Vinyl music

First, some guidelines:

 

DON'T call them "vinyls". Call them…

 

"records" 

 

"LPs" (means "long players")

 

"12 inches" (written 12", usually reserved for dance singles and remixes)

 

"7 inches" (for the smaller discs; written 7")

 

"45s" (the other name for 7", because that's the speed, or rpms (revolutions per minute) they spin at)

 

(NOTE: LPs spin at 33 1/3 rpms, but under no circumstances do you call them "33s". You'll suddenly find yourself alone at the bar.)

For the first question, I have much vinyl from 30 years - 20 years ago as I was into alternative/experimental rock etc at that time.

 

Like most people of that time I never cleaned records or anything and if played today the albums sound fine albeit a bit crackly.

 

A few that I was really enthusiastic about are worn, in that the louder passages suffer from quite a lot of distortion due to actual wear on the groove.

 

I haven't bought a vinyl LP for many years so I don't know if they are better today than then.

 

For me personally CDs are an improvement on vinyl because in my situation they do sound better. I can't comment on the bigger question as to which is the better format for absolutely sound quality.

 

Oddly enough I sold my record player (a very nice Michell GyroDec) on ebay just a week or two ago. I have another record player (a Transcriptor Hydraulic Reference) but this is in storage at the moment and will be sold on eBay in the coming months. So I am in fact finished the with vinyl thing.

I don't think old vinyls differ from new ones that much. Only thing that has changed is that almost all new vinyls are audiophile quality (virgin vinyl and 180+ g).

 

Mastering varies of course. That is why some vinyls are better sounding than others. In the worst case they use the brickwalled CD master to make the vinyl when it obviously sounds as bad as the CD version.

You mean, "…what you're talkin about…"?

 

Seems fairly obvious to me, but "vinyl" is a material, an organic compound, not a definitive object. It's what "records", "LPs", 7" and many other things that have absolutely nothing to do with music are made of, which is why, generally, people tend to say they have this or that album "on vinyl" as opposed to "on CD".  Otherwise, you might as well be talking about a fake leather jacket or a car seat or something.

I've always called them vinyl, and I'm not stopping anytime soon. My local record store even has a sign over their "vinyl" section

Haha I like this comment.  Sorry for the spam.

 

 

"Record", "LP", "45" and 7", none of those are definitive objects either. "Vinyl" is like the other words you gave. They are all commonly adopted terms for describing gramophone records.

Edited by tuoppi - 9/6/10 at 10:35am

New records generally sound excellent, and there is a lot of new vinyl being pressed. However, new vinyl tends to be expensive, especially in light of the fact that you can buy used records quite cheap. I often buy nice records at garage sales for 25 cents, and get nice ones at my local used record store from their $1 bin all the time.

If you want a good example of how good vinyl can sound, try to fine a clean used copy of Steely Dan's "Aja".

 

 

Whatever…it was a joke. Sounds to me like someone's oversensitive. It's hilarious how these things escalate.
 

Oh, and for the record, tuoppi and omgitsoop, I refer to my collection as "my vinyl", too. Most folks do. The joke was more about using the plural "vinyls". I just found it funny.

Edited by tru blu - 9/6/10 at 1:06pm

 

It was obvious to some, tru. OP, go ahead and call them "vinyls" -- it's totally adorable.

 

And I wouldn't worry too much about your questions, most of which are unanswerable with generalizations. What I would do if I were you is pick up a copy of your favorite all-time album in vinyl format, and then listen to it and see what you think. Then you can go from there, one step at a time. But if you do end up buying used, which you most certainly will if you get into this, make sure to invest in an excellent record cleaning machine

High_Q…meet High Priest.

The terminology in English is idiosyncratic. If you're talking about individual recordings, you usually call them records, LPs, singles, 45s, 78s, and other specific terms. Vinyl is used as a plural, like talking about your vinyl collection or a vinyl section at a store. Vinyls would be more appropriately used to describe a selection of vinyl upholstery at a fabric store or upholsterer. No need to start a fight over an oddity of English - there are plenty of them.

Not all of the modern pressings are good - there are lots of reports of poor pressings and I've found a few, too. I think it's mostly because the industry is having to re-learn a few things because vinyl nearly died out. Now that it's in demand again, they're having to figure it out all over again. The same happens with reproduction tubes. But they're getting better. Old vinyl can be excellent if it is in good shape. I almost always buy old vinyl over new because it's cheaper and there are lower odds of getting a bum pressing.