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I have been told by an insider on Discord that it isn't just Let's Go Crazy circulating with traders. It's every song from 1978-1988 he released with a few well-known unreleased tracks mixed in, supposedly the transfers made when Crystal Ball 2 was being worked on. Does anyone have proof about this?

AaronReturn2005 said:

I have been told by an insider on Discord that it isn't just Let's Go Crazy circulating with traders. It's every song from 1978-1988 he released with a few well-known unreleased tracks mixed in, supposedly the transfers made when Crystal Ball 2 was being worked on. Does anyone have proof about this?

A strong suggestion of this, if not actual proof, may be the dry-sounding homemade mixes of "Traffic Jam", "Feel U Up", etc, that have appeared in outtake collections in the past five or so years.

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I'd paint three murals for piece of those multitracked asses.

Yep. Definitely circulating. I had a look/listen to the 24 tracks in Audacity last night, but haven't had a proper listen to all the individual tracks. There are more than 3 hours of contents (with a lot of silence, of course).

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I don't believe for a second that everything from 1978 to 1988 is circulating, but more multitracks are and that's a good thing. They're fun to play with.

tmcjb said:

Speaking of...looks like Let’s Go Crazy finally leaked!

Wow...that would be a dream to hear that.

Please wake me when I can have the multitrack to WDC. (for the bass)

udo said:

Please wake me when I can have the multitrack to WDC. (for the bass)

The drum track and the vocals!

udo said:

Would LOVE to hear!

My ears need this!

This would definitely be very cool to hear.

I saw someone mention that Purple Music was also circulating among collectors, that one interests me the most.

VaultCurator said:

May I ask, with regards to the Let's Go Crazy stems, are the tracks all synchronized from the start? Ie, could they be loaded directly into your studio software and just begin mixing, or do you need to shift them around a bit to get the timing right? Is it the album version or the 12" mix? Also, can anyone confirm if any others are circulating?

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This is the extended version. The tracks are more or less synchronized, but I haven't checked them thoroughly. Just loaded them in (gasp...) Audacity, cliked on play, heard that the rough/default mix with all 24 tracks at 100% was, well, rough, but kind of worked, and played with the mute/solo/volume/pan buttons... (I'm definitely not a sound engineer, BTW.)

VaultCurator said:

May I ask, with regards to the Let's Go Crazy stems, are the tracks all synchronized from the start? Ie, could they be loaded directly into your studio software and just begin mixing, or do you need to shift them around a bit to get the timing right? Is it the album version or the 12" mix? Also, can anyone confirm if any others are circulating?

I put them in Ableton. They all sync up. I had to make sure they were expanded to their full length. Spent all day yesterday listening to it and trying to get a rough mix of it. Super fun!

olb99 said:

Just loaded them in (gasp...) Audacity, cliked on play, heard that the rough/default mix with all 24 tracks at 100% was, well, rough, but kind of worked, and played with the mute/solo/volume/pan buttons... (I'm definitely not a sound engineer, BTW.)

Hi olb99,

That's cool. I use Samplitude, but I've heard good things about Audacity. I'm sure you don't have to be a sound engineer to appreciate these tracks. Thanks for the info.

JudasLChrist said:

I put them in Ableton. They all sync up. I had to make sure they were expanded to their full length. Spent all day yesterday listening to it and trying to get a rough mix of it. Super fun!

Hi Judas,

Thanks for confirming that they all sync. Fingers crossed I'll come across them eventually and have a play about at some point. Have a good evening.

Want to point out a couple cool things about the LGC leak:

Through the cymbal and hi-hat tracks you can actually pretty clearly hear the very first take of the song with totally different vocals and guitar solo.

Speaking of guitar, there are two of Prince's electric guitar tracks: one is the album version, and one (I believe) is the first take version.

[Edited 4/10/20 15:34pm]

tmcjb said:

Want to point out a couple cool things about the LGC leak:

Through the cymbal and hi-hat tracks you can actually pretty clearly hear the very first take of the song with totally different vocals and guitar solo.

Speaking of guitar, there are two of Prince's electric guitar tracks: one is the album version, and one (I believe) is the first take version.

[Edited 4/10/20 15:34pm]

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Thanks. I was wondering about the 2 similar guitar tracks.

[Edited 4/11/20 1:16am]

Is there any studio chatter in the default "rough" mix?

Oh...I also would love to hear that

I've only heard the vocal stem for Let's Go Crazy. I found it interesting how he sings it more funky than you can hear in the mix. Lots of gentle grunts between lines, almost like the ghost notes on a bass.

[Edited 4/12/20 12:14pm]

I've had great fun with these in audacity. They sync perfectly. I've always felt Prince over produced some of his rock (i.e. Lets Go Crazy, Fury) and turned them too 'pop'.

I did a quick new mix removing the background vocals and syths (except for the intro), and my god, it would give Dreamer a run for it's money. It's amazing how much depth there is in the guitar tracks once a few layers of gloss are removed.

The most fascinating element of this for me is that the bleed on some of the multi tracks allows us to identify and seperate the elements that were from the original warehouse recordings and which ones were the later studio overdubs. The original recording is pretty rough and it feels like the many overdubs were used to hide a lot of imperfections.

It's also interesting listening to the third overdub of background vocals and that Prince couldn't help himself and was tapping out some kick drum/percussion on something like a seat or surface.

I'm going to do a bit more headphone analysis, and then put the live warehouse version back together without the later overdubs so that I have it in it's 'original' state.

It's funny, I had the opposite impulse — dropping all the guitar tracks just to hear the synths on their own. But definitely a highlight is hearing the breakdown on its own; if you have just the drum track and the chicken scratch guitar, it sounds like a really good Vanity 6 song.

I'm so curious to hear these! Are they flacs? wavs? mp3s?

SchlomoThaHomo said:

I'm so curious to hear these! Are they flacs? wavs? mp3s?

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24 WAV files.

olb99 said: