My only complaint is that this joint isn't on Rhapsody yet! I'm not an iTunes guy

FnkyManifesto7 said:

Orgers are being to critical of this stuff! If you enjoy it (I certainly do!), then enjoy it! If you want to bash it as crap with "horrible" mastering, learn how to mix, drive yo ass up to Paisley and you tell Prince that you can master it better than anyone else! I mean, sure, we all must have better song-writing credentials than PRince himself, whose career has spanned decades! Some of the stuff he has put out hasn't been entirely good, but give the guy a break! Pessimism is incurable on here sometimes, I swear XD

-PS, sorry for my pessimisn

Thats true, you see they don't understand. Prince could compress the hell out of his music and it would sound good on all these devices with small speakers but that's not his fault. Prince knows that. Just like radio compresses music like mad to make it sound good on a wide range of crappy systems.

Listen through good headphones that can handle bass and this new song sounds big, sounds ace. I don't think the track sucks at all, it will sound great on a good system and sounds awesome with quality headphones. Compressing Prince music which has multiple layers of music is not the answer.

It's not Prince who took the giant leap backwards but how music is compressed these days and how we listen to music these days.

SuperFurryAnimal said:

FnkyManifesto7 said:

Orgers are being to critical of this stuff! If you enjoy it (I certainly do!), then enjoy it! If you want to bash it as crap with "horrible" mastering, learn how to mix, drive yo ass up to Paisley and you tell Prince that you can master it better than anyone else! I mean, sure, we all must have better song-writing credentials than PRince himself, whose career has spanned decades! Some of the stuff he has put out hasn't been entirely good, but give the guy a break! Pessimism is incurable on here sometimes, I swear XD

-PS, sorry for my pessimisn

Thats true, you see they don't understand. Prince could compress the hell out of his music and it would sound good on all these devices with small speakers but that's not his fault. Prince knows that. Just like radio compresses music like mad to make it sound good on a wide range of crappy systems.

Listen through good headphones that can handle bass and this new song sounds big, sounds ace. I don't think the track sucks at all, it will sound great on a good system and sounds awesome with quality headphones. Compressing Prince music which has multiple layers of music is not the answer.

It's not Prince who took the giant leap backwards but how music is compressed these days and how we listen to music these days.

Thats what I'm sayin'! Maybe it is because I too have been listening to this song with headphones, but I really havent noticed anything wrong quality-wise with this track!

FnkyManifesto7 said:

Orgers are being to critical of this stuff! If you enjoy it (I certainly do!), then enjoy it! If you want to bash it as crap with "horrible" mastering, learn how to mix, drive yo ass up to Paisley and you tell Prince that you can master it better than anyone else! I mean, sure, we all must have better song-writing credentials than PRince himself, whose career has spanned decades! Some of the stuff he has put out hasn't been entirely good, but give the guy a break! Pessimism is incurable on here sometimes, I swear XD

-PS, sorry for my pessimisn

Agree.

My theory is that a lot of discussions on this site are driven by people who are so obsessed that they think they "own" the artist and try to teach Prince how to suck eggs. And some subconsciously feel the need to prove that they are a bigger fan than somebody else by either compulsively gushing, pedantic negativity or by putting others down.

Btw, I love this song.

Superconductor said:

FnkyManifesto7 said:

Orgers are being to critical of this stuff! If you enjoy it (I certainly do!), then enjoy it! If you want to bash it as crap with "horrible" mastering, learn how to mix, drive yo ass up to Paisley and you tell Prince that you can master it better than anyone else! I mean, sure, we all must have better song-writing credentials than PRince himself, whose career has spanned decades! Some of the stuff he has put out hasn't been entirely good, but give the guy a break! Pessimism is incurable on here sometimes, I swear XD

-PS, sorry for my pessimisn

Agree.

My theory is that a lot of discussions on this site are driven by people who are so obsessed that they think they "own" the artist and try to teach Prince how to suck eggs. And some subconsciously feel the need to prove that they are a bigger fan than somebody else by either compulsively gushing, pedantic negativity or by putting others down.

Btw, I love this song.

