215—Prince and the Technician

In 1983 Prince hired LA sound technician Susan Rogers, one of the few women in the industry, to move to Minneapolis and help upgrade his home recording studio as he began work on the album and the movie Purple Rain. Susan, a trained technician with no sound engineering experience became the engineer of Purple Rain, Parade, Sign o’ the Times, and all that Prince recorded for the next four years.

For those four years, and almost every year after, Prince recorded at least a song a day and they worked together for 24 hours, 36 hours, 96 hours at a stretch, layering and perfecting his music and his hot funky sound.

In celebration of Prince’s birthday The Kitchen Sisters reprise “Prince & The Technician.”

An award winning professor of cognitive neuroscience and a legendary record producer, Susan Rogers has recently written a book, “This is What It Sounds Like," one of Behavioral Scientist’s Notable Books of 2022. It’s a journey into the science and soul of music that reveals the secrets of why your favorite songs move you.

The Kitchen Sisters Present is produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) with Nathan Dalton and Brandi Howell. Part of Radiotopia from PRX, a curated network of independent producers — some of the best podcasts out there. Find out more at kitchensisters.org.