Posted on 09/08/2009 9:19:12 AM PDT by La Lydia
In the late '60s, with a little prodding from his sons, my father finally gave in and replaced his monaural Garrard turntable with a stereo one. Suddenly, Sgt. Pepper's band sounded so much bigger. And clearer. I could hear two distinct guitars playing, not just a generic guitar sound. Two decades later, in 1988, I finally broke down and bought a CD player and the first of many Beatles CDs -- now, that was a jump from what I'd been hearing on vinyl for years. There were so many more instruments I'd never noticed. And notes I'd never heard.
On Wednesday, things are about to change once again, as the sound of the Beatles' music takes another giant leap forward. Twenty-two years after the original release of the Fab Four's British catalogue on CD, the group's music will finally be reissued, the release bearing the fruits of a 4 1/2 -year project by engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios to remaster the entire catalogue...
So what's different from those CDs you already have? As any surviving Beatle will tell you -- and both are known to say it -- the Beatles were "a great little band" -- a rock band. What comes through on the new masters is the power and quality of the original recordings of that rock band -- the quality the Beatles themselves would have heard and intended when those recordings were created.
That means you can now hear John Lennon's raucous vocal in all its powerfully shredded glory...George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" reveals the presence of a Ringo Starr kick drum that was integral to rock's greatest rhythm section, alongside Paul McCartney's bass -- a beat that drives the song with a robust heartbeat not heard before....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I may not think it’s worth it after the fact, but I’m buying them.
I think music on vinyl sounds better than digital music. I’m not being nostalgic here. A good record played on a good stereo sounds...fuller? Don’t know the right word. Anyway...
Maybe you need to get some new speakers?
Because vinyl was an analog recording, and therefore got more of the harmonics for the music. CD deliberately “clips” frequencies above ~20,000Hz or below ~50Hz, on the assumption that most people can’t hear them anyway, and it therefore saves on the size of each track.
Can we see some wave file comparisons or spectrum analyzer data to show the better separation or whatever is behind the hype?
Beatles’ records in Mono are worth more.
To use the popular descriptor - vinyl has a bigger and fuller “Sound Stage”. It doesn’t clip the highs and lows that digital can.
That said the new CD’s are remasterd so you may get more info from the new CD’s as opposed to the old vinyl. That and vinyl degrades every time you play it.
You have any objective evidence you can hear above 20k Hz?
“I think music on vinyl sounds better than digital music. I’m not being nostalgic here. A good record played on a good stereo sounds...fuller? Don’t know the right word. Anyway...”
Totally agree, but it’s difficult getting the needle to stay on the record in the car. ;)
I am definitely buying them.
In some cases, I believe.
Jokes aside, Ringo was a good drummer..
My wife and I have a collection of about a thousand vinyl records, some very rare and unreleased on CD, and some that we just never bought on CD for whatever reason— mainly $$$.
I unearthed her turntable a month ago and bought a new cartridge for it, invested about $50 in a record cleaning kit and a can of Gruv-Glide and started ripping the albums to Mp3.
Personally, I cannot detect an obvious improvement in quality over the CD versions, but they DO sound different. They sound like they did when I sat in my room and played them over and over again until the early hours of the morning. For that reason, and a few others, they have value. A CD is a CD— they all sound the same. These are OUR records.
It’s not just the cutoff in frequency, it also has to do with the digital sampling rate. The higher the frequency of the waveform, the less accurate the sample will be. With the CD sample rate, you start to lose some of the quality of the reproduction of the analog signal long before 20Khz
Which is an absolutely valid assumption.
Interesting.
So even if most people do not noticeably “hear” the higher and lower frequncies that were recorded, those parts of the music are getting sent out on vinyl but not on CDs. I wonder if double-blinded audience studies would reveal diffferent impressions of the full band vs. clipped band versions of the same songs? Theoretically and if all else where equal, the broader band version might leave a slightly different impression on listeners than the clipped version??
