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Jason Victor Serenus kindly brought this article to my attention.
http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/music-may-12-vinyl-revival-causes-discord-norman-lebrecht-lps-mp3s-valentina-lisitsa
The author is Norman Lebrecht, although I suspect that an editor, not Mr. Lebrecht, may have written the title.
Follow Ups:
Is that articles like this are always written by people who are just "straights", in other words non audiophiles, or rather people who never fully understood the entire situation.The first main issue was they lied thru their teeth 30 years ago. It was not "perfect sound forever." It wasn't even close. What it was was a hell of a marketing scam. 80's CD's sounded horrible, 80's CD players sounded horrible and the way they recorded a lot of stuff then was very flawed.
Thirty years later however yes, you can own a CD player and play discs that sound every bit as good as a good vinyl setup. That said not every player can do this, and not even most can, but they are out there.
Also, anyone who knows knows a record need not have a pop or click, or wear, ever. Clean it before you ever play it, remove the mold release compound and use Last record preservative.
But the question then even isn't should you own a CD or Record. The question these days is why don't I just download it and buy nothing? (or rather, own nothing)
We don't need records, or CD's, or books anymore. If we can eliminate this trash we can get on to living in cubicles, and soon we won't need to worry about headphones or speakers either, we'll just plug our "device" into a USB slot in the back of our neck and "hear" the music right in our brain. It doesn't get more real than that, right? No loss, no more treating rooms etc... I laugh at the Star Trek parable about the Borg coming here to assimilate us. We'll be like them long before they get here, in fact maybe we ARE them.
The most visited museum in America is the Smithsonian. It's the one everyone wants to go to, in fact many families build entire vacations around it. Yet it is nothing more than an amalgamation of buildings that storehouse the "junk" of Americas past. It would not be wrong to call it Americas attic, because that's what it is, the repository of all the dusty, obsolete and forgotten ephemera of another age, just cobwebbed sentimentalism. Yet we long for it and we're emotionally moved when viewing these items, in direct contradiction to the futurists who tell us we need to abandon this materialism.
So, that's what it comes down to. If we assume we're at a point when every format sounds the same, or close enough, then it's a matter of choice. Not just what we want, but what we want to be as a society.
First is a download. That means you own nothing, and have nothing, including responsibility. (you need not clean it, take care of it etc... I understand having no responsibility is very popular these days)
Second is owning hard copy.
The fact is LP's look cooler than CD's, LP packaging is cooler than CD's and the cover and liner are more enjoyable to look at while listening than the insert that came with the CD. You can have colored vinyl, raised and embossed or gatefold sleeves, picture discs etc... they are far more magical.
The advantages the CD enjoys are if you own thousand and thousands of discs they are easier to transport if you move and easier to store when you get there. They are also transportable and playable in a car. (although records were once too but people can't use a phone and drive, image the chaos this would cause)
The point is, each has it's own advantages and disadvantages, but I cannot fathom why people want to own nothing. What's going to happen in 75 years, will your granddaughter go to her kid one day and say "Here is your great grandads "device". He wanted you to have it..."
Me, I'd rather great grandad leave me a garage full of well cared for records. I'll live with the weight and the bulk... and the humanity. The most tragic thing of this age is most young people have never "rummaged" thru a good, old fashioned record store. The thrill of the hunt, the joy at finding a long sought treasure, the marvel of the unexpected when the clerk puts on a record that you never heard but instantly loved. Meeting and finding friends with like interests, a sense of community, living like people .
Which format sounds better? That's the least of our problems.
It's all about the music...
Edits: 06/01/12
"First is a download. That means you own nothing, and have nothing, including responsibility. (you need not clean it, take care of it etc... I understand having no responsibility is very popular these days)"
I have hundreds of paid downloads as well as original recordings that I have mastered. These take up Terabytes of storage. These recordings are quite real, but they depend on my continual responsibility to maintain my computing equipment, keep backup copies, etc... Every day I run a file sync program over my network to make sure that the on-line backups are current. Periodically I copy the library to hard drives that reside in a safe deposit box. Every month I scan each on-line drive to see if all of its data is still good and to correct marginal data. In the event a drive starts being unreliable I swap it out and replace it. Most recently I replaced a failed fan on one of my computers.
