How I Programmed The Synth Opening On Michael Jackson's Thriller: Prophet 5 Pt.1 

Can't believe you are the guy who programmed it. You are a legend, Sir. Thanks for sharing 🔥👏

Just in case there might be (few) people that have just landed here and don't know yet: this is not a man who programmed a sound like on MJ's "Thriller"; This is the man that did it on the original recording :-) .

This has been my favorite synth channel as of late. You’re one of the best in that field yet you’re so humble. And I love how most of your patches are simple yet effective and have become iconic. Cheers!

Nice! I could always hear 3 layers on that intro (real brass, analog synth brass, and some kind of pipe organ-like sound) but I wouldn't have guessed there were 2 analog synth brasses. And once again I appreciate you walking through how the sound was programmed step-by-step. My favorite thing about the 80s was almost every record having unique programmed sounds and I'd love to see that make a comeback.

What an absolute classic. To witness the magic unfold here is surreal, and it's inspiring. Appreciate this insight and musical teaching.

Love how people with massive skills often tend to be very down to earth. Thank you for these videos!

Wonderfully clear and precise explanation. It’s rare to watch a video like this without 10 minutes of waffle before we get down to it. Thank you.

What you are doing for the synthesizer fans community is BEYOND WORDS . Especially for me who have collected for 25 years old the synths/samplers used on songs i like from 70s to now to play them accurately live. Keep doing these videos: it s like a museum for next generations and you will reach very quickly more than one million subscribers . Thank u so much , you are a living legend. Cheers from France . Philippe

Awesome! You’re not only a musician with legendary cred, you’re also an excellent teacher. These two abilities are not often manifested in the same artist. It’s a beautiful thing. Thank you for sharing with us all!

Thank you so much for these videos! I’m always nerding out about the synth sounds on Michael’s records, especially the Quincy years. It would be amazing to hear more about the process of working with them on these sounds.

Brother we love you for these lessons. Education from the industry pros!

"That's the breakdown of the PROPHET at the opening of Michael Jackson's Thriller." Anthony popped up on the internet, seemingly out of nowhere, with a mission to humbly and respectfully remind gear heads like me that we are, in fact, using the internet and therefore should not believe everything we read. I wasn't blessed with golden ears, but I guess it makes sense now as to why the sound never quite felt the same when I listened to others try and reproduce it on the Jupiter 8 alone. I'm sitting here smiling and playing this patch that I just dialed into my own P5 rev 3 that sounds closer to the Thriller intro than any other patch I've ever heard. Thank you, Anthony.

This IS the video.Thank you very much, Michael. The Jupiter had the tone to me, didn't guess the Prophet was in too.

You. Are. A. Legend. ✨ We are indebted to these tutorials, Anthony!

these sounds are beautiful , it was great that they were layered to give that punch and final form in a thriller , thank you for your kindness in showing us this

Amazing that being born in 1985, I remember hearing some of Michael Jackson's songs growing up. And now 2024 I'm seeing a behind the scenes peek at how some of it was made. I'm an old school old soul kinda guy, so this brings back some memories

We all hope to heck you don't get bored of these videos, Anthony. Bless you.

Always excited when you release a new video. Im like a child watching a magician revealing his tricks. Its incredible to finally have answers after all these years about how that legendary track was made. The sound you created has been heard all around the world. Its quite something!

I just found your channel & wow! It brings me back to when I bought my first Roland synth (1982) which was the same year I bought the Thriller album (along with the extended remix singles). Your tutorials are second to none! Bravo!

The Prophet and Jupiter complement each other wonderfully.

So amazing to be able to see how all this is done :) MJ was a huge part of my teen years as I was getting into music.

This video is a gift for a MJ fan like me. Sir thank you sharing this information. You are a Legend ❤

Thank you so much for this video ❤. Thriller is my favorite album so far and I'm a huge fan of Prophet 5 & Jupiter 8 Synth. Now I know why !

Thank you. Very down to earth video by the Real Person who created the original sounds. Thank You from a 67 yr old MJ fan and all audio aficionado from India.

