulator SP-12sampler/drum machine for the newalbum. “I set it up and started messingaround, heard some sounds Iliked, and we ended up cutting thetrack to what would become LoveWill Never Do, Escapade, and MissYou Much,’” says Jam. As for the restof the tracks, “We would trigger differentsounds but the beats wouldbe sequenced on the Linn Drum.[Engineer] Steve [Hodge] wouldeven sometimes plug in a differentdrum sound for a section of a songduring mixing.”Other than for rhythm patterns,the pair eschewedsequencers.“If you listen tothe beginning ofRhythm Nation,for instance, withall the starts andstops, I was justturning thedrum machineon and off.Even the progressionsweren’t four bars– one would be three, one wouldbe five and a half. We then wentback and figured out how to fillthe spaces, with a vocal sample ora sound effect, to make it unique,”says Jam.“At that time, we always playedbass together,” comments Lewis.“It’s a feel we like, bass andkeyboard bass together.” Jam’skeyboard bass parts on songs suchas State Of The World and Alrightwere played on the recentlyintroduced Korg M1.The pair took a low-techapproach to flying in backgroundsand vocal samples with a PublisonInfernal Machine or AMS DMX1580, triggering events by hand.Two songs were also built usingsamples: Rhythm Nation, whichtook a guitar lick from Thank You(Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) by Sly& the Family Stone, and Alright,which sampled Think (About It) byLyn Collins. “I loved the idea of sampling.It gave another life to a reallygreat song. We were musicians, sowe looked at it as a musical thingrather than a crutch,” explains Jam.The new Flyte Tyme facilityfeatured Harrison Series 10 desks,among the first digitally automatedanalogue consoles. According toJam, “Steve did a bunch of automatedpanning. We were trying toget this urban, street sound, andto call attention to something wethrew it in one speaker then movedit to another. There were a lot of earcandy things like that.”The biggest challenge wasJanet’s voice, according to Jam:“We would create these big,aggressive, loud tracks for her, andshe has a soft voice.I always thought thatit was almost likeanother instrument,so it wasn’t aboutmaking it loud but justtucking it right into thatspot. Where Steve wasamazing was fitting hervocal in where it neededto be – we called himVocalmaster!”Apart from the title track, whichincludes other vocalists, and somelow harmonies from the producers,“She did 100 per cent of the vocals;she has a big range. We thoughtthat was important, because thatway it’s truly her record,” he adds.Plus, he says, “She’s not the kindof singer you sit and listen to, she’sthe kind of singer you sing alongwith. We would always stack theharmonies in order to bolster that.She worked really, really hard onthat album. There are some tremendousharmonies on Love WillNever Do, for instance, someamazing stuff.”A Jam and Lewis track wasn’tfinished until some final overdubswere added during mixdown(that’s still the case). “As much aswe liked the drum machine wealways tried to have some liveelements on the track. It mightbe a bell tree or wind chimes or avibraslap. It was the polish,” saysJam, who shares that they evencoined a phrase for those overdubs:“It wasn’t done until we hadadded ‘pings and zings.’”. ∫© Copyright Mojo Working International2009. All Rights Reserved.Thanks to Mojo WorkingInternational for putting this featuretogether. Mojo is a PR company forthe global recording, post,and creative markets.www.mojoworking.comLOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 04: Singer Janet Jackson presents the BMI Icon Award to her brothers at the 2008BMI Urban Awards held at the Wilshire Theatre on September 4, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.(Photo by Lester Cohen/WireImage, 2008)14AUDIO MEDIA JULY 2009
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