these days though, I'm assuming a lot of releases that come out on CD and vinyl use the same digital source - so would the vinyl actually be better quality? 
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P fan #1
Joined: May '10
Posts: 577Posted 15 years ago #I guess sound quality probably would be one of the weaker links in any argument for vinyl... (Just think 5.1, surround sound, etc.) I think there was an article in Wax Poetics some time ago that covered the audio qualities of vinyl among other subjects... I'll try and see if I can find it.
Personally I quite enjoy that lo-fi, dirty, gritty sound some records have. (Also keep in mind that some artists/producers still work with analog equipment and recording techniques by choice. Consider the rugged, sometimes sloppy sound of someone like Madlib vs. the polished crisp sounds of say Dre...)
btw, Po, what was your favorite vinyl-only release? You didn't post anything
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P fan #1
Joined: May '09
Posts: 600Posted 15 years ago #Hell yeah! Next Stets 12" is one of my vinyl-only favorites too
Sometimes when I wake up I brew myself some coffee and then pump Sally and Noonen. "...whatever lies ahead I'm facing it by getting out of bed!"
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EP
Joined: Mar '10
Posts: 130Posted 15 years ago #All this vinyl talk... time to play my one and only cherished PUTS 12".
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12
Joined: Jul '10
Posts: 59Posted 15 years ago #First of all, why would ANYONE buy CD's?
Physically, they're very vulnerable to damage. I don't know about you guys, but I never keep my CD's in the jewel cases, because CD's are Compact, meaning we use them in our cars, our homes, and maybe someone out there even has a discman they're still using...
Vinyl, on the other hand, is a big enough medium that prevents you from taking it out of your house (aside from DJ gigs), including the sleeve. Having the prodominent, artsy sleeves encourages the listener to put the record back in the sleeve. Even if you didn't put it back in the sleeve: wax holds up much better than polycarbonate plastic. The only two ways I've ever heard about ruining a vinyl record is by playing/scratching the hell out of certain tracks after a long period of time, and storing them in a laid-down stack, rather than storing them upright in a crate or shelf.
Get yourself a record player with a good stylus. People are getting rid of their vinyl collection, either because they don't listen to them anyone (and realize the value), or because they're more hip to digital, newer formats. But as all the other folks have said in this thread, there is NOTHING like the sound of a wax record. From the hiss to the rich bottom-end, you'll fall in love; that's a promise.
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P fan #1
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 584Posted 15 years ago #I love a good mix of all Media...from Vinyl, to CD and a few select MP3's. As i grew with a walkman (and man did i used to walk) i grew up on tapes (where's my JVC?!?!?). Love a nice bit of vinyl when mixing then its CD's in the car and the tapes.....well sadly they are gathering dust....but i love looking at them and remembering all those long dark walks with just EPMD to keep me company......It's my Thang!!!
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P fan #1
Joined: Mar '10
Posts: 818Posted 15 years ago #Arthritis, I see your point, I mean CDS are easy to screw up, but its hard to take them around anywhere.. if anything I just use my phone for music.. I love CD covers and Vinyl covers and I buy PUTS CDs just to help them out, but i barely even use them. I dont have ANYTIHNG to play vinyl with and as much as i love music, i just cant afford to spend money on a record player or turn table and I also dont DJ or anything so it wouldn't pay for itself in anyway... having Cds aren't a bad thing.. if they had record players built in to your car, id use it :-p but for now its just my phone and Ipod
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P fan #1
Joined: May '10
Posts: 577Posted 15 years ago #Well, truth be told records can be messed up just as easily as CDs. Probably even more so as every scratch on the surface may make the needle skip plus placing too much weight on your tonearm/needle will literally eat into the groove and ruin the record (recordBURN like ArthritisInYourToneArm mentioned).
I really need to look for that WaxPoetics article. I think there was someting in there about the degradation of CDs vs. records over time too, which would tie in to Arthritis' point about polycarbonate plastic. I must say that kind of stuff is too nerdy even to me
BTW, I was checking wonkabeats and JNOTA found an article "written by Daniel Espo, in which he considers the convenience of digital music to that of vinyl, with a special focus on Damu, his record collection, and fanbase" and asked Damu and Insight for their opinions on this. Interesting read.
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P fan #1
Joined: Oct '08
Posts: 3,255Posted 15 years ago #use 'em all... get 'em all...
mp3s = day-to-day running around
CDs = the car
casettes = your boom box on the b-ball court
8-track = showing off your copy off "Saturday Night Fever" or Pink Floyd or something to your cousin
vinyl = at home, at parties
reel-to-reel tape = recording studiomake sense now, peoples?
