Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Basically, the entire contents of his recorded output, both released and unreleased.
I was observing from the periphery at that point but in contact with that team of people pretty regularly.
Did you get to see the original vault at Paisley before coming onboard?No I hadnt.
I had been in and out of Paisley Park many times but never in the vault itself.
When people hear the word vault, it sounds mythic.
Almost like a safe at a bank packed with cash and gold bars.
But what does the facility where the vault has been transferred to now actually look like?
Its a climate-controlled, very secure, natural-disasterretrofitted fortress in Hollywood.
Its a very unsexy environment, a utilitarian sort of space that has everything basically on unpenetrable shelves.
Its mostly analog tapes that take up a lot more space.
Whats your day-to-day like trying to catalog all this stuff?
The easiest way to do that is chronologically.
It betters the chances of full preservation.
Weve been lucky that almost everything weve come across has been in remarkably good shape.
But the guiding principal is to do it with as much completeness, respect, and integrity possible.
We hope to do it right the first time and never have to touch the physical assets again.
And I talk to Troy [Carter] over email probably every day.
I work five days a week, eight hours a day.
There are things of all eras through his creative evolution.
Its pretty remarkable and humbling.
There are a many number of ways to narrow things down if were unsure.
I was aware of it and found the performance so captivating.
So we did a bit of detective work and were able to narrow a wide pool of candidates.
We were pretty sure we had it.
Once we analyzed it, inserted it into the machine, and digitized it, we were fortunately correct.
In those moments when you go to play the recording, does your heart ever skip a beat?
They have to be physically baked in a convection oven to reattach the magnetic particles.
Its a bizarre concept, but it works.
Princes personal wishes for how all this music should be commercialized is a big concern to his fans.
It certainly was not in his line of sight at the time, otherwise it wouldve come out.
It represented the notion that a portion of these things would become available.
Are we doing his legacy justice by putting this out there?
Without exception, thats the most important thing and we have to use our best judgement.
And you would never consider putting out unfinished work?Correct.
That all gets to stay with the family.
There are some things thatll never emerge.
Less than a million or …?Less.
Thats always thrilling, to hear something that probably only a few people have heard.
I have a lot of those kinds of moments.
Theres stuff of every era that fans would find pretty intriguing.
She suggested that he start taking care of and being more mindful of this incredibly rich output.
Ive thought quite a bit about the stuff he didnt keep.
Im sure he recorded over a whole bunch of cassettes and there were reused tapes and whatnot.
I suppose we never will.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
