I saw the video for "Let’s Go Crazy" the other day, and remembered the late 80s, around the time of ‘Sign of The Times’, when Paisley Park Studios seemed like the most exciting place in the world. Prince didn’t give many interviews at the time, but fortunately Matt ‘Dr’ Fink, his utterly legendary keyboard player was there and he remembers everything:
1) Those massive synth sounds on ‘1999’? They came from an Oberheim 4 Voice, multi-tracked four times with different patches.
2) Everything was always played live. The only time he let Dr Fink use a sequencer was to play the rhythm part on ‘I Would Die 4 U’ from Purple Rain. Prince could play it live himself, but Dr Fink couldn’t.
3) Prince also used the boring-but-apparently-good Roland D-50 during the late 80s. Rather than installing a huge, wheezing Hammond in Paisley Park, he… used the Hammond patch on a D-50. Perhaps you'd like to buy a D-50 Fridge Magnet
4) On stage, Prince appears to be playing a grand piano. In fact, it’s a prop – a Yamaha KX88 master keyboard built into a piano shell with a strengthened top (so he can dance on it).
5) Jimmy Jam auditioned to be Prince’s keyboard player. Fink got the job.
6) Dr Fink is no longer working with Prince. He is available for session work and can be booked on 1-952-447-7708. You can see his studio here.
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: 11:02 pm