NPG2045 said:

Emancipation through Rave?


shoot at first site...

Susan Rogers - although I did like the work he did with Statik

Ohh, I would also add David Z, especialy for his work on 'Kiss'. I know there have been a lot of threads about this subject, but I think David Z deserves the credits for this masterpiece (as an enigineer). The dry, funky, and clear sound is astonishing. The first time I heard it, well, I think it's still revolutionary in it's production.

HamsterHuey said:

2005 Rusted Root - 20th Century Masters - The Best of Rusted Root
2002 Tricky - A Ruff Guide (UK Bonus Tracks)
2002 Tricky - A Ruff Guide (Japan)
2001 Barenaked Ladies - Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991-2001)
2001 Michael Penn - March (Bonus Tracks)
1999 Mike Errico - Pictures of The Big Vacation
1999 Prince - Crystal Ball (Limited Edition)
1999 Prince - The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale
1999 Barenaked Ladies - Stunt (UK Bonus CD)
1999 Robben Ford - Supernatural
1998 Barenaked Ladies - Stunt (US)
1998 Tricky - Money Greedy/Broken Homes
1998 Sarah Jahn - Sparkle
1998 Prince - Crystal Ball
1998 Tricky - Angels With Dirty Faces
1997 Big Blue Hearts - Big Blue Hearts
1997 David Poe - David Poe
1997 Ted Hawkins - The Next Hundred Years (Gold Edition)
1996 The Odds - Good Weird Feeling
1996 Nil Lara - Nil Lara
1995 Various Artists - Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon
1995 Various Artists - Blue in the Face (Luaka Bop)
1994 David Byrne - Back in the Box
1994 Ted Hawkins - The Next Hundred Years
1993 Violent Femmes - Add It Up (1981-1993)
1993 Prince - The Hits/The B-Sides
1992 Slapbak - Fast Food Funkateers
1992 Michael Penn - Free-for-All
1991 Queen - Hot Space (Body Language remix)
1991 The Odds - Neopolitan
1991 Violent Femmes - Why Do Birds Sing?
1991 Candy Dulfer - Saxuality
1990 Edie Brickell - Ghost of a Dog
1989 Patti LaBelle - Be Yourself
1989 Sheena Easton - The Lover in Me

BananaCologne said:

Thus??

christopheries said:

THUS... that is what Susan Rogers been up to since leaving Prince's employ, or was that just a tad too hard for you to assertain from the question HamsterHuey had posed?

HamsterHuey said:

Thus may I suggest some glasses.


[Edited 9/18/05 16:19pm]

Hehehe, just to cut a discussion short; I asked myself what ever happened between Susan & Prince to so fervently NOT work with eachother after 1987.

Did they have a fight?

But thanks for the list anyways! It is rather short, but I love Michael Pen's albums, as well as Tricky's.

Isten would kielhaal me if I said I didn't...

HamsterHuey said:

Check out Mike Errico babe - he did a track called 'God' (no relation!) and it's really quite cool!

Right Click / Save Target As


Susan Rogers was involved with a version of this track and a number of others - this is an alt. version... what do you think?

www.errico.com

*WWW edit*


[Edited 9/19/05 2:35am]

Thanks!

Not my cuppa, though.

HamsterHuey said:

no I wouldn't. In fact, I sincerely dislike Tricky's last few albums

Just his first few, including the stellar Nearly God project are the

ones I would kielhaal you for not liking

i really wonder if you can hear the engineer in the music. it really is a backstage job.

BananaCologne said:[quote]

christopheries said:

Kewl, didn't know that. Thanks for glasses suggestion.

Femi did good question u know.


U remember, "got a new love" and all that album.

christopheries said:

The pleasure was all mine.

There are some funny stories about the engineers. For example, I think it was Prince's engineer Michael Koppleman who sang some of the background to the unreleased AMERICAN IN PARIS.

HamsterHuey said:

Well, from what I remember of Per Nilsens book D.M.S.R., they didn't have an actual falling-out moment, more like a period of estrangement. Susan had witnessed all these other people getting the boot and felt that it was only a matter of time before she would get it too. So she withdrew herself from the scene. Or something. And then, when she was called over to the Park on the infamous "lovesexy-night", she was so freaked out by seeing Prince on drugs, she never went back. Or something.

scififilmnerd said:

Ladies & gentlemen, I give you sci-fi...

dawntreader said:

Sure, their job is a reflection of Prince's mind-set. If he wants Lisa in the livingroom upstairs, then his will must be done.

It is just that I think Susan Rogers had the hardest job of them all; she had to work with him through his most experimental period, which I think shows up in how the music sounds. The music she captured in that era just sounds warmer to me.

That said, again, I would also like to give props to the gold experience/come engineer. That person also kind of captured a sort of grittyness I haven't heard since...

dawntreader said:

You won't hear a good engineer!!!

madhouseman said:

This is a very accurate post....just to add a personal recollection or two....I recorded the album N.E.W.S., which was cut pretty much 97% live. I had actually got the call from Sheila to come up to PP in January, and from there we changed stuff around, mics, tech stuff, etc., and began recording at a frenetic pace....we cut dozens of tracks, until it was announced , one evening, that we were begining a set project which turned out to be NEWS. In fact, it wasn't until i turned up later at PP after another call, that i realised it had even been made into an album. I made a number of trips to PP as well as working here in LA with him.
I also recorded and mixed different parts of Musicology, but wasn't given a credit. I still can't figure out why that happened, but P was kind enough to notify NARAS of the error, and so i was included on all of the Grammy nominations for that CD.
I can tell you this though..he is a genius, he works to his own beat and schedule, and he can mix the sh*t out of a track...something he doesn't give himself credit for.....
However, it is true that he isn't keen on an engineer with alot of experience...i have 14 grammy nominations, and have been doing this a long time...he treated me with courtesy, grace and charm, but i do know from others, experience can be a problem. Now i have worked with the Stones, Eagles, Aretha, Gabriel, etc and most of those artists relish that kind of experience. However P. seems to find it a hindrance. (ironically, these other artists are extremely intrigued by P and can't wait to know how he works)
Now, as this post means my working days with him are probably over, i would just like to finish with casting my vote for Femi, as he deserves it for no other fact than endurance - not necessarily the best recordings, but what he had to put up with....oi vey, the stories i heard !
and watch out for a track somewhere in the vault called "Funk"....we did it at the same time as Musicology, and it is an unbelieveable piece of invention, and mind blowing playing.I still remain a huge fan, and have nothing but the utmost respect for the man.....you have to respect this kind of talent

JessS said:

Excellent post. I wish I could hear that Funk track you speak of. I love to hear first hand recollections of Prince's talent from someone who knows the business. So much better than speculation...Thank You.
[Edited 9/22/05 21:56pm]

JessS said:

Great post, man! You gotta share some more of your stories or some of the ones you heard! Get a new Orgname, if ya have to. At any rate, describe the track "Funk" for us. Anything like the "old" funky Prince, or is it more like the Musicology version of "funk"?

alexnvrmnd said:

thanks...let me consult with my laywer, and i'll determne if i can post anything else !!!!
but "Funk" rules, let me just say !

JessS said:

Wow!! Very cool man. (and of course the vote for Femi )

"There are a lot of engineers that worked well with him. Peggy Mac was influencial on his sound from Controversy thru Parade. She and her husband David Leonard were often tag teaming Prince's productions, to the point that they were on call whenever he'd be coming to town. When they decided not to move to Minneapolis, they were left behind.

Susan Rogers, although not trained in engineering stepped up to the plate in 1984 and was there for a lot of his best work. Does that make her the best engineer? I'm not sure, but she is listed on most of Prince's best songs.

Don Batts was instrumental in putting together Prince's home studio and making an enviornment that helped Prince create while he was in Minn. Often those tapes were then taken to Los Angeles and worked on by his L.A. teams, but Don was great at creating a place where Prince could wake up in the middle of the night and record.

Each engineer brought different things to Prince. Some (Bob Mockler) were great at bringing out some thick drum sounds. Others (Eddie Miller and Michael Koppelman) were great at programming sounds in the computers. Both of them brought sounds that Prince had never had.

Many of the engineers that Prince has used have not had a ton of experience. Prince likes to have them know how to work the machines, but doesn't like someone knowing more than him. Often, he asks the engineer to set up the board and then tells them to wait outside while he records much of the music himself. He'll even set up a microphone over the console and sing into it, playing with the sound as he is recording it.

Femi brings experience. Although he isn't the only one to bring experience, Prince does respect what Femi does because he brought him back to Paisley Park after he was away for many years.

The frustrating thing to a lot of these engineers is that Prince will do what Prince wants to do, regardless of the engineer. If he gets frustrated, he'll tell them to hurry up because he is "losing the groove" or he'll tell the engineer to set him up to mix, and then show up and demand to record (an entirely different set up) immediately. Most of the engineers or band members for that matter, feel like after working for Prince, they are able to do just about anything, because they become problem solvers for him.

The bottom line is that Prince likes to know as much as the engineer and is often like a sponge when it comes to knowing how these rooms work. When he has a question, he'll ask, but more often than not, he likes to be left alone in the room to make the music he wants to make, without having to explain it to anyone.

The last thing you have to remember, is that often the songs are tag-teamed by engineers. Prince works a lot of hours and often there are 2-3 engineers on a song over the course of several sessions. When it comes to giving credit, it often depends on what Prince's mood is the day he is listing the names for the album. More than once, people who worked on the song are left off because they had recently pissed him off!

The best engineer? Wow. Depends on what Prince wanted that day!"
-----
This is a great post - now these are the kind of posts I look for -- I want to know these type of stories because I am convinced that he is a musical genius. A little cocky and eccentric -- however, which musical genius (or any genius in the arts especially) that isn't a little cocky? Keep these type of questions and posts coming. Also, the engineer that expounded on this post was also very, very good and informative. Tell us more - more!!

The best engineer? How would we know exactly? It's still Prince's call how he chooses to produce an album and the engineer will just follow, thre's no way he'd let a recording studio worker to decide whether there should be an analog synth sound or something of a Korg Triton on a song he's working on.

And besides, I thought being a good engineer was all about keeping the microphones from drowning in saliva and scrubbing off the coffee mug stains from the mixing console before the next client arrives.

[Seriously speaking, I have to give shout-outs to all the folks who have recorded Prince's band records and especially all those horn sections. They've never sounded bad and considering the pace he probably insists on working with that's gotta be some pressure to be handled]

the enginers do some things... Prince often leaves and tells them to fix stuff or find samples and sound effects or mix it...

Novabreaker said:

JessS said:

I agree with everyone. Those two are amazing posts (post of the year?). I am overwhelmed by the amount of insight that both of you have. Have you both worked for Prince? I have for a short time and both of you seem to really have nailed it. He doesn't like people who are smarter than him. The only people around him that can do something he can't do are artists that create his album covers (Mike VH, Parke, etc.) and people who can play instruments that he can't (E. Leeds, Candy, etc.). You've got to be able to bring something to the table, even if it is just your ability to stay up for a lot of hours and take abuse or your technical knowhow. Prince will ride you until he is done with you and then not look back. It has happened dozens of times.

My hat is off to both Jesss and Madhousman. Obviously you are both very knowledgable and understand that it is important to get the facts right. This is why the ORG is so great.

We got to hear "Funk"! I'm curious.

I love this thread! Great topic and interesting answers!

I myself don't know who I would say is his best engineer, but it is great to read all of your answers.