Vinyl Question

Ok..So downloads and cd's are digital and Vinyl and cassettes were always analog....I get that alot of the old albums were recorded analog and thats why they sound so goood on my turntable but I also know alot of the new music is recorded digital...so when I buy new releases on Vinyl what exactly am I buying..Analog or a analog recording of digital...

It depends on how it's recorded. Other than that you need someone who knows this stuff as it gets complicated.

Hard to tell sometimes. I believe my Hendrix People, Hell & Angels does not indicate analog on the cover so I assume its digital. Whereas Axis Bold As Love and First Rays say they are analog. P, H & A sounds awesome to my ears but I believe the source is ultimately digital. Probably depends on each band. I've read somewhere that the last Queensryche that was released sounds better on vinyl. Basically it probably depends on the mastering which is probably why the Eddie Kramer stuff sounds so good when it comes to Hendrix.

There are some newer releases that are mastered for vinyl, but there are many that are the same digital mastering pressed on vinyl. For instance, Judas Priest's Painkiller was an all digital recording (DDD on the original cd packaging - remember that?) and was not pressed on vinyl in the US. The Back On Black vinyl reissue of Painkiller is actually the remastered digital master pressed on vinyl. I have never heard it, but apparently it doesn't sound that great. So caveat emptor applies here.

That brings up the next question... what about when I buy a new sealed copy of a remaster old album like the new Led Zeppelin or maybe some Motley Crue or Quiet Riot

brokentulsa wrote:

That brings up the next question... what about when I buy a new sealed copy of a remaster old album like the new Led Zeppelin or maybe some Motley Crue or Quiet Riot

Case by case basis. Some are remastered directly from the original analog master tapes, transferred onto a new analog master and pressed to vinyl in a 100% analog signal chain. Some are remastered in Pro Tools and then a new analog master is created from the digital remaster.

There is no way to know for sure unless the company or engineer divulges the process they used.

The new Zep releases are analog and sound fantastic. I have the first 3 released a few weeks ago. Very true to the original vinyl releases down to the spinner on III.

Oh and I might add that the new Deliverance and Ultimatum releases have been remastered specifically for vinyl. Digital? Probably, but at least they were remastered with vinyl in mind, can't wait to hear them.

mikeinfla wrote:

The new Zep releases are analog and sound fantastic. I have the first 3 released a few weeks ago. Very true to the original vinyl releases down to the spinner on III.

I still need to get these! Everything I've been reading says they sound fantastic.

Witchfinder wrote:

There are some newer releases that are mastered for vinyl, but there are many that are the same digital mastering pressed on vinyl.  For instance, Judas Priest's Painkiller was an all digital recording (DDD on the original cd packaging - remember that?) and was not pressed on vinyl in the US.  The Back On Black vinyl reissue of Painkiller is actually the remastered digital master pressed on vinyl. I have never heard it, but apparently it doesn't sound that great.  So caveat emptor applies here.

Most new recordings are recorded digitally, but not all. A good quality release will be mastered differently for vinyl than for CD or digital download.

I have the Back on Black Painkiller release and it doesn't sound bad, but it doesn't sound all that different from the CD either. It doesn't have that "warmth" people talk about. Still nice to have on vinyl finally.

The Ultimatum Heart of Metal vinyl was completely remixed and mastered for vinyl. It sounds significantly different from the CD and does have that "warmth". I was actually blown away by how good it sounded on my turntable. Unlike every other Ultimatum project, I wasn't there for the mixing/mastering of this and we just trusted Ysidro Garcia to do his thing. He did.

So a digital recording can sound excellent on vinyl (analog), but it has to be done right.

I've got a few Back on Black re-issues, I don't really like them either. Svart records on the other hand did an amazing job with The Gathering's Mandilion & Nighttime Birds re-issues, so yeah, I agree that how it's done is as if not more important than how it's recorded.