scams in the name of audio quality

[Mi_10]

Nowadays, I don't know how even the first Vinyl pressing is done and from what source. Is there a separate recording session for Vinyl in a studio or is it done from a digitized master.
If from a digital master, then it is no more pure Vinyl.

Obviously the processes are different, but not completely sure of what they are doing today. Forget Vinyls, the Main stream market clearly has moved towards direct streaming / pay per use model even eliminating the CD production completely. Hope, those reputed record houses still press vinyl from source without any digital medium or Master in between.

Secondly, many music producers are resorting to more of digital medium for creating music which is clearly robbing the timbre from the real instrument, the skin effect from a guitar pluck, the dynamics of multiple string instruments or the muscle behind a tabla stoke.
The world of music is slowly and steadily missing out on the human ensemble of instrumentalists that brought out all the musical magic of the likes of Illayaraja, MSV, SDB and the likes.

Complete digital music is already passe'; The Trend is AI based Music creation where complete human intervention is bypassed. Digitally produced tones can bend the basic laws of music. Octave Jumping, Auto-Pitch correction, Ultra Low or Ultra High Frequencies, which are impossible to create via traditional instruments are possible.

I say world is heading towards a doom! Never too late to enjoy whatever is left out of analog world!

 

[tuff]

Check Sound City movie. David Grohl (ex-Nirvana drummer) made this documentary where they recorded on an old analog recording/mixing system.
there might be some hope for analog...LOL!!!

 

[jls001]

While we're at it, namely bashing/praising vinyl, let's do it correctly. The plural of vinyl is vinyl

 

[Ravindra Desai]

One thing is for sure "Vinyl" is a scam. It is like saying a bullock card is superior mode of transport than a Maruti car! People like to spend crazy amount of money on a thing that sounds like a AHUJA Public address system... LOL

I would not call Vinyl a scam, but it is for sure a thing of past.

Ahuja PA systems are most underrated.
Try any Ahuja amplifier with good speakers and a good source. You will be surprised! Besides, unlike so many 'branded' systems, they are very robust.

Regards,

Ravindra.

 

[Kannan]

While we're at it, namely bashing/praising vinyl, let's do it correctly. The plural of vinyl is vinyl

Let us switch to saying LPs then

 

[Deleted member 38504]

Those who like warm sound or into tubes like F2 its also a distortion hope all will agree but may or maynot understand what I mean to say.

Yes, take a little more time and say that again please. A little bit clearer this time.

Those who are into vinyl I dont want to discourage but they lack in actual highs and lows .

The people who listen to Vinyl or the Vinyl itself?

And oh, u can write whatever u need to write in one post. Unless of course, you need a minimum number of posts for a particular reason maybe?

 

[rikhav]

I would not call Vinyl a scam, but it is for sure a thing of past.

Ahuja PA systems are most underrated.
Try any Ahuja amplifier with good speakers and a good source. You will be surprised! Besides, unlike so many 'branded' systems, they are very robust.

Regards,

Ravindra.

You just need to hear a well done vinyl setup and you will change your thinking of it being technology of the past
Speakers by itself then can be called thing of past
All source material have their unique flavour but when setup well there us no shortage of high fidelity
Infact the masses are more and more moving towards lossy
I feel that's a huge step back
Digital files red book resolution, high bit rate digital files , DSD snd MQA digital files, CDs, LPs, spool tapes all sound Fantastic to rubbish depending on source material and partnering equipment

 

[flute]

One of the FM wanted me to write clearly bu I could not get regarding what ?

 

[Naturelover]

One of the FM wanted me to write clearly bu I could not get regarding what ?

Whatever you said in your quoted post. It is not clear at all what you meant

 

[keith_correa]

One of the FM wanted me to write clearly bu I could not get regarding what ?

If you need to ask, then,...

 

[Ravindra Desai]

You just need to hear a well done vinyl setup and you will change your thinking of it being technology of the past
Speakers by itself then can be called thing of past
All source material have their unique flavour but when setup well there us no shortage of high fidelity
Infact the masses are more and more moving towards lossy
I feel that's a huge step back
Digital files red book resolution, high bit rate digital files , DSD snd MQA digital files, CDs, LPs, spool tapes all sound Fantastic to rubbish depending on source material and partnering equipment

I recently saw Saregama Carvaan, a retro styled player. It was loaded with 5000 songs from yester years.
I turned it on and was impressed with what I heard. Not 20Hz to 20KHz, but it just did not matter. It was clean and effortless. I could listen to it all day long. It can be a wonderful gift for a close one. Nothing that needed a careful set-up. I am even considering buying one for myself.

Now compare this to:
Someone gifting me a brand new Turntable, top quality. I still need vinyl. (@jls001 : Got the plural right, thanks!!) Lots of them.
Even if someone donates a pile of them, I have to pray that they are in, not good, but in pristine condition for me to enjoy it. If I do fine some in pristine condition, I again have to put my hands together and hope that they are the original pressed from analogue source.
That is a lot of praying, Don't you think?
I don't want to buy a new vinyl because it is new and in good condition, but because it has contents that I like. That does not happen today.