It's not true that I have nothing. I have the ability to play this music anytime I wish. In that regard it's no different than the situation with physical CDs or LPs, except that all of my computer equipment takes up considerably less space than the physical media would.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
The majority of young people doing all the downloading are not doing the endless backup you are and I wrote what I did with them in mind. That said, while yes, ALL that you are doing is work, to me it is another reason why the entire thing is rediculous.
You can try to spin it anyway you like, but you have nothing. That is a fact, nothing. The ability to hear a song whenever you like does not mean you actually have anything, as the empty room you occupy attests to. Your reply also indicates you can't grasp that to people like me there is more to it than just listening to the stupid song.
I don't mean any of this to infer anyone is right or wrong, we are free to make the choices we want. I am simply stating I find your choice both incomprehensible and inhuman, and it is not a world I ever wish to be a part of.
It's all about the music...
"You can try to spin it anyway you like, but you have nothing. That is a fact, nothing."
I have what I have and it is not for you to say what I have or do not have.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
The day you can stand in the room and show me something in your hand you can claim you have something. The only thing you have now is an illusion, and if you bother to look up the definition you'll find that's nothing more than "a false or misleading impression of reality."
While all this is like a real life example of the Matrix, in application you're more like a real life Voldemort. The bits and bytes of your existance are stowed away like horcruxes and you spend your waking hours tending them and moving them so nobody can damage or take them from you, but in the end the real truth is it's nothing, and you have nothing, and you'll leave nothing behind. I am sorry if this bothers you, however it is the truth and I have the right to express my opinion about it.
I have no right to tell you how to live and I am not, but I certainly have the right to tell others I think doing what you do is not a good thing. You do not however have the right to tell me to be quiet. America isn't a fascist state just yet.
It's all about the music...
"The day you can stand in the room and show me something in your hand you can claim you have something. The only thing you have now is an illusion, and if you bother to look up the definition you'll find that's nothing more than "a false or misleading impression of reality."
It would appear that you subscribe to the philosophy of Materialism. I do not. I suspect that is the root of our different perspectives.
"There are certain defective philosophies which think that the material world is everything. When matter becomes everything, then matter becomes the goal of life. And consequently human existence, human consciousness, subjective portion of the human mind, everything will become like earth and stone. That's why such a philosophy is detrimental to human development." - P.R. Sarkar
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
Yes, that's right. How brilliant of you. I have been secretly trying to buy and own the world. That's what I said, and that's what I do.
All these comments make you sanctimonious, self righteous and a nihilist. Do you needs quotes for them too or can you figure it out?
Now go away and plug your brain into your music, you need some down time. I am sure it must be tiring arguing with those beneath you. Have no worries, I won't read or reply to your drivel anymore, I have to go buy things...
It's all about the music...
Houses burn. Say both yours and Tony's happen to. You will have nothing but Tony still has his "illusions".
While I too like tangible things, I don't care for LP records. As a medium they have little goodness to them. I don't like having to go through a fetishish rigmarole just to listen to music and like every production medium they have severe compromises.
I think you are enamored with the past and I can understand that, but my past includes so many music distribution formats that I am jaded and tired of having to keep migrating, or losing my music. At least with storage as numerical data the latter process can be automated.
Oops, time to go wind up the 78 player...
Rick
That's an inaccurate comparison. It would be more correct to say "Assume you and Tony both had a kid, you had a real kid and Tony had a photo of a kid (and the negative). If your kid dies and Tony's photo is destroyed, he can go make his kid again.
I'd rather have the real kid and risk the loss. Tony has nothing but an illusion.
If I was enamoured with the past... well, what is the past anyway? I mean really, CD's came out almost 30 years ago, isn't that the past? Where do you magically draw the line? I also didn't defend the never ending conga line of media they tried to pull on us, and I never sold my stuff to buy it all over again on the next great "thing." So your snarky "78" commnent was not based on anything I said.
This disagreement wasn't about choice of media anyway, it was about media of any kind versus nothing. Tony (and technology) is a heartbeat away from plugging his "device" into the back of his neck and hearing the music right in his brain. Tell me, is that going to be "real" too? When Tony is in his white, empty room, sitting in his white chair with a cable plugged into his neck will that be called "living" and is that something we want to aspire to? That's life? You better decide, you'll be making that choice very soon. Virtual reality is on the doorstep, and he's about to knock.
...and while he's doing that, you'll laugh at and ridicule me for listening to a real 78 once owned by my grandfather? Something he owned and that had meaning to him....and you tell me my outlook is messed up?
