Susan Rogers on Recording with Prince

An average day for Prince was anything but average.

Susan Rogers/Photo by John Davenport

Susan Rogers—a course author for Berklee Online’s Master of Music in Music Production degree—worked as Prince’s staff engineer from 1983-1987.
“I had been with Prince over four years, and as you might imagine, I think I did 15 years worth of work in that time period because of the number of hours,” she says.

In this video, Rogers details what those hours were filled with: recording, writing, putting on impromptu shows, and doing it all over again after only about three hours of sleep.
“It was such an extraordinary time,” she says. “We were up there on Mount Everest, breathing really thin air.”

About the Master Track Series: Berklee Online is celebrating the instructors of their master’s degree programs with a series of animated videos. The videos highlight course authors for the first two master’s degree programs Berklee Online offered: a Master of Music in Music Production and Master of Arts in Music Business.

This video series not only shares compelling stories but also shines a spotlight on these Berklee instructors who have made great contributions to the music industry. Their talent, experience, and knowledge is priceless and is now accessible to post-graduate students accepted into Berklee Online’s master’s degree programs.

To learn more about how to apply, visit online.berklee.edu/apply.

SEE MORE MASTER TRACK VIDEOS

• Prince Charles Alexander on Hip-Hop and Recording the Notorious B.I.G.
• Producer Sean Slade Recalls an Explosive Recording Session with Lou Reed
• ‘We Shall Overcome’: E. Michael Harrington on Freeing a Civil Rights Song to Public Domain