Long before the recentvinylrenaissance , audiophiles have long get married the parallel benefits of vinyl records as being vastly ranking to digital . The disceptation often include title of vinyl sounding “ tender , ” or that digital audio is built on discrete step with a stairway - shaped wave shape that leaves out the audio info that a liquid , uninterrupted analog signaling retains ( this is , by the path , a false belief that ’s been perpetuated for decennium ) .
Because analog sound replica — and the analogue production chain — is a continuous signaling , audiophiles contend that it ’s a more exact representation of the original recording or performance . Except in 2025 ( and for the retiring 40 years ) , apart from perhaps a few rare instances , there ’s no such thing as a strictly analogue yield range of mountains . At some point , even if you’relistening to a vinyl group record book , that audio signaling was digital .
Unsurprisingly , there are many step that go into the product of a recording . There ’s obviously the real singing and playing of the cat’s-paw , the addition of any processing and effects during ( or after ) transcription , the medium those master track are put or saved on , mixing , mastering , and the pressing of the vinyl radical ( and other little gradation along the way ) . After the full creation ofdigital audio technologyback in the 70s and 80s , it start to work its mode in to the production process — either for experimentation to determine what it could do , or to open up creative opportunities , or to make the process easy , faster , and cheaper to accomplish .
The dynamic range of a function capableness of digital recording over analog also made it a good means to get orchestral sounds , which necessitate a much wider dynamic range ( the difference between the quietest and cheap sound ) than pop , rock , or jazz recordings to properly capture a performance .
Once we got to the 1990s and the proliferation of digital audio workstations ( DAWs ) like Pro Tools , Cakewalk , Digital Performer , and Cubase , digital had become close inconceivable to avoid . Analog method , while still taught to new student for the historic position , were n’t as much a part of the workflow anymore . ( As an audio yield student in the mid to late 90 , mine was one of the last socio-economic class age to cut and splice magnetic tape . )
The non - destructive ability to try different edits quickly proved too appealing to ignore . IfBeing for the Benefit of Mr. Kitewas produced in 1997 instead of 1967 would we have the same psychedelic carnival sojourn comprised of randomly splice together pieces of an reed organ transcription ? Perhaps not . But I stray .
The power to create a fully analog recording in 2025 is super unmanageable and expensive . Analog transcription deck require specialised sustenance , and the tape used for master copy recordings is vastly more expensive than memorialise to a severe drive ( not to mention the debasement of charismatic tape that ’s inevitable over time ) . Unless expressly put together to fend off all digital applied science , a mod transcription studio apartment will include a DAW , a cabinet that includes digital elements , digital instrument , digital effects modules , and digital controllers .
Mixing is done in the digital realm . Mastering is done in the digital realm . Even reissues and remasters of classic transcription that were originally fully analog are assorted and master from master that were transferred to digital , likely years ago . It ’s unavoidable . And really , with digital technology where it is , there ’s no reason to even attempt to avoid it . Except for those who tout the favorable position of analogue over digital .
Does digital in vinyl matter?
When it comes down to it , any digital addition to the production strand should be audibly cobwebby — and if it is n’t , there ’s something wrong with the equipment , not the culture medium . Just a few years ago , there was acontroversy with MoFi ( Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab)where it came out that DSD ( Direct Stream Digital ) files were used for its All Analog vinyl radical platter , ensue in a $ 25 million colony . But was anyone capable to audibly identify that in the more than a decennary before it came to light ?
I ’m not here to yuck anyone ’s yum , especially since I relish the ritual of listening to my favorite vinyl recording as well . But that ’s just it . I appreciate the rite . Holding the record book arm , admire the art and design , sliding the LP out , carefully flip it in my men to pick out the side I desire before placing it on my lazy Susan anddropping the phonograph needle , it all satiates a need for appreciation .
Appreciation of the transcription creative person . Appreciation of the engineers , mixer , and technician take . Appreciation of the effort it takes to make the transcription — of which I ’m closely aware .
But more importantly , an appreciation of the fine art .
The immense majority of times I put on a record book — and this goes back to my teenage years — it ’s to live the artistic production of the record album . The craftsmanship ofThe Wall , the emotional gut - biff ofBlackstar , the beauty of Brahms second pianoforte concerto , or the transonic material interweave by the John Coltrane Quartet . If I seat down to mind to a book , I ’m usually there for the whole thing .
But am I ( or are you ) missing some extra magic because theLed Zeppelin IIIremaster had analog - to - digital conversion at some point in the chain ? I do n’t guess so . The thaumaturgy of the medicine is there no affair the sensitive . And the ritual of vinyl so many of us savour is n’t affect by 1s and 0s .
