I don't mean to sound harsh, but you are totally wrong. Yes, playing
an album is more personal than playing a cd or tape, and yes, the "warmth" of
analog does add something to music, but analog recordings are anything
but an exact copy of the signal you put into them. Once you put
the signal into any analog component, this includes any and all components
needed for digital recording and reproduction, you have modified the
signal. More specifically, you have distorted the signal.
Analog can only provide a good reproduction of mid frequencies. Low and
high freq. are "blurred," for lack of a better word and extreme lows and highs
are all but lost. That warmth that everyone loves is distortion and lack
of extreme frequencies. Putting the signal on a record just creates more
distortion or "warmth." The grooves are cut so tight now a days that the
needle used to cut them has no real room to move on those lower freqs.
Often it bends the top of grooves that were just cut.
If you want a closer approximation of live sound you have to use
digital recording. Digital can handle all freqs within the audible
spectrum: 20 to 20KHz. In fact digital records freqs outside our range of
hearing so that harmonics are not augmented at a lower range. As to the
sample rate. Who can differentiate the samples at a sample rate or 44.1Khz
(one sample every .000022675 seconds)? I can't. And you don't hear
people saying film is nothing like real life... there's only 24 frames per
second in film. The only real problem with digital sound is that there's
too much high freqs. Which is why you really have to wear ear
plugs when you go to a movie now a days. (By the way, most movies houses
now use digital audio. Dolby, Sony... If you notice the sound go to mud
during the movie the digital crapped out and the movie is defaulting to
analog)
The point of this ramble is that you shouldn't listen to records because
they are a better reproduction of live sound. It's a misconception.
Listen to them so you can hear what the artist intended you to hear. A lot
of artists mix their albums with vinyl in mind. They want you to hear that
warmth. Buying the album lets you get just that much closer to the
music. It's more personal, and yes, it displays better.
sorry about all that...
----- Original Message -----
From: phillip webb johnston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Deacon K Douglas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, April 05, 1999 3:56 PM
Subject: Re: [sdre-l]: Diary & LP2
reprints
> collectability, of course) is that they are mass produced differently.
> Vinyl and tapes are analog, whereas CDs are digital. Analog stands for
> analagous because it mimics the original sound very closely. What they do
> in digital is sample at intervals. Now granted there are so many samplings
> per second that no human would be able to tell the difference, the fact
> remains that people like the idea of hearing the whole thing.
>
> Also you get more sonic range in records than you do in CDs. When they
> produce CDs they "compact" the sound, for lack of a better term.
>
> One thing to keep in mind, though is that records are very fragile. They
> never sound the same as the first time you play them. It has to do with
> the fact that the diamond needle is actually touching the record. In CD
> players it's just a low power beam of light.
>
> Of course, the real reason to buy the records for Diary and LP2 is because
> it makes you feel like a pimp. I swear that having a record collection
> that puts your friend's to shame is an elitist thing. You are more of a
> Sunny Day fan if you have the LPs (?) Or maybe not.
> ___________________________________
> Phil Johnston. [EMAIL PROTECTED].
>
> On Mon, 5 Apr 1999, Deacon K Douglas wrote:
>
> > I never understood the vinyl thing, except for the collectible aspect. If
> > I have a high quality CD, why would I want to listen to vinyl?
> > Maybe if the liners were noticeably different. Beside's of course being 4
> > times as big...
> > Very cool though. That should make them some more money off of SDRE
> > before they lose them.
> > -=deacon=-
> >
>
>