Lets destroy all the art too while we're at it. Why own a Van Gogh that might be lost in a fire when I can have a jpeg on my phone?
You and Tony go have your shiny future for all the good it will do either of you. You keep despising records because they have "little goodness". (whatever the hell that means) I'm done with this thread because you people don't get it. I'm not telling either of you how to live, I'm just questioning your sanity because neither of you see the wall that's coming up fast and hard. You remind me of the types who forced the future on people 60 years ago, when americans went from eating wholesome, home cooked meals to frozen TV Dinners and "snack" foods laced with cancer causing hydrogenated oils. How did that work out? Do you still drink Tang?
To quote Dr Albert Schweitzer - "Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall, he will end by destroying the world."
It's all about the music...
I recently mastered an album. The original master resides on my computers. I burned a copy of this master on CD-R and gave it to an associate to load into a CD replicating machine. I also converted the file into several formats and uploaded them to a server. Since the ablum was released we have sold some physical copies but more downloads. Two days ago the artist who made the album asked me to send a copy of the WAV files. Rather than burn another "coaster" and ship it all the way to New Zealand, I loaded the WAV files into a shared Dropbox folder and sent an email. Now she has these master WAV files. I think it should be pretty clear that the three of us (plus the paying customers) "have" this music.
This may pass over the head of people who think physically, but the fact is that music resides in the mental sphere. A musical performance is a pattern of information. It is not a physical object. Even more to the point, none of us actually "has" anything material, not even our own body. Our very existence is contingent and transitory. Our very existence is in many respects an illusion. Another way of putting this is that we exist only through God's grace.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
Look... There's really no reason to be upset.
DAP put his finger on it: Records aren't the originals.
They are generations away. The best ones I've heard were recorded direct to disk and even those have intervening layers of mothers and stampers and pressings. But they can still sound damn good.
You are clearly offended that I'm not enamored with LP's, but you don't even know why. I'd be happy to tell you all about it if you're interested but it in no way invalidates your decision to focus on them as your prime media. It's my problem, not yours!
My sense of it is that you love LP records. I can understand that, really. The medium that I really loved was reel to reel tape and I would still be using it if I hadn't been jilted so badly by the oxide falling off of most of my tapes. No, they weren't mistreated nor cheap, just some 3M screwup with the binder on that line in that era. On top of that the record industry quit producing pre-recorded tapes. On top of that the motor bearing was going out in my Ampex and the heads were wearing a little. But the real killer was the oxide shed, I just lacked the patience to glue it back in place... Oddly, even though it's been decades when I see the recent ad in the back of Stereophile for a slick looking tape deck I feel a wave of lust. I don't feel that way about digital recorders so maybe it gets imprinted at puberty or something.
As far as owning something tangible, the data itself is of course always stored physically and the HD or Flash stick carriers can be packed around and plugged in the same as records or tapes and I own a permanent license to the data. I don't have anything that has copy protection or DRM and I know Tony eschews that also.
The thrill of shopping and rooting around in bins for music actually has gone full circle. When I was young our record store had several booths where you could play the records (78's and later 45's) that you were interested in to see if you liked them before buying. That was before stereo or microgroove. Later everything was shrink-wrapped and the risk was totally yours so they were a sunk expense before you could hear them. Now when I buy stuff from HD Tracks or Amazon they usually have excerpts that I can listen to of every track prior to buying. Just like the good ol' days, but from the comfort of my easy chair. It has saved me a lot of money as I no longer have to guess whether I'll like it and if I only like a track or two I can just buy them individually. AND, in many cases the recording effectively IS the master tape, a huge advantage of digital. That used to be the holy grail and only the most connected audiophiles managed to get any of the excess safety tapes. And oh man did they sound better than the records! But I wasn't well connected...
But I still buy CD's too. And SACD's. And for that matter I still have all my records, even some 78's which is another favorite format.
I hope this clears things up a little.
Best wishes, Rick
First, I'm not trying to tell anyone what to do. I cannot fathom some choices, but I am not forcing anything on anyone.
Second, I do not know why everyone is reading into this that I'm some knight on a horse trying to rescue vinyl. I said repeatedly I don't care what medium people prefer, I just can't understand why anyone would want to own nothing.
