The
Good Old Days?
Lately,
I hear a lot of reminiscing about the good old days of analog tape
recording and analog in general. As a long time collector of vinyl
recordings, it holds a special place in my heart. To this day, I
still enjoy the process of playing my vinyl recordings on the Hi-Fi.
Gingerly removing the LP from the sleeve and placing it on the
turntable. Running the Discwasher over it and the D-Stat before
lowering the needle to the vinyl, and anticipating the music as the
stylus lowers into the groove. Then sitting back with the liner
notes, or the cover, and settling in for a good listen and a good
read. On the second and subsequent listening I often turn off the
light to better immerse myself in the sound. I will confess that I
still enjoy haunting thrift stores to find those great RCA Shaded
Dogs and the Mercury Living Presence LPs recorded by Wilma Cozart and
Robert Fine. For some it is a fine cigar and for others it is a vinyl
recording.
Now
comes the but. I don't care for the process of analog recording and I
don't miss it at all. You never forget the first and only time that
you accidently erase a part of a clients 24 track tape. Add to that,
getting a tape from another studio without test tones or that was
recorded on a deck where the head alignment, azimuth or bias were not
properly calibrated. Don't get me started on razor blade edits.
AAArghh. Give me a DAW any day. Non destructive editing, unlimited
tracks, extended dynamic range are just a few of the advantages of
digital recording. As a bonus, your electric bill drops dramatically.
With
the ever increasing sampling rates of digital recording any
compromise of fidelity is and will continue to be overcome. AVID
audio has just released a new system that has 384khz sampling rate.
Sanken makes microphones with a range up to 100,000 hz. Many former
analog mixing engineers like Andrew Schoeps are working completely in
the box.
I
think the combination higher quality digital recording with the
resurgence in vinyl records could lead to greater satisfaction for
those who have moved to vinyl. Many of the early digital to vinyl
pressings did not satisfy any of us who were and still are vinyl
hounds. We may also be seeing high definition streaming online for
the audiophiles in our midst. These services could be on the order of
Netflix, Hulu, or Spotify. One obstacle to this would be having a
Digital to Analog converter in computers, laptops, and other devices
that could convert at the higher sampling rates. Perhaps an add on
device could be marketed.
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