Let me explain. When you listen to PR sonically the mix of live and studio is what really makes this LP stand out the most. I wish he'd record his next LP like that. Has he ever recorded any other LP that way?

"Purple Rain" the album was recorded as live performances from a concert at First Ave and the other songs were recorded at Sunset Sound Studios. The mix of live and studio performances brought out the musical mix of The Revolution at their commercial peak. I think the album that came closet to being recorded like "Purple Rain" is "Gold Experience". "Endorphinmachine" and "Shhh" were re-recorded after several well known recordings leaked in 1994. The sonic quality was polished and captured the NPG at their rawest peak.

I'm hoping "PLECTRUMELECTRUM" will sound similar. The early word is that it was recorded with no punch-ins and cut in few takes.

Except Take Me With You there is no live drums on Purple Rain.its all linn

with live crashes .

Some of the first avenue performance was used especially vocal tracks

but lot of instrumentation was edited in the studio.for example bass on Purple Rain.

I think you want album with similar production correct me if im wrong?

thebanishedone said:

Except Take Me With You there is no live drums on Purple Rain.its all linn

with live crashes .

Some of the first avenue performance was used especially vocal tracks

but lot of instrumentation was edited in the studio.for example bass on Purple Rain.

I think you want album with similar production correct me if im wrong?

Right I should have worded that different

The awesome thing about "Purple Rain" as an album is that you've got the live rock feel to it but then you've got the heavy Minneapolis sound at the same time.

These days, Prince seems to do either one or the other - the Lotusflow3r/MPLSoUND album being the most obvious example of this. It would have been cool if he just picked the best songs from each of those discs, added guitars to the electronic songs, and added synths and drum machines to the rock songs.

Militant said:

The awesome thing about "Purple Rain" as an album is that you've got the live rock feel to it but then you've got the heavy Minneapolis sound at the same time.

These days, Prince seems to do either one or the other - the Lotusflow3r/MPLSoUND album being the most obvious example of this. It would have been cool if he just picked the best songs from each of those discs, added guitars to the electronic songs, and added synths and drum machines to the rock songs.

I think that would of added some serious punch to the songs. I like that sound of that!

The Gold Experience sounds the closest to Purple Rain.

isnt it mo betta when each album sounds different one way or another

I hear what you're saying, it is a great sound, maybe if he went the Lenny Kravitz route and went for an all analogue recording and mastering? The first two albums sounded awesome on everything.

Not the same thing, but Musicology has a really great sound, for me it makes that album so much more than it is, despite the great songs on it (Life of the party excepted). It's much cleaner than PR though, maybe it's more to do with where he was musically and creatively than the actual kit used?

luvsexy4all said:

isnt it mo betta when each album sounds different one way or another

I don't think the OP is saying they want it to sound like Purple Rain, but likes a combination of live/studio mixed songs. So if Prince did that on every album, every album would still sound different, would still sound like the particular album ie Parade ATWIAD, Come, Rave but some songs with that live/studio mix

i think the sound of PR is to do with the writing/recording process and instruments of the time - Prince was using the same/similar instruments in the studio as he was on the road, and he was recording/rehearsing live with the band, so the sound came out of the process of the time. He was also limited in some aspects, so it honed the whole process, whereas today he has horns in one studio, pro-tools in another, live set-ups in another so his pallette is wider, but some might say this is a hindrance to creating a unified sound these days - I think he is working on it though - Plectrum Electrum sounds like he is trying to get a overall sound to the album rather than his other method of mixing genres (D&P and Symbol Musicology are these kind of records).

The horns could go as well. I rarely dig his horn section *runs away*

Oh yeah, one album that really does sound a lot like Purple Rain is Around The World In A Day. Despite its reputation as "psychedelic", its overall sound is still firmly tied to the production techniques he employed on Purple Rain.

novabrkr said:

Oh yeah, one album that really does sound a lot like Purple Rain is Around The World In A Day. Despite its reputation as "psychedelic", its overall sound is still firmly tied to the production techniques he employed on Purple Rain.

This is true

DecaturStone said: