[Vintage-Audio] Re Vinyl Albums Now Being Produced?

Wed Jan 9 11:27:28 EST 2008

Hello Sheldon,

The program did not deal with the studio sessions, just creating the Master 
that the vinyl disks are pressed from.

There are studios out there that still utilize the 15 IPS tape machines and 
the analog technology. Several audio engineers have told me that it is still 
all analog right up through the final mix and then converted to digital.  So 
there is still an analog product available, depending on the studio.

Here is what I can tell you from my own work Sheldon.

The vinyl album source sent directly to a CDR deck yields a poor quality 
product overall. I do not use computers in my remastering. Everytime you 
copy, or filter, another generation occurs. This degrades the quality. 
Especially with digital as it has less data to start with.

It is no secret that computers add their own noise to the recording, so all 
of that has to be filtered back out.

I record from turntable direct to a studio grade DAT deck. I use only what 
is called "emphasis". This removes high frequency noise, but does not affect 
vocals or instruments! There is no dulling of the highs as is common with 
Dolby.

All of this is done in the analog mode.

I then send the finished recording to the CDR deck and monitor the signal 
just as it is recorded. It is now converted to digital and burned to the 
'music' CD.

Since all the pause between track times, track ID codes etc. are done by the 
DAT, the CDR deck simply copies them. The final CD works perfectly.

Several on this list have heard my work and know that it is good Sheldon. I 
have some vinyl to CD that I defy any listener to identify as not being 
commercially produced. Doing it right takes time, a lot of patience, perfect 
timing and a familiarity with each song recorded. The fade in and fade out 
timing demands that you know the song so as to not clip off the starting 
notes or fade out the trailing notes!

What I produce from vinyl to CD is superior to it being done on a computer. 
You can easily hear the difference. Naturally the original vinyl source 
being in new condition helps a lot too!

I just listened to the new release of a nationally known southern gospel 
quartet. It was all digitally done. Maybe the engineer who did the work was 
not used to the digital equipment, maybe he simply did poor work, but the 
final product is poor. The individual vocalists are not balanced for four 
part harmony, when the Bass singer is featured it sounds as if he is two 
feet back from the mike, the Baritone? Well he is in there somewhere!

Digital simply sounds thin and lacks the depth and warmth that good music 
has always had.

I can not totally fault the digital equipment, as for all I know the poor 
quality is due to an inexperienced or inept audio engineer using it. Maybe 
both.

Since the public today is willing to accept a lower grade of quality on 
almost all products Sheldon it is no surprise that the music industry is 
also afflicted.

If you desire I will send you several CDS that I remastered from vinyl and 
you can be your own judge.

Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net
HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
hhrp.w9wze.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sheldon Daitch" <sdaitch at mor.ibb.gov>
To: "Vintage home and professional audio equipment from 1975 back" 
<vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 6:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Vintage-Audio] Re Vinyl Albums Now Being Produced?

> Duane,
>
> I understand the idea of getting music releases on vinyl, but it occurs to 
> me that unless the
> music is kept in the analog domain from microphone to record, isn't the 
> audio digitized at
> some point anyway?
>
> How do top end digital audio consoles compare with analog consoles?  How 
> many records
> today are recorded on analog tape mastering equipment?
>
> Or is it the commerical CD is the weakest link in the digital process?
>
> Just curious your thoughts on this.
>
> 73
> Sheldon
>
> Duane Fischer, W8DBF wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I was "watching" a program on the "Science Channel" last week and they 
>> devoted half of the program to several companies that were currently 
>> producing 33 1/3 rpm vinyl albums. They did not name any of the companies 
>> or mention any studios.
>>
>> The narration did make a solid point of clearly stating that some diehard 
>> vinyl album fans demand music on vinyl records and not on digital CDS. 
>> Hence, according to this program, quite a few major Artists were 
>> releasing their artistic musical talents on both 33 1/3 rpm vinyl albums 
>> and digital CDS.
>>
>> The program went into considerable detail as to how the vinyl album goes 
>> from a backhoe bucket scoop cradle to a precision machined, trimmed and 
>> microscopically scrutinized album. Fascinating!
>>
>> Do any of you know who the companies are that are producing these albums 
>> and where I could purchase them?
>>
>> Where can I get a list of Artists currently available on new vinyl?
>>
>> Thank you very much.
>>
>>
>> Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
>> dfischer at usol.com
>>
>> HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
>> http://www.w9wze.net
>>
>> HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
>> hhrp.w9wze.net
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/vintage-audio
>> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>
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