SuperC: It's wonderful that you 'love' this song. But let me ask: if there any Prince songs that you do not like, please name 1 and a brief reason 'why'.

.

In doing so, you will understand how some of us may genuinely not dig 'The Breakdown' but are not egg suckers or compulsive fan-boys/girls, engaged in a war of negativity. Just sayin'....

[Edited 4/22/14 18:46pm]

It's now on iTunes UK. Fantastic song.

GoldenEPump said:

It's now on iTunes UK. Fantastic song.

ah thanks for the heads up, i just checked and it's on itunes in the netherlands too now

free0001 said:

Superconductor said:

Agree.

My theory is that a lot of discussions on this site are driven by people who are so obsessed that they think they "own" the artist and try to teach Prince how to suck eggs. And some subconsciously feel the need to prove that they are a bigger fan than somebody else by either compulsively gushing, pedantic negativity or by putting others down.

Btw, I love this song.

SuperC: It's wonderful that you 'love' this song. But let me ask: if there any Prince songs that you do not like, please name 1 and a brief reason 'why'.

.

In doing so, you will understand how some of us may genuinely not dig 'The Breakdown' but are not egg suckers or compulsive fan-boys/girls, engaged in a war of negativity. Just sayin'....

[Edited 4/22/14 18:46pm]

I know I'm not SuperConductor, but I myself will say that there are PLENTY of Prince songs I can barely stand! Jughead, I Wonder U (call me insane, but I can't dig it), and I am not really into PretzelBodyLogic either (That whole chant thing at the beginning and throughout the whole song kinda feels off to me). I completely respect everyone's tastes! I just notice that there is something always negative to say, and that so many people always have to compare his new stuff with his old stuff with such negative aspects to it. Everyone is going to have differing opinions, but sometimes I just see negative EVERYTHING, you know?

FnkyManifesto7 said:

SuperFurryAnimal said:

Thats true, you see they don't understand. Prince could compress the hell out of his music and it would sound good on all these devices with small speakers but that's not his fault. Prince knows that. Just like radio compresses music like mad to make it sound good on a wide range of crappy systems.

Listen through good headphones that can handle bass and this new song sounds big, sounds ace. I don't think the track sucks at all, it will sound great on a good system and sounds awesome with quality headphones. Compressing Prince music which has multiple layers of music is not the answer.

It's not Prince who took the giant leap backwards but how music is compressed these days and how we listen to music these days.

Thats what I'm sayin'! Maybe it is because I too have been listening to this song with headphones, but I really havent noticed anything wrong quality-wise with this track!

For example listen to the word "cool" around 3:35.

ufoclub said:

FnkyManifesto7 said:

Thats what I'm sayin'! Maybe it is because I too have been listening to this song with headphones, but I really havent noticed anything wrong quality-wise with this track!

For example listen to the word "cool" around 3:35.

I just caught that , but really, my brain isn't wired to pick out little things like that. I'm usually jamming to hard to the climatic vocals 15 seconds before that to really care XD

[Edited 4/22/14 19:28pm]

FnkyManifesto7 said:

free0001 said:

SuperC: It's wonderful that you 'love' this song. But let me ask: if there any Prince songs that you do not like, please name 1 and a brief reason 'why'.

.

In doing so, you will understand how some of us may genuinely not dig 'The Breakdown' but are not egg suckers or compulsive fan-boys/girls, engaged in a war of negativity. Just sayin'....

[Edited 4/22/14 18:46pm]

I know I'm not SuperConductor, but I myself will say that there are PLENTY of Prince songs I can barely stand! Jughead, I Wonder U (call me insane, but I can't dig it), and I am not really into PretzelBodyLogic either (That whole chant thing at the beginning and throughout the whole song kinda feels off to me). I completely respect everyone's tastes! I just notice that there is something always negative to say, and that so many people always have to compare his new stuff with his old stuff with such negative aspects to it. Everyone is going to have differing opinions, but sometimes I just see negative EVERYTHING, you know?

I feel you FM7. I understand what you're saying. And keep in mind that statements which are contrarian to mine or yours may not necessarily be 'negative'. They may just be....different.

