[I saw a topic about the origin of bootlegs on here recently & I just wanted to ask some other questions about them] I'm pretty sure we've all heard every studio outtake bootleg [hopefully most of us has]. But to the the early adopters of boots, was the sound quality any better then or now? How do you think these tracks got leaked in the first place? Why do you think certain boots sound quality is better than others?

gunner82 said:

[I saw a topic about the origin of bootlegs on here recently & I just wanted to ask some other questions about them] I'm pretty sure we've all heard every studio outtake bootleg [hopefully most of us has]. But to the the early adopters of boots, was the sound quality any better then or now? How do you think these tracks got leaked in the first place? Why do you think certain boots sound quality is better than others?

Mostly, the sound quality improves over the years. Either better source material is accessed or software has become better at cleaning it up. But not always.

Some sound better than others because its mostly done by amateurs, so results can vary.

We all prefer certain sounds. For me, the audience recordings are sounding better as bass now sounds better and some crowd is removed. On studio, less so.

There is no doubt I hold some early LP's (Like chocolate box) in higher esteem that it probably should because at the time it was the only window into the candy store. Charade felt like I'd found a wonka bar when I got it home and found that I had managed to steal a moment form under WB and Princes noses.

Prince has had a habit (at least in the past) of casually giving songs to band members, friends, girlfriends and so on.

Also look at the number of studio engineers and so on who have worked at Paisley and other studios that Prince has used, it's no surprise that stuff got leaked.

As for sound quality, imo the sound quality on outtake bootlegs is much better now than back in the day, look at releases like 30 Years Of Unreleased Funk etc. The quality on some of those tracks is even better than on a release such as Work It 2.0, which is regarded as having the best quality outtakes available at the moment.

Of course, there are some awful sounding bootlegs too, and until better quality sources appear, they shall remain awful.

I think we will have more outtakes to come in the future, and also outtakes that are already circulating, appearing in better quality, I mean, who would have thought we would have been blessed with something like Box Of Chocolates?

Just about every classic bootleg song has come out in a better version now, compared to originally back in the late 80's or early 90's.

TheDigitalGardener said:

Prince has had a habit (at least in the past) of casually giving songs to band members, friends, girlfriends and so on.

Also look at the number of studio engineers and so on who have worked at Paisley and other studios that Prince has used, it's no surprise that stuff got leaked.

As for sound quality, imo the sound quality on outtake bootlegs is much better now than back in the day, look at releases like 30 Years Of Unreleased Funk etc. The quality on some of those tracks is even better than on a release such as Work It 2.0, which is regarded as having the best quality outtakes available at the moment.

Of course, there are some awful sounding bootlegs too, and until better quality sources appear, they shall remain awful.

I think we will have more outtakes to come in the future, and also outtakes that are already circulating, appearing in better quality, I mean, who would have thought we would have been blessed with something like Box Of Chocolates?

Box 'O Chocolates was AWESOME!!!!