Why are old records sounding bad?

[Jbravo]

I think it's been well-documented that record companies are demanding hotter and hotter mixes these days (to the point of clipping)- there's a website illustrating this though i can't find it right now. The last album by "Live" was insanely compressed. Sounded like it was broadcast on FM radio onto a C-90 cassette. It bugs me like hell whenever I listen to it...

[Jbravo]

here's the webpage I was thinking of:

http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.n ... 2E005DAF1C

[cron]

Another thing is producers not really knowing what to do with the stereo field in many early stereo recordings. Bass to the left, drums to the right etc.

Good for sampling

Touche!

[Hovmod]

Vinyl should sound better as it does not need to conform to the 20hz - 20khz of CDs, does not have a bitrate, the bass resonance on a 12" will be more prominent, etc.

But if you try to put a 20Hz tone at a musically useful level anywhere but the very first few minutes at the outer edge of an LP, the carving needle will start carving the neighbouring grooves, and all your pressed LP copies will have quite a different kind of low end than what you had in mind. And forget 20kHz. It's not verboten by any corporate decision, like the CD standard, but the 12" 33 rpm LP does have to obey the laws of physics...

Don't get me wrong, I kind of like the LP sound, and I certainly prefer handling LPs, but hey. I'm not religious about it...

[edit] (note to self. don't get involved in vinyl debates again. Go talk to someone about the usefulness of popes instead)

[P.T.]

Another thing is producers not really knowing what to do with the stereo field in many early stereo recordings. Bass to the left, drums to the right etc.

I've read that the early stereo consoles did't have panning. There was just a switch for left, right or center.

[kilroy]

vinyl does sound better than CD IMHO...

oh I realise it's an old argument but to my ears, there is a better bass response from vinyl and CD just sounds quite sterile in comparison...

I humbly stand with Cypher in his convictions here. I really love vinyl, and have a very good rig. I would probably say about 90% of the records I own sound better than the CD versions, and some just sound significantly better to me.

Let me say this...vinyl is a very flawed medium, but nevertheless, well mixed and mastered vinyl has the potential to sound *astounding*, especially with a good turntable/tonearm/cartridge/stylus etc.

A few things to expect to notice when compared to CD are the aforementioned bass quality, generally better transient performance, wider and deeper soundstage and sharper imaging, a more real sense of a three dimensional listening environment...to me vinyl just presents a more exciting aural experience.

One of my favorite things is demonstrating this to folks that have this impression that vinyl is an inferior medium to CD. When they hear good vinyl on a superb system they generally start with this which progresses to some of this eventually resulting in

...with me sitting there going

[kilroy]

put yourself back in time 40, 50 years, okay..

how long has popular electronic media been around? consider how protracted by the process of event our perspective is..

we don't listen to a recording the same way they did.. we have different expectations. we are contemporary.. we're looking for a competetive frequency response, et c.. 80 years ago, dude's just tryin ta make a recording, eh.. 50 years ago they happy they makin recordings, you can hear all the thnigs you need to hear clearly, it's delightful..

they weren't saturated with it, it hadn't progressed to our 'many considerations.' they were just country.

if you listen, you will hear this.

*sigh*...sooooo bleeding true, mate.

[o'malley]

oh I realise it's an old argument but to my ears, there is a better bass response from vinyl and CD just sounds quite sterile in comparison...

Indeed, records play the actual wave form, while cds are playing 1's and 0's. Vinyl through a tube amp is especially lovely.

[Hypertone]

I think new recordings are sounding bad. I really thing alot of recordings from the 60's and 70's are some of th e best sounding records of all time. I think new recordings are too polished and transparent sounding, the dynamics have been destroyed and they are so dry they sound one dimensional. Those days before they had digital reverb, when they used to actually use a good sounding room, those recordings have some of the warmest ambience you can imagine. I guess it's all personal opinion. If you think a good recording is defined by clarity and loudness, you would prefer modern stuff, if you think a good recording is defined by tone and a sense of space, you probably prefer the beatles.

[Muzik 4 Machines]

http://web.archive.org/web/200409241239 ... srace.net/

i think htis is the link you were talking about, but it died a year ago