Vinyl is its days numbered?

[mattboyslim]

sorry to be a grump, but i think digitial music is ruining techno. it sounds too digital and it doesn;t have the impact on a big system that vinyl does. after all its a square wave being played back over the system so elements of the analogue source are lost, assuming it was created in analogue. which brings me to another point; people want it a bit TOO easy. all these copy cat producers rinsing out mediocre techno week in week out, all seem to embrace this new CD/mp3 distribution, cos its cheap and accesible. don;t you worry about the end result and how it sounds on a big system? thats why i was so shocked that dave clarke, who clearly has a deep understanding of music tech, chose to move to CD. his sets just don;t have that umph anymore if you get what i mean. rant over

[TechMouse]

sorry to be a grump, but i think digitial music is ruining techno. it sounds too digital and it doesn;t have the impact on a big system that vinyl does.

Mmm, don't most people record masters digitally these days?

Hence vinyl is merely an analog reproduction of a digital original?

Just a thought.

[Jay Pace]

after all its a square wave being played back over the system so elements of the analogue source are lost, assuming it was created in analogue.

Wrong.

Using the right sample rate you can capture all the information.

Digital has everything Vinyl has. Its a fundamentel misunderstanding that you "lose" something when you record it in digital.

You can capture all the analogue nuances of your analogue machines more accurately on digital than you can using analogue recording methods. You just need to use the right sample rates.

Mp3 and digital are not one and the same. Please recognise this.

The days of music being confined to pieces of plastic are drawing to a close...

[dirty_bass]

after all its a square wave being played back over the system so elements of the analogue source are lost, assuming it was created in analogue.

Wrong.

Using the right sample rate you can capture all the information.

Digital has everything Vinyl has. Its a fundamentel misunderstanding that you "lose" something when you record it in digital.

You can capture all the analogue nuances of your analogue machines more accurately on digital than you can using analogue recording methods. You just need to use the right sample rates.

Mp3 and digital are not one and the same. Please recognise this.

The days of music being confined to pieces of plastic are drawing to a close...

thank you, I really didn`t want to have to go into an explanation of the whole vinyl/digital differences and crap that gets dragged up.

Essentially, more and more, soundsystems are utilising digital signal process in the signal path anyway, ie - OmniDrive
And these feckers give the phattest response on a good soundsystem (We run a soundsystem), so therefore on very good soundsystems, it`s more than likely that the signal has gone from analog to digital anyway.

[TechMouse]

Everything ^^^^^ they said...

... and like I was saying, if your source is digital (Cubase, DAT, Digital mixing desk etc.) then it's all academic anyway.

[mattboyslim]

ok then. why does it all sound so crap these days then? (not being cocky i'd just like to know why)

[Jay Pace]

Systems usually sound rubbish when halfwit djs play with five red bars, and clueless club-owners spend £20k on rig and then runs it through 3 year old crappy needles and carts.

Its nothing to do with digital. Look elsewhere my friend

[eyes without a face]

ok then. why does it all sound so crap these days then? (not being cocky i'd just like to know why)

that's far too big a generalisation to expect a correct answer. what sounds crap? when did "these days" start then, the days when everything started sounding crap?

your forgetting that a huge chunk of records out these days are done with software, usually with some outboard processing, sometimes not, and everything gets mastered before cutting anyway of course... but i can gaurentee that you will have danced your ass off to a digitially produced piece of vinyl at some point

the mp3/digital misunderstanding was rightly pointed out, and you can play mp3's anyway at a really high bitrate and if the production is cool on it then its going to sound sweet

if poor sound in general is the problem then of course thats down to the clubs people are going to not getting their systems up to scratch, producers being lazy etc etc

i love the way people wade into these discussions with "oh its not on vinyl is sounds shite" or "i cant believe Dave Clarke uses just CD's, his sets dont have the oomph anymore" errrr did u got to Voodoo in March? his set certainly had alot of oomph in them, and there are a range of advantages that CD's have in a live environment such as no bass feedback/response off the monitors thru the needles, being able to cue and loop with the need for an external sampler etc etc thats exactly why some people are switching over fully, or at least intergrating them into their sets

if the production is good, and the bit rate is correct then there's no problems, as someone said most people save their work digitally anyway on computers, as WAV's and this is only what is going to be cut to vinyl at cutting stage, the alternative being a DAT

[JamieBall]

Bit of a shame about vinyl falling off the map, really, but as far as I can tell pretty much everyone I know who used to buy records DOESN'T now. Obviously there are exceptions, but not too many any more. Maybe some of the younger kids are still buying new stuff (someone is) but sales of black plastic have gone way down over the last little while.

I reckon individual labels selling downloads of their back-cat/new material etc is a real good idea. Unfortunately we've been trying to do mp3 downloads for AGES at just-music but there's something of a problem with getting (pretty much any) labels to agree to it. A lot of people don't really understand it and are unsure of it's benefits as a result. Many people fear copying and distribution of their mp3 but if it's going to happen, it'll happen anyway.

Also, I've been playing out off mp3 for some time now and no-one has ever complained about the sound quality. Personally I think if you encode them right and have an understanding of what works dynamic wise over PA systems (you need to know this no matter what format your tracks end up in) then things should be just fine. If you make shit tracks they're going to sound wrong out no matter what format they're presented in.

mp3 often seems to get the same slagging as fruityloops - too tinny, no bottom end, obviously digital artefacts in the sound.... THIS IS NONSENSE. It is what you make of it, and it's limitations are often not it's own but that of the user. Or something.

