“…but nothing sounds as good as a vinyl record. That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact. That’s why some records were cut direct-to-disk, bypassing analog tape with 1/8” track widths. By comparison, a cassette is just a little wider with four tracks on it, and those awful 8-track tapes had one-fourth of that track width.”

If you don’t understand what he’s talking about above, here is some help.

The above picture shows the tape as you would look at it stretching from left to right. They put four tracks on that little thin piece of tape. Each track is just over 1/2 a millimeter! Not much room for information there.

Of course, 8-tracks had even thinner tracks with even less room for information.

“Studios used tube amps until the manufacturers sold them a bill of goods that transistors were the way to go. The studios then bought tube pre-amps to regain some of the lost quality. With CDs, they lopped off the highs and lows and were able to get more than twice the time on one disk. MP3s subtract even more signal.”

We have talked about CD’s and MP3′s before enough.

“…you have the car stereos with grossly disproportionate low frequencies that amount to scrotal massage – nothing at all like music is supposed to sound.”

LOL. I love how he put that. I believe he is right though. I think we have been conditioned to think that we need a whole lot of bass in our music. Everything should be balanced, it’s why they mix and master the music before we get it.

The article goes into the benefits that we have in digital recording, although it doesn’t sound as good, “You can alter the sounds into digital samples of other instruments, turn a wobbly drummer into a human clock and even make a tone-deaf banshee sing on pitch. In short, bad musicians can be made to sound almost talented. Is this a good idea?”

No, I don’t think it is a good idea. If you like a band, then go to hear them live, aren’t you disappointed when the singer can’t really sing (Axl Rose)?

More and more engineers are trying to stay away from crappy bands, and only working with those that have some talent and don’t need all the tricks to make them sound good. Also, more band are taking the hint and are writing and rehearsing all their songs prior to recording, instead of doing it in the recording studio.

Let’s hope this leads to better music.

I found on Youtube some video off of Discovery Channel that is kind of cheesy and reminds me of the “technology” video tapes that we used to watch in elementary school.

Part one of How Vinyl Records are Made.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUGRRUecBik

Part Two of How Vinyl Records are Made

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IReDh9ec_rk

The only thing that bothers me is the fact that they are recording a master vinyl record from a computer. I said it in a previous post, if the original recording is digital, then will the record sound as good as it would if the original recording was analog (using 24 track tape).

Some people have wondered what the difference is between regular vinyl, 180g and 200g vinyl. The difference is weight. G equals grams. So 180g vinyl weighs 180 grams. These weights have changed over time. Originally 130g was standard, and some record labels went as low as 90g, which would have sounded like crap. Today, most vinyl pressings are of 160g, 180g or 200g. However, most audiophiles will only buy and listen to 180g or 200g vinyl.

If you see something that says virgin vinyl, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t had sex, just that it’s never been used for anything before. During the oil shortage of the 70′s, it became general practice to recycle records and other things into new records. This lowered the quality and introduced imperfections into the vinyl. Virgin vinyl is pure, never before used vinyl.

I hope this helps some of you who weren’t exactly sure what these terms meant. If you have any questions on other topics relating to vinyl records or turntables or music, please ask me in the comment section. I will respond.

If you’ve picked up an arts section lately, you’ve probably seen a story with one (or both) of the following theses: “Vinyl is making a comeback.” “If you want great sound, you buy vinyl.” The hype is even starting to annoy some label folk, as it calls into question why non-audiophiles would bother buying tangible music at all. Sure, analog grooves of a vinyl record hold more information than any digital sample rate. But if an album was recorded digitally—a situation that’s becoming more and more common—are you getting more information by buying it on vinyl?

Time’s January article on the vinyl upswing offered that “LPs generally exhibit a warmer, more nuanced sound than CDs and digital downloads. MP3 files tend to produce tinnier notes, especially if compressed into a lower-resolution format that pares down the sonic information.” But what if that “sonic information” wasn’t there in the first place? Isn’t everyone using ProTools now? It would seem that this call for great sound and the rise of digital recording would be at odds.

Is vinyl mastering so superior to the “noise reduction” CDs are legendary for that even digital music sounds better on LP? Or is the hype just, well, hype? Do people just think they’re getting better sound on new records because they assume they’re getting a pure analog experience? Does the appeal of the gatefold overcome the fact that once a sound is digitized, there’s no turning back? The vinyl I buy tends to be used and $1.99, so I can’t speak from authority about the sound quality of new vinyl. But maybe you can.

