Sorry, the poll did not include the option I would have picked: "Still have a huge collection of vinyl records from half a century ago and see no reason to get rid of them."
Me three., though it is not really huge any more. And I don’t play them, but I like having them. (A few are worth something, but most, I am pretty sure, are not
This is where I am. My current turntable goes by USB to my backup computer and I have a Rowan and Martin record from 1965 where the punch line is "Lyndon B. JOHNSON!!" Also some Brubeck and R. Lewis and lots of other good stuff. Including some samples mailed to libraries in the 60's and never used.
I still own a copy of "The First Family" album poking fun of JFK, the White House, and the Kennedy family. When albums were suddenly out of favor, someone offered me $200 for it - now it is worth $4 on eBay. I wouldn't get rid of it for the world.
I have a recording of the original Macbird. Also my vinyls, my husband's vinyls, his parents's vinyls, my parents' vinyls, and my 40 something son's who also keeps and plays our old jazz collection and is adding to them by buying vinyls himself.
My 20-something kids plundered my collection, so I still have tons of vinyl but it's all terrible. Sometimes my husband will pull down a record from my pile, and I'll hear it and ask him, "is that ... Air Supply? Why?" Eventually he'll learn my records are all just filler.
My turntable finally died, but I wanted to continue to have a way to play my collection of albums (or "big black CDs" as one of my nieces called them), so I bought a new turntable.
Our sons gave their dad a record player this Father's Day. He and I have a ton of albums we loved, but had actually replaced very few of them with CDs or MP3s. It's been great hearing them again. We've even gotten a kick out of hearing that sound after the last song on a played-until-it's-worn-out record. Like hearing a campfire. You know what I'm talking about.
I have lots of vinyl, from the early sixties onward, would not part with any part thereof. I even like the scratchy sounds from an old Beatles LP, or perhaps the Mamas and the Papas (I still have a thing for Mama Cass, whose voice was pure magic).
A follow-up question - does the modern vinyl reissue sound better or worse than the original pressing? Some pressings back then of pop records were substandard, while often the reissues have been remastered to be louder.
The reissues sound great to me. I also got a couple of pre-owned advertised as VG+, and they sounded almost new. Band Brown album was one. Like new, to my old ears. I also like it when the jacket looks old. But the record plays new.
What's fascinating is vinyl's appeal across multiple generations. Analogue/vinyl purists or audiophiles (the claimed full, richer sound due to full waveform v. digital sampling) of all ages certainly, but apart from the nostalgia factor for the olds, there is now a notable interest among those who grew up streaming their music in having a tactile or physical connection to their favorite artists. However, it's unlikely the average Gen Z aficionado has the set-up or paraphernalia of the dedicated audiophile. I personally draw the line at having to don a hazmat suit every time I put a record on. The album cover often had more sensory appeal than the music it contained, although the top artists usually got the top designers. By the way, there's an effort underway to bring back yes--- you hear this right --- the long-dead (for some 50 years) quadraphonic sound tech, now that surround sound technology is in widespread use.
I think part of what makes vinyl continue to be fascinating is how relatively low-tech it is. MP3 players, CDs, even cassette tapes all kind of seem like magic to anyone who doesn't have a lot of specialty knowledge in the audio field. But there's something in the relatively-simple mechanics of a turntable that is quasi-understandable to a layperson -- we still don't REALLY understand how it works, but the record spinning and the needle riding in the groove and the signal going to the speaker is something we can kind of get our brains around in a way that playing a video on YouTube doesn't allow.
Magic, indeed. May I suggest there's even more "magic" in being able to coax glorious sound from a series of grooves in a piece of PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Not very far removed at all in principle (and delighted reaction) to Tom Edison conjuring up "Mary had a little lamb" from a tin foil covered cylinder. But, of course, being human beings, we are prone to enhance the unknown (or unknowable) or, certainly surround it with all manner of trappings, in an effort to distract us from our ignorance --- and oh yes, make a buck while we're at it, if possible. Okay you say, that covers the philosophical or spiritual aspect of religion and the long-playing record. but what of the physical ? For one thing, PVC is far less fragile than its shellac predecessor, easier to work with and, in fact, provides far better sound reproduction, in no small part because of its smoothness, thereby reducing friction. However, as a material PVC also naturally builds up a static charge over time as it’s handled and interacts with other objects which, in turn, attracts abrasive dust. That's why most LPs continue to be black. It's the conductive carbon-based pigment which lessens the static and dust accumulation on the surface of the record. However, while certainly enjoyable in its LP form, PVC unfortunately, is hardly friendly to the environment. And thus ends another episode of "You Don't Say !?"
