Michael Jackson "Off the Wall" Background Vocals Deconstructed 

His voice was actually an instrument.

And this is exactly why I think that the Off The Wall album was better then Thriller in my opinion. Thriller is a close second for me. This is how a master singer does the craft of making a fantastic album that even by today’s standards is still far ahead of it’s time! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Those stacked harmonies are sick! MJ knew his intervals well...You can tell that he was really fast in the studio too...No appearance of any struggling.

The last chorus is literally giving me goosebumps. And these are PRE-AUTOTUNE. Legendary.....

You can hear the huge influence he's had on Brandy and Beyonce and of course his sister Janet. Some of the best vocal stacks in the WORLD!

pre-autotune......voice control is insane as well to sound like this without compression...he is an audio engineer's dream Can't help but to ponder what I could do with his voice if I had him in the studio. truly amazing

He’s voice was so insane.pure magic.

his vibrato is INSANE, i got major operatic vibes from the harmonies and the fact that they are harmonies and not vocals themselves just shows how great he was

He truly deserved his “King of Pop” title

I would pay good money for the full uncut stems of his vocal recording sessions. I love that kind of stuff, and when it's an artist as legendary as Michael, it holds that much more significance.

So what intrigued me about Michael Jackson was his vocals. Everyone is always talking about his Dancing. This was the reason why I got into Michael and wanted to pursue a career in the music industry. At least in Production. It was the Off The Wall Album that really did it for me back then in my early teens. Quincy Jones and his engineer Bruce Swedien did a fantastic job capturing the essence of Michael back in 1979. I would listen to the Off The Wall album intensely and read the credits. It said he did all his vocals. I was fascinated by that. I used to listen real intense particular to the song title of the album. Now you can hear it right on You tube years later. You can hear the process of how he laid them beautiful vocals. Off The Wall is a classic solo album debut for an Artist of his caliber at that time. It was a homerun.

Damn! He did all the background singing! WOW!!! ALL VOCALS SOUNDS AMAZING

his precise timing is insane. the length of the notes in the harmonies are the exact same. i know, ha was a dancer, he must have had an inner metronome, but this is beyond perfect. thanks for posting this deconstructed harmonies, simply amazing!

I didn't realize that much work went into recording a song when you do all the vocals yourself. Like, that's crazy difficult to hit those different notes. Amazingly impressive.

His vocal layering 🤯🤯🤯

He had such amazing pitch .....what beautiful harmonies.... Michael was such a good singer

he resembles Mozart, this one was able to compose an entire work in his mind before committing the piece to the paper... both geniuses in their own field!!!

I don’t know why this made me emotional. I grew up in Gary, IN in the 70s and 80s, attending a school 4 blocks from their house. MJJ was a lifeline for me. I had a very hard childhood and I would escape through music, especially his. He became my best friend and confidant, even if only in my head. His heart was beautiful and his soul was innocent. He was talented and a genius musically. I miss him so much.

The fact that this was “just another day at work” for Mike is fucking insane🤦🏾‍♂️🐐

MJ was a pure genius! His work ethic was untouchable, he never cheated us with music!!

This man was gifted beyond comprehension!

I always had a suspicion that MJ used his voice like that in the intro of this song, it's partly what makes it sound so beautiful

3:47 this is where the magic happens. With michael, you dont need instruments, his voice makes up for it.

The most rythmic human being that ever lived

I would hear MJ vocalize instrumentals in other songs but seeing it like this is crazy! I thought that the intro was a keyboard 🎹😂 this comes to show how extremely talented he was and how much dedication, hard work and passion he put into his music 🎶🔥

The word genius is thrown around WAY too much these days this is a genius

Being your own barbershop quartet is incredibly difficult . Mike was otherworldly with this!

I've already watched the thriller one a million times, and i've actually really hoped to see something like this for off the wall!!! i love these videos :)) his backing vocals were always extremely well done

The only other stacking of vocal harmonies video I’ve seen and heard that’s on par with the mastery in this one was Marvin Gaye’s harmonies for the song “I Want You”.

I enjoyed this. There is childhood, teenhood, and adulthood memories attached to that man's voice. 😥

Please make more harmonies that haven’t been heard like this one ❤️

This was so beautiful I never realized what sounded like background singers were all layers of just him.

That fact that you can enjoy just his voice without a single drum, guitar, etc, just proves how incredible his vocals and harmonies really were! Outstanding!👍🏽

This is gold to me. I love figuring out harmonies to help me construct my own.

“Off The Wall” was a music industry game changer. At the time because of the rebellion against Disco/ Dance music many record executives didn’t know what direction to go in. This album helped change that. MJ and Quincy had a clear vision and accomplished it. “Thriller” benefited from the emergence of MTV and MJ’s performance on the Motown 25 special. As well as obviously more of a “Pop” or even commercial feel. Both incredible albums!

He himself was pure music; the voice, the instruments, in every aspect. Can’t be denied at all. 🙏🏾🔥❤️

To this day this is still my favorite Michael Jackson song. When I first heard it as a kid I just couldn't get enough, it made me so excited for life. The freedom, the energy, the excitement, I wanted to grow up so I could live life off the wall! And amazingly, this was the first full album I ever bought, and as I was walking home from the mall, I was so excited by the purchase that I ran across the street without looking and was hit by a car. Everything went in slow motion as I tumbled over the roof of the car and saw the album flying out of my hand like a Frisbee. I wasn't worried about myself, all I could think of was _'Oh No! My album!'_ - fortunately the album was fine, I was bruised up and in pain but recovered.

