Vinyl

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Any of you lot reverted back to vinyl records?
If so, why? I've been thinking about getting a 'record player'.
Is it just a nostalgia trip, or do you prefer the sound?

I haven't reverted back to vinyl as such, but I did buy myself a tidy deck for my 40th. A cheap record player just sounds shit.

Better? Different is probably more accurate. I like comparing original pressings with cds. One of my favourites is a Saint Saens organ symphony which I have on both. The record, made of quite a heavy and thick vinyl, is stunning, despite the odd pop and crackle. Some Dave Brubeck sounds better on vinyl. I've bought a few 45s from the 60s and 70s and they are better on vinyl. The digital remasters tend to lack depth and clarity. Much of that is down to the remastering, not the medium, though. Older recordings were intended for vinyl. Modern studio recordings aren't.

I have fought shy of buying any new vinyl pressings of old material. I'd firstly want to know if the pressing was made with the original recording, not some remastered attempt. I wonder how new material sounds on vinyl? Digital sound is only a sample of analog - there's no way of perfectly replicating analog on a digital format, though most will never tell the difference. I rarely can. If a digital recording has lost a fraction of the sound (mainly high pitched harmonics that we can't hear but are there), vinyl will just play back the analog pressing of a digital recording. That doesn't appeal to me.

There's also stuff released on vinyl that will never see a CD. I love my copy of the Portsmouth Sinfonia on vinyl (those who know of them will understand!). I recently found Agadoo on 12" in my local market for 25p. Bargain!

[David Vincent]

I have a Linn Sondek and a load of records but I haven't used it since about 1986. For me the convenience of listening via the computer far outweighs the extra sound quality you get from vinyl. I spend about 3 or 4 hours a day listening to music and there is no way that I could do that if I had to put a record on every time. Also with a computer you can see the musicians. The sound quality in the following clip of Brubeck playing Audrey is just terrible. But this clever film more than makes up for that. Desmond wrote Audrey for Audrey Hepburn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q__a39yWsg

When you see a great performance you get so much more out of it than just listening to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwynxOAoKjo

[cardiff55]

I have a Linn Sondek and a load of records but I haven't used it since about 1986. For me the convenience of listening via the computer far outweighs the extra sound quality you get from vinyl. I spend about 3 or 4 hours a day listening to music and there is no way that I could do that if I had to put a record on every time. Also with a computer you can see the musicians. The sound quality in the following clip of Brubeck playing Audrey is just terrible. But this clever film more than makes up for that. Desmond wrote Audrey for Audrey Hepburn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q__a39yWsg

When you see a great performance you get so much more out of it than just listening to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwynxOAoKjo

The Linn Sondek is a very nice piece of kit. I have an upgraded Rega with a new MC cartridge.

[cardiff55]

I haven't reverted back to vinyl as such, but I did buy myself a tidy deck for my 40th. A cheap record player just sounds shit.

Better? Different is probably more accurate. I like comparing original pressings with cds. One of my favourites is a Saint Saens organ symphony which I have on both. The record, made of quite a heavy and thick vinyl, is stunning, despite the odd pop and crackle. Some Dave Brubeck sounds better on vinyl. I've bought a few 45s from the 60s and 70s and they are better on vinyl. The digital remasters tend to lack depth and clarity. Much of that is down to the remastering, not the medium, though. Older recordings were intended for vinyl. Modern studio recordings aren't.

I have fought shy of buying any new vinyl pressings of old material. I'd firstly want to know if the pressing was made with the original recording, not some remastered attempt. I wonder how new material sounds on vinyl? Digital sound is only a sample of analog - there's no way of perfectly replicating analog on a digital format, though most will never tell the difference. I rarely can. If a digital recording has lost a fraction of the sound (mainly high pitched harmonics that we can't hear but are there), vinyl will just play back the analog pressing of a digital recording. That doesn't appeal to me.

There's also stuff released on vinyl that will never see a CD. I love my copy of the Portsmouth Sinfonia on vinyl (those who know of them will understand!). I recently found Agadoo on 12" in my local market for 25p. Bargain!

The 1960s singles in mono sound fantastic on a good deck. A really powerful sound.

[Mr Soul '68]

The 1960s singles in mono sound fantastic on a good deck. A really powerful sound.

Yes, indeed they do! I collect 60s Northern Soul and R&B (that's 60s R&B, not the modern chavvy stuff) and they all sound far better on vinyl. I do however buy CDs as there are are some 7" that I would love to own but cost literally thousands of pounds. Everything that has been pressed onto CD however, that I own, sounds far much better on vinyl, even with crackles and hiss