Are Vinyl recordings less audiophile now than they used to?

There are certainly fewer great-sounding records being made today.  But the whole recording chain and production process matters, everything from the choice of microphones in the recording venue, to the recording devices, mixing panels, overdubbing, etc. through to the record-cutting lathe and the quality of the plastic/vinyl used in the stamping machine.  When making LP's was a big business, there were a lot more centers of excellence for doing this than there are today.

WRT digital, there are certainly studios using all-analog recording today, in addition to all the garage studios using racks of digital gear.  Digital vs. Analog is only a very small part of the outcome. 

There are many ways to fail, and fewer to produce consistently excellent results.  I'm thankful for the continued availability of new vinyl, but surprised when I get a genuinely good modern transfer.

just my $.02

Frank

The quality of the vinyl itself is pretty terrible these days. Most of the new releases I have come warped out of the package and the edges are usually pretty rough.

You guys must not have access to the plethora of excellent quality Vinyl that is available. I'm a 90 % vinyl listener, and I can tell that new, good quality pressings kick the pants off of old vinyl. I don't even want to listen to my older music at the moment because I'm in love with the amazing sound quality of some of this stuff. Its really hard to shell out $30 bucks for some of it, but I have so much better of a Vinyl listening set-up than I do on the digital end. Some examples of very first rate recordings I've bought recently are: The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", Radiohead's new EP "The King of Limbs", Ratatat's LP4, Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues", the list goes on.

There is a bunch out there that is pretty second rate though. I remember not to long ago when Fred Meyer (local Grocery/Clothing/Etc store) started carrying stuff like "Abbey Road" and various other re-releases of classics. Most of that stuff is garbage, with some exceptions.

You do have to check out the way your records have been handled, sometimes the get pretty messed up from the way stores handle them. I buy from basically one particular source, and have spent over $1k in the last couple years on new vinyl, and very few of those recordings am I unsatisfied with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by danska 

You guys must not have access to the plethora of excellent quality Vinyl that is available. I'm a 90 % vinyl listener, and I can tell that new, good quality pressings kick the pants off of old vinyl. I don't even want to listen to my older music at the moment because I'm in love with the amazing sound quality of some of this stuff. Its really hard to shell out $30 bucks for some of it, but I have so much better of a Vinyl listening set-up than I do on the digital end. Some examples of very first rate recordings I've bought recently are: The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", Radiohead's new EP "The King of Limbs", Ratatat's LP4, Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues", the list goes on.

 

There is a bunch out there that is pretty second rate though. I remember not to long ago when Fred Meyer (local Grocery/Clothing/Etc store) started carrying stuff like "Abbey Road" and various other re-releases of classics. Most of that stuff is garbage, with some exceptions.

 

You do have to check out the way your records have been handled, sometimes the get pretty messed up from the way stores handle them. I buy from basically one particular source, and have spent over $1k in the last couple years on new vinyl, and very few of those recordings am I unsatisfied with.

I have some fantastic new vinyl. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is one example. But it's a known issue that 180g vinyl is often warped right out of the press. Some of my 120g new stuff is also quite bad -- I have Paramore's Riot and Say Anything's self-titled LP and both are pretty terribly warped right out of the package. I have a feeling that it is just one or two pressing companies putting out this junk.

I should mention that these albums still sound quite good -- although I sometimes find sibilance issues (and it's not completely my TT's fault) -- and play fine because my TT allows for plenty of play on both axes.

Edit: I personally wouldn't be so careful to say that the new pressings beat the pants off of old stuff. My original pressing of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (including the cardboard cut-outs!) sounds lovely, although it naturally has some pops and surface noise. My Journey records are also tops.

There is a local store around here (Long in the Tooth in Philly) which sells lots of classic rock LPs, and all of the Yes I've bought from them sounds amazing despite beat-up covers. Would you believe that I've never really noticed the flanger effect on Squire's part in Starship Trooper until I listened to it on vinyl? I thought my TT was messed up when hearing that bassline -- I was amazed that I could hear every little "peak" of the flanger as a note decayed. Now that's the kind of detail I've just never heard in digital.

I only have two, that's right, just two records which are without some sort of defect . One is Lady Gaga's, Fame, and the other, The Rolling Stones remaster of Get Yer Ya Ya's Out! Both of these are indistinguishable from CD. Since  the experiments I've made with these and other new vinyl releases demonstrate vinyl does not sound better than CD, I'm  convinced  there's no reason to buy new vinyl.