I still use it and Michael did all his vocals on that drum platform. 'That's John Robinson playing drums on my drum platform. Then, I'd put this cover on and the mic goes inside through a zipper opening in the cover, then you zip it up tight and turn it on and the rest is history.' 2. I used to take the front head of the kick drum off and place a couple of real heavy cinder blocks inside to hold it still and weight it. 'I tried a bunch of new things in recording the drums on Michael's record - I had a kick drum cover made. So direct with a module and everything - boy it was killer. Like Roland with the 808 it has bottom end like you wouldn't believe and if you put that through a speaker it's all gone. Also, a lot of these drum machines have a lot of low end. 'We DI'd every drum machine to get away from secondary pick-up and reflected sound inside the room. We actually used it a lot on the Brothers Johnson record, and we were using it at that time on Michael's record as well. There's some drum machines and some live drums and other things. 'That track is about Michael's brothers' wives and how they were always creating trouble - that was his inspiration. One thing with Westlake Audio was that they knew the value of maintaining the gear.' Thriller track-by-track with Bruce Swedien 1. When I record somewhere, I have a collection of 105 microphones - every microphone in there I bought new and no one else has ever used it. 'The room you record in is just as important as the mics. 'I love that studio - it's just fantastic,' he says. Thriller was recorded at Westlake Audio in LA, where Bruce had previously worked. They are so musical - and the passion for quality that we share has made working on these projects - especially Thriller - very easy.' Working with Michael and Quincy is easy as pie. Speaking to Bruce, it seems like the album almost flowed out of the studio: 'With Michael, there weren't any difficult tracks to mix. Also, I never remember recording Michael with the lyrics in front of him. Michael was never late for a session - if anything he would be early. I don't think there are a lot of artists who do that.' He would stay up the night before memorising the song or songs we were about to record.

'Michael was never late for a session - if anything he would be early. Quincy is such a remarkable man to work with - and Michael too. 'All we did was follow Quincy Jones down the path to the greatest music we could possibly make and with a passion for details.

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