:
Since there appears to be a good deal of musicians here, I would like to ask a question.

I've seen many Prince rehearsals/jams/shows, and music before he finalizes them to an official release.

More often than not, he plays down the song. Take the song Come. That song rocked my world in its intensity and fierce drum beats...then he released it. They were way toned down.

Does this have to do with how different it sounds when laid onto a track? Is the sound affected much? Or does it sound pretty much how it would be heard live? Could it be he just heard it, and at the last minute wanted it different?

I've always wondered about this aspect in many of his songs, anyone wanna take a stab at it, since it isn't likely the man himself would give me the answer.

Wow...nobody is touching this one.

Most of Prince's studio recordings use drum machines. Of course those songs will have more "bam" to it live.

Just like any other instrument.

I know mixing in the studio and level checks at a show tend to be very different too when your listening through headphones/studio monitors vs. listening on stage with monitors in front of you rather than behind you.

Most rockers want to kick your butt in a live show, but respect is usually given to mixing down some levels as to not blow your stereo speakers you know?


I'd say there are numereous reasons for it.
But your example with the song Come is pretty easy.

Live = Michael Bland (man hits hard and on target)
Studio Release = Prince's drum machines (not as much improvasation as a live drummer)

Live = Make your stomach twitch monitors.
Studio Release = what ever your stereo is, I'm sure doesn't have the watage the club/arena does.

yamomma said:

Thanks for your input, yamomma. I understand about the intensity of the hitting. So he uses drum machines on studio recordings? Does everyone? That's a let down for me.

LaVisHh said:

Yes, LaVisHh. He does, typically, use a drum machine on studio recordings. That seems to have been the trend in the music industry for quite some time now. In defense of that method, I will say that it does allow for a non-drummer or percussionist to create drum tracks without any knowledge of the mechanics that go into playing an acoustic set. In order to get any variation of intensity of any certain part of a drum track by way of machine, you would have to concentrate on that part to tailor it the way you want it to sound. It seems that most musicians will not go through that exercise in the studio (not to mention the cost vs. time aspect). Also, in order to get an acoustic set to get the desired recording effect, it would have to be "mic'd" correctly. So, seeing that these digital musicians have no concept of nor patience for that, they cut to the chase with a drum machine. Listening to a lot of the music out there, I wouldn't go so far as to say everyone uses the machine, but I could confidently say most do.

LaVisHh said:

Kirk Johnson used a V Drum Electric kit for ages. Not always a machine to get those sounds

i never heard pre-release live versions of his songs b4 the regular one came out...so i can't tell.

I heard other people though, like when I heard Faith sing "Hot" (whatever the name of it is"), she sung it so GOOD LIVE, then the studio version i heard later when the video came out...damn. It didnt even put 1% dent in the live version

thecloud9mission said:

I understand that. I'm sure blackwell has a drum machine somewhere to get those "hand clap" sounds when needed.

I was just pointing out that spontanious live druming, electronic or the "real deal" is much different when that what usually shows up on his albums. Except for TRC, not much else in live drumming since his first two albums.

I think her question was what is the main difference in the live performance of songs and the studio releases saying that the live performance is usually more feirce.

I think a lot has to do with the drums as well as more impromtu performance of other instruments as well not to mention the sound beating you down from club and arena systems.

Also, just having the band period.

I think Prince does most of his recordings by himself, inviting other people to play over his pre-recordings.


Nothing beats a live band!




Period.
http://www.frankaxtell.co...s/Live.htm

In my opinion (because I've noticed this too), when a song is recorded, you have to really keep all of your levels balanced. So the guitar is not louder than the snare drum and so on.

What I've noticed about Princes' live stuff is that he is always giving his sound guy instructions over the mic. ("Turn up the guitar" is one that immediately comes to mind). The music no longer has completely balanced levels and sometimes even the timing varies.

Then the other thing is that, once you hear something on record, he has played it a million times and tweaked it a million more times. Live, he's played it two million times and the grooves develop into another sound completely.

yamomma said:

This is simply not true. It IS true that Prince has done a lot of drum programming throughout his career, but he has also played drums live himself on many recordings or enlisted other drummers...Sheila E, Michael Bland, etc... Usually even if an album of Prince's is dominated by drum machines there is a trend for at least one or two live drum songs per album. And he has also used 'electric drums' which does not really fit the description of a programmable drum machine...it's still played live, but the drums are electronic drum pads which trigger a synthetic drum sound. During the 80s he favoured this sound as it was a trend at the time and I suppose it was a futuristic or newer sounding tone in comparison to acoustic drums.

For live drum tracks some examples are "International Lover" from 1999, "Darling Nikki" from Purple Rain, "Slow Love" and "The Cross" from SOTT, "Dance On" from Lovesexy, most of The Gold Experience, Diamonds and Pearls, The Symbol Album, Chaos and Disorder, the rockier tracks from Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic ("Baby Knows", etc) and almost all of The Rainbow Children.

mrdespues said:

Thank you mrdespues for including songs with your examples! I'm gonna see if I can hear the difference...

Oh, and thanks to everyone who replied. The more input, the more interesting it gets.

I noticed the same thing, when I first heard "Can't stop", the Graffitti Bridge song, I thought the demo version was a lot more edgy over the album version, which seemed too mixed.

that is exactly the problem with most studio albums by most artists these days, they are way too voer-produced and lack vibe and energy

Prince is the obvious exception to that...however that said The Rainbow Children is probably my favorite studio album of his BECAUSE it has live drums...drum machines sound dated pretty quickly, even when the master himself programs them

check out the old Motown stuff, theres ENERGY in those recordings...real live human beings in a room together playing live instruments

I've been a Prince fam since 1979 but Ive always enjoyed his live stuff the most...for years Small Club has been my favorite disc now I am psyched that One Night Alone is out

A.J.