Vinyl Resurgence Thread

You have the artwork and the feel of an actual physical product.

Granted, LPs possessed more artistic real estate than CDs, and sometimes included even larger posters. But does today's youth - still the prime song-buyers & concertgoers - really care about holding a physical thing, or the concept of ownership at all? Don't they just want to listen?

I'm seeing the trend with software, where discs aren't included in store-bought packages, it's all just a download. Basically, you're buying a license to use the software. Strictly virtual. And good luck loading it onto your 2nd laptop! At least with iTunes, you can have your songs on up to 5 of your computers/devices.

But I digress.

Bermuda
 
Bermuda, I'm going to contradict you with an example:

Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' (released in 2007) was a 'new' vinyl release. It was released on other formats too but the vinyl mastering is just gorgeous to the point where it doesn't sound anything like as good on other formats.

I haven't heard their recent material, but I would ask if the total length of the songs was deliberately shorter in order to maximize the capabilities of an LP. I agree that with an optimum amount of material, say, no more than 22 minutes per side, an LP sounds great. But when the length exceeds that, the grooves must be cut even narrower and shallower, and the audio quality and volume is reduced. That's just how a needle tracking a groove works.

That's also why 45s and 12" singles always sounded great - big, deep grooves. The more the needle moves, the more accurate the sound, and the louder the signal, which also masked surface noise. But on a microgroove LP over a certain length, the needle can't move as much, the volume (and I assume dynamic range) is reduced, and surface noise is more audible. There aren't those kinds of issues with a CD, unless it's just poorly mastered.

Bermuda
 
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I haven't heard their recent material, but I would ask if the total length of the songs was deliberately shorter in order to maximize the capabilities of an LP. I agree that with an optimum amount of material, say, no more than 22 minutes per side, an LP sounds great. But when the length exceeds that, the grooves must be cut even narrower and shallower, and the audio quality and volume is reduced. That's just how a needle tracking a groove works.

That's also why 45s and 12" singles always sounded great - big, deep grooves. The more the needle moves, the more accurate the sound, and the louder the signal, which also masked surface noise. But on a microgroove LP over a certain length, the needle can't move as much, the volume (and I assume dynamic range) is reduced, and surface noise is more audible. There aren't those kinds of issues with a CD, unless it's just poorly mastered.

Bermuda

A lot of new releases are cut to make a double album of 45s rather than 33s. This was certainly the case with 'In Rainbows'. Otherwise, I'm in total agreement.

Personally, I prefer albums that are time-limited by the vinyl. Around 45 minutes seems to be just about right. Most of my favourite albums are about that length, regardless of when they reduced - any longer and my interest tends to wander.

And yes, dynamic range is reduced with narrower grooves.
 
Not just 'hipsters' thinking it makes them 'cool'.

I've had a record player since about 2004. I got my first one when I was 16 and I bought a much nicer player about five years ago. Since then, I've amassed a collection of records covering a wide range of genres. I like the physical feel of an album and the process of playing them - if I put on a record, I am much more likely to listen to the whole album and enjoy it because the experience is less disposable than selecting songs from a list and jumping around.

It's also made it much easier for me to get hard-to-find music. For a lot of older (especially classical) records, there has been no digital conversion made and I can find records easily in charity shops and second-hand shops. I've bought most of my records second-hand. It's also relatively inexpensive - especially for some of the more avant-garde music I'm into (noise). There are record stores around that have a section specifically for avant-garde and I'll often find interesting albums for less than £10. It also means that I 'browse' - so even if I don't know what I'm looking for, I can find something interesting. With online purchases, I have to specifically know what it is I'm after before I can find it. That's not the case with well-stocked record stores.

I prefer the experience. I just do. I've preferred it since I was young and I think it of it as an experience rather than simply sticking on a few tracks. It's a ritual and one I enjoy immensely.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say.
With records, it's the kind of whole experience that I really enjoy, the feel of everything involved.
I love just sitting in front of the turntable skipping through dollar bin finds, or sitting back and concentrating on a single record with the computer turned off.

But, I also do get immense pleasure from being a youtube dj for the night every now and then. Typically involving lots of beer
 
It's not just on the LP collectors side. On the DJ/electronic music side of things, there has been a pretty big uptick in vinyl sales and vinyl only releases in the last two years. This is happening as the equipment formats that replaced decks and wax (CDJ and USB controllers) have gotten more and more feature packed and wallet friendly.

