It’s been over a week since the tragic news of the untimely death of music icon Prince. Tributes to the late singer, songwriter, and producer have continued to pour in from his countless legions of fans.
The crew here at 301 were honored to have worked with Prince in our studios in 1992 whilst he was in Australia on his Diamonds and Pearls world tour. The icon and his band recorded in Studio B at our former Castlereagh Street location. Prince recorded tracks that would remain unreleased as he transitioned into his “Love Symbol” era shortly after.
Stephen Crane and Greg Cameron who were working in the 301 Tech department at the time reminisce about the Prince and the New Power Generation’s late night sessions at 301.
“It was all just a flash in time. It was very exciting, he’s just such a musical genius! When we found out that he was coming in we prepared the studio for a week,” they recalled.
According to the guys, Prince had booked three sessions at the studio but he only came in for two. Greg recounts how the icon’s band would come straight to the studio from their shows and begin setting up, whilst Prince would return to his hotel room and watch the entire concert he’d just performed.
Once done at his hotel room, he would make his way to 301, arriving at around 2am and working until dawn with recording engineer Mark Forrester and Angelique Cooper who performed MIDI programming.
“Prince would arrive at the studios with blank Post-It notes. He worked out all of the arrangements on the spot, then he would write the individual arrangements on notes for each member of the band,” Stephen recalled.
“He’d give these to each musician and they would all play their parts. They would do one take, maybe two and leave. Prince would spend the rest of the night singing and recording overdubs, working with Mark and Angelique.” “Prince was so impressed with both engineers that they were invited to the US to complete the songs at Paisley Park. Angelique would take that offer up and spend some time at the legendary compound with Prince.”
Stephen added, “I recall hearing that Prince had at least 5000 multitrack reels full of music all unreleased at that time. He was just writing and making music constantly.”
The plaque at 301 reception commemorates Prince recording at the studios.