Third, I don't "love" records. There is more good to say about them than any other method (because yes, I consider the packaging, art etc.. all part of the experience) but choosing them is a lifestyle because they require things from you (work, time and money) to get the most from them, things many people don't want to do. - Reel to reel was higher quality, but as you note, tape simply doesn't hold up.
Fourth, if people are happy owning nothing then be that as it may, but please stop trying to equate some server in a building in Iowa that's storing it as "real", so it's real. IT'S NOT REAL. What if my house burns down.. what if the server facility burns down? What if hackers decide to go after your data instead of attacking some corporation? You people stand a far greater chance of losing it all in a blink than I do.
Fifth, if you think listening to a bad, 20 second clip on amazon is the equivalent to time in a good, actual "real" store then we have nothing to discuss, because we are so far removed there is no common ground. Maybe you were shopping in the wrong stores.
Finally, what everyone keeps completely missing is my post was not about format choice. It was about our choice as a society - Who we are as a people and what we represent. We already have reached a point where we are more fractured than ever. People live in their own micro bubbles now, they have their own "facts", and they don't like other peoples facts because they're all wrong. Go to any restaurant and everyone waiting for a table is staring like a mindless zombie at some device, even the children. Nobody talks, nobody looks at others, our society is about to implode, and none of you get it or see it. When you start removing the human elements from society you are removing the humanity from society. Open your eyes and look, it is happening.
That, if anything, is what I am upset about and what I am talking about. Only it appears so many of you are so far in the woods none of you see the trees anymore. That means it's not going to end pretty, and the cliff I see coming you people are going to drive us over, all the while telling me how OK it is.
I'm sorry. It's not OK. I'm also not going to be a party to it ever. What I can't believe is something as inane as Woody Allens Sleeper is coming to life right before my eyes. It won't be long before you all are telling "people like me" I'm supid for having messy, inconvenient sex when you all use an orgasmatron, in your white houses with your empty rooms and the music cable plugged into the backs of your necks.
What a fool I am.
It's all about the music...
Ah, but things are improving, the latest orgasmatrons have built in Ethernet and Wi-Fi!
I've never thought of myself as one of 'them', and I'm probably not, but I like to walk and have had to make some real adjustments. Just a few years ago there were often many howdys or even chats involved, now I'm learning to watch for the telltale white cord so that I can save my breath and be prepared to take evasive action if required because those so equipped are totally unaware of their surroundings and other people.
It is an interesting social phase, it's not that they don't enjoy friends and social intercourse, it's that it has become divorced from physicality. Fact is, I'm doing it right now, but at my age I don't do it in public...
However I've tried. A friend gave me an iPod a few years ago for my birthday and I tried using it while walking. Not a pretty picture, apparently I rely on my ears for survival when ambulating and use my eyes to gawk around at things for enjoyment. Losing the hearing part meant that I had to compensate by constantly looking for cars, bicycles, pedestrians, joggers and dogs which meant that it was neither safe nor enjoyable.
But the risk is low sitting here in the couch typing to you.
This whole thing is a logical progression starting with mail then telephones etc. and is still a long way from being terminal. The virtual workplace has been around long enough that we are largely used to it, real-time virtual hanging-out together when in motion is rather new to the masses but as a Ham I did it decades ago. Life is change, flow with it.
Regards, Rick
PS: I don't rely on "the cloud" to always be there nor does anyone I know, and my music and pictures are safe enough. Records are not the goods, they are just the box.
But you're not talking about an original Van Gogh, you're talking about a mass produced copy.Nobody's "laughing" at you or "ridiculing" you, just find it a little hard to relate to your point of view. After all, many of us think it is about the music, not the medium.
Best wishes,
Daniel
Edits: 06/06/12 06/06/12
Are we supposed to draw a line in the dirt with the toe of our shoe and dare everyone to stand on one side of the line or the other? Please.
Sorry but we can decide for ourselves what format we prefer and then buy that format. If I do not agree with the author it sounds like I run the chance of being misled into the abyss of ignorance. I will find myself in that roadside ditch since I did not choose DirecTV.
For the record (pun intended) I am vinyl type guy and I don't particularly care for CDs. They can be better than when CDs first hit the market but there is that offensive compression thing and I am old. I just like my LPs.
Oh, and for the record I don't care for clicks or pops either. Just because you choose LPs doesn't mean you get that benefit. Clean and take care of the LPs. It is a tough concept.
Ed
We don't shush around here!
Life is analog...digital is just samples thereof
(nt)
:D
Kidding only.
