Which recordings do you miss most

bachus · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject: Which recordings do you miss most

I got rid of virtually all my vinyl in the ealy 90s. I saved a view sleeves of those I was too attached to-- The Mercury Living Presence seies of 5 LPs of the incomparable Marcel Dupre playing the equally incomparable Cavaillé-Coll at St. Sulpice .

I can literally make me cry that these are no longer available.

seraph · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:27 pm Post subject:

when I was 18/19 years old I started listening to and collecting jazz albums. As I was becoming a jazz buff I thought I had to get rid of all the pop rock albums I had collected before to "purify" myself so I remember getting rid of albums by Genesis, Gentle Giant, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Colosseum, John Mayall, Traffic, Tangerine Dream, Electric Light Orchestra, Moody Blues, Curved Air, Crosby Stills Nash and Young and who knows what...I don't miss many of those albums but a few...

Low Note

elektro80 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject:

Excellent vinyl reissues:

http://www.speakerscorner.de/

And there are Living Presence reissues too.. of course..
Very Happy

bachus · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject:

Hey thanks guys both these catalogs bring back very fond memories. Every few years I do a search for Dupre's Mercury volumes and I know that the Organ Historical Society has members actively working to get these re-released -- some day -- I just hope I'm still alive Laughing

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Wayne Higgins · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:56 am Post subject:

In 1979, I was broke and in college (first time). Sold around 425 albums. In 1987, I returned to college. Sold around 600 albums. Then cds came around. I started the Oenyaw thing and there were a few deaths in the family and a large collection of cds seemed quite ridiculous so I sold about 700 of them (but this time, I made copies before I sold them). I kept the elctronic and classical. Now I'm buying vinyl again.

What do I miss the most?
Tomita "The Bermuda Triangle" and "Bolero"

Eugene Fodor "Tchaikosky's Violin Concerto"

An album of women electronic musicians containing Johanna Beyer (?), Megan Roberts and a couple of the first recordings by an unknown Laurie Anderson

and some NY punk band called The Real Kids.

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject:

Funnily enough, I too sold pretty much all my vinyl when I first got into CD's, but then spent the next 10 years madly hunting for all the ones I loved (thinking very stupidly that I'd replace all of them via CD), just to get them all back again! Laughing

Wayne Higgins · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:25 am Post subject:

Yeah, and then when I did replace all the cd's, I got a turntable and found that I wanted them back on vinyl.

bachus · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:03 am Post subject:

Wayne Higgins · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:15 am Post subject:

I was really happy to switch to cd. No more pops, scratches, ect. What I really hated about vinyl was that sound of a daimond needle scraping across the vinyl that seemed to compromise the music itself. And there was no way any one could convince me that the dynamic range of vinyl could match cds. Only problem was that most of the remastered redone 24 bit HDCD expensive discs I was buying began to sound bad to me. I felt like I was occasionally being dupped.

Then something really wierd happened this year. I found a number of used albums, really cheap, very rare. So me and my wife decided to get a turntable. Stanton, manual, inexpensive. I found that the amplifier I had on the surround sound system at home didn't have a phono input, none of the home stereo systems made have one anymore. You have to plug the turntable into the auxilliary. I had to buy a phono preamp. $50. Sure, what the hell. I wanted to hear the 1957 printing of the Fantasia soundtrack I got in an antique store. Hooked it all up. I couldn't believe my ears! My wife got a copy of Led Zeppelin VI (Black Dog, ect) at an antique store for the cover. Turned out to be the first pressing. Sounds better than the cd. I really think the difference is that phono preamp thing.

The one thing I never liked about digital recording are cymbal crashes. They don't "hang" like they do on older analog recordings. No matter how close to a sine wave digital can be, there will always be a point where it just ends.

Here's the true test. Mott The Hoople "Brain Capers" the song "The Journey". It breaks into a part where the band is pounding out chords that stop abruptly. The silence in between the stops changes. It's the reflex of the speaker. It doesn't happen on cd. I know I'm splitting hairs, making mountains out of molehills. It's actually a personal priority preference. Would you rather hear a cymbal hang or would you rather not hear the occasional "pop!"? As for me, I don't buy very many cds anymore, but I'm buying lots of vinyl (and it's really cheap!)

bachus · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:30 am Post subject:

Wayne Higgins · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:50 am Post subject:

I won't argue to S/N point. You got me there.

The covers are easier to read on vinyl than cd jewel cases. Razz

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:57 am Post subject:

The cymbal issue is simply just a matter of production techniques and production choices.

Idea

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elektro80 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject:

Robert is quite right about the audio being highly compressed on vinyl. A big part of that stunning "full" sound on vinyl is partly caused by compression being a vital tool when producing for vinyl. It is however amusing that compression + good engineering often results in a recording that sounds far more dynamic and transparent than a recording with little compression applied.

Kassen · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:08 pm Post subject:

The noise-floor of modern vinyl is about -60db practically speaking.

Worse then CD but I personally think it's so close to the noise-floor of practical listening situations in the modern world that it's no big deal.

Modern music on vinyl will either have larger dynamics then new CD's or be quite low. Because of some properties of the material and the grooves you can't cut vinyl as continually "hot" as you can with CD (which everybody does these days and which sounds like shit). Though of course some compression is recommendable it's actually extremely unwise to over-compress material to be cut on vinyl.

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject:

I don´t think we were actually discussing overcompression here Laughing

But yes, too much compression is not good.

bachus · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:43 pm Post subject:

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:04 pm Post subject:

To be honest Robert, I actually miss books that I've lost over the years more than recordings. I had a great William Klein book that I can't find any more Sad

bachus · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:49 pm Post subject:

bachus · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:56 pm Post subject:

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:57 pm Post subject:

I love books- they're wonderful. These days I buy more books than records/ CD's etc.

bachus · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:04 pm Post subject:

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject:

Kassen · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:18 pm Post subject:

bachus · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject:

To keep the noise floor tolerable :

Of course it would also keep out all the radiation caused by your neighbors nuking food in their microwaves.