Does anyone know how Prince got those sounds that sound like a big bus decompressing its breaks in "1999"? They're all over the place (and at various lengths)! There's one that happens pretty consistently on the downbeat of bar 3 of every chorus.

I've not heard the sound you're referring to. I'll have to go back and listen to the song.

But I'd bet it came from the same S/FX record that all the other sounds on that album came from - the baby in Delirious, the cab in Lady Cab Driver.

Someone here will know the name of the album.

Its a shaker stroke from the linn drum put through a pitch shifter to pitch it down an octave making it sound deep and slow.

The "Pshhhhh" sound is actually a Syndrum white noise effect

I always thought it was a rudimentary synthed splash cymbal with analog compression.

dantheman1771 said:

I've been messing with cymbal and shaker sounds all day...de-tuning them and what not...I've gotten some stuff that sounds similar, but nothing with that fatness and punch. I feel like it's a fairly common sound, but I can't think of where else I've heard it. It's just like, I know Prince isn't the only person to have used this sound, though he may have been the first. I guess it's a small part of why some consider this cat to be a genius. I can see where they're coming from.

dantheman1771 said:

There's a CD-sized set of Linn LM1 samples floating about in cyberspace.

RodeoSchro said:

that's the genius of where he was back then. Not a ton of gear, no millions of dollars (yet), just a talented guy forced to improvise with what was available to him. If I'm not mistaken this record was mostly done in in his basement. And to me it's his best work!