Bruce Swedien "Thriller" Engineer

[Edie Antoinette]

Engineer/Producer Bruce Swedien's biography lists such names as Dinah Washington, Michael Jackson (Bruce Recorded and Mixed the 50 million selling Thriller album), Mick Jagger, Muddy Waters, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn, Jackie Wilson, Oscar Peterson, Herb Alpert, Barbra Streisand, the Chi-Lites, Buddy Miles, Lionel Hampton, Donna Summer, Count Basie, B.B. King, George Benson, Sergio Mendes, Patti Austin, John Lee Hooker, Missing Persons, Stan Kenton, Lena Horne, Paul McCartney, Natalie Cole, Edgar Winter, Woody Herman and Jennifer Lopez, among others.

This highly esteemed engineer has recorded just about every type of music and has recorded and mixed the music for numerous movie scores such as "The WIZ", "Night Shift", "Running Scared" and "The Color Purple". (Actually “THRILLER” has been named by Wikipedia as the biggest-selling album of all-time, with reported worldwide sales of over 104 million from Guinness World Records.)

Bruce began his musical career by attending the University of Minnesota’s Music School, where he studied voice and had private lesson’s studying classical piano. Bruce has been involved, as a professional in music recording, since the days of the Big Bands, through the present time. At the age of 19, with the help and encouragement of his new wife, Bea and his father and mother, he purchased an old movie theater and turned it into a first-class recording studio, which it still is today. Bill Putnam, Bruce’s mentor, encouraged him to relocate to Chicago. At the time, Putnam was in the process of completing Universal Recording ‘s new facility at 46 East Walton on Chicago’s elegant Near North Side.



While the new Universal Studio’s were being completed, Bruce worked at RCA Victor Studios on Navy Pier in Chicago. At RCA he recorded the “Chicago Symphony Orchestra” under the baton of Dr. Fritz Reiner, the “Dukes Of Dixieland” for Audio-Fidelity Records, and a number of other well-known artists. Bill Putnam called Bruce at RCA one morning saying, “Studio B is ready. Want to go to work for Universal?” Of course Bruce said, “Absolutely!” A couple of weeks later Bruce was following Bill around the studios at Universal. Bruce’s long- standing collaboration with Quincy Jones began in 1959 at Universal Recording Studios.

Quincy Jones was about 23, Bruce had just turned 22. Quincy was a vice-president of Mercury Records. At that time, not only was he the youngest executive with a major label in the industry, but he was the only black executive with a major label. The two were recording a Dinah Washington album for Mercury records. Quincy wrote the arrangements and conducted the orchestra. Jack Tracy produced the album. A really big break for Bruce was engineering Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' million-selling single "Big Girls Don't Cry," which peaked at #1 on the R&B chart for three weeks and #1 on the pop chart for five weeks in late 1962 for VeeJay Records. This was Bruce's first Grammy nomination.

During the late '50s and early '60s, record labels wouldn't invest in the more costly tapes necessary to record performances in stereo believing that the stereo format would never overtake the then-dominant mono sound format. With his own money, Bruce bought stereo tapes and recorded some of music's greatest performers in stereo: Oscar Peterson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and many other top artists.

In the late '60s, Swedien became a freelance recording engineer so that he could do more album projects and work on film sound-tracks. He began working for producer Carl Davis, head of the Chicago branch of New York-based Brunswick Records. While there he engineered hits by the Lost Generation ("Sly, Slick & the Wicked," a #14 R&B hit in the summer of 1970 which features some startling pre-sampling effects), The Chi-Lites ("Have You Seen Her," #1 R&B for two weeks, #3 pop, late 1971; "Oh Girl," #1 R&B for two weeks, #1 pop, summer 1972; "A Letter to Myself," #3 R&B, early 1973; "Stoned out of Mind," #2 R&B, summer 1973), Jackie Wilson, Barbara Acklin, and Brunswick's other acts.

After moving to Los Angeles in the mid-'70s, he met Michael Jackson while working on the movie version of the Broadway hit "The Wiz" with Quincy Jones. Bruce is probably best-known for his work with Michael recording and mixing the Michael Jackson - 1978 to 2001 Epic releases; "Off the Wall" - "Thriller" - "Bad" - "Dangerous" - "HIStory" - and... "Invincible" All the Michael Jackson singles are at least Top 5 pop hits. Most peaked at #1.

Bruce conducted a master class in music engineering at UCLA and at California State University as well as lecturing and hosting recording seminars at various universities, colleges, and industry organizations both in the U.S. and overseas. He has done many lectures and music recording seminars for Universities, Colleges and other organizations, including the Audio Engineering Society, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences here in America and industry societies in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Japan, Germany, Canada and Mexico City, Mexico.

Bruce has been nominated for 13 Grammy® Awards, and has won 5, including those for his engineering of Michael Jackson's "Thriller", "Bad", and "Dangerous" albums and for two Quincy Jones albums -- "Back on the Block" and "Q's Jook Joint". He has also been awarded 10 Grammy certificates, 2 ASCAP composer awards and has been nominated for 4 TEC (Technical Excellence and Creative) awards by the Mix Foundation. In 1991, he was honored with the TEC Hall Of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award.

On November 10, 2001, Bruce Swedien was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree from Luleo University of Technology in Luleo, Sweden, presented under ruling of King Carl XVI Gustav. Swedien, a Minnesota-born descendent of Swedish immigrants, is the first in the music industry to receive this auspicious honor. In the autumn of 2003, Bruce published his book “MAKE MINE MUSIC”. In it Bruce tells his story in his own words. If you've ever wanted to be a fly on the wall at a Duke Ellington session, or wondered what a typical session with Michael Jackson is like, Bruce’s book will tell you. What's more, Swedien generously gives away detailed information from his lifetime in the studio, including insights into psychoacoustics, how he approaches the stereo soundfield, microphone selection and placement techniques, the art of mixing, and the role of technology in capturing musical inspiration. An invaluable research tool for the recording musician, engineer and producer, "Make Mine Music" is also an incredibly engaging and entertaining read no matter what your level of technical expertise and interest. In 2004, Swedien moved his base of operations to Ocala, Florida where he continues exploring aural possibilities and taking on top-level Producing, Engineering and Teaching assignments.