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I haven't bought any new vinyl records, all my stuff is over thirty years old. Are the new vinyl records sold today of good quality?
Various sources have said that the new stuff is often poor quality / noisy or in some way lower quality.
I want to start buying some new records, but am a little hesitant. Any recommendations?
Like smooth jazz stuff and guitar like Chris Rea and others. Some new well recorded vinyl for my secret Santa list?
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I've had good success with the new and reissued Blue Note albums. They are well recorded and (re)mastered. Surface noise is extremely low and in my experience the is a definite absence of pops and other annoying anomalies.
They also come with good quality record sleeves and are pretty clean right out of the package.
I think it is pretty good. Not sure if new release music isn't better on a CD. I got this nagging feeling that lots of the new music on vinyl I've bought recently would sound better on a CD - think I'm going to do a comparison.And lots of new reissue vinyl is good too - sometimes even better than the originals but usually not, but often good enough to be considered a bargain compared to what a new or near mint original would set you back. On the other hand there are plenty of dogs out there so be careful.
Edits: 11/16/21 11/16/21
I watch a lot of Youtube clips by record store owners about their new incoming vinyl. There's a tendency to do 50th anniversary reissues of 1971 albums which i bought on flea markets 15 years ago, say Neil Young. But not just 1 record, no a luxury box with 3 records, a CD and a 50 page booklet for 100 euro. I'll keep spinning my old pressings.
"The torture never stops"Greetings Freek.
Later Gator,
Dave
Quote: "Various sources have said that the new stuff is often poor quality / noisy or in some way lower quality"
Keep in mind that a lot of today's self proclaimed 'experts' are relatively young and likely listened to CDs for most of their lives. So their expectations are for dead silent backgrounds and total absence of clicks or pops. So if they're looking for fault in new vinyl records they will find it given the inherent limitations of the medium.
I've bought thousands of new LPs, from the late 1960s through present day. On average, I might encounter 1-2% that have objectionable audible defects. New vinyl in 2021 is not worse than that pressed 40-50 years ago. In fact, it may be even better. Surely many of us recall buying crappy re-grind vinyl LPs pressed during the 1970s oil embargo.
All that said, it is possible to buy flawed and crappy sounding new LPs. Not something I worry about as it's very infrequent in my experience.
Agree, most new reissues are quite good in terms of surface noises go and general pressing quality itself for the most part.
The warpage, I posit that it can be from walking home from the store on a warm, sunny day and the sun hits the bag, or been in a warm UPS/FedEx truck etc, not necessarily from pressing plants.
As to buying older vinyl, most vinyl pressed prior to the mid 70's and up, most lived a hard life, with many played on lesser players with crystal carts, so may exhibit groove damage of one sort or another.
Back around 2004 or so, bought a stereo pressing of Night Lights from Gerry Mulligan Quintet (1963, Phillips) and while it played fine in the store (the old Be Bop Records warehouse in Ballard) and when I got it home, crackle city, so it exhibited groove damage. Part of that was a very poor alignment of the cart om my table at the time, it took some time fiddling with it to get it to play cleanly, and has since then.
a $7 record in 1980 would cost $23.50 today. If you go to acoustic sounds, you will find records at 19 to 25 dollars.
a special record at $12 then would be $40 today.
It is a crap shoot. Generally speaking, most half speed mastered 45 rpm records produced today are pretty darn good, but pricey. As Ghost stated, if you can find original pressings and non scratched copies, those originals may sound good, but in other ways. Some originals sound so organic, refreshing while others sound flat and lifeless due to too much EQ causing the bass to be barely nonexistent. I have 10k plus records, and discovered over the years, that yes, it's a crap shoot. I would recommend looking for records you want from multiple places and compare prices. Warning, once you get hooked on buying records, it never stops. Once you start getting into records, you will experience yourself through discovery learning of this journey you are about to take that as your collection grows, that a pressing made at one studio in Europe verses the same record being pressed in the US, Germany, or France can sound vastly different.
BLUF: new vinyl can sound good, but most often, you will pay higher prices for sometimes better sound. Some older 60s-80s records can sound good too but not all. I find good older records have great natural ambiance and reverberation. Good luck on your journey.
They don't have to be first pressings, just clean copies. Assuming you're looking for old stuff and not current releases. Old LPs generally sound about the same as reissues and they're, well, cheaper.
Otherwise, the fresh pressings usually aren't cheap but factoring for inflation, often no more expensive than an LP was in, say, 1977. Sometimes, even cheaper, again factoring for inflation. A good example is Fleetwood Mac's Rumours . MRSP in 1977 was $7.98. In today's dollars that's $36.42.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
At Prex in Princeton they clean everything that comes in, maybe other places, so you pull them out and they look very good to excellent at first sight. Bring a head mounted white LED light and closeup glasses, then take a good look at them because some show signs of significant wear and damage. Don't ask me how I know.
I wish a lot of eBay sellers would use them too.I have been buying a lot of later reissues from before 1985, as many originals are for the very rich collectors. For jazz these reissues, that would be OJC, later Blue Note reissues, the Two Record Sets from Prestige, etc. I find the sound of these reissues to be very good.
I usually only buy new LPs, if the producers use the original master tapes.
Edits: 11/13/21 11/13/21 11/13/21 11/13/21
They sound terrific, IMO.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
that's what it looks like, stay safe and dry
I was laying and sliding on the wet roof to reduce pressure on the old shingles, so that headlamp really came in handy during the caulking.
I just got one of those lights for camping/working on model cars. Never thought to take it record shopping.
The lighting at Jerry's in Pittsburgh has never been that good. The headlamp will be a great help.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
believe me, it pays after buying a few in poor lighting and finding out they've been played with a 10 gram sapphire
relative to what most any of us here are familiar with. I haven't bought a whole bunch lately but so far they are quiet and sound wonderful
I'm waiting for the day that I can just put $100 or so in my wallet and go on a buying spree, but that hasn't happened yet. I always find $4 records that I enjoy. But one of these days, I will just let loose, I hope :-)
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