FnkyManifesto7 said:

ufoclub said:

For example listen to the word "cool" around 3:35.

I just caught that , but really, my brain isn't wired to pick out little things like that. I'm usually jamming to hard to the climatic vocals 15 seconds before that to really care XD

[Edited 4/22/14 19:28pm]

Well, it's not like the song is ruined, and its still better than normal bootleg quality... but this is just some master tiny music file someone (not Prince) made for Prince to release. It's not like the song is ruined because you can go back and just redo the mastering for the itunes file, etc.

I remember when the remix compilation of Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic album came out... the songs were not mastered hot... and oyu could compare songs that didn't change to the original which was much much louder.

But there was no distortion. Or should I say mistake distortion.

free0001 said:

FnkyManifesto7 said:

I know I'm not SuperConductor, but I myself will say that there are PLENTY of Prince songs I can barely stand! Jughead, I Wonder U (call me insane, but I can't dig it), and I am not really into PretzelBodyLogic either (That whole chant thing at the beginning and throughout the whole song kinda feels off to me). I completely respect everyone's tastes! I just notice that there is something always negative to say, and that so many people always have to compare his new stuff with his old stuff with such negative aspects to it. Everyone is going to have differing opinions, but sometimes I just see negative EVERYTHING, you know?

I feel you FM7. I understand what you're saying. And keep in mind that statements which are contrarian to mine or yours may not necessarily be 'negative'. They may just be....different.

Thats true! I do agree! They say that you are your own worst critic. I still firmly believe that orger's are PRince's worst critic, but that is to be expected most of us expect more than the average listener, which is a compliment!

ufoclub said:

FnkyManifesto7 said:

I just caught that , but really, my brain isn't wired to pick out little things like that. I'm usually jamming to hard to the climatic vocals 15 seconds before that to really care XD

[Edited 4/22/14 19:28pm]

Well, it's not like the song is ruined, and its still better than normal bootleg quality... but this is just some master tiny music file someone (not Prince) made for Prince to release. It's not like the song is ruined because you can go back and just redo the mastering for the itunes file, etc.

I remember when the remix compilation of Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic album came out... the songs were not mastered hot... and oyu could compare songs that didn't change to the original which was much much louder.

But there was no distortion. Or should I say mistake distortion.

YEah, its not always the smoothest. i guess I am used to it

herb4 said:

It sounds like the spiritual extension of "Empty Room" (which I'm also nuetral about and never understood the hype/love).

I thought it reminded me of empty room immediately when I heard it too, but I like it a slight bit better. The only thing that really gets me on empty room is the guitar solo when played live.

To me: Future Soul Song > The Breakdown > Empty Room

controversy99 said:

The last forty seconds almost have to be about P & Warner Brothers. "There's a door that you can walk through where there used to be a wall." Seems pretty clear to me. They finally broke each other down. Let down their walls. And made a new creative partnership.

According to PrinceVault, it was initially recorded in late 2012.. so, as this explaination does seem to fit the lyrics, I wonder if they were already discussing the new contract that long ago?

And the theories run rampant...

ufoclub said:

and then at the end of the song:

It sound s like crap
I've heard better quality on 20 yr old bootlegs

lezama said:

herb4 said:

It sounds like the spiritual extension of "Empty Room" (which I'm also nuetral about and never understood the hype/love).

I thought it reminded me of empty room immediately when I heard it too, but I like it a slight bit better. The only thing that really gets me on empty room is the guitar solo when played live.

To me: Future Soul Song > The Breakdown > Empty Room

The obvious comparison is to Empty Room and maybe thats why there's no guitar solo as it would just be too similar then

.

I wouldnt really put it in the same bracket as Future Soul Song, which I like musically but the lyrics - its hard to work out what its about (dogmatic persecution etc) so I can relate more to Breakdown and Empty Room

.

