:

Do you think this will ever happen?

I'm no expert, but the first album that comes to mind is SOTT. I have to turn my Walkman up to the top level in volume to hear it at a decent level! And if I were to forget to lower it and put in the album... my ears get blown out! Incidentally, I feel the album sound is just awesome... perfect to my amatuer ears.

Does Warner have permanent, exclusive rights to most of Prince's albums, and if so, with they ever remaster them?

I'd imagine Warner would only do this if Prince were to produce an album that would hit the pop charts in a big way. Therefore making it worth it. Just like releasing movies like SOTT, UTCM, and GB on DVD.

I really hope so. His first ten albums sound so flat.

do it yourself.i did.

Get soundforge or cool edit pro (off Kazaa).get that volume pumped up!

Cloudbuster said:

That's a great way to describe it. They also sound muffled... I don't remember my vinyl sounding this way. But then again, I haven't had a record player in like 10 years. :O

Marrk said:

Is there a way to "clean" it up too? just wondering. You know, get rid of that muffled sound - seems to me it might still sound bad.

What do you think? Did yours come out crisp?

LaVisHh said:

on CEP there's a graphic equaliser, de-hisser, alsorts of different functions.It's great fun experimenting with MP3's, and if you fuck up, don't save it.

I'm reasonably certain that a high-quality digital mastering from a clean vinyl copy will sound better than just turning up the gain on the CD recording. The Sign CD signal is very low and contains some hiss...you're going to increase the hiss if you take that gain up...but I'm no expert...

LaVisHh said:

Try this again with SOTT and TRC...much better shock!

Any sound engineers with advice on the making our own masters idea???

Realistically speaking, I think Purple Rain will receive a remastering very soon, within the next 1/2 years - whether it has any bonus stuff is another matter - Madonna's reissues were shameful considering her status.

The best reissues I have seen are the PSB ones, fantastic - in terms of liner notes, extras etc.

If Prince had a higher profile, his 80s WB output would be higher on the agenda I am sure, but until he has a higher profile and/or reconciles with WB, there isn't much chance of anything decent other than PR or maybe 1999/SOTT getting a 'lip-service' remastering.

MiaBocca said:

with Prince owning the masters, how will that work? I assume a reconiliation with WB would be necessary to get any remasters done.

You are so right about the PSB remasters. they are the new standard. BUT - keep in mind, they don't exactly have the highest profile in the US (unfortunately). If they justify the treatment they rec'd, then Prince - at his current "status" - would justify the same, regardless if he never obtained a higher profile.

Maybe after he gets into the hall of fame. It can all coincide. Although I expect some long rant about how evil the hall of fame is from Prince.

JonSnow said:

I dunno what you mean.

Prince doesn't have any grounds at all for gaining back his masters.

Unless he is willing to pay a fee which WB agree to, he has no right whatsoever to own the masters to his albums.

LaVisHh said:

It's very difficult for the average consumer to acquire the mastering equipment necessary to do a good job with these discs. Pro Tools is the closest thing an end user could purchase and that runs in the tens of thousands of dollars. A lot of 'independent' sound engineers will tell you they did it themselves with fairly cheap audio software but I've heard these types of 'remasterings' and they are amatuer attempts. The suggestion to burn from vinyl is really your best bet to raise the level. Through a decent amp, you can boost the signal at least 10db and with a multi band eq you can pull out the annoying top end hiss and maybe even roll a bit off of the 'pops' that will surely be present.

There will be no remasters made until Prince and WB
can come to some sort of agreement.

MiaBocca said:

hmm for some reason I thought in another thread the talk is that Prince is getting ownership of his masters gradually - i guess i misunderstood

Remaster For You/Prince LPs cuz its the right time since everybody is all up on the neo-soul shit.

Harlepolis said:

Are they

MiaBocca said:

Sho nuff,,the 70's live arrangments, the whole fender rhodes sound and the falsetto vocals. Everybody is pulling this style now(they call it a different name tho, like they've changed the game with it or sumthing ).

LaVisHh said:

the vinyls don't sound that way at all... i listen to "1999" on vinyl all the time, and it amazes me how much better it sounds than the cd version...

teller's idea of making your own cd copy from the vinyl is a much better way of improving the sound, than merely jacking up the volume on the cds... if you do this, you'll have the same shitty sound, only louder...

Harlepolis said:

I'd Say "Sign O The Times" far more than His Two 70's Albums&the 94 East Project."Ballad of Dorothy Parker","If I was Your Girlfriend",",Adore","Slow Love",are More Neo-Soul IMHO than the First two Albums Combined IMHO.if you go on what is influential now? anyway I think His Most Successful Albums would get the Re-Mastered Treatment first&foremost if you think like a Record Company Excuetive?

