The Vinyl Revival

[Shangas]

I found this article this morning and I thought folks here might be interested in reading it...

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainm...-old-souls-prefer-records-20110322-1c50m.html

Teenagers and younger folks rediscovering records, needles and record-players and enjoying them more than CDs.

I would join them...If dad hadn't sold his record-collection and player.

 

[dhermann1]

I have many old LP's I accumulated over the decades, and 3 turntables, in various states of disrepair. In the 80's I had a nice little system based on a Dual turntable and a Shure stylus. It's all here somewhere. I have some nice stuff on vinyl, as well as on 78's.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I have a lot of friends who get hand-me-down rock records from their parents and then they always call me to see if I will loan them one of my record players.

I had a friend come over with his girlfriend (also a very close friend of mine) and wanted to play his metal records here and his girlfriend goes, "That ain't Conway Twitty, there's no way Tommy's gonna let you play that stuff in his house" lol

 

[Ed13]

I listen to vinyl and have been getting into reel to reel tape as well. A properly set up analog system will sound far superior to cd's. The problem for most people is the amount of work involved in matching components and properly setting up a turntable. Even many dealers can't do this properly. Most lp's don't sound great either from misuse to poor manufacturing (new and old). I often go through many copies of the same album to find one that sounds good.

Cd's are more plug and play but the extra effort with vinyl is more than worth it to me. Cd's are for the car.

 

[John in Covina]

Many audiophiles have never abandoned vinyl. The technology for record players has continued to improve since the introduction of CD's. We actually have threads where this has been discussed previously. Records such as LP's those 12" long playing albums have also had some work done to produce even better sound. In the past we had half speed masters and such. Today you may find that the best records are made with better vinyl and are heavier weight that your usual album so you may see 180 gram or heavier version of an album.
Japanese pressings are considered better than the regular stuff and have actually spawned a whole counterfeit industry of fake Japanese pressings.

A Yahoo or Google search will bring up a lot of information such as wiki.and from online shops.

 

[FStephenMasek]

I've also noticed this in trendy neighborhoods in LA.

Anyone here remember when CDs first came out? Most were awful, and quality of non-vinyl music is again getting bad.

 

[DoolittleRaider]

im guilty of this phenomenon, i asked for a record player for christmas and my mom and dad delivered.

im starting to find that vinyls and LPs are much more enjoyable to play in my bedroom instead of my ipod stereo. i think that yall will agree with me on this opinon, there is nothing better than putting the record on the turntable, setting the needle down gently and hearing the cracks and creeks of a record playing. i absolutly love playing my benny goodman and classic 45s and 33 1/3rds

i was just wondering this today about if there are any people my age (18-24) that knows how to work a record player or would they rather have there ipods blasting into there ears?

 

[Yeps]

I have been picking up old records every time my music library has a sale (they give them away for free) so I have a huge backlog of records I need to listen to. I just finally got a good stereo system set up. Unfortunately, being old library copies, many of my records are not in the best condition.

 

[MisterCairo]

I've also noticed this in trendy neighborhoods in LA.

Anyone here remember when CDs first came out? Most were awful, and quality of non-vinyl music is again getting bad.

Yes, and agreed. Ironically, it was classical music that first appeared on CD (at least in my area), and the argument was that it was a clearer, more PURE way to hear such wonderful music. ICK!

"The technology for record players has continued to improve since the introduction of CD's. We actually have threads where this has been discussed previously. Records such as LP's those 12" long playing albums have also had some work done to produce even better sound. In the past we had half speed masters and such. Today you may find that the best records are made with better vinyl and are heavier weight that your usual album so you may see 180 gram or heavier version of an album."


It is often said, the best format for recorded sound is vinyl, and for video, good 'ol magnetic tape. Better quality and better archival capacity. One of my next guilty pleasure purchases will be a good quality turntable, though we have a great console stereo (Phillips from Holland) that still sounds great!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Some of us have never stopped playing LPs. I listen to mine almost as much as my CDs.

Of course, my house is like a museum of obsolete media - besides LPs: cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, VHS tapes, Super 8 and 16mm films...

 

[Warden]

Not sure if this is a little off topic, but is shellac classed as vinyl?

I no longer have any LP's but have re started collecting 78s. Even purchased a new gramophone for this very purpose See http://www.twitpic.com/4xh18m

I have music on the go, as my gramophone is wind up and portable. Beat that modern world.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Shellac is to vinyl as cheese is to Velveeta.

 

[listenone]

LP...Missing it so much

 

[davidraphael]

Shellac is to vinyl as cheese is to Velveeta.

I listened to a BBC documentary recently called 78 Revolutions and it was explained just how superior shellac 78rpms were to vinyl (though, of course, actual recording technology was still very rudimentary). As usual, quality was traded for convenience - cheapness of mass production and product weight.

The radio show may still be available to listen to here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010t6pb/78_Revolutions/
Failing that, you can download it using 'Radio Downloader'

In terms of quality of vinyl over cds: Increasingly, music collectors are sharing high-resolution rips (24bit. CDs are only 16bit) of heavy-weight (180-200gram) audiophile or 1st pressing vinyl releases.
I have a few which I compared to my CD versions of the same album. Quite a difference, I can tell you. Even the remastered release of one CD couldn't compete with the warmer, fuller sound of the audiophile vinyl release.

And because these vinyl releases are being captured/ripped by experts (and the vinyl itself has often never been played before) there are no pops or crackles at all. In a word: perfect.

There's also the added bonus of some original vinyl releases containing slightly different mixes. Some even contain lengthy sections of songs that have never been heard by most listeners before!

 

[Warden]

I say I have has just procured a full box of Glenn Miller & Bing Crosby 78's for my new new Great British picnic ‘Mr 78’ impression http://t.co/H7iWZoGE

So chuffed. Time to wind up the gramphone

 

[vitanola]

Shellac is to vinyl as cheese is to Velveeta.

Thank you, Miss Maine!

 

[Chaps]

My wife and I were just discussing this the other day. I sure wish I still had my Marantz stereo. Gonna have to check out the thrift stores.

 

[Warden]

Not a new idea but my chums and I do have fun. See Revolution 78

 

[TraditionalFrog]

I hated CDs since I first got them (in the early 90s). CDs have always sounded cold and sterile... antiseptic like a hermetically sealed hospital ward. I much prefer the warmth and realism of vinyl or shellac. The cracks, pops, and hisses (yes, even the occasional skip.... this record is broken, broken, broken...) make it real, like hearing it performed in real life with natural background noise. I have a small CD collection, mainly ones I received as gifts and a few albums that sadly aren't on vinyl. I also have some CD recordings of 1930s music, but thankfully, they weren't sanitized much from the 78s and still have most of the old record noise.... enough warmth to make them worth playing now and then.

Most of my music is from my small collection of about 200 vinyl and shellac records. Well, maybe not so small! I don't have an original turntable yet (on my vintage list), but I got a 30's repro Crosley and I'm quite happy with it!

 

[splintercellsz]

I'm not sure about the teens here, but me being 18, I can speak for my self.

I love the Teens-50's in terms of fashion, and even music. I currently have records (Mainly 78s) from the teens-50's, even though a lot of it is Bing Crosby. Whenever I have someone come over, they usually see my records, scoff at 'em, then laugh at me for having them. To each his own, I guess?

I plan on doing what some others do with records; film a record playing a song, then putting it up on youtube, so others can hear the talents of the past generations!