mastering for vinyl

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hi_Flyer
  • Start date Start date
Farview said:
True, but over the years mastering engineers have not had to deal with the limitations of vinyl. The most recent generation of mastering engineers (especially the guys that don't charge much) have been turned out without ever needing to know anything about cutting vinyl. (same thing with mix engineers) It's too easy for them to just do what they normally would do to a CD, which can be a disaster.
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couldn't agree more.
 
Robert D said:
Just out of curiosity, why are you doing vinyl?
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There are tons of people who still buy vinyl, esp in the DJ/electronic world. You'd be suprised at all the new albums that come out that have ltd. edition vinyl releases as well.. I've recently bought vinyl versions to some Marylin Manson, Opeth, and I have tons of stuff from more modern bands like Front Line Assembly, White Zombie, etc...

It is a niche for sure, but there are still plenty of vinyl mostly or only stores that get a steady stream of customers.

Plus there's something delightfully organic about vinyl.. and a properly done vinyl record has a wonderful feel and sound to it.

Granted, I'm a little bit of a vinyl fanatic, but there's a little market (moreso in underground music... but also more in the mainstream as well)
 
TerraMortim said:
There are tons of people who still buy vinyl, esp in the DJ/electronic world. You'd be suprised at all the new albums that come out that have ltd. edition vinyl releases as well.
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Is there a list of which vinyl releases merely took the CD as a source (like Red Hot Chili Peppers "Californication") and which have its very own mastering (whether premastered on tape, digital or on-the-fly like Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium")?

As I'm not a DJ, there is not much point in buying the more expensive vinyl, but if I know that it has got a better mastering job than the CD, then I sure want the vinyl version. The problem is, you usually don't know. And I certainly don't want to buy both version to find out.
 
you know..that's a rediculously great question. I'm not totally sure if there is, but it would be totally helpful. Would anyone be interested in contributing to a list of amazing sounding post digital era vinyl?

Higher quality vinyl, as far as my understanding, is merely thicker, and thus can hold deeper frequencies, which are physically larger than higher frequencies... however from my understanding printing less audio to the side can help with that...because the grooves are thicker.. otherwise the needle jumps out of the groove...am I on track, guys?
 
nice idea Hi Flyer and a little off topic

Hi Flyer sweet idea to use vinyl wish you the best on it.

I am sort of a vinyl junkie got all my albums in great shape

There is nothing like ripping the shrink wrap off a new record:D

I just bought a Willie Nelson album Country Man.:cool:

It is just amazing how much vinyl is out there.:D

I do record some and put them on CD the ones that are not on CD
for the car. I just got some 80 rpm disks that I am restoring for fun :p
 
TerraMortim said:
Higher quality vinyl, as far as my understanding, is merely thicker, and thus can hold deeper frequencies, which are physically larger than higher frequencies... however from my understanding printing less audio to the side can help with that...because the grooves are thicker.. otherwise the needle jumps out of the groove...am I on track, guys?
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Not exactly. It depends mainly on how much stereo effects there are, and how dynamic they are. A mono recording doesn't go into depth at all and can be recorded on a rather thin sheet. Hard panned stereo with great peaks need to go much into depth, thus requiring thicker vinyl. Also deeper grooves significantly reduce the playing time as they become wider as well, which is unavoidable on those stereo intense recordings. Deeper grooves and the resulting shorter playing time are not there for deeper frequencies, but as a consequence for those intense stereo effects. In high quality vinyls, you don't compromise quality but better take a disc more instead. That's why some recent records end up with 3 or more disc for one album with only 2 or 3 songs per side.

Thicker vinyl is no guaranty for higher quality, but it make higher quality possible as it allows for those deeper grooves.
 
gotcha. Someone told me once that you can get crazier with the bass because of those two factors as well (less chance of the needle jumping out of the groove or something like that)

ANyway, I ususally prefer thicker vinyl and/or multi record releases.
 
TerraMortim said:
ANyway, I ususally prefer thicker vinyl and/or multi record releases.
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As there is a good chance for a good mastering job on those, this is understandable.

I have seen >30 minutes per side vinyls, and you can be pretty sure, that quality wasn't a priority there. Still, the frequency response can be rather good on those, but the record ends up so ridiculously quite, that you'll get a really bad noise ratio.

Bass would be a big problem, if we didn't have the RIAA equalization. Though as we have it, the lowest frequencies are reduced about 40 dB compared to the highest frequencies during cutting, so they end up with about the same amplitude on the groove.
Thus you are right when you say you can turn up the bass with a deeper groove as you are better protected against needle jumping, however this is only partially what you gain, as this is also true with all the other frequencies, thanks to the RIAA equalization.
 
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