As far as I know vinyl in the old days was analog, meaning that if you
look on sound produced by vinyl (or tape or whatever) as a wave it is
smooth opposed to the digital media where a sound wave, if magnified,
is full of small "corners".
To my knowledge back in the old days all music was stored on
mastertapes thereby making the original recordings analog.
But how is it produced today?
Is everything stored digitally? Because if it is, vinyl today is
perhaps analog in practice but the recording on the vinyl is digital.
This means that it makes no sense whatsoever investing in vinyl.
'Cause the soundwaves are similar to that of the digital media.
Am I wrong in these speculations or am I right?

P.

On 1 Apr 2004 17:34:41 GMT, (PLM) wrote:

To my knowledge back in the old days all music was stored on
mastertapes thereby making the original recordings analog.
But how is it produced today?
Is everything stored digitally? Because if it is, vinyl today is
perhaps analog in practice but the recording on the vinyl is digital.
This means that it makes no sense whatsoever investing in vinyl.
'Cause the soundwaves are similar to that of the digital media.
Am I wrong in these speculations or am I right?

Some music being recorded today is being stored digitally, some not.
There are many artists and producers who prefer to work with analog
tape because they prefer its sonic qualities.

If a vinyl record is made from a digital master, a digital-to-analog
conversion is taking place, as vinyl LP's are not a digital medium.
However, the point that doing this doesn't make much sense is
well-taken.

Mark Howell

On 1 Apr 2004 17:34:41 GMT, (PLM) wrote:

As far as I know vinyl in the old days was analog, meaning that if you
look on sound produced by vinyl (or tape or whatever) as a wave it is
smooth opposed to the digital media where a sound wave, if magnified,
is full of small "corners".

Have you ever hooked an oscilloscope to the output of a CD player?
Did you see "corners" then?
Have you ever used some computer program that showed you
those "corners"? I you saw them, you may uninstall the program
because it's full of errors.

To my knowledge back in the old days all music was stored on
mastertapes thereby making the original recordings analog.

Digital recording began in the mid seventies, roughly 10 years before
the CD appeared.

But how is it produced today?
Is everything stored digitally?

It is done in the way the customer wants it to be.

Because if it is, vinyl today is
perhaps analog in practice but the recording on the vinyl is digital.
This means that it makes no sense whatsoever investing in vinyl.
'Cause the soundwaves are similar to that of the digital media.
Am I wrong in these speculations or am I right?

Digital recording/processing in studios is usually done at higher
sampling rates and accuracy than you will later find on CD because
the CD format is fixed at 44.1 kHz sampling rate and 16 bits per
word. A studio may use a sample rate of 192 kHz and convert that
directly to analogue to cut the master for vinyl pressing.

OTOH some of the vinyl sound is due to the limitations of the media
LP and it does not matter if the recorded music existed in the digital
format for some time.

Norbert

PLM wrote:

As far as I know vinyl in the old days was analog, meaning that if you
look on sound produced by vinyl (or tape or whatever) as a wave it is
smooth opposed to the digital media where a sound wave, if magnified,
is full of small "corners".

Oh, boy, are you going to get letters! The sound that comes out of your
speakers is not "full of small 'corners.'" Think about it for a second.
Those waveform diagrams you see really represent the movement of the cones
in your speakers. Now, do you think your cones move instantaneously from one
place to another? Of course not; it's physically impossible. Your cones move
in and out just as smoothly with a digital source as with an analog one. And
what your ears hear is what your cones do, no matter how the recording is
stored.

Those idiotic diagrams that show "digital waveforms" as steps are just
that--idiotic. A DAC reconstructs an analog sound wave--or rather, an
electrical analog of a sound wave, which is exactly what a phono cartridge
or a tape head delivers.

To my knowledge back in the old days all music was stored on
mastertapes thereby making the original recordings analog.
But how is it produced today?
Is everything stored digitally? Because if it is, vinyl today is
perhaps analog in practice but the recording on the vinyl is digital.

There probably are still some recordings being made on analog tape today,
but by and large any new vinyl will be made from digital masters. (Even
stuff recorded in analog may be mastered digitally.)

This means that it makes no sense whatsoever investing in vinyl.

But it makes perfect sense if you collect old recordings, which many of us
do.

'Cause the soundwaves are similar to that of the digital media.
Am I wrong in these speculations or am I right?

Given that your premise about the difference between analog and digital
soundwaves is wrong (see above), your reasoning is certainly faulty. Your
conclusion is faulty, too. Vinyl has a certain sonic signature (resulting
largely from its technical limitations). Some people like it, so it makes
perfect sense for them to seek out vinyl, even made from digital masters.

bob

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Norbert Hahn wrote:


On 1 Apr 2004 17:34:41 GMT, (PLM) wrote:

As far as I know vinyl in the old days was analog, meaning that if you
look on sound produced by vinyl (or tape or whatever) as a wave it is
smooth opposed to the digital media where a sound wave, if magnified,
is full of small "corners".

Have you ever hooked an oscilloscope to the output of a CD player?
Did you see "corners" then?
Have you ever used some computer program that showed you
those "corners"? I you saw them, you may uninstall the program
because it's full of errors.

To my knowledge back in the old days all music was stored on
mastertapes thereby making the original recordings analog.

Digital recording began in the mid seventies, roughly 10 years before
the CD appeared.

But how is it produced today?
Is everything stored digitally?

It is done in the way the customer wants it to be.

Because if it is, vinyl today is
perhaps analog in practice but the recording on the vinyl is digital.
This means that it makes no sense whatsoever investing in vinyl.
'Cause the soundwaves are similar to that of the digital media.
Am I wrong in these speculations or am I right?

Digital recording/processing in studios is usually done at higher
sampling rates and accuracy than you will later find on CD because
the CD format is fixed at 44.1 kHz sampling rate and 16 bits per
word. A studio may use a sample rate of 192 kHz and convert that
directly to analogue to cut the master for vinyl pressing.

OTOH some of the vinyl sound is due to the limitations of the media
LP and it does not matter if the recorded music existed in the digital
format for some time.

Norbert









As you say, it's recorded in a way that will meet various segments of the
market. In some cases, an artist's preference for working with analogue
recording equipment and/or tubed amplification in the recording chain is also
involved.

Obviously, many of the analogue reissues are taken directly from original
analogue mastertapes. (And in even some digital reissues, such as the
excellent Simon & Garfunkel "Old Friends" 3-CD set, are sourced from original
analogue mastertapes). For newer musical material, one can often find which
route was taken by carefully examining the jacket information - which, of
course, is more likely to be comprehensive on a vinyl jacket because of space
to be so.


Bruce J. Richman

"Bob Marcus"
wrote:

.....snips......
Those idiotic diagrams that show "digital waveforms" as steps are just
that--idiotic. A DAC reconstructs an analog sound wave--or rather, an
electrical analog of a sound wave, which is exactly what a phono cartridge
or a tape head delivers.

Further people confuse a scope trace of a sine wave or something with "the
signal." That picture is not the signal; it's just a representation of it. If
you stop to think about it "sound" is just the movement of individual air
molecules and I think just as good a case for thinking of it as more "digital"
than our conceptualization of it as "analog" in the scope trace sense.