Ho…ly….crap!!! 🤯🤯 man I love these videos!!! 🙌🏾🔥his voice is magic! @ 2:10

The stacking of these vocals and the harmonies 🔥even the adlibs were in perfect tune🙏🐐 words can’t describe the level of talent Mj had. Mj, R. Kelly, and Marvin Gaye had the best ears for Melodies ever created in music.

that was my guy! mj rip MJJ

This has ALWAYS been my favorite song for the richest harmonies I've ever heard, let alone from ONE PERSON. I wasn't even 5 years old when this came out, and I remember being blown away when I first heard it, and even more and more as my ear developed. Thank you for this breakdown.

Just beautiful, even just his phrasing... the way that he says 'tonight' gives me shivers

Michael Joseph Jackson. Greatest Of All Time. Legendary. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Always thought OTW was easily his top 3 albums . This was a young MJ just having fun experimenting with his voice. And thats why imo deserved more recognition back in those days.

Thanks it's so good to have that point of view of Michael's work with his team👌

Even though I know and love this song a lot. It being one of my fav MJ songs, 0:56 gave me a jump scare 💀💀💀

I've been composing/performing/singing most of my life and MJ is a true rare natural talent. He didn't play in instrument. I doubt he knew anything about chords or music theory. He just knew "if I sing this note it's going to fit." This song has an interesting chord progression. A lot of 7ths, bass root changes, and one key change. It's not an easy song to harmonize with. I'd probably have to write out the harmonies on piano first. MJ didn't need to do that. I could sit down at a piano and score something out for an orchestra, which MJ could never do, but I'd never be able to come up with something half as good as what he can do just by singing the parts without any real knowledge of what he's actually singing. It's almost depressing that someone can be THAT freaking talented.

3:49 Just blew mind. The man was a genius and the greatest musician I’ve known during my lifetime.

Background vocals are my favorite parts of songs lol this is PERFECT!!!

Shows how important stacking is. Hear how full everything sound. This is amazing

That’s why he is the greatest freaking amazing

Now that's how you stack some vocals!!! What an amazing musical treasure to learn from!! I love me some Michael Jackson!!

I’m begging you to do Liberian girl

Oh My God he is Amazing with the Harmonies 💯❤

That was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!

We want more mj harmonies! Thanks for uploading! 🙌

This is more than amazing! No words to describe this perfection

Micheal Jackson was a showman and wanted to create a total experience with his dancing and singing so his vocal abilities usually weren't the focus of his adult solo career when it came to critics, but if you listen to songs like "Got to Be There" you can hear how stunningly powerful his voice was! Later, he would be focused on bringing a complete vision to his audience via short-form films (dubbed music videos), but he still made sure his finished vocal recordings were polished to perfection. I'm so amazed and blissed out by the acapella and backing vocal videos that I've found on _RU-vid_ of his songs. *It's almost like I never really heard them before!*

Possibly one of the best uploads to YT... superb! MJ is a different gravy.. 10/10

Love your Videos they show how talented Michael was.

Amazing. I always liked his background vocals in the chorus. This post was really enjoyable. Nice to hear each harmony separately then all together.

Insane, to see the process and the amount of work and skill invested there…. 🙏 MJ

The stacking of MJs vocals never cease to leave me awe. Also Marvin Gaye.

My favorite Michael Jackson song

This man was made of out of music! Peace!

Amazing voice work! Above, it's the sun! Thank's for this wonderful sharing.👍💪

Brilliant! Quincy Jones said Michael was great to work with because he wasn't lazy and worked hard. He did his homework and walked in the studio ready to lay down those vocals. Studio recording is expensive. No time for dilly-dallying around with different approaches to creating a song and it's vibe. Michael was ready and eager! Also, Michael was still on tour with his brother's promoting the "Destiny" album (1978. Off the wall was released 1979). On his days off touring, he'd fly back to Los Angeles and work with Quincy on "Off the Wall". He was really burning his candle at both ends, but he was extremely ambitious and wanted off the wall to be a success, and it was!

This is unbelievable how you break his voice down to different tracks. Fascinating!

The 'Boss' Rod Temperton doing his best Heatwave harmonies for Michael. Top Draw.

That’s crazy he sounds like a violin smh amazing

I love this channel never leave!

This is what putting in the work sounds like

amazing!! please make more of these

THE MASTER !

Unbelievable Magic at it's BEST.... Love and miss you MJ

thank you so much for uploading this! 🧡

Speechless.. and this is my favorite sone from him... He was one of one... mastered the studio and then mastered the performance.. He really was meticulous in all aspects of his craft

never stop uploading these

The absolute master of utilizing harmony! 🙏🎶

Greatest artist of all time.

Man's voice was insane..

How did you get Michael Jackson tracked out vocals?! 🤯

The perfect pitch and vibrato is just insane! No auto tune here, just natural God given talent!

THIS WAS FREAKING INCREDIBLE!!!!

Michael Jackson era e sempre será o artista perfeito

Exquisite! 💗

Nice post! Michael was a musical genius and that window into his process is awesome! Thanks!

My favorite video now! Whoa!

I love this song so much. It is one of my favorite Michael's songs, and when you listen to something like that it's impossible to not see how wonderful artist this man was. Seriously.

A musical Genius knowing his craft! We miss you Michael Jackson one of a kind!

This video is amazing. Off the wall is my favorite album for This exact reason, it’s a masterpiece!!

2:48 i screamed tf

Now imagine doing that with reels of tape on a machine

👋👋👋👋👋 TWELVE PART HARMONY! I was in chorus for 8 years straight in school. This is beautiful.

This is amazing. Thanks for posting.

I’ve been looking for this video for so long

Amazing 😍

AINT NOBODY F@$king with MICHAEL JACKSON!🗣️🎶🎶🎶

This is amazing ❤️🔥 He’ll always be the best to ever do it!

Brilliant blending.