Won control but lost the sound
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nate_dennis
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I LOVE IT!!!
The frustrating thing for low budgeted indipendant artists like myself (and my guess is, many of you) is that in order to get our music out to people in todays market we must convert, at least some, of our music into a digital format. I know that there are some purists out there that wont do it, and that's fine. My point is that some of us try to walk a line between selling and selling out. I'm really digging recording to analog, but I also want my music to be heard, and unfortunatly in todays market, economy, and fast-food musical culture, in order to sell, we're probably going to have to settle.
I love that bands like Death Cab for Cutie and (I think) Bright Eyes and others are releasing LPs. They are selling both CD's and LPs and I think it's great. Unfortunately, I don't have the funds to do this. But it would be cool.
The issue is not that analog sounds better than digital. The issue is that the media has it drilled into our heads that digital sounds better than analog.
However, I feel that the marketing points for digital over the past decade or so have been the amazing portability and flexibility of digital media. Analog media is simply not even considered, because the media originates in a digital fashion, and if you want to take your music with you and go jogging with it, it's a bit hard to do so with a vinyl LP. (Cassettes are an option, I know, but I'm not even going to debate that here. I think you can get decent quality out of a cassette when it's done right, but the fidelity of a cassette vs open reel/vinyl is obviously lacking.....)
Analog media is pushed so far out of the marketplace that it goes virtually unnoticed save for record stores and garage sales. Only because of moderate demand from Generation X'ers is there even an inkling of vinyl pressing still taking place, thank goodness for that...
What's my point? My point is that it is what it is. I think so much time is spent fussing over how shitty digital is, when the average human doesn't mind the "convenient sacrifice" in the fidelity of their music if that means that they can fit their music library in the palm of their hand and take it wherever they please.
I think that this debate needs to occur in the recording studio, not the consumer side. Consumer digital media is here to stay, and let's face it, analog will never outweigh digital media in popularity. (unfortunately). But professional recording studios have the ability to make a difference, however minute, when the master recordings are made. Here is the place where digital technology must be scrutinized, and analog technology must be strongly considered. Who gives a crap if a week-long recording session can fit on a hard drive? Is it really that much more convenient than 3 or 4 reels of tape? If a record is going to sell thousands, if not millions of copies, doesn't it make sense that the master copy should have the absolute highest fidelity humanly possible? If an infinitely pristine digital copy exists, then as digital technology improves, better digital dubs can be made from the analog master.
The time and effort spent utilizing analog recording techniques in the recording studio (as opposed to digital techniques) has been proven to yield more musical results, making the end product (digital or analog) sound better. So there is the battle that should be waged, here.
However, I feel that the marketing points for digital over the past decade or so have been the amazing portability and flexibility of digital media. Analog media is simply not even considered, because the media originates in a digital fashion, and if you want to take your music with you and go jogging with it, it's a bit hard to do so with a vinyl LP. (Cassettes are an option, I know, but I'm not even going to debate that here. I think you can get decent quality out of a cassette when it's done right, but the fidelity of a cassette vs open reel/vinyl is obviously lacking.....)
Analog media is pushed so far out of the marketplace that it goes virtually unnoticed save for record stores and garage sales. Only because of moderate demand from Generation X'ers is there even an inkling of vinyl pressing still taking place, thank goodness for that...
What's my point? My point is that it is what it is. I think so much time is spent fussing over how shitty digital is, when the average human doesn't mind the "convenient sacrifice" in the fidelity of their music if that means that they can fit their music library in the palm of their hand and take it wherever they please.
I think that this debate needs to occur in the recording studio, not the consumer side. Consumer digital media is here to stay, and let's face it, analog will never outweigh digital media in popularity. (unfortunately). But professional recording studios have the ability to make a difference, however minute, when the master recordings are made. Here is the place where digital technology must be scrutinized, and analog technology must be strongly considered. Who gives a crap if a week-long recording session can fit on a hard drive? Is it really that much more convenient than 3 or 4 reels of tape? If a record is going to sell thousands, if not millions of copies, doesn't it make sense that the master copy should have the absolute highest fidelity humanly possible? If an infinitely pristine digital copy exists, then as digital technology improves, better digital dubs can be made from the analog master.
The time and effort spent utilizing analog recording techniques in the recording studio (as opposed to digital techniques) has been proven to yield more musical results, making the end product (digital or analog) sound better. So there is the battle that should be waged, here.
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Article is long and theres plenty of themes here, social, economics , history ...
I wonder why first commercial cds became so popular, was it a sign of the times? Was people getting colder as ice in the 80s...or can we be that silly that only audiphiles could tell the difference ? Does people need "new" things to be attracted by music, was not music the main subject and not whats the next big thing ... I was surprised why people like Neil Young records in digital , I would be a total analog freak If I could have the money.....
Lately Im so lazy about downloading new artists or burning cds, for me theres a lot of crap out there and jewels too but Im more faced and more into live music
I think that must be the artist in the first place who must take care of his sound, and look for the better way to express his music, and that involves sound quality and musician skills too I think theres still analog studios...and rmgi is still on business, or arent they?
I wonder why first commercial cds became so popular, was it a sign of the times? Was people getting colder as ice in the 80s...or can we be that silly that only audiphiles could tell the difference ? Does people need "new" things to be attracted by music, was not music the main subject and not whats the next big thing ... I was surprised why people like Neil Young records in digital , I would be a total analog freak If I could have the money.....
Lately Im so lazy about downloading new artists or burning cds, for me theres a lot of crap out there and jewels too but Im more faced and more into live music
I think that must be the artist in the first place who must take care of his sound, and look for the better way to express his music, and that involves sound quality and musician skills too I think theres still analog studios...and rmgi is still on business, or arent they?
Yes, as far as I know, RMGI, and ATR magnetics are still manufacturing tape. Quantegy MAY be making small amounts of tape soon, but that's up for debate, as their factory is nowhere to be seen, and obviously is not in Opelika, Alabama anymore given that their warehouse is up for lease...
The issue is not that analog is unavailable. The issue is that it's downright expensive.
Up-front costs for a professional digital rig can cost up to 20 grand in some cases, but once it's installed and running, you're' pretty much done. There's very little additional costs that will incur if a digital recording station is set up properly.
A professional analog setup requires a great deal of larger equipment (a 2" machine, for example). A like-new tape machine out there can easily be had for about 10 grand. But consider that each 10.5" reel of new tape costs about 300 bucks (250 of you buy in bulk and you're lucky). At 15 ips, that's only about 30 minutes of audio.
You can make the artist pay for their tape, but the starving recording artist doesn't like having to foot that on their bill. They would much rather just pay 50 bucks or so for a 150 GB hard drive and be done with it.
I'll quit ranting.