Did you notice some patterns in Prince's production?

For example Prince likes to cut bass

from his songs,he likes

to mix drums oor drum machine louder in the mix.

Also he loves to multi layer his vocals.

He likes to compress stuff so everything is up front in the mix... and he has experimented with sounding as simple,dry, and clear in sound as possible... even Kiss was an early example of that... but recent albums are getting more and more bare and dry... naked.

of course there are big exceptions like "The One U Wanna C" with tons of effects and reverb.

ufoclub said:

He likes to compress stuff so everything is up front in the mix... and he has experimented with sounding as simple,dry, and clear in sound as possible... even Kiss was an early example of that... but recent albums are getting more and more bare and dry... naked.

... since buying my Bose headphones I find P's music is 'never bare and dry' ...

PurpleLove7 said:

ufoclub said:

He likes to compress stuff so everything is up front in the mix... and he has experimented with sounding as simple,dry, and clear in sound as possible... even Kiss was an early example of that... but recent albums are getting more and more bare and dry... naked.

... since buying my Bose headphones I find P's music is 'never bare and dry' ...

Even when Prince is trying to make it bare and dry to be cool? Like "Sticky Like Glue" or "Kiss"?

In his early years I noticed he liked to put a fat reverb on his voice when he screamed (especially on 1999).

He almost always pans the toms on the drums to give it a more "3D-feeling", but many artists do that...

In his backing vocals he mostly uses one track for his deepest part, two or three for his low and mid "raw sounding" range (the way he is singing on The Morning Papers, for example) and some falsetto, but never the highest, dry falsetto and never the higher mid-range!

A great thread again, finally! Keep it coming, people.

Thanks Dave,very interesting observation

i like you post

In addition to taking out a bassline (like When doves Cry) he used to take away the sort of warm midrange rhythm section of many songs for his 80's sound. For example if he had a song with drums, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, lead keys, and bass... he would take away the rhythm guitar from the arrangement or mix it to be very transparent (like Play in the Sunshine) to make a more percussive spicy feel to his music's texture.

Has kind of already been said, but very dry drums

camille songs are typically always started with a scream or a loud long yell/riff at the beginning of the song/first downbeat.

not really a studio effect but i noticed it

Nvncible1 said:

I don't have it handy but a direct comparison of the studio (album) version of 4 the Tears in Your Eyes to the more conventionally arranged and produced video version is a great way to analyze Prince's normal production agenda and trend.

The video version is more like how a normal band would produce it (even though Prince did produce it). The "We Are the World" album version is pure Prince.

CerpinTaxt said:

Has kind of already been said, but very dry drums

Totally. This is one thing I adore about his drum programming, and probably the reason his songs from the 80s still bang today (or influenced music afterward, however you see it).

Someone told me about a technique Prince created where he records with both speakers playing at a certain range that cancels the sound out. His all night, recording solo days led to a lot of cool ways to get vocals done. His catalog has some many textures that he has to be doing things different from month-to-month/year-to-year. Some songs are full of delay & reverb on the vox, others are dry alone. The sound of "Sign O' The Times" is special! "The 1 U Wanna C" is a party in a box! "Power Fantastic" is haunting! Love my teacher

I learn so much from you guys. I am in no way any type of sound engineer, but I can definitely understand what you are talking about. Many of the answers you have posted here are things I have questioned over the years.

Your thoughts on "7"?

muskiediver said:

zaza said:

muskiediver said:

Your thoughts on "7"?

Damn, that's his studio masterpiece.

I agree totally! Those Princes singing in multiple layers is amazing, Man o' war is also excellent. Very few artists that I know have ever used so many layers of vocals.

Prints said:

muskiediver said:

Your thoughts on "7"?

That whole album had badly recorded vocals really. It's a real shame. :S

gusfrancesco said: