Vangelis Vinyl

[selfinflikted]

Self, i think. its really interesting to hear people who worked on analog when it was standard.none of then would go back to it if they had the choice

I should think not. Like I said, though, I do appreciate it for it's nostalgic qualities, but that's about it.

[christianrock]

its really interesting to hear people who worked on analog when it was standard.none of then would go back to it if they had the choice

I would.

Most rock bands record in analog when they can - Metallica, Fool Fighters, AC/DC, RHCP, and a bunch of new ones too.

I agree it's not for everyone though, but for guitars-and-drums kinda music, I still think it's the best. We use toooobes too

[MetroSonus]

I would agree with the rock stuff. Most reviews I've read of the console emulations and other stuff say it's really sue-poib on high quality rock stuff. and that's most likely who they are trying to sell it to.

should think not. Like I said, though, I do appreciate it for it's nostalgic qualities, but that's about it.

I like it because i'm like having an experience with things that have been thrown out and forgotten. older things were mechanical and more hands on and they filled their surrounding enviorments with a sort of sound eco system with their whirring and buzzing. I like to think that I am enjoying hearing and seeing things that mankind has forgotten about. Oh yea, electricity. I like to have experiences with electricity too. So i like to make music by touching things when I don't know what they do and then I up load it to my bandcamp account it's pretty cool you should check it out..

[christianrock]

Needless to say, analog is also still the best suited medium for synth pop and lots of synth-based music. At least in my opinion

[MetroSonus]

I like it because depending on what you can get, You can have a lot of fun for cheap. And synth pop rules

[selfinflikted]

We are talking past each other. I am only talking specifically about vinyl. Lps. Records.

You guys are talking tape and tubes. This is my fault. I should pay more attention.

[ElectricPuppy]

I have completely lost the thread of this thread.

Re: Vinyl. According to Wiki, vinyl didn't come into common use for records until the 50's. Before that, I imagine all sorts of weird materials were used, and shellac wouldn't surprise me.

edit: Apparently shellac was common. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramophone_record#Shellac

[selfinflikted]

I have completely lost the thread of this thread.

Apparently, so did I. It's what I get for trying to do more than one thing at a time. Men weren't blessed with multitasking ability, sadly. Or, at least, I wasn't.

[ElectricPuppy]

Shiny squirrels. I'm tellin' ya.

[soundwave106]

feh. I was born in 74. I had a record player back then and I was playing sesame street albums on it when i was like 3-4

Meanwhile as "the music / computer guy" I was transferring some of my grandparents' 78s so he could listen to them in the car, so of course I know all about em.

(Apparently one of my older relatives still has one of those ancient Victrola phonographs, fancy cabinet and horn and all.)

Most rock bands record in analog when they can - Metallica, Fool Fighters, AC/DC, RHCP, and a bunch of new ones too.

The thing is, there is a difference between high quality reel to reel tape and consumer analog formats. Even on vinyl's "audiophile" gear, I always thought that there was a bit of a "warm blanket" effect on the audio where the high end was a bit muffled. It's very pleasing and I see why people like it, but it's not 100% accurate. Good digital is crisp, and has much better definition and dynamics to my ears. (Classical music is probably the best way to experience this phenomenon -- the loudness war has ruined digital rock music from a fidelity standpoint.)

Analog has hiss and flutter but for mixing I can easily see advantages -- when you "push" an analog mix it sounds more pleasing. Digital can get crappy if the code isn't right.

[christianrock]

Shiny squirrels. I'm tellin' ya.

What were we talking about anyway?

I like bread.

[Plink Floyd]

So why does mine have that extra black arm on it then? what's that for?

Oh sorry, that vid didn't have that, did it? There are a bunch of utoobs that show it, but I picked that one because it was short. The hooky arm served two purposes: It prevented the stack of albums from wobbling around on the spindle, and, after the last record dropped, it told the the whole machine to turn off after that last record was finished.

-

78 rpm records, whatever they were made of, were way thicker and heavier than 33s. I used to play them on my grand folk's cabinet Victrola, which was similar to this one, which my aunt still has:



They had Benny Goodman and teh Andrews Sisters and such. Classical too. It would play about three records before you had to wind it up again.