I’m in awe on how an iconic sound got molded

thats crazy how many layers you've used and it just sounds so good! I have always thought that it was just jupither, thanks for making theese videos

Goes to show not all rules are rules. just guidelines. With this sound the oscillators are at the same volume, yet in other tutorials you showed us the benefits of favouring one osc over the other. My goodness am I so happy you are sharing your knowledge Wow, seriously, this guy was THERE!

When you put the sound together, did you ever think it could be so iconic?

I always assumed this was done JUST a Jupiter-8 with a fair amount of processing. Really cool to know how it was done, it's such a huge opening onslaught to start a song out with, and Thriller is that perfect song for it.

I have been enthralled countless times listening to your music and now you're here just showing us how you did it. What a privilege. Thanks.

This has answered a question I’ve had for years. I always thought the sound was just a JP8 tracked a bunch of times. Amazing! Thanks so much.

Incredible. Thank you so much for this look BTS.

History of these sounds and the way you are explaining them is amazing. Thank you for that.

It's so good and so classic that I guess everyone hears the bassline coming in, even if the bassline never comes in. Really cool, and thanks for sharing the prozess

These videos are a true gem. Thank you for sharing.

We are in the presence of greatness.

been waiting for this

One of the best Tracks ever 🎉🎉

Wow! All this time I thought it just the jupiter 8 by itself. Not knowing the famous Prophet 5 (love the Prophet) add to that sound. You must’ve had a ball working on that record. Thanks. Keep ‘em coming.😌🎶🎹👍🏾

These breakdowns are so fascinating!

Dropping gems as always. Love these videos

This series is perfect. Thank you!

So you are the genious behind Micheals music...Incredible stuff...Genious...

I love the little tips which seem almost ancillary to the main video but which are super useful in and of themselves! On the surface it’s a singular sound design tutorial, but you dropped that little nugget about making sure each layer has its own niche and character so they don’t clash in the mix. Because when you’re playing live it’s very tempting to make every sound tick all the boxes just by itself. But you gotta bear the mix in mind and stay focused! I’ve been playing instruments live for like 20 years at this point (not professionally but habitually) and it’s only since covid that I’ve been interested in making actual tracks rather than just recording a single performance as-is. And there’s such a gap in mindset to bridge! Like I’d thought my experience playing in eg a brass ensemble would help guide in-box instrument mixing but it turns out I was taking a lot of the physics there for granted. In the mix I have to recreate those again from individually mic’d instruments and it’s a lot to get my head around! So this stuff is definitely really invaluable.

An absolute gift. Thank you!

Amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this :)

I really enjoy this series. It's a perfect mix of length, information and entertainment. Cheers from Sweden!

What a beautiful demo, thanks for posting!

Epic stuff brother, thanks so much!

Anthony...you are LEGEND!

this gold. Thank you so much!

Your videos are so awesome. I love hearing what you're thinking as you're dialing in a sound. Its gold!

amazing! thanks for making this type of content!

Yet another excellent tutorial on synthesis, can't wait to hear the rest of the layers,thanks Anthony 💞

Legendary! 💚🌟

Anthony is a sound design LEGEND! Love this!

Love this series and your clear and pleasant explanation of your art! Thanks, Anthony!

I can’t believe I just found this channel. Synth guys are the coolest geeks in all the land. Massive thanks! ✊🍷🎩🎩🎩

Thank you for these videos. 👍❤️

I hope you are overloaded with offers to work on future classic albums with great artists. Thank you for sharing your talent and wisdom with the world.

I always learn something from each of your videos. Thank you for making them!

Thank you so much Anthony, so kind from you to share one part of your knowledge and skills

Love your stuff always!

In fact, I am very proud that there are media personalities like you who interact with their audience, like liking the comments of ordinary people.

This Is Golden Thanks For Sharing

You are doing really amazing things on your youtube channel! Love these really detailed and clear explanations...Thank you!

I really like that prophet sound and you are amazing.

Thank you for sharing!

