MJ’s Thriller Frog Bass - The Search

video upload by Anthony Marinelli Music

"In this video, Anthony begins a light-hearted search to uncover the mystery of the 'Frog Bass' sound that occurs during the break down section of Michael Jackson’s song - 'Thriller'. He’ll discuss why it was recorded, who played it and what the instrument was. Quincy and Michael were always looking for unusual ear-catching sounds during the making of Thriller. Since Quincy was a world class composer, arranger and orchestrator it made sense that he would want to introduce a new sound later in the song to keep the listener surprised. This bright edgy sound is much like adding a bassoon double to a contra-bass part in traditional orchestral music. It adds more presence to the bass part and makes it pop out of the speakers. Anthony meets with his long time friend Steven Ray (co-host of Michael Jackson’s Thriller Album Stories in the Room podcast) to hear his story about the “Frog Bass”. Steven tells us that Quincy had a Casiotone CT-401 and brought that instrument into the studio along with possibly some other portable Casio keyboards to record the “Frog” preset. Anthony also heard that James Ingram may have suggested the sound or it could have been Rod Temperton that had the idea. We know for sure that it was played by Michael’s keyboardist Greg Phillinganes. Anthony confirmed this with Greg, but he was unsure of the actual keyboard model. The search to find more information about this zany sound will continue on this channel until we have exhausted conversations with everyone that was in the room during the making of Thriller. The lesson here is that interesting sounds are all around us and don’t always require expensive vintage synthesizers or even today’s state-of-the-art plugin instruments. Sometimes what we need is sitting right in front of us. And when we use our imaginations in this way, we may stumble upon something remarkable for decades of listeners to ponder.

In this series Anthony breaks down some of the most icons synthesizer patches that he programmed for Michael Jackson’s Thriller

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: https://instagram.com/anthonymarinell...

Website: www.anthonymarinelli.com"