Vinyl

[seashell]

They will have to prise my vinyl collection from my cold dead hands.....

[Dingus]

I am largely with BRX on this one in so much as , where it is a great joy to hear a pristine vinyl record on a good turntable , the convenience and consistancy of CD/ digital is an improvement overall . Plus, you can get most all of the sonic benefits of vinyl with CD , although you do have to spend a few quid to get it. Anyone who has spent hours trying to set the tracking on an expensive turntable cartridge will know the joy of slapping on a CD and forgetting about it. And CD is easier to spell than vinyl , as I have found out trying to type this post!

[bertbass]

CDs sound good on a cheap hifi but on a great hifi you can hear that it's digital rather than analogue whereas the better the system that vinyl is played on the better it gets. In the 60s though, a Dansette sounded fabulous! IMO of course.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1352740696' post='1866838']
The majority of my vinyl is jazz and blues, with a small portion being rock.
[/quote]

And that's probably why. You were most likely buying music on labels that cared about the quality of their delivery medium and could afford it. If your tastes ran to the less mainstream rock acts and bands who scraped together all their savings to get 500 copies of their single self-pressed you'd be less likely to defend vinyl once you've seen the sort of quality that was deemed acceptable (or in a lot of cases all they could afford).

[mcgraham]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1352729026' post='1866584']
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]

Love it. This is a goal of mine, to release a CD/EP but have a pack with a proper pressed vinyl to go with it. At the very least it just 'feels right' to do this as a project

[Dingus]

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1352743057' post='1866888']
CDs sound good on a cheap hifi but on a great hifi you can hear that it's digital rather than analogue whereas the better the system that vinyl is played on the better it gets. In the 60s though, a Dansette sounded fabulous! IMO of course.
[/quote]

I remember my Black Sabbath records sounding fabulous on a Dansette in the 70s , but it might have been something to do with the bottles of my dads pale ale I had drunk beforehand ! A high quality vynil based system is a joy to behold , but a well chosen similaly priced CD -source audio system can easily rival it nowadays . Were talking generalisations , of course- it depends on what turntable versus what cd player and what is the synergy of the other componants you put them with , but CD has progressed to the point nowadays where the best players can match the depth, dynamics and overall musicality of high end turntables.

[Mr. Foxen]

Isn't the player that is the issue with the depth, dynamics and musicality of a CD, its the production and mastering. The output from a CD is going to be the same whatever, because its digital, and you have to make a special effort to mess it up from there, the rest of the reproduction system is going to be the same for both formats.

[BigRedX]

Unfortunately not all digital to analogue converters are equal.

[Coilte]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1352743440' post='1866895']
And that's probably why. You were most likely buying music on labels that cared about the quality of their delivery medium and could afford it. If your tastes ran to the less mainstream rock acts and bands who scraped together all their savings to get 500 copies of their single self-pressed you'd be less likely to defend vinyl once you've seen the sort of quality that was deemed acceptable (or in a lot of cases all they could afford).
[/quote]

Perhaps you are correct, but I am only giving what has been my experience of vinyl. Also, judging

from the responces here so far, the majority dont seem to have had much problems with their

vinyl. Surely they are all not jazz/blues fans ???

[Roger Evans]

Love vinyl myself but purely for nostalgia as others have said. Got plenty of old records that crackle like a log fire!

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='Roger Evans' timestamp='1352746077' post='1866953']
Love vinyl myself but purely for nostalgia as others have said. Got plenty of old records that crackle like a log fire!
[/quote]

But thats OK. You listen to the music not the quality. I always thought that was the general idea, HiFi freaks were generally thought of as nutters who read too many magazines when I wwas working in consumer electronics, but we mainly dealt with 3rd party servicing for chain stores and catalogues.

60s and 70s music had to sound OK on Radio 1 or local radio, which was usually a.m back then. or on a TV, which wasnt much better.

Somebody once told me that Dave Edmunds always used to listen to the mix through a little eliptical 4X7" speaker, to make sure it was going to sound OK played on a cheap record player, or AM radio.

Edited November 12, 2012 by BILL POSTERS

[steve-soar]

It's all to do with production and mastering. As BRX said, vinyl did cut corners in the 70's and 80's. I had a copy of Aural Sculpture by the Stranglers, in 1984, all 5 copies I returned jumped at the same place. Vinyl is very consistant these days.

DCS are leaders in digital recording systems, just listen to Underworld releases, sound incredible on a GOOD system.

Linn, the hifi people have invested a lot of money in digital front ends, and they give a great accout of their hardware and their artists.

