While Driving, The Car Radio.....

[_Doctor Steuss]

I've heard several people make the argument that analog music sounds "fuller" and more live (you gotta listen to it on vinyl, man). I haven't noticed that (it could be true for some people), so if it's a choice between perfectly smooth, serviceable digital and imperfect "voluminous" analog, I'll take digital any day.

After rereading the below, it sounds pretentious as all get-out, for which I apologize. But, here be my opinion:

I can tell the difference. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

I think it really depends on who produced/mastered the album. A lot of albums from the 60's-70's were produced/mastered by super-humans with absolutely awe-inspiring hearing, and they did it in an analogue world.

When you've got a really good person mixing and mastering, they will listen to the album in various environments, and on various equipment. As an anecdotal modern example, my friend’s studio is riddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars of microphones, pre-amps, boards, etc. He also keeps a pair of Apple earbuds in the mixing room. After he’s done mixing/mastering with the studio monitors, he’ll listen to it on earbuds, in his car, on his home stereo, and on a Bluetooth speaker. He’ll also compress it to MP3 to make sure it still sounds good like that. It makes a subtle difference in the mixing/mastering when considering how the music will be listened to. You’d be surprised how a poor mixing/mastering job can result in an album sounding fantastic on one stereo, and an overly muffled hot mess on another.

In much the same way, a lot of vinyl albums were mixed/mastered with the knowledge that they would be listened to in a specific format. Whether vinyl or cassette. Listening to albums digitally, that weren’t remastered for a digital medium, kind of loses some of the seasoning that the original sound guru put in.

In a lot of ways though, I think it’s more of an “experience” for lack of a better word. With vinyl, you are kind of forced to remain in a room. The album is the centerpiece to your experience. Sitting, and listening to Joni Mitchell on vinyl, while reading the lyrics on the insert, sipping on a nice scotch… it is almost a religious endeavor. One that can’t be replicated by an MP3 on the move.

[_Xenophon]

If that was pretentious, Steuss, then count me in. Very well said, especially this:

In a lot of ways though, I think it’s more of an “experience” for lack of a better word. With vinyl, you are kind of forced to remain in a room. The album is the centerpiece to your experience. Sitting, and listening to Joni Mitchell on vinyl, while reading the lyrics on the insert, sipping on a nice scotch… it is almost a religious endeavor. One that can’t be replicated by an MP3 on the move.

I frankly can't listen to A Night at the Opera digitally because nothing can touch the rich sounds of my vinyl. There is a certain depth or nuance that is lost. I'm sure there is probably a study out there that says scientifically I can't hear the difference (some Delta-E variant) but I'll be damned if it doesn't "feel" very different to me.

[_Some Schmo]

After rereading the below, it sounds pretentious as all get-out, for which I apologize. But, here be my opinion:

That might be the least pretentious sounding pretentiousness I've ever read.

I can tell the difference. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

I was kind of hoping someone with more knowledge on the subject would pipe in. Your post was very interesting; I never really thought about mixing/studio skill. And as I said, I suspect there are people who really can tell the difference. Maybe I could too if I were able to do a straight side-by-side comparison, but I haven't done that, so my judgment is based on what could be described as a fairly shaky memory.

Maybe it's that I only buy Bose, and I'm guessing those are pretty forgiving speakers. All I can say definitively is that I don't miss scratched, popping, or skipping records. I do believe you when you say you can tell the difference, though.

[_Some Schmo]

I frankly can't listen to A Night at the Opera digitally because nothing can touch the rich sounds of my vinyl.

My opinion of you just went up several notches just for mentioning this album with such reverence. Greatest side B in history! (in my opinion, obviously)

There's another thing we don't talk about much anymore: the "side" of an album. Heh.

[_Doctor Steuss]

I do believe you when you say you can tell the difference, though.

It’s hard to describe or put in words, but outside of the obvious hiss and pops, the biggest difference to me is “warmth” (there's not really any other way to describe it). It doesn’t really work if you have something that was recorded digitally that’s put on an analogue medium, or vice-versa. But, if it was recorded in analogue, and listened to on analogue, there’s just a certain warmth that can’t really be duplicated.

It’s kind of the same thing that happens with a great tube-preamp, or an old ribbon microphone, or an excellent guitar amp. You can use digital tools to simulate the sound, but you simply can’t replicate it.

Of course, the old method isn’t always superior. Old true plate reverb sounds like absolute garbage when compared to the digitally synthesized variations. In my opinion, that is. Which, I guess goes to the ultimate truth of the matter – it all comes down to personal taste. There’s really no “right” way, or “wrong” way when it comes to the art that moves us.

[_Xenophon]

My opinion of you just went up several notches just for mentioning this album with such reverence. Greatest side B in history! (in my opinion, obviously)

There's another thing we don't talk about much anymore: the "side" of an album. Heh.

Side A would rate higher if they didn't let Roger Taylor add a track (not always a popular opinion but I'm sticking to it ). I do agree that "sides" are definitely missing and a lot of the magic of producing a cohesive album with good flow has been lost, although it isn't an entirely dead art form yet.

[_Some Schmo]

Side A would rate higher if they didn't let Roger Taylor add a track (not always a popular opinion but I'm sticking to it ).

LOL

But... but... I'm in love with my car. Gotta feel for my automobile.

I do love the whole album. I just think the B side is particularly inspired.

(Wait... I think The Prophets Song is inspired? Man, am I opening myself up to some LDS apologetic there...)

I do agree that "sides" are definitely missing and a lot of the magic of producing a cohesive album with good flow has been lost, although it isn't an entirely dead art form yet.

This goes to what I think honor was saying to get this sub-thread started. Music is consumed a la carte these days. People take the songs they want and listen to them out of the context of their album. The very idea of a concept album feels like a waste of time now, given that many people just listen to the songs on the album they like and omit the rest.

I'm trying to imagine how successful a band like Pink Floyd would be in today's digitally provided landscape.

[_Xenophon]

Good points all around and you'll certain find no disagreement from me about "The Prophets Song" (as an aside here is Brian May and Roger Taylor discussing the album)

I'm trying to imagine how successful a band like Pink Floyd would be in today's digitally provided landscape.

I'd like to touch on this a bit. You're right that a musician probably can't make a whole movie of their album anymore and expect much traction but it doesn't stop us from having some serious story tellers or album builders. It may not be to everyone's taste but I think the hip-hop and rap communities still do a fantastic job at building cohesive albums that are better viewed as a whole than as individual songs.

I think there is a natural tendency for people to latch on to what music was/how it was presented/general soundscapes from their formative years. There can be a fair bit of "back in my day" that prevents people from finding amazing music in the here and now due to this latching onto nostalgia. I do want to emphasize that I don't think you or Honor are doing this Schmo, just speaking generally of how our music tastes are so heavily attached to our youths and what impact that has on how we view it as we age, even when it comes to the medium it is presented in.

[_Lemmie]

I'd like to touch on this a bit. You're right that a musician probably can't make a whole movie of their album anymore and expect much traction but it doesn't stop us from having some serious story tellers or album builders. It may not be to everyone's taste but I think the hip-hop and rap communities still do a fantastic job at building cohesive albums that are better viewed as a whole than as individual songs.

It's interesting you would mention that. A week or so ago I was up late when my son came home from a party so we sat outside in the garden, and he played Travis Scott's new album-streamed on spotify, I think. He was so excited because it had literally come out just 30 minutes before. I just texted him re: the album because I thought it was a double album, he said no, Travis Scott released "AstroWorld," the double album was Drake with "Scorpion"!

So that's from an 18 year old, and as far as can recall, this is the first time he has talked to me about albums and not just singles, so maybe that full sense of enjoying an artist's work is coming back.

[_Some Schmo]

I think there is a natural tendency for people to latch on to what music was/how it was presented/general soundscapes from their formative years. There can be a fair bit of "back in my day" that prevents people from finding amazing music in the here and now due to this latching onto nostalgia. I do want to emphasize that I don't think you or Honor are doing this Schmo, just speaking generally of how our music tastes are so heavily attached to our youths and what impact that has on how we view it as we age, even when it comes to the medium it is presented in.

I agree wholeheartedly, and it is something that has only occurred to me in the last several years.

I remember when I was young wondering how my taste in music could be so vastly different from my parents'. Now that I've passed their age when I was wondering that, it occurs to me that the music I grew up listening to is now considered "classic" and is much different than what is popular today.

There must be something about being young when you are exposed to something that causes you to feel like "that's the way it should be." Just the association of your youth to the culture of the day must be enough to make you think that's the "correct" status quo. How else can you explain everyone not in your generation having crappy musical taste?

*grin*