PRINCE
FOR YOU
Produced, arranged,
composed, and performed
by Prince. If you want to talk
recording efficiency, you only
need one name.
Prince’s debut For You credits
him with playing 27 different
instruments. The only problem
was that it didn’t have a hit,
which his self-titled follow-up
rectified with “I Wanna Be
Your Lover.” The man released
39 albums in 37 years before
his death in 2016, and that’s
not even including the work he produced for
other people. So how did he do it?
Having your own dedicated recording studio
certainly helps. Paisley Park in Minnesota
featured not only a state-of-the-art recording
facility that let you record in literally every
room, but also a ballroom for jams and a
soundstage for filming videos. His engineers
confirmed he knew how all the mixing desks,
computers, and tape machines worked. At
his feet was three or four pedalboards of
various combinations so he could instantly
get the effect he wanted. Even vocals were
cut and double-tracked right from the
mixing desk, thanks to a boom mic hanging
overhead. Along with his favored LinnDrum
machine, Prince was always ready to cut a
classic track. “He rarely second-guessed
himself,” said former engineer Chuck Zwicky.
“By the time he’d done an album and it was
released to the public, he’d already recorded
three or four more albums’ worth of material.
It buffered him from the critics because he
was constantly moving three steps ahead
of them. He was constantly coming up with
ideas and realizing them but also discarding
them.”
Perhaps the best example is his most famous
single, “When Doves Cry.” The song wasn’t
even intended to be on Purple Rain originally,
until director Albert Mignoli requested a
song for a certain downtrodden part in the
film. By morning, Prince had the track ready
for him. Those haunting vocal overdubs?
That insane opening solo even Billy Gibbons
said he couldn’t figure out? Prince’s biggest
single ever? All in one evening. If that’s not
efficiency, we don’t know what is.
ToneReport.com
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