[steve-soar]

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1352750596' post='1867033']


But thats OK. You listen to the music not the quality. I always thought that was the general idea, HiFi freaks were generally thought of as nutters who read too many magazines when I wwas working in consumer electronics, but we mainly dealt with 3rd party servicing for chain stores and catalogues.

60s and 70s music had to sound OK on Radio 1 or local radio, which was usually a.m back then. or on a TV, which wasnt much better.

Somebody once told me that Dave Edmunds always used to listen to the mix through a little eliptical 4X7" speaker, to make sure it was going to sound OK played on a cheap record player, or AM radio.
[/quote]Any good engineer or producer will insist on playback through tiny "car-radio" speakers.

[Tdw]

i agree with alot of the ops comments and im a vinyl fan too, but vinyl actually has a lower dynamic range than cds, alot of cds are very compressed and dynamically limited but this is modern production (the loudness war)rather than anything to do with cds or digital formats themselves.

[steve-soar]

Check out David Cheskey recordings.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Can't give a straight answe here. Dansette was great , very bassy ,)
Early Tangerine Dream albums had great artwork, but the pops and clicks were annoying.
Sabbath albums sounded good. Sabotage was thinner than Kate moss.
Judas Priest albums were more warped than anders brevik.

When metal albums got pressed onto CDs initially , the quality was worse than crap.(castle records anyone??)
Eventually , remasters such as sticky fingers/goats head soup sounded great , with the orignal inner sleeves like the vinyl.
Used to love overkill on green vinyl, and bomber on blue, not forgetting levitation,)

These days , my lifestyle has changed and will buy CDs I like, put them into my iTunes, and play them on my iPhone .
Listen to vinyl rarely , because of this. Don't buy mp3s tho'.
Nearly forgot, the needle used to stick/jump. Don't miss that.

Edited November 12, 2012 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1352751067' post='1867043']
Any good engineer or producer will insist on playback through tiny "car-radio" speakers.
[/quote]

If they are aiming for a market that is appropriate to.

[bremen]

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1352751067' post='1867043']
Any good engineer or producer will insist on playback through tiny "car-radio" speakers.
[/quote]

I heard of a studio that has a low power FM transmitter wired to the desk so the customers can sit in their own cars in the car park and hear how it'll sound out in the real world.

Though radio stations do their own vandalism to the records they play so maybe not entirely representative.

[PaulWarning]

I've only ever bought CD versions of vinyl records I already own twice, the first 2 Undertones long players, just been comparing them like for like and I have to say the CD versions do sound a little crisper, but then again the vinyl version have been played hundreds probably thousands of times. Having said that it's still a lot more fun putting a record on the turntable than a CD in the draw.
Anybody else done this comparison with newish vinyl?

[martin8708]

Bought a Project turntable and a TLC Fatman valve amp about a year ago and having a great time rediscovering the magic of Vinyl .
I'm no sound engineer , but there is something a bit more magical when Pink Floyds " The Wall " or my mums old Dave Brubeck albums are cranked up on the turntable .
I enjoy the nostalgia , the physical involvement of playing albums , even the hiss and clicks give the music a rawness and edge .
Then again , I still use film when I take photographs .

A small bonus to having a turntable is that lots of people will happily donate their vinyl collection for free just to get rid of there albums .

[Spike Vincent]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1352726798' post='1866542']
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]


Well said,Sir.

[gelfin]

Also the album cover was ideal for a roll up. Ever tried it on a CD case.

Vinyl rules.

[gelfin]

Metropolis studios use PMC BB5 XBD A active speakers driven by multiple Bryston power amplifiers. This is in the Stereo room and the multi channel rooms.
But on the desks are always a pair of small cheapish speakers.

Check out he PMC's here

http://www.pmc-speakers.com/products/professional/active/bb5-xbd

[JellyKnees]

[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1352760283' post='1867221']
Also the album cover was ideal for a roll up. Ever tried it on a CD case.

[/quote]

Or on an iPod?

I like vinyl, I have loads of old records (mostly from the 80s) which I still play now and then, but then I like digital too, although far too much of it is overcompressed and maximised to dynamic death these days.

And mp3s are NOT progress in anyway whatsoever. I'll have it in flac format thank you very much.

[SteveK]

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1352750596' post='1867033'].

Somebody once told me that Dave Edmunds always used to listen to the mix through a little eliptical 4X7" speaker, to make sure it was going to sound OK played on a cheap record player, or AM radio.
[/quote]It was/is common practice to listen to a mix on a small, cheap system. In many studios, Auratones with their 5" drivers were considered ideal for this purpose. And many a producer would do a mix to cassette and have a listen in their car on the way to and from the studio.