After a few listens I really like it, first song for a while I'm playing on repeat. The bass, his falsetto and then his lower register, his harmonies, the Andy Allo backing vocals. Looking forward to a new album soon hopefully

SuperFurryAnimal said:

FnkyManifesto7 said:

Orgers are being to critical of this stuff! If you enjoy it (I certainly do!), then enjoy it! If you want to bash it as crap with "horrible" mastering, learn how to mix, drive yo ass up to Paisley and you tell Prince that you can master it better than anyone else! I mean, sure, we all must have better song-writing credentials than PRince himself, whose career has spanned decades! Some of the stuff he has put out hasn't been entirely good, but give the guy a break! Pessimism is incurable on here sometimes, I swear XD

-PS, sorry for my pessimisn

Thats true, you see they don't understand. Prince could compress the hell out of his music and it would sound good on all these devices with small speakers but that's not his fault. Prince knows that. Just like radio compresses music like mad to make it sound good on a wide range of crappy systems.

Listen through good headphones that can handle bass and this new song sounds big, sounds ace. I don't think the track sucks at all, it will sound great on a good system and sounds awesome with quality headphones. Compressing Prince music which has multiple layers of music is not the answer.

It's not Prince who took the giant leap backwards but how music is compressed these days and how we listen to music these days.

Okay, I'm going to explain it to you two in a simpler way. Here's a limiter:

[img:$uid]http://static.kvraudio.com/i/b/l2ultramaximiser.jpg[/img:$uid]

See those two orange triangles on the left that say "threshold" above them? You don't yank them so far down that distortion becomes audible in the mix as a result. Pretty damn simple and shouldn't have been too hard to avoid. Would have taken just as much time to get it right as getting it wrong.

SuperFurryAnimal said:

stillwaiting said:

People like Grundman are not needed when the only engineering skill needed today is to be able to turn a knob or sound level button as far as it will go.

That's why I'm not into remasters, most are just louder and tricks your mind into thinking you are hearing things that were not there. But the unreleased and new music should be fun.

.

A few reasons I brought Grundman up. First because I feel most of the material he was part of sounded better than the over compressed stuff that followed. Secondly he's part of the old school when mastering was more of a craft than just over compressing and jacking the sound levels up. Also it was somewhat of a sarcastic joke.

.

A remaster does not always have mean just turning up the overall loudness. If done right each individual track from the masters would be remixed and cleaned up. Take 1999 for example. LRC and Automatic sound muddy to me with some obvious background hiss in comparison to DMSR and Lady Cab Driver. Maybe not the best examples or explanation but I think you get what I'm saying. Otherwise I agree that playing around just the with loudness and compression would not impress me either.

novabrkr said:

SuperFurryAnimal said:

Thats true, you see they don't understand. Prince could compress the hell out of his music and it would sound good on all these devices with small speakers but that's not his fault. Prince knows that. Just like radio compresses music like mad to make it sound good on a wide range of crappy systems.

Listen through good headphones that can handle bass and this new song sounds big, sounds ace. I don't think the track sucks at all, it will sound great on a good system and sounds awesome with quality headphones. Compressing Prince music which has multiple layers of music is not the answer.

It's not Prince who took the giant leap backwards but how music is compressed these days and how we listen to music these days.

Okay, I'm going to explain it to you two in a simpler way. Here's a limiter:



See those two orange triangles on the left that say "threshold" above them? You don't yank them so far down that distortion becomes audible in the mix as a result. Pretty damn simple and shouldn't have been too hard to avoid. Would have taken just as much time to get it right as getting it wrong.

It's crazy how easy it is to avoid these problems and the people saying we're picky just don't understand that. They also seem to equate anyone saying bad mastering with them saying terrible song, which isn't the same thing at all.

The song is great but it should sound much better.

yes, finally german Itunes has it too...

I like that song - has that classic prince vibe.. not bad

Bambi82 said:

controversy99 said:

The last forty seconds almost have to be about P & Warner Brothers. "There's a door that you can walk through where there used to be a wall." Seems pretty clear to me. They finally broke each other down. Let down their walls. And made a new creative partnership.

According to PrinceVault, it was initially recorded in late 2012.. so, as this explaination does seem to fit the lyrics, I wonder if they were already discussing the new contract that long ago?

Prince has been in discussions with Warners about remasters etc since at least 2010, and possibly 2009.