I think half of it is a genuine niche of people who embraced the new stuff and found that while it allowed them to do so many creative things with their mixes that are conceptually impossible on 1200s and analog plates, that the sheer amount of those options often obscured the focus on what people enjoyed about that way of communicating music in the first place: building a journey of musical tension and release. I have a lot of friends who will occasionally pack a crate full of vinyl and ask the venue to dust off the Technics because they want to trim the fat and have a free flowing evening.

The other half touting vinyl, sadly are largely old guard dinosaurs, or new guard hipsters who argue with strawmen like "real DJs can beatmatch on vinyl" or do things like booking "vinyl only" shows strictly to exclude others who have embraced new technology, and doing it under the guise of presenting an "old school feel" like I mentioned above.
 
Keep in mind vinyl is still considered by purists the audiophile standard, purists being ppl (like myself) who grew up with it and haven't found anything that sounds as good.
 
I have a few hundred vinyls, and I love them. Some are new (I much prefer having a product to hold rather than something digital) but most of them are old.

I wouldn't say I agree that they're better quality, but I do think that they sound better, if that makes any sense at all.
 
In my youngin days I used to argue with my older brother about the sound quality of vinyl vs the mobility of the cassette tape. Which is why I love CD's and MP3's. I can take my music anywhere.

Having said that, I do enjoy the artwork on an LP and also, been thinking about getting a turntable so I can start listening to vinyl again.
My parents had a huge collection of all the great oldies on vinyl. Wish I had that collection.
 
I still buy physical anything if I can (games, movies, books, etc.). Got no room for a turntable or the budget for vinyl. My car only has a cd player, so I buy cds for driving to school and stick the music on my tablet for other listening. I know it's not cool anymore, but I really just don't like this "digital is the future!" trend. It's amazing for garage bands who live continents away from me and I can't easily buy their stuff, but for other stuff, especially video games, I'm not a fan. If I buy something, I wanna hold it. I'd get into vinyl if it were worthwhile economically, but I definitely see the appeal.
 
I think their are typically two main reasons that people like vinyl:

1. The experiential side: reliving memories, listening to the whole album, etc.
2. The audio quality side: the sound is richer than other formats

Both of these have been discussed so far but i figured i would throw in my 2 cent.

Regarding the first reason i remember when i was really young, 4-5, my Dad playing Elton John, Billy Joel, the Beatles and others on vinyl. It was fun playing air guitar and drums and a great memory that I will always have. Eventually my dad starting giving me some of his vinyl and now I love it when my 2 year old son wants me to put on the Beach Boys so we can play air guitar and dance (he dances and I laugh while singing Cat's in the Cradle in my head)

Regarding the audio quality their are actually harmonics that are present on vinyl that are absent on other formats. Think of it like this: the smaller the format (vinyl->cassette->cd ->mp3) the more harmonics they have to remove to get the music to fit on that format. The sound may be negligible to some but in my opinion there is something warmer about vinyl. Maybe like a tube amp compared to a really nice solid-state amp.
 
Regarding the audio quality their are actually harmonics that are present on vinyl that are absent on other formats. Think of it like this: the smaller the format (vinyl->cassette->cd ->mp3) the more harmonics they have to remove to get the music to fit on that format. The sound may be negligible to some but in my opinion there is something warmer about vinyl. Maybe like a tube amp compared to a really nice solid-state amp.

I'm not about to open the whole analog vs. digital sound quality debate... but a CD should hold all the audible information that you should need for the normal human hearing range. Those harmonics you mention are out of the hearing range... and I'm skeptical that they should matter. Either way, there is certainly a market for high bitrate lossless digital audio for its supposed sonic benefits.

This is of course under the condition that your DAC is as high of quality as your vinyl rig. Mid-range vinyl set-ups usually sounds better than mid-range digital, beyond that it's hard to say.

Regarding tube vs. SS, the harmonics are different, and within the human hearing range. The even order harmonics of tubes create a warmer sound.
 
I think their are typically two main reasons that people like vinyl:

1. The experiential side: reliving memories, listening to the whole album, etc.
2. The audio quality side: the sound is richer than other formats
.

I recalled these great record players we used to have in Catholic grade school in the 1970s so I recently purchased one from ebay. Awesome sound for such a little thing. I remember playing Led Zep's "Dazed and Confused" on such a player in 7th grade in Sister Ann Grace's class. It was 'bring your favorite album to school day'.

Ha! Sister picked up the needle after about 30 seconds... Song over!
 

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Well, there's one thing my vinyl LPs have that you won't find on my CDs and DVD audio: cool brown stains that are really far out, man and what seems to be unidentifiable plant matter ground into the album sleeves.

I just wish I could remember how they got there...
 
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