Harlepolis said:

a few months ago i saw india.arie or jill jones or somebody (i know they look nothing alike, it's just that i can only remember that it was a female artist who is generally considered neo-soul) and someone asked her about the term "neo-soul"... and she said that she doesn't like the term, because it implies that it is new soul, which it isn't... she said it's the same old soul, just a new generation... she said they're not really doing anything different with it at all... so, she doesn't understand where that term came from...

mistermaxxx said:

Well I'm not "Mr.Maxxx" oops sorry a "Record Company Excuetive" lol thats why you see me picking these as "personal" choices rather than picking them as commercial choices but I clearly see you point about it.

Imagine me runing a label?? That wouldn't exactly be a "blessing" 2 the world.

LaVisHh said:

Thank you for your interest in my response,"LaVisHh":

I have listened to SOTT for the last two nights, for the first time in about a year!( This past year has been all about "TRC","ONAL!", "Lovesexy", and "Come" for ME!)

Oh, I'll tell YOU, "LaVisHh":...I've been STUNNED at just how bad SOTT sounds! Yeah, I agree with you about the sound levels, and the FLAT lack of dimensionality of the instruments, or "clarity"...

That album's BIGGEST problem is how it's MIXED! On my fantastic sound system, the drum machine beats are TOTALLY in the forefront! That may not be as apparent on a non-discriminating player like a Walkman.

HOLY CRAP! Listening to SOTT's disc 1, the programmed drum beats are totally out of control! Just TOO MUCH!! Hire a drummer,Prince! SOTT's first disc sounds like a sampler for the Linn Drum Programming company!!! "SOTT,Play in the Sunshine,Housequake,Dorothy Parker,It,...by this point I cannot take it, baby!

SOTT suddenly sounds VERY dated. The Linn programming is overkill, and cheesy!

Is SOTT suddenly losing it's lustre?

You BET! Makes me wonder about just how cheesy some of the unheard vault material sounds nowadays! We think of them as buried treasure, but by the time it comes out, Vault material will be beyond the best-before date!!!

IS the Vault material losing it's lustre?

YOU BET!

SOTT and the rest of Prince's catalog WILL NOT be remastered so long as Prince is living. When he is dead, and future generations need to exploit the goods, then it will be considered-just like MOTOWN with Marvin Gaye---they wouldn't give him love so long as he was elsewhere recording.THEN it will be safe to make some GREEN offa Mr.Nelson! DIG? CAN U GET TO THAT?

If Prince dies today, we'll get remasters sooner! That's how the corporate world works,baby!

Right now, Prince's back-catalog of albums is not viable to re-master,re-release,dig? It's easier to put out NEW "product",reconfigured: THINK VBOP,sweety!

They'll be "Prince:The Love Songs", or "Prince: The Hits Vol 3", or "Prince Remixed by today's Hottest Techno DJ's".

Trust me: you will see those titles before "Lovesexy Remastered".New compilations, new art covers. That's the future of Prince's catalog @ WB!DIG?

So Prince is screwing his vault goods by waiting to long to release it, and both Prince and WB is screwing his past accomplishments by their feud.

"STRANGE,BUT TRUE": but keep on dreamin' "LaVisHh"!It's the closest we'll get! Slammin!

You just need this - I can't recommend it enough

http://www.geocities.com/mp3gain/

Once you've made your mp3s (use 320kbps), analyse them through MP3Gain (whack up the average to 96dB), burn to a CDR and enjoy.

JonSnow said:

IIRC he'll get his masters back gradually 30 years after the release, so in 2008 or something he'll get his "For You" masters and so on and so on...

Neversin.

LaVisHh said:

I know a guy who has the right equipment available for use
And he's a sound engineer, and he's a Prince fan

Oh, and he's cute, too.

Anyone got Sign on Vinyl??
Cause I've now really got pissed off with the sound on the CD. Is vinyl any better??

Here are the two main points to keep in mind when discussing this topic:

---

1)
As it stands now, WB cannot remaster Prince's albums...period, full stop. And it has nothing to do with his popularity! If Prince had a number one single tomorrow you would not see any remasters because WB does not have/own the original recordings. All they have/own are the final master tapes of each album that were compiled at Bernie Grundman's. They can't do a thing unless Prince gives them his original session tapes because they are what need to be "remastered." And the likelihood of Prince giving WB access to these recordings lies somewhere between "not a chance" and "when pigs fly."

For an example of how WB is hamstrung by this, listen to "Adore" on either hits set. You can hear the fadeout from "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night" at the beginning of the song because all WB has to work from is the master of the SOTT album -- where the two tracks overlap. Prince won't give them a "single edit" of the song.

2)
Ownership of each album master reverts back to Prince (or his estate should he be deceased) after a period of 35 years. This means that Prince will regain control of "For You" in 2013 and each subsequent album in succession from there.

Here's what we can hope for to move this process along more quickly: 1) Prince buys his masters back and licenses them to another label or self releases them; 2) WB sells Prince's catalog to another label and he agrees to a contract for re-release with the new owners; or 3) Prince and WB negotiate terms for a reissue campaign of their own. Barring any of these things, it's going to be a long wait for that 5.1 version of Lovesexy Prince has referenced.

Peace, David

Excellent post!

Roll on 2013!