"dreaming about u", the song on "emancipation"

has an extremely beautiful melody,

the lyrics and the atmosphere are fabulous;

yet: the hi-hat is constantly too loud and it never stops;

once you notice that, you cannot listen to this song anymore.

which is a bloody shame!!

many songs have one of those annoying things that run completely through them,

not just prince songs. but i've noticed it in a lot of prince tunes. once you notice it

you hear it all the time. it's like you can't even focus on the song anymore, 'stead

you just keep hearing this one thing over and over again.

yeah i agree there are things you cant stop hearing. Like that wind noise percussion in starfish and coffee, i really hate that.

vitalbacon said:

"dreaming about u", the song on "emancipation"

has an extremely beautiful melody,

the lyrics and the atmosphere are fabulous;

yet: the hi-hat is constantly too loud and it never stops;

once you notice that, you cannot listen to this song anymore.

which is a bloody shame!!

Is that what sounds like a triangle? Whatever it is, it totally ruined that song for me and I do love it aside from that. But it's at a tone that actually is uncomfortable to my ears.

[Edited 1/18/11 7:41am]

I can't listen to the Gold Ni**a album anymore because my copy has a terrible droaning noise all way through it.

I'll leave the punchline for someone else...

erik319 said:

I can't listen to the Gold Ni**a album anymore because my copy has a terrible droaning noise all way through it.

I'll leave the punchline for someone else...

Sounds like a bootleg to me....

'dre

erik319 said:

I can't listen to the Gold Ni**a album anymore because my copy has a terrible droaning noise all way through it.

I'll leave the punchline for someone else...

Hey! The NPG's loss is the K-Mart stock department's gain!

The guy's in the back love to hear Tony's stories about the good ole days with Prince. Sometimes he brings in memorabilia to impress the guys. Then his boss yells, "Moseley! Those boxes ain't gonna move themselves! But that hat down! Who wears a police hat with chains on it anyway?!"

(More of a comic image than a punch line)

dandan said:

yeah i agree there are things you cant stop hearing. Like that wind noise percussion in starfish and coffee, i really hate that.

Do you mean the reverse snare drum?? that pans from ear to ear?

vitalbacon said:

"dreaming about u", the song on "emancipation"

has an extremely beautiful melody,

the lyrics and the atmosphere are fabulous;

yet: the hi-hat is constantly too loud and it never stops;

once you notice that, you cannot listen to this song anymore.

which is a bloody shame!!

and do you mean the shaker or the triangle..either way i think it works well..

plus its maybe not too loud, just that its tone cuts through the track,, you could EQ this out if you wanted..

jodznsez said:

dandan said:

yeah i agree there are things you cant stop hearing. Like that wind noise percussion in starfish and coffee, i really hate that.

Do you mean the reverse snare drum?? that pans from ear to ear?

haha yeah. I should of been able to figure out what it was. Its quite annoying and unnecassary to me :/

Why complain about a signature typical Prince element to his soundmix (ever since Dirty Mind)? -

Compressing and turning up all the little embellishments and percussion details to the same volume or even louder than the normal focus of a conventional pop song = Prince's brand of sound

If his songs didn't do that, they would sound more... normal... conventional... less rude... less in your face.... less Prince.

It's like the repetitive snare heavy beat, and lead whiny synth on the old studio version of the ballad "Empty Room"... it's Prince being Prince to the 100th scale.

My biggest complaint is the high pitch noise in Black Sweat, LOVE the song but can't listen to it because it's some kind of weird audio torture.

Ha, he does exactly the same thing in another track on that album - The Love We make - once you've noticed the hi-hat on that track it's over. Totally overwhelms a fantastic song. Shame.

It all depends on what you're listening to it on also... Listen to a song in your car, then with headphones, then from a small speaker, large speaker etc., etc. You'll find that in different environments, different instruments stand out in different ways. When I'm recording, if I'm not sure on the mix that's what I'll do - listen to it in as many different systems/environments as possible before finalising the mix.

Oh, and for the record, it's a triangle, not a hi-hat...

toejam said:

It all depends on what you're listening to it on also... Listen to a song in your car, then with headphones, then from a small speaker, large speaker etc., etc. You'll find that in different environments, different instruments stand out in different ways. When I'm recording, if I'm not sure on the mix that's what I'll do - listen to it in as many different systems/environments as possible before finalising the mix.

Oh, and for the record, it's a triangle, not a hi-hat...

If something's too loud in the mix that it becomes distracting then...wait for it...it's too loud in the mix. You don't have to be an audio engineer at Lucasound to figure it out.

pald1 said:

toejam said:

It all depends on what you're listening to it on also... Listen to a song in your car, then with headphones, then from a small speaker, large speaker etc., etc. You'll find that in different environments, different instruments stand out in different ways. When I'm recording, if I'm not sure on the mix that's what I'll do - listen to it in as many different systems/environments as possible before finalising the mix.

Oh, and for the record, it's a triangle, not a hi-hat...

If something's too loud in the mix that it becomes distracting then...wait for it...it's too loud in the mix. You don't have to be an audio engineer at Lucasound to figure it out.

Exactly. I was merely pointing that perception can be a big factor.

I actually quite like the raw production on Gold Nigga. ...and Chaos & Disorder, for that matter. They're a nice contrast from rest of the 90s, which had a tendency to sound a little sterile.

jodznsez said:

vitalbacon said:

"dreaming about u", the song on "emancipation"

has an extremely beautiful melody,

the lyrics and the atmosphere are fabulous;

yet: the hi-hat is constantly too loud and it never stops;

once you notice that, you cannot listen to this song anymore.

which is a bloody shame!!

and do you mean the shaker or the triangle..either way i think it works well..

plus its maybe not too loud, just that its tone cuts through the track,, you could EQ this out if you wanted..

i mean both the triangle and the shaker... too loud, too obtrusive... on a great song, so big pitty...

I think the mix is perfect...the triangle propels the track, and provides a perfect counterbalance to Rhonda's drippy bass.

jackmitz said:

I think the mix is perfect...the triangle propels the track, and provides a perfect counterbalance to Rhonda's drippy bass.

You've really thought this though, haven't you?

pald1 said:

jackmitz said:

I think the mix is perfect...the triangle propels the track, and provides a perfect counterbalance to Rhonda's drippy bass.

You've really thought this though, haven't you?

I spent an inordinate amount of time with the Emancipation record...I think the songwriting on that album is severely undervalued.

jackmitz said:

pald1 said:

You've really thought this though, haven't you?

I spent an inordinate amount of time with the Emancipation record...I think the songwriting on that album is severely undervalued.

I don't doubt that you did

WonderU said:

My biggest complaint is the high pitch noise in Black Sweat, LOVE the song but can't listen to it because it's some kind of weird audio torture.

I'd call that Prince's greatest mixing offense ever. Such a decent song - completely ruined.

abigail05 said:

WonderU said:

My biggest complaint is the high pitch noise in Black Sweat, LOVE the song but can't listen to it because it's some kind of weird audio torture.

I'd call that Prince's greatest mixing offense ever. Such a decent song - completely ruined.

Yeah, that tone hurts my ears too and I really like the song otherwise.

erik319 said:

I can't listen to the Gold Ni**a album anymore because my copy has a terrible droaning noise all way through it.

I'll leave the punchline for someone else...

Mong said:

erik319 said:

I can't listen to the Gold Ni**a album anymore because my copy has a terrible droaning noise all way through it.

I'll leave the punchline for someone else...

Ah, you have the rare Scottish pressing with the bagpipe drone overdub.

Ah, you're one of only a handful of people who know Tony M's Scottish nickname.