[Re: Vinyl/CD]

[Harry Bissell]

Harry Bissell (2/100 of $1)
1) Vinyl sounds better than CD because the mastering/mixing process on classic
recordings was done by lots of highly skilled people, often including the
artists. They would not compromise/release until it was perfect.

2) To be a viable medium CD needed a large catalog so they got a schmuck, gave
him 10 master tapes and told him to have the masters ready by 5:00pm.
He gave it his best shot, under the circumstances...

3) Some of the artists/producers are dead now... They were "high" at the time
of recording and forgot/failed to document which tapes and takes were used...
different equipment was used. So the CD remixes are very noticibly different,
sometimes better, usually much worse. Why 20 re-releases of Pink Floyd's "Dark
Side"? They lost the recipe...

4) Vinyl 130db??? On what planet ???? Most practical vinyl recordings are
probably limited to about 60db from the noise floor to needle jumps out of the
groove. Please, no audiophile flames... most people (99.5%) dont have the kind
of gear your talking about...

5) My conclusion: its not the "medium"... its the Message. Art intended from
the get-go for CD rivals any Vinyl releases (IMHO). Art sloppily re-packaged
for an undiscerning public with an attitude of "they can't hear it anyway"
SUCKS !!!  

Thank You.  Harry :-)


Bill Layer <blayer at uswest.net> wrote:
Hi Paul,

>  Have you ever noticed how a track you have on vinyl sounds better than a 
>CD... to me the sound is more spacious and not so dead..

Yes, I have noticed that. :)

>  Is there a reason? is it something that is done in the production of the 
>CD/LP or is it the way the needle on an LP works?

It's primarily due to the limited bandwidth and dynamic range of the CD
media; 22KHz isn't enough bandwidth to quantify enough ambient information.
The limited dynamic range of the CD (98dB vs 130dB+ for vinyl) forces
compression, which obscures the  micro-dynamics and other details that give
a recording fullness.

Another big problem with all contemporary digital media: as the signal gets
quieter, you begin to lose resolution... At very low levels, you may be
down to only a couple of bits of resolution. Now, dynamic changes really
get lost, as the machine tries to decide if that sound is a "level 1" or a
"level 2" and there is no in between. Even at the extremes of it's dynamic
range, the analog system still has theoretical infinite resolution of small
details (ie have you ever noticed that the infinity of numbers between 0
and 1 is as big as the infinity between 1 and 10? Paul Davies would
disagree here)

CD is and always was a huge sonic compromise; it is a convenience medium
and should never be regarded as anything else. I owned a variety of
recordings in both formats, and the CD version was always a pathetic joke
compared to the vinyl. Even if they are listenable (many are not) they are
_not_ correct sounding.

Hope we haven't started something :)


+----------------------------------------------------------+
|      "The" Bill Layer - Frogtown, Minnesota. U.S.A.      |
| Vacuum tubes, Analog, Motorcycles and Other Alternatives |
+----------------------------------------------------------+	
+---------------------+  +---------------------------------+
| <blayer at uswest.net> |  | <b.layer at vikingelectronics.com> |
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