Paul Dakeyne

Michael Jackson - The Megamix Album

Posted on 26. Jun, 2009 by Paul Dakeyne in Music Non Stop

Last night’s sad news that Michael Jackson had passed away has of course tidal wave’d around the web today. My personal feelings on this great artist have already been expressed over at DV’s ‘Musical Notes’ blog, but it has brought to mind a ‘mix album’ I did very early on in my career. The ‘Michael Jackson Mix’ was initially a ‘bread and butter’ job for me.. that was until I began prepping the tracklist and I realised that the list of back catalogue (Motown) songs displayed an amazing youthful voice I’d not discovered to that date (my Michael Jackson interest kinda began from the late 70’s Jacksons ‘Can You Feel It’/'Shake Your Body Down To The Ground’ era).

The remit from the compilation album’s label (Stylus Records) was 2 sides of ‘Love Songs’ and 2 sides of ‘Dance Mix’. This work was commissioned prior to my access to samplers, multi-track recording and computer sequencing so all of the segue’s between tracks was done primarily with tape ‘bullet editing’ and secondly, good ol’ fashioned DJ crossfading with vinyl. I’ll be honest, doing a satisfactory mix between ‘Love Songs’ using this method occasionally left something to be desired. The ‘Dance Mix’es were of course more dynamic a beat ‘n tempo and therefore more conducive to the style I used.

So, this album has some production ‘highs’, ‘mediums’ and ‘lows’.. But, nonetheless, I got to mix up some M.J. tracks for a general public release, and in the process, discovered a Jackson era I’d totally missed in my early teens. Again.. RIP Michael xx ..

Tags: Megamix, Michael Jackson, Mix, Records, Stylus