Why do I say this is bad logic? First of all, yes, records are analog, they have all the information that is put on them. CD’s are digitally, they take ‘snapshots’ of information. Recording digitally takes ‘snapshots’ of the instruments. Do you see the pattern here? If something is recorded digitally, then put on CD, then you have music that ‘snapshots’ of ‘snapshots’.

To see what this is like, try to take a bunch of pictures in a row with your camera to show action. Then take those pictures and flip through them really fast, and take pictures of that.

That’s a CD.

Now, the second reason that this article is just plain wrong, is that not everybody uses Protools. A lot of people do, it’s a lot cheaper than investing in an analog studio, and it’s a whole lot easier than using 8, 16 or 24 track tape. However, a lot of artists still want that tape sound. A lot of engineers still like to record using tape. More artists are seeing the benefits of using tape, and usually those are the artists who are now releasing on vinyl.

So most of these records are being mastered from analog tape recordings. Not digital.

Is this a hint of the direction of formats?

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN) has already experimented with something like this. Reznor dropped his record label, and released his new album on his website. Although he had the album available on CD, it was also on vinyl and MP3. You could download the first 9 tracks on MP3 for free, or pay $5 and buy all 36 tracks with a PDF booklet. You could buy the double CD set for $10, or 2 CD’s a DVD and a blu-ray for $75. The ultimate package though, you could choose to pay over $300 for the vinyl set. This set includes everything else plus two books of photos, and prints, and four 180 gram vinyl records.

Oh, and all the MP3′s are DRM free. In many different formats too, such as FLAC and Apple Lossless.

While everyone said that this wouldn’t work, Reznor pulled in over $1.6 million the very first week. The Ultimate Vinyl package is completely sold out. Had he stayed with the record company, he would not have seen most of that money.

True artists are doing things differently. The true artists are passionate about their music, and they want to share it with us, and for us to be as passionate about it as they are. They not only want us to be happy, they want us to experience what they are feeling, what they are thinking, their music.

What better way to express your music than on vinyl.

I went to a record show once, but it wasn’t near this big. It was in a Red Roof Inn or something like that.

I would love to go to a record show that is this big. Apparently, it’s so big, that they have search announcements every few hours for people to be able to find a certain record.

The next show is October 3rd, 4th, and5th of 2008.

At the next few shows they will be selling the inventory of an old record shop that closed down, and has not been touched since 1970. Wow! Can you imagine, brand new records, magazines and posters from 1970? I bet there is some nice stuff that nobody has even seen in 38 years. Here is what they have to say about the store on the website;

In these days of diminishing vinyl, while we all watch the remnants of the vinyl era melt away on eBay or at the record shows, it’s easy to think back to the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s when vinyl ruled and record shops were everywhere. If you ever wished those days would come back or you had a time machine, well your dream has come true, if only for a brief flash in the musical pan. What’s this all about, well it’s about a record shop that shouldn’t exist in 2006 but yet it does, or did, as so many stores did during those golden decades of vinyl.

Our story starts in 1968 when a young Scottish lad obsessed with Soul music and in love with all it represented came to the US in search of his favorite records. His name is John Anderson, and he represented the vanguard of the European invasion of the US in search of vintage vinyl, although there were a few US collectors like the Stolper Brothers hunting around it was mainly a European assault. John turned his love of the music into a business and began importing the US 45s and LPs to England. A preview of what was later to be called the northern soul collecting mania.

John searched the country top to bottom for his records and one day in 1972 he drove into the small town of Miamisburg, Ohio. He cruised down Main Street and sure enough there was an old record shop as there were in most towns across the USA. John found the door locked but finally got to talk to the owner who told him he wasn’t selling his records anymore. He found out that the shop had started in the late ‘40s by the Kondoff family and run by the Mom and Dad and two brothers, George and Chris. The parents passed away and George left but Chris carried on, accumulating a huge amount of vinyl as he refused to return anything. Then he decided to close it up, and he shut it down in 1971. John came back every year during the ‘70s but the answer was always the same, no sale. He finally gave up and went on to easier deals as the country was awash in vintage vinyl in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. The ‘90s started and old music was bigger than ever, with everyone looking for that stash of old vinyl. I met John around that time and he often tortured me with his stories of the days when 45s were 10 cents or less and LPs 25 cents. He mentioned many of his great deals but he also mentioned the ones that got away, including that odd record shop in Ohio. John and I put together many record buys and as we marched into the new century vinyl seemed more popular than ever and harder to find all the time. While reliving the easier days about a year ago I mentioned the old Ohio store again, John thought that it was worth another look so he went by on one of his regular US trips. He found the store just as he last saw it 25 years before except no one was living in it now. He contacted Chris Kondoff’s brother, George, and he told him that his brother had retired and they were going to sell the store and the contents soon. He promised to contact John when that happened and sure enough in about 6 months the lawyer for the estate contacted John and asked him to come make an offer. So off we went to Ohio to look at a store closed for almost 40 years.

