The multitrack highlights Michael’s mastery of vocal arrangement. He stacked his own background vocals to sound like an entire choir.
: Jeff Porcaro's acoustic drum kit, the iconic "knock" sound (often cited as a person entering the studio or a knock on the guitar), and Michael's own "drum case beater" performance. Synths & Keyboards
Fun Fact: During Eddie's solo recording, the high-volume monitor speakers in the studio literally caught fire, prompting Bruce Swedien to yell, "This is really hot!"
Jackson was a master arranger of his own voice. The multitrack reveals that the lush, soaring choruses are comprised of dozens of layered vocal tracks. He meticulously tracked his own background harmonies, shifting from a rich tenor in the lower registers to piercing falsettos on the top end. When isolated, these harmonies sound like a secular gospel choir, perfectly synchronized in phrasing, vibrato, and cutoff points. The Vocal Percussion
Listening to the isolated solo track, you can hear the natural amplifier hiss and the distinct room acoustics of Sunset Sound. The stem also captures a legendary studio anomaly: right before the solo begins, a distinct knocking sound can be heard. For years, rumors claimed someone was knocking on the studio door. The multitrack clarifies that it was actually Eddie Van Halen tapping on the body of his guitar to check his signal before launching into his blistering, two-hand tapping runs. Michael Jackson’s Vocal Genius michael jackson beat it multitrack exclusive
Heavy, distorted, palm-muted riffs that bridge the gap between traditional R&B and hard rock.
The problem was immediate: by cutting the SMPTE time code on the tape, Van Halen had made it impossible to sync with the rest of the original multitrack recordings. Producer Quincy Jones was faced with a critical choice: re-record Michael Jackson’s perfect lead vocal or lose Eddie’s perfect guitar solo. He chose the latter, tasking Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro with an insane job: rebuild the entire instrumental track around the existing vocal and guitar solo.
The drum track is an airtight combination of human feel and machine precision:
Steve Lukather handled the heavy rhythm guitars. The isolated tracks show that Lukather tracked the main riff multiple times using a modified Marshall amplifier. By layering these takes and panning them hard left and hard right, he created a massive sonic barrier that gave the track its genuine heavy rock credibility. The Eddie Van Halen Solo Synths & Keyboards Fun Fact: During Eddie's solo
The background vocal stems reveal that Jackson sang almost all his own harmonies. He layered his voice dozens of times, using different distances from the microphone to create a natural acoustic chorus effect. The precision of his vocal doubling is staggering; every "hee-hee," gasp, and aggressive staccato delivery matches up perfectly across multiple tracks, creating a massive wall of vocal sound during the choruses. The Guitar Work: Lukather and Van Halen
Steve Lukather, guitarist for Toto, actually played the main bass line on a Fender Jazz Bass. In the isolated stems, you can hear the natural finger attack and subtle string noise of his performance. To add weight, electronic engineer Michael Boddicker doubled Lukather's performance using a Synclavier synthesizer bass. The digital sub-frequencies of the synth fused perfectly with the organic mid-range punch of the electric bass, creating a unified, powerful low-end foundation. The Vocals: Raw Energy and Sonic Spaces
The offers a rare glimpse into the genius of a perfect pop record. By stripping away the final mix, we appreciate the individual contributions of Michael, Quincy, and Eddie, and understand how they crafted a song that redefined the boundaries of pop and rock. It is, and always will be, a landmark achievement in music history.
Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo is a legendary piece of rock history, and the multitrack preserves it in its raw, unfiltered glory. Eddie famously cut the solo for free as a favor to Quincy Jones, improvising it over a section Lukather had hastily arranged. When isolated, these harmonies sound like a secular
The rhythm guitars on the track are split hard left and right. They are chuggy, distorted guitars that provide the backbone of the song. The isolated tracks show how clean and precise the playing was, even with heavy distortion added.
The story of how the final version of "Beat It" came together is one of studio chaos and creative genius. In what is arguably one of the most famous stories in music production history, Eddie Van Halen was sent the master tapes to record his solo. Not liking the section he was supposed to play over, he or his engineer physically cut the tape, rearranged the song's structure, and recorded his solo.
The "Beat It" multitrack exclusive serves as a time machine back to Westlake Recording Studios in late 1982. It strips away the commercial polish and forces us to appreciate the raw ingredients of genius. From the precise pocket of Jeff Porcaro's drums to the unfiltered passion in Michael Jackson's isolated voice, these stems prove that the magic of Thriller wasn't a marketing trick—it was pure, unparalleled musicianship.
Studying the "Beat It" multitrack is like taking a masterclass in production from the 1980s.