This crowd would probably enjoy "The Revenge of Analog", by David Sax. The entire first chapter is "The Revenge of Vinyl" and goes deep into the rise, fall, and rebirth of physical records – including interesting bits on the handful of places left that are capable of printing records, on scarce presses from a bygone era.
Sony plans to make vinyl records again
301–310 of 347 posts
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
Due to physical limitations of the medium, mastering the vinyl release of an album is often (usually?) a separate process than mastering the digital version. One of the consequences is less compression/clipping, better dynamic range, etc. for the vinyl version. This can have a huge positive impact on sound quality. You don't have to be a nutbar audiophile to appreciate it, either - you can even hear the difference be…
Maybe decades ago, but I find it hard to imagine any recording studio still having an analogue recording process. Sure the different mediums may call for different mastering, but the loudness war wasn't a result of limitations of tapes/CDs.
You're right in that the loudness war wasn't the result of the limitations of the CD format, it was the result of the newfound capability inherent in the format. The "loudness war" was a continual ratcheting up of dynamic range compression, something easily achieved with a digital representation of the intended soundwave.
The manner in which the album is recorded (analog vs. digital) doesn't matter, it's the limitations of the format for which the master is intended. The physical limitation of a needle tracking a groove measured in microns places a hard limit on the amount of compression which can be applied to the dynamic range. You can't make a needle follow the kind of narrow, jagged, shallow groove that would be the result of using a "loudness wars" era master meant for the CD format.
That said, the number of "got to have it" albums which were caught up in the loudness war isn't enormous. The biggest victims were re-releases of classic rock albums during the 90's but the original records with the true mastering are widely available in the used market. While there are some classic albums begging for a vinyl focused remaster, there aren't too many people clamoring for Limp Bizkit's catalogue to be rereleased without all the trickery employed on the CD master. There are also a ton of garbage "vinyl remasters" out there cashing in on the trend. For example vinyl rerelease of the early Modest Mouse catalogue is just garbage. I seriously think they lied about finding the original masters and just took the CD master and added "crackle and pop" on top to mask the obvious half-assing. That or they used the worst pressing supplier on earth.
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
Due to physical limitations of the medium, mastering the vinyl release of an album is often (usually?) a separate process than mastering the digital version. One of the consequences is less compression/clipping, better dynamic range, etc. for the vinyl version. This can have a huge positive impact on sound quality. You don't have to be a nutbar audiophile to appreciate it, either - you can even hear the difference be…
Maybe decades ago, but I find it hard to imagine any recording studio still having an analogue recording process. Sure the different mediums may call for different mastering, but the loudness war wasn't a result of limitations of tapes/CDs.
The loudness war was directly related to CDs becoming popular.
"...because of the limitations of the vinyl format, loudness and compression on a released recording were restricted to make the physical medium playable—restrictions that do not exist on digital media such as CDs—and as a result, increasing loudness levels never reached the significance that they have in the CD era."
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
Due to physical limitations of the medium, mastering the vinyl release of an album is often (usually?) a separate process than mastering the digital version. One of the consequences is less compression/clipping, better dynamic range, etc. for the vinyl version. This can have a huge positive impact on sound quality. You don't have to be a nutbar audiophile to appreciate it, either - you can even hear the difference be…
I think you'll get way more traction spending $ on better headphones/speakers/audio playing equipment and listening to digital than moving over to a turntable and vinyl collection.
That's true up to a point but there are many classic albums and entire genres (jazz, big band music, beach music/swing music) where the only widely available digital offerings are horrifically mastered.
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#305As someone who started collecting vinyl about 3 years ago, it's about the difference between passive and active involvement in music. So much of our music consumption these days is a largely passive activity. We have music in our headphones while we work. We have music on in our cars while we drive. We have music on in the background of social events. While modern digital formats have given us true ubiquity of music…
While I can understand the nostalgia of playing music on a record player (many of us had lots of records when we were younger), and how that experience could be different for you, perhaps in a very pleasant way, I find the idea that the experience of using one medium over another somehow makes you more "serious" about the music (or more engaged with the music, or whatever else you want to call it) is laughable. You c…
Totally agree.
Case in point: myself.
I have never owned a record player nor any vinyl records.
I have owned a Walkman which was a hand-me-down from my older brother and I used it for a couple of years before it got accidentally broken.
Then I owned and used CD players (a mini stereo and a Discman) for about 5-8 years after that.
