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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: Forget that... posted by Ozzie on September 16, 2020 at 06:02:16:
There are a lot of variables in play when it comes to comparing reel-to-reel and vinyl recordings, so it is impossible to say one always wins over another.
First, in the pre-digital age, the vast majority of recordings were made on studio open reel machines. These usually, but not always, ran at 15 ips and may or may not have been multi-track. If 4 or 8 track, then the tape had to be mixed down to 2 channel stereo before it could be turned into a commercial release. Every time a tape got transferred, there was a generational loss of high frequencies and increased noise. Dolby helped a bit with the hiss issue, but generational issues were still present.
Even in the original studio recordings, sound quality varied all over the place depending on the studio's equipment, the engineer and the goals of the artist and producer. But, the same thing is true today even with digital -- one can find plenty of modern recordings that are poor.
Conversion to vinyl added a whole 'nother layer of complications. Longer recordings had to have reduced volume and/or reduced bass to fit on a 12" LP. This hurt the signal-to-noise ratio and made any clicks and pops on the recording stand out more, as well as often hurt the bass quality. The number of pressings made from each master and the purity of the vinyl used was also an issue. Some labels were notorious for poor quality control in this area.
These days, even with LPs, most of the studio recordings are done in digital. This gets rid of the generation loss issue during mix-down and also helps with the S/N issue. But, if transferred to vinyl, one still has the classic limitations present when mastering the recording for LP pressing.
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Follow Ups
- R2R v Vinyl - mlsstl 09:47:59 09/17/20 (0)
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