Adventures in Vinyl

The other week I bought a USB turntable, and I have been re-discovering the joys of vinyl as I digitize a lot of old vinyl records that I haven't been able to hear (or look at) for ages.

There has been a recent cult resurgence for vinyl lately with many artists releasing limited edition vinyl versions of their current CD releases (sure wish I could afford to do this). I think what's been most interesting about this is comparing some of these records to their digital counterparts in back to back comparisons. I even indulged in buying a few NEW vinyl releases for just this reason.

Here is what I have discovered.

It is of course.....unfair to compare dirty scratchy vinyl record to a CD.

...But a clean Vinyl record is a different story. While the CD may lack those little vinyl clicks that even very clean records sometimes can't avoid.....I have discovered that there are sometimes certain aural pleasures to vinyl that the CD just hasn't quite got down.

Here are few observations that I made while listening.

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New Vinyl Vs New CD

U2 No Line On The Horizon

I listened to this album numerous times on CD and while I didn't think it was bad, I also didn't think it was great either. I listened to it on vinyl and it was like hearing it for the first time. I think I am starting to like it better.

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Kid Rock - Rock'n'Roll Jesus

I liked the CD better. It was beefier and crisper sounding.

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The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

I Looooved this album on CD. It is one of my favorites of the year......I loved it so much that I bought a brand new vinyl pressing of it. As good as it was on CD, the vinyl pressing was a step above. Even my song writing partner Kathy noticed the difference immediately when I gave her a blind taste test

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Old Vinyl vs Old CD

The Beatles - Please Please Me

My 87 CD release of this album is cleaner and beefier.....but there is something warmer about the guitars on the vinyl record that is appealing.

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Old Vinyl

Wings  - Wings Over America

I have had this 3 record set of Paul McCartney's Wings over America for years now. This record is from the 70's. I have never gotten the overpriced (and hard to get) CD version, so I can't compare it....but the I was amazed at how full and warm and dimensional the recording of the band sounds on this record.

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CSNY - De Ja Vu

I want to get the CD of this record, so that I can compare it. The vinyl was an absolute journey of sheer aural delight.  Besides the songs being fantastic, the record itself is amazing to just listen to.

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Part of it, is just the analog warmth of vinyl. Everything was analog to analog back in those days.....I think that is why, even with digital guitar amps doing amazing things, most guitarists (myself included) still prefer to use old style vacuum tube technology.

Another thing (and this has been a development only in the last 6 years or so) is that so many of todays CD releases are so over compressed (this has been done to make them louder) that all the dynamic range has bled out of them.......Older CD releases have more dynamic range because they haven't been as compressed.

In the end beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Metallica took a huge amount of flack for how over compressed their last album was, so much so that later pressings were remixed with a lot of the compression removed. A backlash has already started against the massive amounts of compression used on todays CDs so think we will start to hear more dynamic range in CDs again.