The Dangerous album demos production

[Mr. Norway]

I have some questions about the production on the Dangerous album demos that are circulating. Obviously I am talking about the studio demos, like In The Closet, Give In To Me, What About Us, Who Is It and so on. Hope someone can tell me:

- Which instruments are used on the demos? Is it just drum programmed beats and synth pads and keyboards or are there additional instruments on top?

- How much extra is added from these very professional sounding studio demos to the final versions that ended up on the album? How much have they done with it? (Except of course mastering and so on)

- Does the heavily synthpad-based production style used on the Dangerous album have a name, or how would you describe the sound / feel / production to someone? PS! I´m not talking about "New-Jack Swing".

Hope someone can help me with this, it would be very helpful to know.

 

[Nighty]

Well, for your first question about instruments I would say the easiest thing you could do is to check the linear notes for the album (you know, the little booklet you get with the CD, or the sleeves on the vinyl). Every musicians input on the tracks are there. It also depends on what songs specifically you're talking about. All the songs on the Dangerous album are 90% based around electronic sounds (synthesizers) but there are some acoustic sounds on some songs (Give In To Me has electric guitars and real drums, Who Is It has real violins thrown in there).


And about how extra is on the album version compared to the demos: well the easiest thing would be to carefully listen to the demos and compare to the finalized tracks. Michael has obviously some alternate vocals on the demos that were perfected on the final songs. Beyond that there are small differences depending on which song you're talking about.The demo of Who Is It has not recorded the violin parts at the ending yet, and Mike's beatbox outro is not there yet but the ending is extended and was eventually cut. The Give In To Me demo has not yet had Slash come in and lay down his guitar parts.. Use your ears carefully is what I would say and compare..

And about what the sound of the production is called: you have pretty much answered that yourself even if your not looking for that answer - it is called New Jack Swing. The sound was produced during a place in time where hip-hop was getting rather big but wasn't getting as much attention around globe as everything else. Teddy Riley experimented around with a concept of blending soulful harmonies with the heavy attitude of hip-hop. By adding heavy syncopation to rythm (and old jazz rule) with various synth percussion, heavy beats but still implement singing to it became a style he named "New Jack Swing". The whole Dangerous album in a whole is considered New Jack. It's the easiest way of describing the sound without having to drag out an explaination (like saying "it has very snappy drums, very hip hop inspired beats, lots of electronic keys.. etc). It's like trying to explain Rock or Opera to someone without using the words Rock or Opera.. Anyways check out some more 90's hip hop acts (New Jack Swing acts really) and you'll learn some more about why New Jack sounds the way it does (early R. Kelly, TLC, Bell Bev DeVoe, Babyface)..

Hope this helped somewhat...

 

[Mr. Norway]

Well, for your first question about instruments I would say the easiest thing you could do is to check the linear notes for the album (you know, the little booklet you get with the CD, or the sleeves on the vinyl). Every musicians input on the tracks are there. It also depends on what songs specifically you're talking about. All the songs on the Dangerous album are 90% based around electronic sounds (synthesizers) but there are some acoustic sounds on some songs (Give In To Me has electric guitars and real drums, Who Is It has real violins thrown in there).


And about how extra is on the album version compared to the demos: well the easiest thing would be to carefully listen to the demos and compare to the finalized tracks. Michael has obviously some alternate vocals on the demos that were perfected on the final songs. Beyond that there are small differences depending on which song you're talking about.The demo of Who Is It has not recorded the violin parts at the ending yet, and Mike's beatbox outro is not there yet but the ending is extended and was eventually cut. The Give In To Me demo has not yet had Slash come in and lay down his guitar parts.. Use your ears carefully is what I would say and compare..

And about what the sound of the production is called: you have pretty much answered that yourself even if your not looking for that answer - it is called New Jack Swing. The sound was produced during a place in time where hip-hop was getting rather big but wasn't getting as much attention around globe as everything else. Teddy Riley experimented around with a concept of blending soulful harmonies with the heavy attitude of hip-hop. By adding heavy syncopation to rythm (and old jazz rule) with various synth percussion, heavy beats but still implement singing to it became a style he named "New Jack Swing". The whole Dangerous album in a whole is considered New Jack. It's the easiest way of describing the sound without having to drag out an explaination (like saying "it has very snappy drums, very hip hop inspired beats, lots of electronic keys.. etc). It's like trying to explain Rock or Opera to someone without using the words Rock or Opera.. Anyways check out some more 90's hip hop acts (New Jack Swing acts really) and you'll learn some more about why New Jack sounds the way it does (early R. Kelly, TLC, Bell Bev DeVoe, Babyface)..

Hope this helped somewhat...

- Nighty, thank you very much for your answer. It did help and your answer, if I understand it correctly, actually clears something up for me. Because I have always thought that "New Jack Swing" was only the name on the beats of the production - not the production all-in-one with the whole instrumentation. That means that, just like you say, that if you say to a producer that you would like a "New Jack swing" sound on the music you get a Dangerous album sounding feel with all from the beats to the synth driven instrumentation. Great, then I don`t need another name on it of course

As for looking in the album booklet for the credits I have done that. But my point was just that there is no booklet for the demos and which instruments are used on them compared to the finished album songs. I certainly have listened very carefully many times to both the demos and finished tracks but I just wanted to know if anyone actually knows the how much that was added and done from the demo stage to finished products - because it`s not always that easy to hear everything.

Anyway, your answer helped a lot! Thanx.