Still mourning a collection of over 500 vinyl records collected over 55 or 60 years and donated in a fit of de cluttering and organizing some eight years ago. Have rebuilt most of what I truly miss in CD's, not about to go throught that again!
Maybe I'm too neurotic about the question, but I struggled to think of lyrics I was "blown away" by. Even just trying to come up with lyrics I would be comfortable sharing my feelings about with a group made me feel like a fumbling teenager.
It's also very difficult to separate lyrics from music, or even just the performance. When Thom Yorke sings "Fog" or "Let Down" or "True Love Waits" or any of a dozen other songs, the words cut to my soul; but if I just write "Some things will never wash away/Did you go bad?" or "Some day I am going to grow wings" or "Just don't leave, don't leave", it's (quite reasonably) hard to understand why anyone would have that reaction.
I subscribed immediately. I overpaid for the service, because I am happily in a position to do so. How do I now tamp down the feeling that I should keep sending more and more money? 'cause I am trying not to be nuts about such things.
No doubt a single session with Dr. Weingarten or Dr. Myers will relieve you of your disquiet (along with another fiver a month). Talk therapy doesn't come cheap these days.
Speaking of sound... That film (and TV) sound "problem" is not you — at least probably not most of it. Much of that has to do with filmmakers deliberately making the sound difficult for (questionable) artistic reasons, actors mumbling to simulate what a half-assed director thinks is naturalistic speech and a general lack of attention to sound when a film is being made these days. Perhaps most important is a noticeable lack of understanding of the fine art of sound mixing — with ever more complicated film technology to deal with and the distinct differences required for editing sound for theaters, streaming and home theater systems. Too often the process of capturing, creating and shaping great sound (other than maybe major effects sound) is essentially an afterthought. One (judgemental) example is that now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards the Oscar for sound before the telecast. Of course --- only in the interests of speeding up the spectacle of Hollywood drinking its own bathwater, mind you.
My 14-year-old granddaughter participates in School of Rock and has been turned on to vinyl. Her parents bought her a 3-speed turntable (although it looks NOTHING like my old turntable), and for birthdays, I have taken her to vinyl stores where the records are a minimum of $30. She has her favorite artists (other than Billie Eilish, I don't know who they are), but I have bought her some older artists at estate sales, where the vinyls are 2 and 3 dollars. BTW, on one trip, my gd coughed up $100 of her own to buy a Billie Eilish.
The first time I played a vinyl version of a familiar movie theme, I was astounded by the tightness and expansiveness of the low frequencies compared to CD or streaming - a case where the curmudgeonly Neil Young has a point. But my larger complaint is that pop hits from the 1960s and 1970s don’t sound as good on anything that isn’t an old car radio. Strings-laden songs like “When Will I See You Again” by The Three Degrees had a presence on the old radios, especially on AM. Motown in particular mixed their songs to sound good on the small speakers. One of my cars has a good Sony radio and, when streaming from my phone, I have struggled to EQ the sound to make it right.
Really no one-answer-fits-all. Back in the day --- vinyl was the only medium and its craftsmen in the complete audio "chain," from recording through cutting to pressing, took great care throughout the process, if for no other reason than the intense competition among record labels. And thus the inherent benefit in being able to use the full waveform in recording was usually optimized with its fuller, richer range. This was particularly true of classical (and similar) recordings, and with the top pop artists --- with the music and artists in other genres, being somewhat less so, but still very good. That is not to say there weren't outfits that tried to make a quick buck on a trend with "down and dirty" stuff, but the main labels (and their affiliates) were fastidious in their recordings, if not always in their A&R ("Artist and Repertoire") process. A lot (too many, IMO) of modern reissues are actually conversions from digital masters to analogue pressings, with the related reproduction issues compared to using the original analogue masters (assuming they can be found and are useable). The radio reproduction situation has a great deal to do with simply how stations encode their signals and whether they are FM or AM (you remember AM -- going the way of the paper paper). Other factors are how they compress and/or amplify the signal for effect, and even how your brain tries to come to terms with both the music and the ambient noise. The speed of the car can also have an effect, apart from the general environmental noise of driving.
Sorry, the poll did not include the option I would have picked: "Still have a huge collection of vinyl records from half a century ago and see no reason to get rid of them."
Me three., though it is not really huge any more. And I don’t play them, but I like having them. (A few are worth something, but most, I am pretty sure, are not
I was thinking that, as well. I have a turntable and hundreds of albums.