You can imagine the excitement as we drove down Main Street in the small town south of Dayton, then there it was just like we expected it, a old building with Popular, Rock, Solid Soul, Bluegrass and Golden Oldies, written in old print on the windows, and they truly were as you can see. When we walked into the shop it was like stepping into the Time Machine, all the LPs on display were from the late ‘60s and the bins were full of vintage ‘50s and ‘60s LPs. Sealed Beatle LPs, all the Rolling Stones, both mono and stereo, Pink Floyd on Tower, also all the Standells on Tower, the Hollies, the Animals, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, it was all there! And from the earlier era, Eddie Cochran’s “Singin To My Baby” on Liberty, the Duals “Stick Shift”, Link Wray and the Rockin Rebels on Swan. Obscure soul Lps, lots of James Brown King Lps, and hundreds of Starday and King country LPS, all sealed or mint.

Then there was the 45s bins loaded with picture sleeves by the Beatles, The Stones, the Yardbirds, the Miracles, Supremes, local garage bands and R&B, County and Rockabilly from the ‘50s. Pinch me hard, I thought I had stepped into a time wrap, Beam Me Up Scotty! But first let’s buy some records!

Since John and I didn’t deal in LPs anymore we brought in Craig Moerer to buy the LPs and we took the 45s and the paper goods.
And what paper goods they were! All the Billboards, Record Worlds, Cashboxes and other lesser known industry magazines of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, A complete history of the evolution of music from the ‘50s era to the hard rock ‘70s. The whole series of musical progressions from the Elvis period, to the Beatles invasion, the psychedelic ‘60s and into the ‘70s funk period. Also all the tragedies of those decades, Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. Plus all the record catalogs from the early days on up, Chess, Excello, Motown, etc, all the major (and minor companies). I learned more reading through the industry magazines and company catalogs than I’d ever done before. John Anderson told me the only thing like he’d ever seen like this in all his years in the music business was a guy in the Brill Building had a lot of magazines back in the ‘80s but not this many.

Amazing that they had been able to gather all these in such a remote area and in a small store.

Our wonderful pack rat, Chris Kondoff, also kept all the record company cardboard promo displays. Huge Frank Sinatra cardboard posters, Buddy Holly stand-ups, Johnny Burnette, Jackie Wilson, and the soundtrack to Spartacus, an incredible promotion with about 6 different cardboard posters plus a huge Elvis display of course. Amazing that the record companies put so much money into promotion in those early days, it was very common later in the ‘60s and ‘70s but I hadn’t been aware it was so big in the start of the LP/45 era.

The shop even still had the old listening booths of the old days, where one could take his 45s and decide which ones deserved his 98 cents. Later on you could do it with LPS too but since they were sealed it wasn’t so easy.

Many of the local people stopped by when they saw the door open after so many years and shared their stories of the old days when they bought their first records in the shop. It was fun to hear and interesting to learn how much a part of life in the small town the store was during it’s day. Just looking around the shop it was easy to think of the changes in music and in culture over the last 50 years, the Elvis years, Kennedy’s assassination, the attack of the Beatles, the Hippie scene and most of all the incredible influence music had on all of us through those years. The Last Record Shop, yes I’m afraid so but what a trip it’s been!

Hey, maybe I’ll see you at the Austin Record Show in October.

I do agree that things are fads, especially when it comes to something that is ‘retro.’ But don’t sell these teenagers short on their ability to hear when music sounds good, and when it sounds bad. Yes, I’m talking about the iPod. If you listen to an iPod, and don’t think it sounds bad, plug it in to a full range stereo system. You won’t have to listen too hard to realize that the sound has no depth.

