Norris Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 This weekend I set up my turntable and dug out the old vinyl albums. They have been put away 'safely' for the last 15 years or so while my kids grew up a bit. WOW! I've never really appreciated the difference before, but after not listening to vinyl for the last 15 years or so the difference is quite marked. Having been on a diet of digital music for that time - CDs, mp3s and DAB, analogue sounds so much smoother and dynamic. Nostalgia points:[list] [*]The 'ritual' of putting on an album [*]A sleeve you can look at without needing glasses [*]Dynamics - the music hasn't been compressed within an inch of life, and there are actually quiet sections [*]Warmth - it's a more pleasant sound to sit and listen to [/list] I suppose one of the key points as well is actually taking time to sit and listen to music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero9 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) Don't know about the 'dynamics' bit, I think that's down to the modern production suitable for the 'iP0d' generation and crappy 'l4pt0p' speakers. I can vouch for small text becoming harder to read as I get older, thus making LP covers easier to read. I think 'back in the vinyl days' album artwork was much more exciting and artistic compared to CD's / downloads. Edited November 12, 2012 by zero9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'm with you on all points. There is definately a more analogue sound to vinyl. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Rubbish. IMO properly produced digital formats are the best thing that's happened to music since recording began. I certainly don't miss the hiss, crackle and other inconvenient aural artefacts that littered vinyl releases. Records pressed on vinyl so thin that it only just didn't qualify as a flex-disc. Records with pops and scratches in them before you'd even played them once. Hunting through a box of new LPs in a record shop trying to find a copy that had the hole somewhere close to the centre. Give me good digital any day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coilte Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1352726798' post='1866542'] I certainly don't miss the hiss, crackle and other inconvenient aural artefacts that littered vinyl releases. Records pressed on vinyl so thin that it only just didn't qualify as a flex-disc. Records with pops and scratches in them before you'd even played them once. Hunting through a box of new LPs in a record shop trying to find a copy that had the hole somewhere close to the centre. Give me good digital any day! [/quote] Not sure where you went to do your vinyl shopping, but this has not been my experience. I have close on three hundred vinyl albums...not a scratch on any. Any hiss is probably due to me playing them to death. Granted they need a bit more care when being handled and played, but the effort is well rewarded. OP, I agree on all points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Well one of the bands I`m in, The Tuesday Club, are putting out an album and single, on vinyl, and we are releasing one of them - can`t remember which - on National Vinyl Day. And we`re intending to play a gig that day in a record shop to promote this. Vinyl-mungus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leen2112 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I loved the days when I was a kid going to town and buying an Album (gatefold preferred) sitting on the train and reading it all before actually getting it on and playing. There is no excitement with a CD or worse download. It was more than just the sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveK Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'm afraid I don't miss the frequent returns to the record store to get a copy of an album that didn't have clicks, crackles and pops throughout. I think that your points were probably true in the early days of CDs, but DA converters are much improved these days. I've spent many hours, days, weeks listening and converting my old vinyls to mp3 (to play on the go) to know that the loft is probably the best place for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 i actually went and brought a stereo with the other week for the very reason it had a turn table. i find more satisfaction from actually listening to a record than just playing back an mp3... feels somehow more real Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Most of my recent music buying on physical media (as opposed to downloads) has been on vinyl rather than CD. On top of that I've got a new turntable on my Christmas list... love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulWarning Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'm just reavaluating stuff since I got my hands on some different speakers and already I've come to the conclusion that mp3's played through the computer or personnel mp3 player sound dreadful (not surprisingly) but resonable bit rate mp3's burnt to a cd and played though a HI Fi sound ok, as regards vinyl v CD's I'm coming to the conclusion it's not the CD format that's the problem but the way modern stuff is mixed, everything's compressed to death to get more volume with the result that there's no space around the different instruments, having said that there is a magic with vinyl that digital music will never match, could be a age thing though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BILL POSTERS Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Norris' timestamp='1352725369' post='1866516'] This weekend I set up my turntable and dug out the old vinyl albums. They have been put away 'safely' for the last 15 years or so while my kids grew up a bit. WOW! I've never really appreciated the difference before, but after not listening to vinyl for the last 15 years or so the difference is quite marked. Having been on a diet of digital music for that time - CDs, mp3s and DAB, analogue sounds so much smoother and dynamic. Nostalgia points:[list] [*]The 'ritual' of putting on an album [*]A sleeve you can look at without needing glasses [*]Dynamics - the music hasn't been compressed within an inch of life, and there are actually quiet sections [*]Warmth - it's a more pleasant sound to sit and listen to [/list] I suppose one of the key points as well is actually taking time to sit and listen to music. [/quote] Now try listening to it through a decent quality old amp and speakers, I swear it sound better, so its not entirely down to the format. and i depends what your listening to as well. Old Blue Beat and Ska on a Blue Spot Radiogram for example. Only about 15W of EL84s per channel, but still sounded 'right' somehow, maybe cos that was the kind of gear it was mixed for, I'm not sure. But solid state gear was a lot mor basic electronically as well, and it sems to show, one of them things where you just cant put your finger on why. As for hiss and scratch, a lot was down to the vynil quality for sure. I seem to remember Polydor in particular were terrible on the mid 70s Edited November 12, 2012 by BILL POSTERS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceH Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Anything old-ish, that was mastered to CD later than it was mastered to vinyl, has a good chance of sounding better on the vinyl just because the tapes it came from were in better nick when the first (vinyl) master was done. Plus, there are plenty of remasters where the signal has been clipped to boost perceived loudness, which will sound worse than the vinyl on a decent hifi. I also think most cheap CD players still have pretty rubbish filters. My Marantz still sounds better than the output on my laptop, for example. Digital can sound amazing, but for various reasons it often doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 we've just done our new album on vinyl, its definitely my preferred format the physical release is just so much better than a CD! nice big artwork etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Big fan of vinyl here. I have crates and crates of the stuff, much to my wife's occasional annoyance. My turntable is kaput so I rarely get chance to give it an airing, although I'm loathe to part with any of it. That said, I do agree with BigRedX (above). I think much of the love of vinyl is nostalgic, coupled with the ritual of using a turntable - a pleasure in itself to many. Digital has the potential for better quality and a larger dynamic range than vinyl (I'm not talking about MP3s here but lossless formats like .wav and .flac). And while this isn't so important for most music, it can have a bearing on some electronic styles that like to employ super low subs, for example. But ultimately, whether you choose vinyl or digital has much less of an impact on the overall sound in comparison to more important factors, such as your choice of amp, speakers, the characteristics of your room, the production style of the music you're listening to, etc, etc. Everything else is an illusion... Still, given the choice I prefer to listen to vinyl. Not because of anything to do with the sound itself, but because it reminds me of happy days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I love the ritual of vinyl---and the larger artwork etc---but I don't try and kid myself that it sounds "better" because it doesn't. Some genres that I like (reggae, dub, jazz) sound good on vinyl but I think thats because the analogue recording and scratches/pops etc add something to the atmosphere, not because it makes it sounds "better". Yes a lot of modern music is horribly compressed but thats a choice made by the producer, not a limitation of the digital format. Properly recorded, well mixed music sounds amazing on digital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1352731987' post='1866639'] Big fan of vinyl here. I have crates and crates of the stuff, much to my wife's occasional annoyance. My turntable is kaput so I rarely get chance to give it an airing, although I'm loathe to part with any of it. That said, I do agree with BigRedX (above). I think much of the love of vinyl is nostalgic, coupled with the ritual of using a turntable - a pleasure in itself to many. Digital has the potential for better quality and a larger dynamic range than vinyl (I'm not talking about MP3s here but lossless formats like .wav and .flac). And while this isn't so important for most music, it can have a bearing on some electronic styles that like to employ super low subs, for example. But ultimately, whether you choose vinyl or digital has much less of an impact on