AWESOME! The imperfections with your Prophet 5 gave me a good giggle. All in good fun though. 😀

I'm a musician from Finland and I really appreciate that you're doing this. You've played an important role in creating some of the best songs in music history. I've been watching many of your synthesizer videos and I finally got around to writing a comment. We need more people like you who really know what they're talking about. One of the many things I like is that your videos have clearly shown the importance of envelopes, especially for the filter's cutoff. (We're also paying attention... It's the sustain level that you're talking about after 4:32 of course.) I'm really into synthesizers myself. I also felt a need to write a couple of synth tutorials on some comment sections. I've been interested in sound creation for quite a long time. The possibility of creating "your own instruments" fascinates me. I loved all those wonderful synthesizer sounds I heard as a kid in the early 1980s. I remember reading names like Andy Richards from various album credits where he was working as a synthesizer programmer. I'd also been admiring the work of Trevor Horn and Anne Dudley. Steve Porcaro is also one of them and there's many more. I started with an organ (a really cheap model) as a kid. It took me quite a while to acquire some great analog synths but now, 40 years later, I'm happy with what I have. I really like my Yamahas, like the CS-15 and the SK 30 and I have a soft spot for Teisco synths (the 100P model was my first analog synth). The newer ones I really like are Novations, like the Bass Station II and the Supernova II. I was also surprised how well designed and quite capable the small Yamaha Reface CS was. (There's nothing wrong with "virtual analog".) You can do amazing things with even a tiny little synthesizer. What I love in many of these musical instruments is the ergonomic hands-on control. The ability to quickly change the sound while you're still playing is a really valuable thing. I wish the later 1980s synths were like that. Anyway, I've probably written enough. I'm always looking forward to watching your videos. Take care and I hope you're having a great day.

Yes!! Keep these videos coming!! I'm working on an MJ tribute theater project right now and this is soo helpfull!

This deserves a million views!

Cool! This is a good lesson for kids starting out. It's all about finding sounds that fits together in music. That's a talent in itself and you guys really did it with Thriller!

This is the best synth channel. I'm subscribed to a lot. It's mostly thing I watch(production synth /synth reviews). This channel is special.❤❤❤❤❤

Awesome, I programmed my vintage ARP 2600 and LinnDrum from your last videos now I can’t wait to try this! Thanks so much for sharing!

I just recreate a thriller on my computer and it helps a lot. As far as I know, jupiter-8, cs-80 were used there in the intro itself. But I don't know what was used in the initial start (jupiter-8 was definitely used). Your videos help me a lot! Thank you. In fact, like many others, I thought that the bass was made at a minimoog, but 5 months ago I saw your channel, and was shocked by some information .. for example, the fact that the bass is just the ARP2600.

Thanks Anthony I just did this on my Novation synth and it sounds super clean!

I LOVED listening and learning about music production. Congratulations

So dope!

Thank you so much again for explaining 💪🏽🔥

Brilliant 🎶

Best new synth channel since Alex Ball.

im looking forward to ur pt3 of this series!!

What a time to be alive! Being taught sound design by the legends while on the other side of the world.

RU-vid was made for legends like you to document genius, thanks for making the effort dude 👍

Cool... I can try this on my Prophet 6. I am a huge fan of you and your work.

Dude, you're awesome.

Wow thank you so much for this! I always wondered how that sound was accomplished.

Amazing , the layeyring was already a game changer méthode of music production !! Thanks to share the Genius of quincy to make a dream team like that !! What a wonderful d’aventure than to say : « I did it , i was on the team of the buffet must have album of pop music of all Time !! » 👏👏👏👏

Brilliant

Hey thanks Anthony! For years I’ve seen people on forums and other RU-vid videos arguing about what did what on that part of the song

Awesome! Looking forward to hearing the other synths (and then them combined?)

Thank you Tony. I'll try it on my Prophet 600.

so cool

excellent

Proud to be the 1,000th like.

Dude this is sooo cool!! The only thing that I think would be cooler is having young Trent Reznor breakdown every sound on every song on The Downward Spiral

Thanks a lot ❤ God bless you!

Great videos.