Ever since then I've owned mp3 players and/or streamed music onto my computer / devices.
The drop in audio quality/fidelity from switching to digital formats notwithstanding, I still very much listen to music very deliberately and very purposefully.
I actually try not to just play music as background noise while I work (I listen to podcasts instead).
Instead, I make time to experience music during my walks or at home.
I do this regardless of the medium.
To suggest that vinyl records is the only way to truly experience music is almost to suggest that people who don't own record players don't really like or care about music which is grossly untrue.
And also, collecting and curating your vinyl collection is not the only way to be active about music.
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problems I have with CD's that I don't with Vinyl: - CD's scratch and then skip easily - CD's come in horrible plastic covers that break if you look at them wrong. - Skipping to a certain part of a song is much more difficult with CD's. - The benefits vinyl provides (large artwork and liner notes/ lyrics, posters etc.) don't all apply to CD's and at that point there's not much/any benefit CD's have over digital.
>- CD's scratch and then skip easily Only if you mishandle and abuse them. Doing that to vinyl records is going to make them sound lousy too. Both of them are fairly delicate. >- CD's come in horrible plastic covers that break if you look at them wrong. Those jewel boxes are easily replaced, because most of them are standard (the exceptions are weird ones, like the double-CD ones). The plastic boxes keep the booklets…
Regarding cases/CD damage - I agree that if you're careful those things won't happen but I'm not exactly clumsy and I've ruined many CD's. It just doesn't seem to happen to vinyl on the same scale for me (I've never scratched a record or broken the cover but can't count how many times I've done that with CD's).
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problems I have with CD's that I don't with Vinyl: - CD's scratch and then skip easily - CD's come in horrible plastic covers that break if you look at them wrong. - Skipping to a certain part of a song is much more difficult with CD's. - The benefits vinyl provides (large artwork and liner notes/ lyrics, posters etc.) don't all apply to CD's and at that point there's not much/any benefit CD's have over digital.
> Skipping to a certain part of a song is much more difficult with CD's. Why would you even play the CD? Just rip it once to your media center in a lossless format, and then put it back on the shelf and never touch it again unless you suffer a hard drive failure with no backup. On a media center, it is easy to skip to whatever part of the song you want. Plus, if you don't open the CD's jewel case again after that ini…
Well yeah but I thought the point of this conversation was comparing the physical media CD to vinyl instead of using a digital version on your computer. Vinyl can be ripped too and most new releases come with a free download.
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dunno.. digital music just sounds better, is more consistent, portable, and all around easier to play than vinyl. Why stop there? Do you also churn your own butter, milk your own cows, shave with a straight razor? Personally, I think it's just silly hipster bias.
I'm not normally considered a hipster and I agree the advantage to vinyl is that it encourages active participation with music (and the art is better). I consume most of my music digitally essentially in the background but if I want to have a music listening session, alone or with friends, I reach for vinyl.
I wonder though: how would you feel if a digital medium forced the a similar ritual? In other words, if the task you had to perform to get music playing was as involved as putting on a record, would you gain the same sense of satisfaction from it? Or would it just feel contrived?
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> I don't think most people are actually listening to these. Given the high price of most brand new vinyl I'd be highly surprised if this was true. I do think you're on to something though. I will listen to the digital/streaming version of a record I have much, much more often than the vinyl copy. Usually if it's a new release I'll buy the vinyl, sit down and enjoy it start to finish, and then the only time I'll pla…
I will admit to not actually looking at the prices of vinyl but is it much higher then just a download or much higher then cd/tapes were historically?
It's about 2-2.5x the iTunes download price. It's slightly higher but almost equivalent to a CD price in the early 2000's.
Re: Sony plans to make vinyl records again
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
At least in my experience, it's one of those things that you don't know what you are missing until you have it. I remember when I bought my first pair of IEMs. They were pretty cheap, but still better than whatever earbuds came with my iPod at the time. After listening to the new IEMs for a while I was unable to go back to the Apple ones because they sounded so much worse. If you asked me a few days prior, I would ha…
yup, that's the downside of the hobby. I spent years chasing improvements which only satisfied me for a week. Took me years to stop and enjoy "good enough". Recently played something on my system for a musician friend and he was unimpressed...then I was crestfallen
You eventually get to a Pareto optimal front where the changes you make to your system aren't necessarily better, just different (i.e. more bass at the loss of some other part of the spectrum, which you may or may not prefer).