I think it's pretty much known that on SOTT Video a lot of the "Camille" type vocals were overdubbed cuz it seems obvious that he is not singing that high live.

But I was watching my Parade Tour video and it seemed like Mountains might have been fake too.

Anyone know the deal on this?

Also, what's the deal with using a drum machine. It always seemed like on the Purple Rain tour Bobby was just playing cymbals and the machine was doing most of the work. On Parade it seemed like a combination.

But then again I read that Bobby was playing pads that trigerred the Linn Drum. On SOTT when they do Forever In My life though at the end you hear Prince shout something like "Mark" and the machine cuts off. Anyone with the 411?

Well... actually... Prince doesn't play and sing any of the music... he's just a performer, playbacking a couple of guys behind the stage.

Can somebody say :"Milli Vanilli?"

Prince used to use drum machines quite extensively, and in
the 80's the live shows used a mixture of drum machines,
real drumming and triggered drum sounds which would vary
greatly from song to song.

The Sign O' the Times tour used drum loops quite extensively
but it was always quite clear when loops were being used
(Sheila never 'pretended' to drum, she either drummed live
or left the drum machine to it). Bobby Z's drumming with the
Revolution was a bit more of a mixture. Most songs used a
basic drum loop with Bobby playing fills and pecussion
over the top. Other tracks featured Bobby playing completely
live, but because he used a combination kit, it was often
difficult to tell the difference.

Prince has always sung live though, even when using various
voice effects. He did use sample loops of his own backing
vocals on some tracks (particularly in the 90's, where he
used a lot of layered vocals, like on 'TMBGITW' etc.). The
'Camille' and 'Bob George' style voices were achieved with
vocal effects live rather than vari-speeding (the same goes
for the metallic 'Hot Thing' vocal effect.

BorisFishpaw said:

When you say "loops" do you mean tapes of the loop or a drum machine on stage playing live?? I know he used the Linn Drum machine which was rare...always wondered if he took the box out on tour since only a few existed.




Yeah it seemed like even on Parade when he played live he was playing a pad with the extra "handclap" sound". But songs like "Mountains" sound like total drum machine. Plus he STANDS sometimes so it's like how could he be playing kick drum??



I'm sure he sang live at the show, but on the SOTT movie it sounds like it's re-recorded, plus at the time, I remember reading articles saying he overdubbed some stuff later in the studio. But when watching my Parade tour video (which is not an official release) it seemed like the mountains vocals were not real but I doubt it was overdubbed. What you say makes sense, that his mic was being processed with effects.

When I mentioned 'loops' being used for the Sign O' The
Times tour, I really meant he had the actual drum machine
playing 'live', (not a tape loop). The Drum patterns are
all pre-programmed into the machine, and all you need to
do is just trigger it. You can also alter it while it's
playing, so you can take the snare out, or speed it up, or
whatever.

The Sign O' The Times movie does have some overdubbing on
it (though not as much as you might think), it was recorded
live onto multitrack, so Prince could remix it to ensure
optimum sound quality. Most of the actual footage of the
concert was re-recorded at Paisley Park, so most of the
time what you're hearing is real, but what you're seeing
is re-enacted.

BorisFishpaw said:

So who was managing the drum machine? Cuz it woudl seem like Bobby couldn't play cymbals/drums and hit all the buttons for the Linn at the same time. BTW, i have 2 drum mahcines but just finally won a LinnDrum on ebay!!! I"m hoping to recreate those sounds!



Really?? I know the little Skits were done later but the actual performances were re-shot? that is weird.

GaryMF said:

But he did...you can catch him doing it on some of the pro shot tour vids..if your eyes are that good...

-SWANG'sare

That was Bobby's contribution during that period -- he could drum and work the machines onstage. Particularly with Prince starting and stopping the tune on a whim. Watch him carefully, you can see him preparing to reach down to switch the drum machine off, anticipating when Prince might stop the tune. I never saw him miss.

As far as SOTT, except for a few of the large crowd shots, virtually all of the concert sequences were re-created at the Park, filmed to playback of the concert multitracks, which themselves were obviously sweetened. You can even see a clear discrepancy between the size of the stage in closer shots vs. the larger shots from way back; and towards the end, during "Beautiful Night," somehow there are now seats off the side of the stage when there hadn't been for the whole movie. This was done either for more control over the performance or because the original concert footage came back "soft" (out-of-focus). I have heard both stories. You see a lot of black people in the audience -- because they're extras from Minne, not Rotterdam.

TedW said:

I always assumed trhat the guitar break during 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man' was also a rare inclusion of the Rotterdam footage, because the lower quality of the video (lighting, focus etc.) is noticeable.

BorisFishpaw said:

Optimum? I've heard recordings from the 50's and 60's that sound better than the "Sign 'O' The Times" movie...

Olivier

langebleu said:[/quote]I always assumed trhat the guitar break during 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man' was also a rare inclusion of the Rotterdam footage, because the lower quality of the video (lighting, focus etc.) is noticeable.[/quote]

The wide shots where he climbs up on the speaker array and throws the flowers into the crowd appears to be original footage -- you'll notice Prince is sweating a bit, which you don't see in any of the other closeups. Then there are some other shots that involve a crane during the solo (not seen in the wide shots) and his "guitar-sync-ing" seems to slip a bit during the last few phrases. I can't exactly tell which is which, but the movie's definitely a hodge-podge of elements.