It was totally as ANALOG as you can get. Instead of the big horn right on top, though, the sound was trumpeted through a flexible coupling gizmo and down through the cabinet:



It sounded like authentic vintage ass.

[christianrock]

The thing is, there is a difference between high quality reel to reel tape and consumer analog formats

That's for sure.

I thought my old analog setup was ok though. Not the best but a much more expensive setup would only give me about an extra 5%, is what I figure. Missing pieces and just having more time and a better sounding room would have made much more difference than exchanging my Tascam for a Studer. Also my Mackie was very maligned but the clean headroom was like 107DBs. And it was much more transparent than the lower models. Plus I never used the preamps anyway.

But I hear you. On the topic of vinyl, back when I had my record player I had 3 different needles. One was a special needle I only used sparingly because it was rare. The difference in sound quality and volume using that needle wasn't even funny, it was really like taking a blanket off the sound, as you put it.

Good digital is crisp, and has much better definition and dynamics to my ears. (Classical music is probably the best way to experience this phenomenon -- the loudness war has ruined digital rock music from a fidelity standpoint.)

Even though digital is "crispier", analog is more 3D. That is why a lot of people prefer orchestral sounds in analog tape, and analogue tape orchestral VSTs like Albion seem to be very highly rated.
The separation of instruments in a very high quality analog setup (analog tape recording played on a vinyl), playing classical music is unbelievable and needs to be experienced, I don't even know if I'm describing it anywhere near what it actually is.

[Plink Floyd]

I have a friend who is totally pitch deaf. I mean, when we were kids fooling around with garage bandage, we almost had to kill him to make him understand that he couldn't sing. But, he has the most amazing aural discernment I've heard of.

He always had the very best audio equipment ordinary humans can afford, even in high school. He was always buying new needles/cartridges, fantastic speakers, EQ/s, preamps, toob amps... This was in the 70's when everyone else was dumping that muddy sounding old fashioned toob stuff lol.

Many times I've blind tested him as to cartridges or tiny differences in EQ settings, and he can always hear it. Like, I'd play a song, stop it, change one band on the EQ by ONE POINT, and he could tell exactly what was done. Talk about golden ears...

[BonsoWonderDog]

ELPJ, a Japanese-based company, sells a laser turntable that uses a laser to read vinyl discs optically, without physical contact. The laser turntable eliminates record wear and the possibility of accidental scratches,

[Plink Floyd]

ELPJ, a Japanese-based company, sells a laser turntable that uses a laser to read vinyl discs optically, without physical contact. The laser turntable eliminates record wear and the possibility of accidental scratches,

That's a really cool idea. But for $8500 ($16,000 for the deluxe model), I shouldn't have to turn my records over manually.

Also, it only plays black albums. NO RED VANGELIS FOR U!!

[Plink Floyd]

I need to get a preamp for it. it sounds pretty good through my 50watt, but it could be louder. It was actually reconditioned, so the cartridge and some other stuff is new.

This thread is making me dig way back into long forgotten places in my dusty spidery brain attic. If it has a ceramic cartridge, you don't need a preamp. If it's magnetic, you can get by without a dedicated pre by either

1 - Going to goodwill and geting a $20 100 watt per channel 70s or 80s silver faced stereo that already has phono inputs, and hook up the 50W one in the garage. Pioneer, Sony, or Marantz are good ones to look for.

B - using mic pres

4 - If you use a mic pre, you'll have to dial in your own RIAA equalization. I've done it; just season to taste.

[Plink Floyd]

As near as I can recollect, I bought this new in 83-85.



With the amazing Robo-Strobo gizmo, you can adjust the pitch ± one chromatic step or so.

No Stack-O-Matic attachment.

No ABBA.

[Plink Floyd]

btw, the above piccy brought to you courtesy of my new wireless shutter button control thingy:



Very handy for no-shakeycam macro shots or the ever popular grupe shot with you in it. A good bit of fun for $3.24 tl.
(Dodgy-bits disclaimer: mine looks exactly like that but does not, however, say 'Canon' on it lol).