[TechMouse]

as someone said most people save their work digitally anyway on computers, as WAV's and this is only what is going to be cut to vinyl at cutting stage, the alternative being a DAT

I would love to hear of someone who's still mastering their stuff onto old Studer tape machines or whatever. Unfortunately I just don't think it's possible anymore...

[JamieBall]

www.rejectedunknown.com

It sure as hell aint techno, but this guy is as lo-fi as it gets.

Mr.Johnstons idea of multitracking....

Take 1 cassette recorder. Play one part of the song into it.

Take second cassette player. Play pre-recorded 'first part' on the 1st cassette player, near and loud enough so the second can catch the signal. Then do your second 'part' onto the track, thus recording both.

Repeat 'bouncing' the tape between the players as you add more tracks until the song is finished.

AND he's a genius. Seriously.

[eyes without a face]

well said Just, espcially re mp3 and Fruity

ive said it before and il say it again, you get out what you put in, and those who do their research and use/produce music in a digital domain will understand there really isnt a difference in sound quality if the tracks are produced correctly/well and the bitrate is correct

[audioinjection]

well, when are all these techno producers & labels gonna stop putting out vinyl?? it seems like they still wanna spend money to press vinyl, so i dont see any change anytime soon..........plus i would like to see labels start putting out their releases on cd, will that ever happen?

[massplanck]

www.rejectedunknown.com

It sure as hell aint techno, but this guy is as lo-fi as it gets.

Mr.Johnstons idea of multitracking....

Take 1 cassette recorder. Play one part of the song into it.

Take second cassette player. Play pre-recorded 'first part' on the 1st cassette player, near and loud enough so the second can catch the signal. Then do your second 'part' onto the track, thus recording both.

Repeat 'bouncing' the tape between the players as you add more tracks until the song is finished.

AND he's a genius. Seriously.

he's unqiue. ie he doesnt feel the need to emulate everybody else who emulates everybody who uses FL etc.

[Getz]

I dont think vinyl is on its way out just yet... I'm pretty sure sales are still high at the moment due to many beginner djs buying turntables and such. Out of all the parties ive been to theres never been a cdj or laptop enthusiast playing out...ever, its always vinyl! No one I know who mixes has a cd deck setup, I just cant seem to get my head around everyone thinking a big change is underway!

I dont have a problem with people who mix using cd's, each to their own! but I much prefer vinyl because its the easiest to manipulate. But what I do have a problem with is people playing out (especially on loud systems) using mp3s! They just sound shite! I've been studying sound engineering for 3 years now and since then my ears have become more and more aware of quality audio. Anyone who says mp3s sound just as good as a wave file or piece of vinyl on a system is talking out their arse! theres a reason why mp3s were created - compressing large sized audio files (such as wave files) into smaller file sizes, hence a loss in quality. Even the highest bit rate mp3s of 320kbps are compressed 5/1 to a standard wave file (a wave file being 1411kbps) and most people never have mp3 files with a larger bit rate of 192k saved on their hard drives!

I do have a mate whos bought final scratch, and I must admit it is a pretty good piece of kit. But I just cant stick listening to mp3 files let alone mixing them! The sound is just flat, theres no depth or 'air' to the sound which you'll hear on a .wav file or piece of vinyl.

i do actually hope vinyl stays around for along time because i love the stuff and i seem to be buying more and more of it these days! The only way I see myself switching to digital medium is if websites offering full track downloads actually host wave files and not mp3. But because of the sheer file size of wave files I'll be waiting quite a while for the advances in broadband and internet download speeds!

[BloodStar]

I dont think vinyl is on its way out just yet... I'm pretty sure sales are still high at the moment due to many beginner djs buying turntables and such. Out of all the parties ive been to theres never been a cdj or laptop enthusiast playing out...ever, its always vinyl! No one I know who mixes has a cd deck setup, I just cant seem to get my head around everyone thinking a big change is underway!

I dont have a problem with people who mix using cd's, each to their own! but I much prefer vinyl because its the easiest to manipulate. But what I do have a problem with is people playing out (especially on loud systems) using mp3s! They just sound shite! I've been studying sound engineering for 3 years now and since then my ears have become more and more aware of quality audio. Anyone who says mp3s sound just as good as a wave file or piece of vinyl on a system is talking out their arse! theres a reason why mp3s were created - compressing large sized audio files (such as wave files) into smaller file sizes, hence a loss in quality. Even the highest bit rate mp3s of 320kbps are compressed 5/1 to a standard wave file (a wave file being 1411kbps) and most people never have mp3 files with a larger bit rate of 192k saved on their hard drives!

I do have a mate whos bought final scratch, and I must admit it is a pretty good piece of kit. But I just cant stick listening to mp3 files let alone mixing them! The sound is just flat, theres no depth or 'air' to the sound which you'll hear on a .wav file or piece of vinyl.

i do actually hope vinyl stays around for along time because i love the stuff and i seem to be buying more and more of it these days! The only way I see myself switching to digital medium is if websites offering full track downloads actually host wave files and not mp3. But because of the sheer file size of wave files I'll be waiting quite a while for the advances in broadband and internet download speeds!

WORD :clap:

[dirty_bass]

What we need, is lossless audio compression.

[massplanck]

I dont think ...

:clap: Getz. That settles that one.

[eyes without a face]

I'm pretty sure sales are still high at the moment due to many beginner djs buying turntables and such

we wish

[dirty_bass]

I'm pretty sure sales are still high at the moment due to many beginner djs buying turntables and such

we wish

Yeah really.