they engineer for the audience

Posted by texanater (A) on June 26, 2015 at 06:17:51

In Reply to: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl posted by jaydacus on June 24, 2015 at 15:42:58:

I don't think it matters one bit if a record has digital engineering in it at some point as long as they know what they are doing. I guess pure analog has the benefit of remaining in one domain but a good engineer will know how to go between domains just fine.

What makes sense to me is that vinyl is necessarily intended for dedicated two channel listening so they engineer the playback to sound best in that environment. Digital suffers from its convenience. You can listen to it in your car, on a crowded bus or while jogging etc... They have to engineer digital to sound good when competing with road noise and everything else. I love headphones but they make you want less dynamic music. If one track is quiet and the other is loud you blast your head off on the one or can't hear the other. All this pressures the sound engineer creating a digital recording to get rid of dynamics, make all voices identical and really just washes away nuance and subtlety. For me, many of the musical qualities that engage me are things like articulation, dynamics and voice separation. That is hard to do when engineering to compete with road noise or cheap ear buds and an iPhone.

I record a lot of my vinyl because I travel a lot and for the convenience. I went on a long road trip recently and my digitally recorded vinyl sounded terrible in my car, just terrible. I couldn't hear a thing!!! Through my stereo though it sounded wonderful.

None of that is a problem with vinyl because the engineer can just focus on dedicated stereo playback in a living room or listening room etc... I bet digital engineered for that environment will sound just as good if not better than vinyl.

Nate

You can't cheat an honest man, never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump -- W.C. Fields

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - jaydacus 15:42:58 06/24/15 (21)

RE: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - bluemooze 01:22:41 07/02/15 (0)

BD Self Portraits vol. 10 - Bill Way 09:48:01 06/29/15 (0)

they engineer for the audience - texanater 06:17:51 06/26/15 (0)

RE: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - flood2 15:11:46 06/25/15 (0)

Having done both (I run an LP mastering operation) - Ralph 09:20:52 06/25/15 (4)

RE: Having done both (I run an LP mastering operation) - littlebird 07:38:23 06/29/15 (1)

Correct! - Ralph 08:37:46 06/29/15 (0)

Very well said thoughts (with reality) on this! Thanks! nt - Dman 05:30:09 06/26/15 (0)

Thanks for that excellent, factual , input. nt - alaskahiatt 14:24:17 06/25/15 (0)

RE: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - Jabs1542 06:15:02 06/25/15 (0)

Digital vinyl seems a bit smoother to me, and I'm assuming that they were mastered at better than 16/44.1hz. n - jdaniel@jps.net 23:59:30 06/24/15 (0)

No opinion here, but it has been discussed numerous times on this forum. - alaskahiatt 20:45:02 06/24/15 (3)

To say the least. ;) - rbolaw 06:38:38 06/25/15 (2)

RE: To say the least. ;) - collinslaw@fuse.net 07:00:29 06/25/15 (1)

RE: To say the least. ;) - rbolaw 11:42:33 06/25/15 (0)

Digital Mastered Vinyl - hifitommy 19:52:11 06/24/15 (0)

RE: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - Darnit 17:25:26 06/24/15 (0)

RE: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - mark111 16:47:52 06/24/15 (2)

RE: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - Tre' 18:29:49 06/24/15 (1)

Should sound good. - mark111 16:35:06 06/25/15 (0)

RE: Analog .vs Digital Mastered Vinyl - johntoste 16:22:44 06/24/15 (0)

Follow Ups

they engineer for the audience - texanater 06:17:51 06/26/15 (0)

they engineer for the audience

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