Title is worded a little weird, I’m not necessarily asking if there are any styles that sound better on vinyl compared to digital, are there any genres that have sounds / instruments that are harder to replicate on vinyl vs another genre?

  • PostDisillusion@alien.topB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    11 months ago

    On a related topic, I recently learned that some albums simply don’t have analogue masters so there’s not much point getting them on vinyl. Maybe someone here knows more about this topic but it has influenced which albums I’m willing to buy.

    • calinet6@alien.topB
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      I don’t think this is really a concern.

      When digital was first introduced, it was mainly used as a recording and mastering tool, and lauded for the improved quality it could achieve.

      The Telarc record of the Cleveland Symphonic Winds was one of the first with digital recording, mastered to vinyl. It used the latest tech at the time, a 50kHz 16 bit recorder controlled by a DEC PDP-10. Full story here, it’s fascinating.

      Anyway that is to say, I would separate out the recording and mastering technology from the delivery format. Yes, there is something special about an AAA record (analog recorded, mastered, and delivered) as opposed to a DDA or ADA, but the latter two can be very good.

      Remember also that in the studio they have the best DACs and ADCs money can buy, and excellent equipment to review and quality check each step of the process. So when you get a vinyl record mastered digitally, it’s mastered using like a $5,000 DAC. Unless you also have a $5,000 DAC, you won’t get quite the same experience (debatable of course, but I’m not up for that debate today thx).

      So there is value in it, even if the steps leading up to cutting the groove are part or all digital.