The vynil market is very alive down here. It may be an old format, inferior to digital on technical level but people still love it. The main vinyl store i go to (Music Mania in Ghent, Belgium) just opened a second shop because the first shop could not handle the crowd anymore. Both shops are less than a km from each other and are loaded with customers every day. And most good shops are like that today in Belgium (and western Europe in general). It's a market that is still raising and an important income for artists as they earn almost nothing with streaming.
It' not a fad (or it's a fad that last +25 years now), people really like listening to vinyl, often more than digital. And the biggest buyers are the younger generations. It even goes that far that a lot of nowaday's mainstream artists are releasing their music on vinyl also. You can buy Taylor Swift albums on vinyl, and they sell like hotcakes. That is also the reason why Panasonic relaunched their Technics SL1200 series again, as most younger see that as the ultimate turntable (and i agree). The fad among hipsters now is the old cassette (tape). Vinyl became to mainstream again to be "hip".
I did never quit buying vinyl, and always had a turntable since youth. I also have a digital setup, but vinyl is still a big part of what i listen to, and i still buy new records. But not those overpriced "audiophile" pressings or overhyped "original press" records that go for crazy prices. A standard album on vinyl cost about 20€, a double album may be 25-30€ and a single between 5 and 15€ depending on the pressing down here. Prices vary, but are mostly in that category.
It' not a fad (or it's a fad that last +25 years now), people really like listening to vinyl, often more than digital. And the biggest buyers are the younger generations. It even goes that far that a lot of nowaday's mainstream artists are releasing their music on vinyl also. You can buy Taylor Swift albums on vinyl, and they sell like hotcakes. That is also the reason why Panasonic relaunched their Technics SL1200 series again, as most younger see that as the ultimate turntable (and i agree). The fad among hipsters now is the old cassette (tape). Vinyl became to mainstream again to be "hip".
I did never quit buying vinyl, and always had a turntable since youth. I also have a digital setup, but vinyl is still a big part of what i listen to, and i still buy new records. But not those overpriced "audiophile" pressings or overhyped "original press" records that go for crazy prices. A standard album on vinyl cost about 20€, a double album may be 25-30€ and a single between 5 and 15€ depending on the pressing down here. Prices vary, but are mostly in that category.
@GeoffMillar: Surely you must be joshing, then when you ask why classical composers put their loudest piece of music at the end of the composition? I agree, how truly inconsiderate! 🙂
On the Who’s Next album cut with grooves closer to the edge, the disc cutter ran up against the problem that the groove spacing had to be closer together, in order to preserve the same length of program. Accordingly, maximum output level was reduced, and therefore S/N level between program and disc surface noise. Compromises everywhere! They might even have inserted a HPass cutoff filter to reduce groove excursions in bass-heavy sections. Kinda defeats the whole idea of limiting cutting close to the center UN irder to “improve” fidelity.
Which explains why cutting multiple discs with each disc limited to a portion of the program, so that the entire program is spread across multiple discs, is the audiophile’s vinyl dream (assuming, of course, that thick virgin vinyl is used, long press time, good mastering, etc.). Is it good value? If one is not an audiophile or does not especially care for that album, probably not. To each his/her own; choice in this case is a good thing.
On the Who’s Next album cut with grooves closer to the edge, the disc cutter ran up against the problem that the groove spacing had to be closer together, in order to preserve the same length of program. Accordingly, maximum output level was reduced, and therefore S/N level between program and disc surface noise. Compromises everywhere! They might even have inserted a HPass cutoff filter to reduce groove excursions in bass-heavy sections. Kinda defeats the whole idea of limiting cutting close to the center UN irder to “improve” fidelity.
Which explains why cutting multiple discs with each disc limited to a portion of the program, so that the entire program is spread across multiple discs, is the audiophile’s vinyl dream (assuming, of course, that thick virgin vinyl is used, long press time, good mastering, etc.). Is it good value? If one is not an audiophile or does not especially care for that album, probably not. To each his/her own; choice in this case is a good thing.
Yes, I have an original "Sterling" cut. It's more dynamic than the MoFi, but not as quiet.
jeff
Hey, we're brave engineers here...
"I do know that, but why do classical composers put their loudest pieces of music at the end of the LP side....most inconsiderate."
Just cut the records to go from the inner groove to the outer groove. Simple.
"I do know that, but why do classical composers put their loudest pieces of music at the end of the LP side....most inconsiderate."
Just cut the records to go from the inner groove to the outer groove. Simple.
Are there other releases using reverse cutting? Bolero is esp good for this technique, as it starts out at low volume and ends up with ffff volume! Thank you for sharing the photo!
As for classical music, Bolero reverse is the only one produced in Japan, I remember seeing a European reverse at 33RPM from a small label (maybe it was a Tacet?) In reality, most of the problems regarding dynamics and sound quality can be solved with 45RPM and in fact already in the 60s in Japan they were printing 12" at 45RPM (classical music) while in the Western world this never happened even in the following decades!
classical music is one style i prefer not to have on vinyl, and most think that way in Europe. The needed dynamic range is not possible with vinyl, whaever the japanese say. Classica music is normally not compressed or limited at all so it benefits a lot of the wider dynamic range of digital. I have some old classical records i inheritated but I never listen to them. I always listen to digital for classical music.
Waxx, I fear you are generalizing a bit too much. While it is true that there are classical music recordings on vinyl that are more compressed than the same ones on CD, it is equally true that there are others that do not have these limitations and that enjoy higher quality mastering. There are many factors to consider and I think it is wrong to make a black and white distinction. After all, the best vinyl pressings can guarantee about 70dB of dynamics (there is no need to listen to Bolero reverse, there are a lot of them) while most playback systems are not able to play them without further compression.