Recently I decided to buy myself a record player. I heard people on the org say that Prince albums sound far better on vinyl than on CD; never being exposed to analogue music, I thought I'd buy a record player and find out for myself (very, very true I might add).

Anyways, in the past couple of months I've been building my Prince vinyl collection. So far I only have PR through to SOTT (where better to start than the ESSENTIALS, right?).

So have any of you chaps bought the Dirty Mind/1999/Controversy Remasters that were released a while back? If so, I'd love some feedback; wanna know if they're worth buying. People have told me that original vinyl pressings sound better than remasters... is this true?

Thnx

ElectricSugar said:

So have any of you chaps bought the Dirty Mind/1999/Controversy Remasters that were released a while back? If so, I'd love some feedback; wanna know if they're worth buying.

People have told me that original vinyl pressings sound better than remasters... is this true?

Thnx

^

I like these vinyls,

to me the new editions sound as good as the originals. (I guess it is a little heard to find the originals without a single scratch, or any noice at all these days?)...

therfor I think it is a good buy.

Btw Purple Rain is out on heavy weight 180 grams vinyl too.

[img:$uid]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/1896/vinyls20101.jpg[/img:$uid]

Off topic, sorry...

(I don't mean to hijack your thread/ subject)..

but I also have these - a little more rare vinyl LP's:

[img:$uid]http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3277/vinyls.jpg[/img:$uid]

yes go for it, I have the dirty mind and 1999 vinyl emasters and they sound great !

Didn't know PR was remastered... that should be great to listen to! My PR vinyl was bought for 50p in a clearance bin! It works fine but the sound is very grainy, the record's not in good condition at all!

What's the PR remaster like?

thedance said:

Off topic, sorry...

(I don't mean to hijack your thread/ subject)..

but I also have these - a little more rare vinyl LP's:

[img:$uid]http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3277/vinyls.jpg[/img:$uid]

Holy Shit! I'd KILL to hear The Rainbow Children on vinyl!

Have you heard Lotusflow3r on vinyl, I'm thinking of getting that next.

Okay, just for the record...these are reissues - not remasters.

They don't sound any different than the original vinyl (trust me, I have both issues of Purple Rain) - they are just heavier-weight vinyl.

ElectricSugar said:

thedance said:

Off topic, sorry...

(I don't mean to hijack your thread/ subject)..

but I also have these - a little more rare vinyl LP's:

[img:$uid]http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3277/vinyls.jpg[/img:$uid]

Holy Shit! I'd KILL to hear The Rainbow Children on vinyl!

Have you heard Lotusflow3r on vinyl, I'm thinking of getting that next.

OMG!! TGE on VINYL!! P should reissue this one.

double post, sorry

[Edited 7/17/12 13:29pm]

Genesia said:

electricberet said:

Genesia said:

Okay, just for the record...these are reissues - not remasters.

They don't sound any different than the original vinyl (trust me, I have both issues of Purple Rain) - they are just heavier-weight vinyl.

Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999 were remastered by Bernie Grundman for these reissues. That was confirmed to me in an email from an assistant at his studio. You can also confirm it yourself by checking the writing in the deadwax and comparing it to the originals. They were not remixed, however. As to the sound quality, that is subjective but I think at least the reissue of Dirty Mind sounds better than my original vinyl pressing. See here: http://prince.org/msg/7/357631 And here: http://www.stevehoffman.t...p?t=243637

I stand corrected - thanks.

Odd that they can re-master the vinyl albums, but they do nothing about the awful CD mastering, isn't it?

Oh - and let me say for the record that if they do this for Parade, I will shit twice and die.

Genesia said:

Oh God. Here I am trying to get rid of my vinyl, and here you are trying to start up a collection!

8-S

trc on vinyl, GREAT.... thats the one i missed

[Edited 7/18/12 0:14am]

Did Bernie G. say that he remastered the albums or did he say that he remastered the albums for these releases?

I'm asking because Prince also claimed to have had the albums remastered in 2010, and that where WB would have to remaster the original master, Prince can remaster the pre-master track, and that has obvious consequences on the result.

So I don't wanna doubt anyone's word or anything, just make sure there is no ambiguity regarding WHAT Bernie G. has remastered and whether he did it for WB and we got it on these vinyl, or whether he did it for Prince for a future, post-WB, re-issue program (or both, since maybe both WB and Prince asked him to do the job twice ).

databank said:

Did Bernie G. say that he remastered the albums or did he say that he remastered the albums for these releases?

I'm asking because Prince also claimed to have had the albums remastered in 2010, and that where WB would have to remaster the original master, Prince can remaster the pre-master track, and that has obvious consequences on the result.

So I don't wanna doubt anyone's word or anything, just make sure there is no ambiguity regarding WHAT Bernie G. has remastered and whether he did it for WB and we got it on these vinyl, or whether he did it for Prince for a future, post-WB, re-issue program (or both, since maybe both WB and Prince asked him to do the job twice ).

This is the email I received back from someone at Bernie Grundman Mastering in May 2011:

Yes those titles were remastered at our studio by Bernie. We received the original tapes and remastered them, using the original first pressings as references.

We did the work back in January of this year.

If you examine the deadwax on the reissues, you'll see his initials BG. Bernie did not write his initials in most of the albums he mastered back in the 1980s as explained by a member of the Steve Hoffman forum in the link I posted earlier. Usually his mastering work can be identified by his distinctive handwriting, especially the way he writes the number "2." The original vinyl pressings of these Prince albums don't have his initials in the deadwax (or at least that is true of Dirty Mind, which is the album I was focusing on for comparison purposes). I don't know why he decided to write his initials on the reissues, but he did.

Another member of the Steve Hoffman forum also wrote to BGM to ask about the possibility of future remasters on vinyl, and was told it was up to Rhino. (For those who don't know, Steve Hoffman is a mastering engineer and he has a forum for audiophiles.)

[Edited 7/18/12 6:55am]

I'd give my left nut for Gold Experience AND Rainbow Children on vinyl.

Genesia said:

Oh - and let me say for the record that if they do this for Parade, I will shit twice and die.

That shit is going in my signature.

imago said:

Genesia said:

Oh - and let me say for the record that if they do this for Parade, I will shit twice and die.

That shit is going in my signature.

electricberet said:

They were not remixed, however.

Critical tho. Since for every new form of pressing, such as this one on 180grams vinyl, you technically need a "master" or "re-master". The million dollar question is: did they simply copy the original tapes one on one for a 180 gram pressing, or did they also truly change and enhance the sound of the recordings, which would require some form of "remixing" as well in case of tweaking and adjusting the sound of the settings of each individual instrumental or vocal track. More than often, that is what people are thinking when they are hearing "remasters".

[Edited 7/18/12 13:56pm]

Tremolina said:

electricberet said:

They were not remixed, however.

Critical tho. Since for every new form of pressing, such as this one on 180grams vinyl, you technically need a "master" or "re-master". The million dollar question is: did they simply copy the original tapes one on one for a 180 gram pressing, or did they also truly change and enhance the sound of the recordings, which would require some form of "remixing" as well in case of tweaking and adjusting the sound of the settings of each individual instrumental or vocal track. More than often, that is what people are thinking when they are hearing "remasters".

[Edited 7/18/12 13:56pm]

You're right that these terms are misunderstood. However, a mastering engineer can improve the sound of a recording without going back to the individual multitrack tapes and remixing it. The albums couldn't be remixed from the multitrack tapes without Prince being involved. When he talked about his albums being remastered in 2010, he may have been referring to some remixes that he did. I can't see Prince being satisfied with just releasing the original mixes remastered for slightly improved sound (which is what Bernie did for these vinyl reissues).

Genesia said:

electricberet said:

Tremolina said:

Critical tho. Since for every new form of pressing, such as this one on 180grams vinyl, you technically need a "master" or "re-master". The million dollar question is: did they simply copy the original tapes one on one for a 180 gram pressing, or did they also truly change and enhance the sound of the recordings, which would require some form of "remixing" as well in case of tweaking and adjusting the sound of the settings of each individual instrumental or vocal track. More than often, that is what people are thinking when they are hearing "remasters".

[Edited 7/18/12 13:56pm]

You're right that these terms are misunderstood. However, a mastering engineer can improve the sound of a recording without going back to the individual multitrack tapes and remixing it. The albums couldn't be remixed from the multitrack tapes without Prince being involved. When he talked about his albums being remastered in 2010, he may have been referring to some remixes that he did. I can't see Prince being satisfied with just releasing the original mixes remastered for slightly improved sound (which is what Bernie did for these vinyl reissues).

Yep and you know if he remixed them, he edited them. Can you imagine that D.M.S.R. lyric "Work that body like a whore" changed to "Work that body like you want some more"? It scares the shite out of me! The George Lucas of music!!

^ I bet you my ass that he won't change A THING in the lyrics or music.

electricberet said:

Tremolina said:

Critical tho. Since for every new form of pressing, such as this one on 180grams vinyl, you technically need a "master" or "re-master". The million dollar question is: did they simply copy the original tapes one on one for a 180 gram pressing, or did they also truly change and enhance the sound of the recordings, which would require some form of "remixing" as well in case of tweaking and adjusting the sound of the settings of each individual instrumental or vocal track. More than often, that is what people are thinking when they are hearing "remasters".

[Edited 7/18/12 13:56pm]

You're right that these terms are misunderstood. However, a mastering engineer can improve the sound of a recording without going back to the individual multitrack tapes and remixing it.

Yes, that's true, but his possibilities are more limited because he can only improve all the tracks together, instead of also each different track.

The albums couldn't be remixed from the multitrack tapes without Prince being involved. When he talked about his albums being remastered in 2010, he may have been referring to some remixes that he did. I can't see Prince being satisfied with just releasing the original mixes remastered for slightly improved sound (which is what Bernie did for these vinyl reissues).

My guess as well.

I already have the vinyl. No need to duplicate it.

I think the difference between the remaster of Dirty Mind and the original is easy to hear. It's more crisp, punchy and thicker sounding drums, still maintaining the original feel.