the overall sound in comparison to more important factors, such as your choice of amp, speakers, the characteristics of your room, the production style of the music you're listening to, etc, etc. Everything else is an illusion... Still, given the choice I prefer to listen to vinyl. Not because of anything to do with the sound itself, but because it reminds me of happy days [/quote] +1. Its a nostalgia/ritual thing, not a sound quality thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1352728818' post='1866582'] Not sure where you went to do your vinyl shopping, but this has not been my experience. [/quote] It's not at all about where I was buying my vinyl but more when I was buying my vinyl. From the mid 70s to the end of the 80s for the most part vinyl was crap. Unless you were buying classical music or big name album bands you could guarantee that at least half the records you bought had audible flaws in them before they'd ever been played. These days vinyl is only any good because digital formats have forced pressing plants to produce something with some quality control. That most definitely wasn't the case for most 30 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 +1 on it mostly being in the production/mastering. There a loads of factors to that, loudness war, and a bunch I suspect is down to when making a record was really expensive, you had to be really good to get a record made, and now they are just knocked out on CD, minimal band time recording, and a digital production job to cover the half-arsed playing and recording which ends up making it all sound a bit samey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1352732052' post='1866642'] I love the ritual of vinyl---and the larger artwork etc---but I don't try and kid myself that it sounds "better" because it doesn't. Some genres that I like (reggae, dub, jazz) sound good on vinyl but I think thats because the analogue recording and scratches/pops etc add something to the atmosphere, not because it makes it sounds "better". Yes a lot of modern music is horribly compressed but thats a choice made by the producer, not a limitation of the digital format. Properly recorded, well mixed music sounds amazing on digital. [/quote] +1 Pretty well exactly what I was going to say. + the fact that however good vinyl is/was it starts to deteriorate from the first time you play it. CDs are not indestructible as once claimed, but relative to vinyl there get pretty close to it (and that's speaking as one who used to take incredible care of vinyl). Also CD is pretty much limited to the music - a 12" vinyl 'Album' was far more than that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coilte Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1352734884' post='1866703'] It's not at all about where I was buying my vinyl but more when I was buying my vinyl. From the mid 70s to the end of the 80s for the most part vinyl was crap. Unless you were buying classical music or big name album bands you could guarantee that at least half the records you bought had audible flaws in them before they'd ever been played. [/quote] Again, this has not been my experience and I was buying vinyl from the late 60's till around the late 80's. Perhaps I was just lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1352728818' post='1866582'] Not sure where you went to do your vinyl shopping, but this has not been my experience. [/quote] I agree. I get mine from Burning Shed, who are great (if you like their kind of thing). Also, many new vinyl releases will come with a free download of the same music in flac or high-quality mp3, so win/win: vinyl for at home, digital copy for on the move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1352737134' post='1866751'] Again, this has not been my experience and I was buying vinyl from the late 60's till around the late 80's. Perhaps I was just lucky. [/quote] So which artists were you buying? My experience was that from the mid 70s the quality of pressings for pop/rock acts went seriously down hill, and if you were buying small label records from the early 80s you could guarantee there would be some unwanted mechanical artefact on at least half of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1352737248' post='1866755'] I agree. I get mine from Burning Shed, who are great (if you like their kind of thing). Also, many new vinyl releases will come with a free download of the same music in flac or high-quality mp3, so win/win: vinyl for at home, digital copy for on the move. [/quote] As I said in a previous post modern vinyl pressings are way better than they were 30 years ago. They have to be otherwise the people making them would be out of business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coilte Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1352740273' post='1866825'] So which artists were you buying? My experience was that from the mid 70s the quality of pressings for pop/rock acts went seriously down hill, and if you were buying small label records from the early 80s you could guarantee there would be some unwanted mechanical artefact on at least half of them. [/quote] The majority of my vinyl is jazz and blues, with a small portion being rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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