Anyway, off my soapbox, and back the Time. Here is what they had to say:

From college dorm rooms to high school sleepovers, an all-but-extinct music medium has been showing up lately. And we don’t mean CDs. Vinyl records, especially the full-length LPs that helped define the golden era of rock in the 1960s and ’70s, are suddenly cool again. Some of the new fans are baby boomers nostalgic for their youth. But to the surprise and delight of music executives, increasing numbers of the iPod generation are also purchasing turntables (or dusting off Dad’s), buying long-playing vinyl records and giving them a spin.

Like the comeback of Puma sneakers or vintage T shirts, vinyl’s resurgence has benefited from its retro-rock aura. Many young listeners discovered LPs after they rifled through their parents’ collections looking for oldies and found that they liked the warmer sound quality of records, the more elaborate album covers and liner notes that come with them, and the experience of putting one on and sharing it with friends, as opposed to plugging in some earbuds and listening alone. “Bad sound on an iPod has had an impact on a lot of people going back to vinyl,” says David MacRunnel, a 15-year-old high school sophomore from Creve Coeur, Mo., who owns more than 1,000 records.

The music industry, hoping to find another revenue source that doesn’t easily lend itself to illegal downloads, has happily jumped on the bandwagon. Contemporary artists like the Killers and Ryan Adams have begun issuing their new releases on vinyl in addition to the CD and MP3 formats. As an extra lure, many labels are including coupons for free audio downloads with their vinyl albums so that Generation Y music fans can get the best of both worlds: high-quality sound at home and iPod portability for the road. Also, vinyl’s different shapes (hearts, triangles) and eye-catching designs (bright colors, sparkles) are created to appeal to a younger audience. While new records sell for about $14, used LPs go for as little as a penny–perfect for a teenager’s budget–or as much as $2,400 for a collectible, autographed copy of Beck’s Steve Threw Up.

Vinyl records are just a small scratch on the surface when it comes to total album sales–only about 0.2%, compared to 10% for digital downloads and 89.7% for CDs, according to Nielsen SoundScan–but these numbers may underrepresent the vinyl trend since they don’t always include sales at smaller indie shops where vinyl does best. Still, 990,000 vinyl albums were sold in 2007, up 15.4% from the 858,000 units bought in 2006. Mike Dreese, CEO of Newbury Comics, a New England chain of independent music retailers that sells LPs and CDs, says his vinyl sales were up 37% last year, and Patrick Amory, general manager of indie label Matador Records, whose artists include Cat Power and the New Pornographers, claims, “We can’t keep up with the demand.”

Big players are starting to take notice too. “It’s not a significant part of our business, but there is enough there for me to take someone and have half their time devoted to making vinyl a real business,” says John Esposito, president and CEO of WEA Corp., the U.S. distribution company of Warner Music Group, which posted a 30% increase in LP sales last year. In October, Amazon.com introduced a vinyl-only store and increased its selection to 150,000 titles across 20 genres. Its biggest sellers? Alternative rock, followed by classic rock albums. “I’m not saying vinyl will become a mainstream format, just like gourmet eating is not going to take over from McDonald’s,” says Michael Fremer, senior contributing editor at Stereophile. “But there is a growing group of people who are going back to a high-resolution format.” Here are some of the reasons they’re doing it and why you might want to consider it:

Sound quality LPs generally exhibit a warmer, more nuanced sound than CDs and digital downloads. MP3 files tend to produce tinnier notes, especially if compressed into a lower-resolution format that pares down the sonic information. “Most things sound better on vinyl, even with the crackles and pops and hisses,” says MacRunnel, the young Missouri record collector.

Album extras Large album covers with imaginative graphics, pullout photos (some even have full-size posters tucked in the sleeve) and liner notes are a big draw for young fans. “Alternative rock used to have 16-page booklets and album sleeves, but with iTunes there isn’t anything collectible to show I own a piece of this artist,” says Dreese of Newbury Comics. In a nod to modern technology, albums known as picture discs come with an image of the band or artist printed on the vinyl. “People who are used to CDs see the artwork and the colored vinyl, and they think it’s really cool,” says Jordan Yates, 15, a Nashville-based vinyl enthusiast. Some LP releases even come with bonus tracks not on the CD version, giving customers added value.

Social experience Crowding around a record player to listen to a new album with friends, discussing the foldout photos, even getting up to flip over a record makes vinyl a more socially interactive way to enjoy music. “As far as a communal experience, like with family and friends, it feels better to listen to vinyl,” says Jason Bini, 24, a recent graduate of Fordham University. “It’s definitely more social.”