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P fan #1
Joined: Mar '11
Posts: 727Posted 14 years ago #wasn't sure where to post this,
Damu and ReDef have
causedforced me to buy my first non-wax music is a long while:
don't sleep!!! -
12
Joined: Jul '06
Posts: 95Posted 14 years ago #I buy wax whenever I can, it's a much more rewarding purchase than a CD. I even feel a bit weird when I buy CDs lol
The good thing about CDs is that it's a digital format so there's no loss in quality - a record that gets a lot of plays will deplete in sound quality and fade away; a CD will either be on or off; I or O. This is the only good things about CDs. IT used to be that back in the day they were a much easier format to transport but now we've got mp3's that's not the case either...
Vinyl, as someone has already said, is completely lossless and sounds absolutely beautiful. Yes you have to look after records more but that's just part of the experience: don't stack them on top of each other (for too long), don't expose them to heat, be careful not to scratch them etc. etc. This isn't inconvenient or difficult, it's part of the dying art of actually taking care of something. A vinyl record in good condition will sound ultimately richer and warmer than a CD 100% of the time.
I remember the first time it really hit me how much better vinyl sounds, my brother came home from uni for the holidays and had bought himself a set of decks while he was away. We'd set them up in my room and I'd borrowed my friend's copy of Birofunk by Braintax, which until that point I'd only heard on mp3 (way back in the way when quality didn't matter, I think it was probably a 128 kbps copy) and CD. I was leaning out the window smoking and just stopped dead in my tracks as I took it all in and realised how much better it was sounding on the wax. I was instantly hooked!
Another bad thing about vinyl is it weighs a ton so when I do DJ gigs it kills the back shifting all that gear in! Still, no way I'd DJ anything else, it's a small price to pay! I was DJing a set at this little coffee shop just before Christmas and one of the MCs for the evening came at me with a CD of his beats so he could rap over, it was a bit mean but I quoted Phoenix Nights (UK cats will know) and said "you having a sale son? Cos I've not got a CD player" Ah the kid just looked miffed hahaha! I did sort him out though and even dismantled my car stereo to get him my RCA to 3.5mm jack so I wasn't too out of order about it!
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EP
Joined: Aug '05
Posts: 262Posted 14 years ago #Personally, there are two things (both already mentioned) which make the difference. One is the lossless sound. The truth is that, if your ears aren't really highly tuned and if you're not really listening, the odds are you won't hear a difference - my wife can't hear it, which infuriates me. I have a lot of stuff (including four of the P's albums) on both CD and vinyl and for me there is no contest sound wise. The CDs really only get played in the car or in the kitchen. There's something about the actual physical contact you can have with a record. All a stylus does is pick up minute vibrations in the surface of the vinyl. The sound is literally physically there on the surface for you to see and feel. As Double K once said, this is the closest you can get to literally touching music, other than playing it live. So let's agree that this is the closest you can get to touching recorded music. Anyone who is worried about the quality depleting over time, a) same goes with a CD; b) treat your records like a lady and they'll love you for it.
The other thing I love (and the reason I will fight the battle against digital only until one of us dies) is the care and love that goes into the artwork and the whole package. It's not the same with a CD (though it's still better than nothing). I love the moment when you get a new record home (or it arrives in the post, which is more common if you live in Devon, as I do) and open it up for the first time, read all the text, check out all the pictures and dig on the layout of a really well designed sleeve. Pick up some original Parliament gatefolds and tell me that ain't the sh!t!
If you have even a half-decent amp and speakers, and you think your ears are good enough (if you make your own beats and can spend hours fiddling with one filter, they definitely will be), it is totally worth investing in a good turntable. The best thing you can get for under £500 (in my opinion) is this.
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P fan #1
Joined: Mar '11
Posts: 727Posted 14 years ago #my lady and i have proven the 'vinyl > digital' thing time and again for our friends, by putting on a record and syncing up either a 'FLAC' rip of same record, or the CD. there really is no comparison. for shits and giggles i've even loaded them into 'Audacity' to check out the spectrograms of each which also proved our point to those of our friends geeky enough to know what they were looking at.
here is a mystery: i have tons of older CDs, many of which i purchased while i lived in Europe, that will no longer play properly even though they show no signs of damage... no scratches/fingerprints/nothing. (i am one of those "take care of my stuff" people)
i guess i started noticing this about 5 years ago, but now i would say i have at least 250 old discs that are now fancy coasters. i never have been able to find a decent explanation for this.
this pissed me off to the point that i really haven't bought too many CDs since. (except for everything the P puts out... heh heh)
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