"How it has risen from charity shop basement to wealthy living room is a parable for our times, a classic example of popular resistance to the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence and market forces."Blown metaphors there....(I'm sure Charlie Hansen will find a way to blame JV and TAS for this)...."wealthy living room" does not equal "popular resistance."
The vinyl revival is primarily a dilettante's pursuit.
Which is fine.
Other than my lack of owning 14 versions of Kind of Blue or the 45 rpm single sided vinyl re-releases of Eva Cassidy singing treacly Sting songs, I dig vinyl alot.
Edits: 05/02/12
I don't want my life to revolve around my turntable(s).
BTW, I am getting a new one.
...let me know.
I'm still right around the corner.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
Making one format into one's exclusive sonic Allah has never been understandable to me.
Your new table better be an MMF model or Roy is gonna really get on poor Stephen's case!
Cheers, man.
You've made my enjoyment of audio better, just so ya know.
News of the Valentina Lisitsa Liszt LP. Otherwise the article was complete drivel.
I was going to make a post and take the author to task for his ignorance, but I see Fremer did justice for us all.
You Sam, however, rolled over like a little lap dog waiting for someone to scratch his belly. Highly disappointing....
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
I admit that analog is inherently superior to digital and that LPs, at their best, sound way better than most CDs. I said so, starting in 1984, when I wrote that I would suffer a 10% loss in sound quality not to turn over the damned record.
I don't want to deal with analog on a daily basis, although once a week or so is fine, mainly for jazz.
Convenience trumps sound quality. That's why the LP was developed. The long-playing record was great. It played longer (than 78s). CDs play longer still. That's why I like them.
As for Norman Lebrecht, I love the way he stirs up the pot and just want to encourage him.
The ONLY advantage for digital over analogue is convenience. I got representatives of digital recording at the 2011 CAS to admit that analogue tape is MUCH more accurate than digital. DUH!!
The rooms at the recent CAS's that were using analogue sources were WAY WAY more accurate than those using digital. The representative of the Magico room admitted to me that people stayed much longer when he was playing analogue. DUH!!!
I was quite pleased to note that JA admitted in a footnote in MF's "Analogue Corner" article on CD vs LP that analogue has better resolution than CD where it is most important: in the presence region, where the ear is most sensitive! DUH!!!
Lazy people bore me: too tired to turn a record over!!! Too tired to grind your coffee beans? Too tired to shop for fresh organic food? Too tired to cook a meal from fresh ingredients? Too tired to work out?
I've roasted and sold hundred of pounds of coffee and same here for the coffee,, the people that want it ground kind of blows my mind , but a sale is a sale I guess.
Anyone too lazy to use the superior medium in their "review" of a component would be quickly fired if I was the boss. That would cover 50%+ of Stereophile's "reviewers", including JA (whose "reference" speakers would seem to be the highly colored BBC LS3/5a speakers: a huge mid-bass hump and rolled off highs. But, yes, they are made in England, so that explains a lot.
I wouldn't call analog superior anymore. I was a died in the wool analog junky for over 35 years, but recently found that digital done right can be even better in some ways.
I repeat: in what ways is digital superior to analogue?
I'd give you a detailed description of why I prefer digital, but you'd just tell me I haven't heard good analog playback. Sorry i've been going down this road for years now, it's a waist of time.
Our audio club is split just about 50-50 as to which each prefers, instead of respecting what others like the battle rages on at every listening session, I just sit back and chuckle, it's like watching a small dog run around in circles chasing it's tail.
You may as well get used of the fact that some prefer analog, some prefer digital, thats the way it is, thats the way it will always be and you won't convince either of anything different.
Regards Tim
I favor blind tests, long term tests. I remember at the CAS 2010 show, in one room they played several digital versions of Bill Evans' "Waltz for Debby". Yes, each higher res digital version was superior. As it happened, I had a vinyl record of "Waltz for Debby" and got them to play the same cut. The analogue was so superior to the highest digital version that several listeners broke out in laughter! Better micro and macro dynamics, detail, and, of course, tonality. Music is, and always will be, analogue. Digital systems have to convert that original analogue sound to digital bits, and, then, after manipulating those bits in trillions of ways, have to reconvert those bits back to analogue (as real, live humans only hear analogue)!!! What a waste of time! My favorite room at the CAS 2011 was using analogue tape as a source. This was in the Sonist room, where the total cost of the system was quite modest!