This is where I am. My current turntable goes by USB to my backup computer and I have a Rowan and Martin record from 1965 where the punch line is "Lyndon B. JOHNSON!!" Also some Brubeck and R. Lewis and lots of other good stuff. Including some samples mailed to libraries in the 60's and never used.
I still own a copy of "The First Family" album poking fun of JFK, the White House, and the Kennedy family. When albums were suddenly out of favor, someone offered me $200 for it - now it is worth $4 on eBay. I wouldn't get rid of it for the world.
I have a recording of the original Macbird. Also my vinyls, my husband's vinyls, his parents's vinyls, my parents' vinyls, and my 40 something son's who also keeps and plays our old jazz collection and is adding to them by buying vinyls himself.
Michael, Me too!
I'm not tempted because we still have our turntable and all our albums
My 20-something kids plundered my collection, so I still have tons of vinyl but it's all terrible. Sometimes my husband will pull down a record from my pile, and I'll hear it and ask him, "is that ... Air Supply? Why?" Eventually he'll learn my records are all just filler.
My turntable finally died, but I wanted to continue to have a way to play my collection of albums (or "big black CDs" as one of my nieces called them), so I bought a new turntable.
so do we!
We also have a largish vinyl collection (possibly warped) and a turntable that may or may not work.
Our sons gave their dad a record player this Father's Day. He and I have a ton of albums we loved, but had actually replaced very few of them with CDs or MP3s. It's been great hearing them again. We've even gotten a kick out of hearing that sound after the last song on a played-until-it's-worn-out record. Like hearing a campfire. You know what I'm talking about.
I have lots of vinyl, from the early sixties onward, would not part with any part thereof. I even like the scratchy sounds from an old Beatles LP, or perhaps the Mamas and the Papas (I still have a thing for Mama Cass, whose voice was pure magic).
A follow-up question - does the modern vinyl reissue sound better or worse than the original pressing? Some pressings back then of pop records were substandard, while often the reissues have been remastered to be louder.
The reissues sound great to me. I also got a couple of pre-owned advertised as VG+, and they sounded almost new. Band Brown album was one. Like new, to my old ears. I also like it when the jacket looks old. But the record plays new.
What's fascinating is vinyl's appeal across multiple generations. Analogue/vinyl purists or audiophiles (the claimed full, richer sound due to full waveform v. digital sampling) of all ages certainly, but apart from the nostalgia factor for the olds, there is now a notable interest among those who grew up streaming their music in having a tactile or physical connection to their favorite artists. However, it's unlikely the average Gen Z aficionado has the set-up or paraphernalia of the dedicated audiophile. I personally draw the line at having to don a hazmat suit every time I put a record on. The album cover often had more sensory appeal than the music it contained, although the top artists usually got the top designers. By the way, there's an effort underway to bring back yes--- you hear this right --- the long-dead (for some 50 years) quadraphonic sound tech, now that surround sound technology is in widespread use.
I think part of what makes vinyl continue to be fascinating is how relatively low-tech it is. MP3 players, CDs, even cassette tapes all kind of seem like magic to anyone who doesn't have a lot of specialty knowledge in the audio field. But there's something in the relatively-simple mechanics of a turntable that is quasi-understandable to a layperson -- we still don't REALLY understand how it works, but the record spinning and the needle riding in the groove and the signal going to the speaker is something we can kind of get our brains around in a way that playing a video on YouTube doesn't allow.
Magic, indeed. May I suggest there's even more "magic" in being able to coax glorious sound from a series of grooves in a piece of PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Not very far removed at all in principle (and delighted reaction) to Tom Edison conjuring up "Mary had a little lamb" from a tin foil covered cylinder. But, of course, being human beings, we are prone to enhance the unknown (or unknowable) or, certainly surround it with all manner of trappings, in an effort to distract us from our ignorance --- and oh yes, make a buck while we're at it, if possible. Okay you say, that covers the philosophical or spiritual aspect of religion and the long-playing record. but what of the physical ? For one thing, PVC is far less fragile than its shellac predecessor, easier to work with and, in fact, provides far better sound reproduction, in no small part because of its smoothness, thereby reducing friction. However, as a material PVC also naturally builds up a static charge over time as it’s handled and interacts with other objects which, in turn, attracts abrasive dust. That's why most LPs continue to be black. It's the conductive carbon-based pigment which lessens the static and dust accumulation on the surface of the record. However, while certainly enjoyable in its LP form, PVC unfortunately, is hardly friendly to the environment. And thus ends another episode of "You Don't Say !?"
