KVR Audio

jedilaw · Post by **jedilaw** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:41 am

I know Prince used the Linn LM-1 extensively in the 80s. I've sampled a friends LM-1, but I can't quite figure out what Prince was doing to alter the sounds. I know he was detuning the clap and the sidestick, and I've done that, but it seems like there was some kind of studio effect being applied as well.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of effects Prince was running his drums through back then?

Thanks in advance!

Peace,

JL

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:45 am

I am going to guess, 2 inch tape totally overdriven, with analog desks. no compression.... big reverb. classic 80s drums.

um, if there was any compression at all, and I highly dout it, it was parallell

jedilaw · Post by **jedilaw** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:07 am

ckatrun411 wrote:I am going to guess, 2 inch tape totally overdriven, with analog desks. no compression.... big reverb. classic 80s drums.

um, if there was any compression at all, and I highly dout it, it was parallell

How would one simulate overdriven tape? I know (in theory) how to apply analogue tape noise, and I have various overdrive effects. What's the trick?

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:14 am

jedilaw wrote: How would one simulate overdriven tape? I know (in theory) how to apply analogue tape noise, and I have various overdrive effects. What's the trick?

arrg, i just have no idea how you can get real tape saturation with software, virsyn has a couple of programs, ( people say they don't hit the mark ) there are some other tape saturators out there.

your looking for a very gently clipped tone at the end. Post some sound examples, but the drums in " purple rain " and " little red corvette " are most likely several combinations of acoustic and electric kits, slightly overdriven, and verbed.

post a sound example. what track r u most interested in from his?

TVD · Post by **TVD** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:19 am

jedilaw wrote:I know Prince used the Linn LM-1 extensively in the 80s. I've sampled a friends LM-1, but I can't quite figure out what Prince was doing to alter the sounds. I know he was detuning the clap and the sidestick, and I've done that, but it seems like there was some kind of studio effect being applied as well.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of effects Prince was running his drums through back then?

Thanks in advance!

Peace,

JL

1. Phaser (especially on the hi-hats!!!)
2. Flanger
3. Harmonizer (not so much for the drums, but for synths)
4. Compression

I'm a fan of Prince's music from the 80's. I would know.

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:21 am

ok, you do realize though, that if you google it, the phrase tape saturation comes again and again

necessity · Post by **necessity** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:09 am

Supposedly, he used harmonizers a lot on snares and claps. The Audiodamage Discord plug should do the trick. There was a small article on this in Computer Music about half a year ago or so.

jedilaw · Post by **jedilaw** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:24 am

ckatrun411 wrote:
jedilaw wrote: How would one simulate overdriven tape? I know (in theory) how to apply analogue tape noise, and I have various overdrive effects. What's the trick?

arrg, i just have no idea how you can get real tape saturation with software, virsyn has a couple of programs, ( people say they don't hit the mark ) there are some other tape saturators out there.

your looking for a very gently clipped tone at the end. Post some sound examples, but the drums in " purple rain " and " little red corvette " are most likely several combinations of acoustic and electric kits, slightly overdriven, and verbed.

post a sound example. what track r u most interested in from his?

Hot Thing, Housequake, If I Was Your Girlfriend, Kiss, Little Red Corvette, Automatic, Let's Pretend We're Married, 777-9311 (Prince did everything but lead vox on that one), DMSR.

All of those involved the LM-1.

I'm most interested in Hot Thing and Housequake.

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:37 am

well can you provide a sound demo, cause when you are using electronic drum machines your are trying not to compress the htz and clap/snr, you might do parallel but you don't want to kill your high frequencies. I like prince, but I am not a massive fan with all the records... Thing is, classic 80s drums are really verb and distortion ( tape kind ) and in terms of sound, he most likely went with that formula. its also possible, that he was using multiple sounds. From what I remember about him, the drums in prince tracks were always changing, in bar 1, he might have 2 different claps, 1 for 2, and 1 for 4, than in bar two, two claps, and bar 3, would be the same claps as 1.

Prince is an ultra clever producer mate. he really had a lot of stylistic crap going on, and I cant find these tracks on youtube, so I am just taking guesses on memory...

arrg...

Hewitt Huntwork · Post by **Hewitt Huntwork** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:52 am

I have a hard time believing that by 1987 Prince would still be using an LM-1 exclusively.

Spookyrockstar · Post by **Spookyrockstar** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:59 am

The famous rim-shot sound is the LM-1. Add some
flange. Tune down the snare on the Lm-1 (samples) a semi-tone or two, and then tape-sat everything. Purple Rain all the way!

Had a client that needed the Prince sound on his album. We got REALLY close with the above.

I'm not at the studio, but will post examples within a day or two!!

Have fun!!

jedilaw · Post by **jedilaw** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:20 pm

Hewitt Huntwork wrote:I have a hard time believing that by 1987 Prince would still be using an LM-1 exclusively.

Not exclusively. He was using a Synclavier with drum samples for some tracks by then, and I'm sure he had other gear sitting around. Remember, by this time Paisley Park was a full blown studio, it would have had all of the most current toys. But he definitely continued to use the LM-1 even as more modern stuff came out. Hell, he still uses it from time to time on his current music.

@Spookyrockstar: thanks for the input! Looking forward to what you come up with.

One thing I'd like to mention, I know that I could just sample the drum hits from the original songs, and use those samples in ReDrum or some other app, but that wouldn't teach me how he did it. I want to know what he was doing so that I can fool around with it, change the approach, come up with my own deal.

runagate · Post by **runagate** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:36 pm

Tape saturation freeware plug-in? JB Ferox VST

There's others, but that's the one I love at the moment.

Sound like Prince? First shave off ALL hair below the waist.
Then wear tight purple pants and at no time be seen in anything other than high heels. And get that weird Romulan haircut.

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:43 pm

runagate wrote: And get that weird Romulan haircut.

LBN · Post by **LBN** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:16 pm

This VSTi might be useful.

http://www.aaa-int.or.jp/jfactory/proje ... index.html

80s Prince-style drums