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WHAT.
The MJ Project is a tribute to the music of Michael Jackson. By combining some of his popular songs, our goal was to make a mix that showcased not only his music, but reflect the history of his existence.
WHO.
The MJ Project team includes Basil Attar, executive producer, and Terence Tang, executive sound technician and webmaster. Together, they worked long and hard to produce what they felt represented The King of Pop.
WHERE.
The MJ Project was produced in the ACTLAB (Advanced Communication Technologies Laboratory) at the University of Texas. The ACTLAB is a state-of-the-art realm of creation complete with a quadrophonic sound system, top-of-the-line Apple G4s and Dell PCs, full theatrical lighting, and an ambience that personal experience cannot even describe.
CONCEPTS.
The world is moving from analog to digital technology. With the development of these technologies, old technologies such as cassette tapes have begun to phase out of our lives. The turntable is one such technology that has been kept alive by the DJ culture, which is growing more and more popular each second. Since turntables are a necessity for this culture, and compact discs have become the dominant music medium of today, companies such as Pioneer have developed cd players that attempt to mimic the tactibility of turntables. People refer to "feeling the music" in an emotional sense; the DJ must also "feel the music" in a physical sense in order to comfortably produce mixes.
Thus, one of the challenges of this project is to produce a purely digital mix, using only a computer program. This may not seem like a challenge, but ask any DJ and they will tell you that mixing on the computer can be a bitch because you can't manipulate the music the same way as with turntables.
INSPIRATION.
Since Basil was a child, he has been fascinated by Michael Jackson's music, dance, and performance art. Watching and studying his every move, Basil soon learned how to dance like MJ, mastering moves such as the famous Moonwalk and side Moonwalk. The only thing that Basil felt was missing was a mix of all of his songs; not only one that sounded good, but one that reflected his performance energy and impact on the world. This became Basil's inspiration for the MJ Sound Project.
Terence, a DJ with 8 years' practice under his belt, never hesitates at the opportunity to work on a music remix. He has done several mixes and remixes for various shows, but the MJ Sound Project was a new challenge because he had never mixed anything like it before. Another challenge that presented itself was to do a mix that was purely digital, using no tactile mixing equipment such as turntables or even professional DJ cd players. Terence gladly accepted these challenges.
TECHNIQUES.
There were two main programs used in the project: Peak and Pro Tools, both available in Macintosh format. The music tracks were imported into Peak as mp3 files, spliced in carefully-selected areas, and sent over to Pro Tools, where the multi-track interface was extremely useful. Each song that was included into the mix was cut short to include only some intro beats, a chorus, and an outro. The songs were connected by various transitions, as can be heard in the final mix.
FINAL MIX.
Click here to hear the final mix of the MJ Sound Project.