Ironically even microphones used to record songs, these days, are digital! So there goes the analogue signal for a toss, at the source itself.

Regards,

Ravindra.

 

[prem]

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...l-sacd-or-a-1-1-analog-reel-tape-copy.133328/

An interesting comparison by one of the best mastering engineers of today

 

[rikhav]

But where did ever anyone say you have to buy vinyl or CD or cassetes or digital because it's claimed best
Of course, one has to go with what one likes.best convenience wise and sound wise
The audio setup sound is not for others but for the owner
All I said was don't count LP as dead source
Agree with you that new vinyls are recorded in digital domain but most have so many old LPs to enjoy
The question of chosing what source has to be solely your decision and not determined by what others do
Just yesterday I heard a spool of pink Floyd and it was probably one of the best sound I heard
That does not mean I will get into it and there are various reasons for that

 

[jls001]

If I do fine some in pristine condition, I again have to put my hands together and hope that they are the original pressed from analogue source.

Besides the points mentioned by @Ravindra Desai, cleaning is a must to get the best out of a record even if the record itself looks pristine. I clean even brand new records before playing. And one needs a decently good cleaner. At the minimum it needs to have vacuum suction to suck up the dirt that comes out from the groove during washing process.

Yes, the vinyl hobby is very involved, time consuming, costly, and almost a crapshoot in getting a fine sounding record (ratio of bad to good is very high). The whole process is a bit akin to self flagellation. Some of us enjoy it

 

[prem]

The vinyls of most new Bollywood films are much better than their digital counterpart.

The reason is very simple. Both use the original digital master for making their own copies from which the CD glass master is made and the lacquer is cut. This is where the problem comes in. For the CD glass master, the original master is dynamically compressed so that it sounds loud. I have seen this personally happen umpteen times. Same is the case with international artists also. When the vinyl lacquer is being cut from the original digital master, they don’t compress it. So it sounds better. Does it sound as good as the original digital master? I don’t think so.

So it’s not about one medium being superior to the other. It’s all about how much compression is added to the original digital master at the time of mastering for a particular medium.

Jls001 has heard the Barfi vinyl at my place and was very impressed with the sound quality. Later when he heard the CD version at his place, he was hugely disappointed. That’s simply because compression was added to the original master when mastering for CD.

 

[Kannan]

I recently saw Saregama Carvaan, a retro styled player. It was loaded with 5000 songs from yester years.

Yes. Saregama Carvaan is a superb player in what it does. My wife has one.
There is also a Tamil songs version which I gifted recently to a relative.

If we start looking in this way, there are many such convenient stuff around like portable wireless speakers, a simple mobile phone as a player and so on.

Here the discussion is in terms of attaining fidelity and not about convenience.
In this regard will LP die out any sooner, I don't think so, it is actually making a come back and doing quite well in the Americas and the Europe.
Please look at stats...in some parts of the world the vinyl sales have grown by more than 50%. In US alone 7.5 million records have been sold this year so far.

 

[prem]

I cannot comment on other genres of music, but if someone is majorly into Bollywood, old or new, I would suggest quietly get into vinyl. Bollywood CDs are terribly compressed. I got into CD in 1988 and exited in 2012. The original UK made CDs are probably the only decent ones. I had over 500 of them. But even they sound inferior to vinyl in most cases. And the made in UK CDs are pretty much unobtainuum. In fact they are more expensive than a nm lp of the same title in the used market

 

[Hiten]

In this regard will LP die out any sooner, I don't think so, it is actually making a come back and doing quite well in the Americas and the Europe.
Please look at stats...in some parts of the world the vinyl sales have grown by more than 50%. In US alone 7.5 million records have been sold this year so far.

Vinyl Comeback statistics are confusing. Most are comparative sales figures i.e. compared to sales of vinyl when CDs were ruling the market.(20/30 years) And some statistics give figures in sales money which is obvious, as inyl cost much higher than cds and digital downloads.
Vinyl sales
What will happen only time can tell. We need new generation to enjoy analog sound if they are interested. But now we also have high res recordings.
Regards.

 

[dr khanwelkar]

Dear All,
Please listen to the "Buddha Mil Gaya" Vinyl and then decide.It sound so different and sweet.I will never listen to these songs on CDs.

 

[hifitoaster]

Vinyl Comeback statistics are confusing. Most are comparative sales figures i.e. compared to sales of vinyl when CDs were ruling the market.(20/30 years) And some statistics give figures in sales money which is obvious, as inyl cost much higher than cds and digital downloads.
Vinyl sales
What will happen only time can tell. We need new generation to enjoy analog sound if they are interested. But now we also have high res recordings.
Regards.

I think its a marketed statistics which is an attempt to boost the sales in analogue. Vinyl companies must be paying all websites and magazines now to try their last resort. Who knows.

My take would be Hi Res or even MP3 becomes as good sounding that the disc era should go away. We need advancements , convenience still not missing anything. Not everyone has the luxury of keeping large devices in their living rooms which are getting smaller these days.