Still mourning a collection of over 500 vinyl records collected over 55 or 60 years and donated in a fit of de cluttering and organizing some eight years ago. Have rebuilt most of what I truly miss in CD's, not about to go throught that again!
Lost my vinyl in a divorce. They claim analogy vinyl is better than any digital medium, even if it's 64 bit.
How is it that Rachel was born two years after I graduated high school? I think I should be dead by now.
Maybe I'm too neurotic about the question, but I struggled to think of lyrics I was "blown away" by. Even just trying to come up with lyrics I would be comfortable sharing my feelings about with a group made me feel like a fumbling teenager.
It's also very difficult to separate lyrics from music, or even just the performance. When Thom Yorke sings "Fog" or "Let Down" or "True Love Waits" or any of a dozen other songs, the words cut to my soul; but if I just write "Some things will never wash away/Did you go bad?" or "Some day I am going to grow wings" or "Just don't leave, don't leave", it's (quite reasonably) hard to understand why anyone would have that reaction.
I already bought one, as I still have a lot of LPs
I subscribed immediately. I overpaid for the service, because I am happily in a position to do so. How do I now tamp down the feeling that I should keep sending more and more money? 'cause I am trying not to be nuts about such things.
No doubt a single session with Dr. Weingarten or Dr. Myers will relieve you of your disquiet (along with another fiver a month). Talk therapy doesn't come cheap these days.
Speaking of sound... That film (and TV) sound "problem" is not you — at least probably not most of it. Much of that has to do with filmmakers deliberately making the sound difficult for (questionable) artistic reasons, actors mumbling to simulate what a half-assed director thinks is naturalistic speech and a general lack of attention to sound when a film is being made these days. Perhaps most important is a noticeable lack of understanding of the fine art of sound mixing — with ever more complicated film technology to deal with and the distinct differences required for editing sound for theaters, streaming and home theater systems. Too often the process of capturing, creating and shaping great sound (other than maybe major effects sound) is essentially an afterthought. One (judgemental) example is that now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards the Oscar for sound before the telecast. Of course --- only in the interests of speeding up the spectacle of Hollywood drinking its own bathwater, mind you.
My 14-year-old granddaughter participates in School of Rock and has been turned on to vinyl. Her parents bought her a 3-speed turntable (although it looks NOTHING like my old turntable), and for birthdays, I have taken her to vinyl stores where the records are a minimum of $30. She has her favorite artists (other than Billie Eilish, I don't know who they are), but I have bought her some older artists at estate sales, where the vinyls are 2 and 3 dollars. BTW, on one trip, my gd coughed up $100 of her own to buy a Billie Eilish.
The first time I played a vinyl version of a familiar movie theme, I was astounded by the tightness and expansiveness of the low frequencies compared to CD or streaming - a case where the curmudgeonly Neil Young has a point. But my larger complaint is that pop hits from the 1960s and 1970s don’t sound as good on anything that isn’t an old car radio. Strings-laden songs like “When Will I See You Again” by The Three Degrees had a presence on the old radios, especially on AM. Motown in particular mixed their songs to sound good on the small speakers. One of my cars has a good Sony radio and, when streaming from my phone, I have struggled to EQ the sound to make it right.
Really no one-answer-fits-all. Back in the day --- vinyl was the only medium and its craftsmen in the complete audio "chain," from recording through cutting to pressing, took great care throughout the process, if for no other reason than the intense competition among record labels. And thus the inherent benefit in being able to use the full waveform in recording was usually optimized with its fuller, richer range. This was particularly true of classical (and similar) recordings, and with the top pop artists --- with the music and artists in other genres, being somewhat less so, but still very good. That is not to say there weren't outfits that tried to make a quick buck on a trend with "down and dirty" stuff, but the main labels (and their affiliates) were fastidious in their recordings, if not always in their A&R ("Artist and Repertoire") process. A lot (too many, IMO) of modern reissues are actually conversions from digital masters to analogue pressings, with the related reproduction issues compared to using the original analogue masters (assuming they can be found and are useable). The radio reproduction situation has a great deal to do with simply how stations encode their signals and whether they are FM or AM (you remember AM -- going the way of the paper paper). Other factors are how they compress and/or amplify the signal for effect, and even how your brain tries to come to terms with both the music and the ambient noise. The speed of the car can also have an effect, apart from the general environmental noise of driving.
A boatload of master tapes were destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire.