itsokimadrummer
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Are Records Really Better?
Sorry, vinyl aficionados, but CDs most accurately capture the clarity of musical performances. If you look at the grooves of a standard long-play record, or LP, through a microscope, you’ll see that each is filled with what look like rolling hills. These are, in fact, an extremely close replication of the shape of the sound waves from the musician’s instrument. But because the needle that carves the groove is shaped slightly different than the needle that reads it, the LP will never sound exactly like the original performance.
7.3.2008 at 03:20pm - Comment by itsokimadrummerAs a professional recording engineer I know that playback from digital media (cd, dvd) is going to be a more accurate representation of the original recording than playback of the same recording from vinyl. That being said, I still enjoy listening to vinyl. It usually is a bit "warmer" sounding than its digital counterpart, but it wouldn't be ideal for referencing. I belive, Mr. Sonics, that your reference to compression is of overall dynamics in commercial CDs. That is completely different than compressed file formats like mp3. In the article above, Jim Anderson doesn't say anything about vinyl. He only speaks the truth about the low sound quality of mp3. If Jim Anderson is a "shmuck", then I would think we are all doomed.
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
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