AsylumUtopia said:

I don't think that would work. If you have music in a wave editor where the original sound already goes beyond the top or bottom limit, it's like a curve with a flat line. If you reduce that down, the peaks are not suddenly going to occur, they're long gone, all you would do is bring the flat line down to a lower decibel, the clipping would still be in the same place.

I don't know, I heard somewhere that Prince still prefers analogue to digital recording, it may be that the engineers of today can't handle the subtleties of analogue and when they convert it to digital you get the peaks going beyond the digital level, thinking that's the way the artist wants it they just leave it.

Or they're being ordered to crank it to the highest level they can get and be consistent through the CD, somethings got to give in the process for the more subtle songs to be at a decent volume. Te Amo being okay on 3121 can be explained by the fact it never really hits loud decibels, it's a relatively quiet song.

Imagine a quiet guitar with a really loud drum beat that goes off the graph - you'd have to reduce the drum down and the guitar would also reduce to the point you couldn't hear it - so they have to leave some clipping/flat lining in for a decent CD volume. Or an album with a few quiet songs next to some really loud drum and bass songs, it must be hard to keep the levels consistent. Perhaps one of the problems is simply that Prince's albums have such a variety of sound and instruments it becomes almost impossible to equalise them all at a similar level thoughout an album.

I aint trying to be funny, but we are talking about Prince.No musician with ears would record like that, I would say he has a good ear for music.There is no way he would do that, I don't doubt he pushes his equipment, but someone's fucking it up further down the line by trying to get more from it. It aint about being louder, its about the sound quality/clarity becoming fucked up (not the technical term) I believe he's recording digitally, and he's recording on the edge (perfection, possibly) then as soon as someone touches anything, it's fucked ever so slightly, and becomes more apparent on certain tracks. didn't seem to happen on the old stuff, where analogue was transfered to cd.
Just shows that he probably doesnt ever listen to an off-the-shelf cd of his own work.

IdeaLady said:

Not even "Gangsta Glam"?

yes, he exercises the most meticulous control of his music of any artist. This is why I don't see him relinquishing control for the mastering without having any input or at least the final say as to whether it's okay sounding--especially now that he's so "free."

what would the excuse be for all those other albums, non-prince out there? It aint just a few of Princes later albums, theres hundreds of other albums out there.
Once he's handed over his recordings, I don't see him having any more involvement in getting the album pressed and out the door. As far as he's concerned, his job is done.
Just a thought, His on-line releases seem to sound fine, yes, I know they are quieter because of the bit-rate, or what-ever. It would be interesting to know what the differences are, on a technical level. Surely they are closer sounding to the source material?

I aint trying to be funny, but we are talking about Prince.No musician with ears would record like that, I would say he has a good ear for music.There is no way he would do that, I don't doubt he pushes his equipment, but someone's fucking it up further down the line by trying to get more from it. It aint about being louder, its about the sound quality/clarity becoming fucked up (not the technical term) I believe he's recording digitally, and he's recording on the edge (perfection, possibly) then as soon as someone touches anything, it's fucked ever so slightly, and becomes more apparent on certain tracks. didn't seem to happen on the old stuff, where analogue was transfered to cd.
Just shows that he probably doesnt ever listen to an off-the-shelf cd of his own work.

minneapolisgenius said:

-----
Good Lord. Get a life. Your still living in 90 with the Gangster Glam comments.
Nothing is wrong with 3121. We got a lot of people on this board who are RnB phobic.

ndru said

what would the excuse be for all those other albums, non-prince out there? It aint just a few of Princes later albums, theres hundreds of other albums out there.

Once he's handed over his recordings, I don't see him having any more involvement in getting the album pressed and out the door. As far as he's concerned, his job is done.

Just a thought, His on-line releases seem to sound fine, yes, I know they are quieter because of the bit-rate, or what-ever. It would be interesting to know what the differences are, on a technical level. Surely they are closer sounding to the source material?

ndru said

I can't believe this would be true of the same guy who pulled the Black Album at the last minute. Who fought and fought to gain control of his masters. I just don't buy that.



Not sure. I don't claim to have the answers (and none of us has watched him record), but I'm only saying if there's a problem with Prince's albums, it's silly to assume Prince played no part in that.
[Edited 11/19/06 12:20pm]

This album sound horrible.It's compressed and distorted; far too loud.
It literally gives me an headache.

For you is better sounding than this and that is the truth.

It's either universal's fault or the actual guy who mastered it but someone needs to be accountable.

If i ever interviewed Prince i would bring this up first.

luv4u said:

It's far from fine.

I have cds at level 34(volume) on my system. This cd is too loud at 40(the higher is actually lower volume).

It's been mastered FAR too loud.
I wish record labels and engineers wouldn't do this; there is simply no need for it at all.

you can't turn it up and enjoy it because of the distortion and clipping.

Is this a Michael Jackson fan writing this, and just wanting to hate on Prince? What expertise do you base your claims of "horrible compression and distortion"?

like I said, I agree that mastering fucks up a lot of music today, but it's just one part of the process. It also improves some shitty recordings. But my question is, why does Musicology sound fine to me, but A Million Days sound fucked up to me. Those are on the same album, probably mastered together. But not recorded together.

mikek1 said:

Is this a Michael Jackson fan writing this, and just wanting to hate on Prince? What expertise do you base your claims of "horrible compression and distortion"?

This album sound horrible.It's compressed and distorted; far too loud.
It literally gives me an headache.

For you is better sounding than this and that is the truth.

It's either universal's fault or the actual guy who mastered it but someone needs to be accountable.

If i ever interviewed Prince i would bring this up first.

This album sound horrible.It's compressed and distorted; far too loud.
It literally gives me an headache.

For you is better sounding than this and that is the truth.

It's either universal's fault or the actual guy who mastered it but someone needs to be accountable.

If i ever interviewed Prince i would bring this up first.

IdeaLady said:

Not even "Gangsta Glam"?

The good thing is you don't keep banging on about the same thing endlessly.
Does this mean you are going to start a thread about every Prince album with the same basic concept? Ever a chance to bash Prince, eh? Stop beating a dead horse.

metalorange said:

Are you saying what I think you're saying?
Are you calling Prince a dead horse???

This album sound horrible.It's compressed and distorted; far too loud.
It literally gives me an headache.

For you is better sounding than this and that is the truth.

It's either universal's fault or the actual guy who mastered it but someone needs to be accountable.

If i ever interviewed Prince i would bring this up first.

minneapolisgenius said:

this proves to me that prince had relations with a man

minneapolisgenius said:

-----
Good Lord. Get a life. Your still living in 90 with the Gangster Glam comments.
Nothing is wrong with 3121. We got a lot of people on this board who are RnB phobic.

laurarichardson said:

Uh...the thread's about the quality of the sound. Fuck all to do with RnB phobia.

Though now you come to mention it, Prince is at his worst when he churns out mediocre RnB that other people do way better. I agree with you, and God bless you!