As we all know by now, A single test in one system means very little. What were the components used?
What ways?
If you took a LP which sounded really good, played it on a good table and recorded it with a fairly decent A/D in 24/48 or 24/96, what does it sound like on playback?
I bet it sounds 99.99% like the LP. Which can be substantially different from the CD.
I think phonographic system can be non-inherently superior to digital.
> > If you took a LP which sounded really good, played it on a good table and recorded it with a fairly decent A/D in 24/48 or 24/96, what does it sound like on playback?
I bet it sounds 99.99% like the LP. Which can be substantially different from the CD.> >
And if you listened to the dork who wrote the article you wouldn't have the really good sounding LP to begin with.
I consider LP as a different take on mastering.
For me the problem is actually that classical digital recording from 1980 to 1990 or thereabouts had pretty harsh sound quality. It would have been better to stick with analogue masters during that time.
Most recently recorded classical sounds really good to me on digital. Problem is that there isn't that much of it any more, virtually every major orchestra has lost its recording contract.
A surprising number of the largest or better known orchestras now have
their own labels. We could put a list together for reference.
"Convenience trumps sound quality."
Ahh, oh so true. And I love convenience like the next guy. But I am only willing to sacrifice so much in it's name sake. So for the forseeable future, I will continue to put up with the toils of spinning my records. It's not nearly as easy as picking which digital file to "spin" next, but it still sounds way better.
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
My reaction: Was the author drunk? What is his point? Vinyl is silly? Maybe but who cares?"Digital did to music what Photoshop did to photography."
As far as I can tell, what Photoshop did to photography was get rid of needless chemical production. Other than that....photography is good and bad depending on the brain behind and in front of the camera.
Does a Dremel tool ruin sculpture? What would Michelangelo say? He'd ask for a dozen.
If people want to buy classical records on vinyl, let them, even if it's dumb. Just the fact that they are being bought by ANYBODY is a good thing.
And I personally think that 256kbps VBR AAC from iTunes is transparent and indistinguishable for virtually all needs from 16/44.1. No it probably wouldn't be indistinguishable from 48/24 5 channel but nobody records that anyway for music.
(note I didn't say 128kbps or MP3 or constant bit rate, and I mean it).
I personally believe that the author's apparent presumption that "CD-quality", i.e. uncompressed 16/44 is so much better than iTunes plus is actually quite a bit more irrational than the vinyl lovers. Obviously vinyl certainly sounds different, and you get a large tactile and physical object. If you like that, then go for it. It doesn't pop my toast (I don't want to bother with cleaning records or needles or changing sides after 25 minutes or any of that) but if you don't mind, and you like the other intentional differences, then why not?
By contrast the difference between the AAC format and uncompressed digital of the same input is extremely small perceptually. (modern VBR AAC codecs are very aggressive on dynamically allocating bit rate for appropriate complexity, I've seen instantaneous bit rates over 350kbps towards beginning of classical tracks).
I've subscribed to MOG. I can listen to 5 different recordings of exactly the same piece, changing within seconds. The audio experience is very different from one another. After a few months my conclusion is that recording quality comes from good engineering and maybe luck during the recording, everything else after that is pretty minor.
Edits: 05/01/12
"After a few months my conclusion is that recording quality comes from good engineering and maybe luck during the recording, everything else after that is pretty minor."
I have that impression as well, at least with contemporary equipment. The sad truth is that a kid with a stereo mic can make a better recording than what we typically get from the major labels, because just about every intervention in a competent recording made in a good acoustic makes it worse rather than better.
(nt)
thanks.
www.mog.com
a subscription music service. Upside: good selection, 320kbps, Downside: USA only, lousy & primitive search
nt
I just started building a TT and phono after not having one for 7 years. I am wondering if I shouldn't of bothered now. I have to say I am looking forward to my vintage flamenco records and clavichord records and gospel records. I don't know if that sort of quality can be downloaded. Maybe but considering it will cost me maybe $500 for a tt set up. probably a old td125 top bolted to a plinth I have left over with a small Chinese dc motor running a belt around the rim with a grado or dl102 on a grace oil damped tone arm I got for 70$ or maybe I might extend an old sme 3009 with a wood 12 inch arm tube I have laying around. Then head out to the op shops to find more 2$ records. Maybe vinyl still has a place for budget audio. What sort of PC or CD playback can I get for $500?
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