Yes, I know that my blog is new, and someone might make the argument that I’m doing it because it’s popular, but I’ve had my vinyl for years, and I’ve bought vinyl for years. My dad had vinyl records. He had quite a different selection than I do though, although I have many of his. The Maynard Ferguson MF Horn I talked about before, for example. He also had a lot of gospel quartets, which just aren’t my thing. I can appreciate the singing and the harmonies, but it’s just not my thing.

So back on topic again. Records have been popular for years. I used to go to a shop ten years ago where all he sold were vinyl records.

I don’t think records ever became NOT popular. What happened is that CD’s came along, although they didn’t sound as good as vinyl, they didn’t sound bad. Now that we have MP3′s, and those can vary a whole lot in quality, people are realizing that they just don’t sound good.

What do you think? Are people today trying to be cool by buying vinyl LP’s, or do they really think that they sound better than MP3′s?

The ELP Laser Turntable uses five lasers, two to track along the grooves, one to stay the same distance from the record, and two to play the stereo sound from either side of the groove. Because of this, it can play records that have been scratched, warped, and even broken.

I asked for a demo CD from the company, and it came with some sound samples. Now, trying to show sound samples from vinyl on a CD is hard. It inherently has sound degradation. But it does show how records that are normally considered ruined, can be played again.

It also reads the information on the vinyl record, and can skip tracks just as on a CD. that is pretty cool.

What about quality of music? Well, like I said earlier, it is hard to hear a difference since it was transferred to CD, but I really did notice a difference in sound. Was it enough difference to pay the full $10,000? I don’t think so. But there were definite differences in the sound. You can also buy a declicker that will take out much of the hissing, clicking, and popping that most people associate with playing vinyl records.

This record player would be perfect and really is a must have for audio historians, and audio restoration. Libraries could use this. If you have a business where you need to get audio from records that are in horrible shape, then you need this. If you are an audiophile, and want the best sound you can, then go ahead; if money is no object.

For the rest of us, I believe that the price is too much. You can get good turntables, and cartridges and get just as good of sound.

Having said that, the biggest point for the laser turntable is the fact that since it uses lasers and not needles, It doesn’t wear on your record. Wow! That is kind of important. But again, worth $10,000? Not to me, but you make your own decision.

The problem is that these stores are closing down. There are some shops opening up, but not around here, not in small towns. Where can we go to find vinyl records? Online? Yeah, you can, but you have to be careful. If you buy a record online, you can’t actually look at it to see if it has scratches or not. It could be an old worn out flat sounding album, that you just paid a lot of money for.

There are places online that you can go. Places like Amazon have vinyl records, You can even find LP’s on eBay. I just found a place that I’ve heard some good stuff about though, and from searching a little bit, I’ve found rare albums on Musicstack that I know you can’t find in other places.

If you don’t like to buy vinyl online, the best place to go is to flea markets. Garage sales are ok, but usually the records have been stored in a musty damp basement and smell like mold, or were in an attic and are warped from the heat. There also isn’t a whole lot of selection. At flea markets however, you can find hundreds and thousands of vinyl albums for sale. You just have to know what to look for.

1. Look at the Record – Is it clean and without scratches? Is the label ripped or not? Looking at the record can tell you a lot about it. If it is scratched up, there isn’t much point in buying it. Look at it from the side to see if it is warped or not. We love vinyl because it sounds good. So why buy a bad record.
2. Look at the Record Cover – The cover art is one of the more important features of records. If the record is in good shape, look at the cover. This is one area that is completely up to your judgment. If it is a record you have been searching for for a long time, and the cover is beat up and the record is clean, go ahead and buy it. I had been looking for Billy Thorpe – “Children of the Sun” for years before the guy at the record store found it, but the cover wasn’t in the greatest shape. I bought it anyway.
3. Is the Price Worth the Album – Most of the time, at a flea market, it will be. I usually see records go for about 50 cents to 2 dollars. Even if it is 10 dollars, it can be a deal, especially if you find something rare, or worth some good money.

This album was their passage from cult band to mainstream act. The fifth album by U2, it was released 20 years ago in 1987. Considered by many to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time (I like it, but wouldn’t go that far),it did get a Grammy for Best Album of the Year in 1988.

Of course, it is a political album. Bono used the lyrics to show how he felt about America’s involvement and policies in Central America.

If you want the the new vinyl LP of The Joshua Tree, you can buy the vinyl at MusicStack or you can find it at Amazon below.