Try taping a couple nickels to the tonearm.
‘Maybe you need to get some new speakers?’
Nope. I have Sonus Farbers. They’re quite good.
“Totally agree, but it’s difficult getting the needle to stay on the record in the car. ;)”
hehehehe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/07/AR2009090702147.html
‘Totally agree, but it’s difficult getting the needle to stay on the record in the car. ;)’
Ha! Now we’re getting into cassettes, which is a totally different, and thankfully (almost) extinct, animal.
Don't be silly. That's what 8 track players are for.
Thanks for the tip, I wasn’t paying any attention to this and now I must!
From Amazon.com:
The White Album (Remastered) by The Beatles (Audio CD - Sep 9, 2009) - Enhanced
Buy new: $24.98 $16.99
Abbey Road (Remastered) by The Beatles (Audio CD - Sep 9, 2009) - Enhanced
Buy new: $18.98 $11.98
Revolver (Remastered) by The Beatles (Audio CD - Sep 9, 2009) - Enhanced
Buy new: $18.98 $12.99
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles (Audio CD - Jul 15, 2002)
Buy new: $18.98 $11.98
Rubber Soul (Remastered) by The Beatles (Audio CD - Sep 9, 2009) - Enhanced
Buy new: $18.98 $12.99
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Remastered) by The Beatles (Audio CD - Sep 9, 2009) - Enhanced
Buy new: $18.98 $12.99
Will they now allow them to be sold on iTunes?
I use glue.
Also depends on the frequency response and phase shifting of your analog hardware along the way to your ear.
Vinyl has more low end; CD’s, especially the first decade or so before they started correcting the mix, tend to have a slightly tinny sound. Also the ritual of the LP is much more satisfying.
There is some truth to that, but only when the original master is of high quality and the vinyl new and scratch free. Records are analog and therefore a more faithful reproduction of the original sound, which (red book) CD at 44.1 khz sampling can only approximate.
However if you listen to DVD-Audio or SACD, you will never listen to anything else. DVD-A/SACD is to CD/Vinyl what 1080P HD is to standard def video.
Not if you tape it down with duct tape ...
however, I will admit that it does "slightly" impede the turning of the record ...
“Nope. I have Sonus Farbers. They’re quite good.”
Can I come over to your house?
I can only afford Klipsch but I like them... Trying to save up for some Krell’s but they are probably a long way out siigghhh.
I want some improved releases of the Berlin “sessions” of the Beatles in training.
omg that’s awesome. lol
“Don’t be silly. That’s what 8 track players are for.”
Careful... Don’t dis the 8-track... ;)
I still have a working 8-track in my 67 Chevy Caprice!
Are these the new ones? Because I have some that were remastered several years ago, and I want the new ones.
I have noticed that I can hear very high frequencies, but it’s the low frequencies that matter in this case. Humans can’t truly hear low frequencies, but can feel them, and that adds to the “depth” and resonance of the sound. Low frequencies are often part of the way we distinguish one sound from another, and can help with the differentiation of various instruments i.e. a pedal tone on an organ (a real, wind-driven one) sounds different from a low bass viol string or a tuba.
I bought the Cirque Soleil compilation “Love” a few years ago and the remastering of that material (by George Martin and his son Giles) was absolutely unbelievable. I heard notes, chords, riffs, and vocals that I’d never heard before (and I am old enough to have bought every Beatles album ever produced within days of first release).
I just put 5 albums (err... CDs) in my Amazon cart.
Ringo IS a very good drummer. He has said in interviews, and on the Beatles anthology CD’s that his job was to keep a solid beat, and flop his hair around.........
I was in London in ‘05 and went on a Beatles Tour. It was great! We walked around Pickadilly, went to Paul’s business offices, (we could see the gold records through an upstairs window, they had spot lights on them) Went to the (it is now a men’s clothing store) building where Apple Records was, and where the Four Lads played on the roof in Let it Be.....
Went to Trident studios, and then took the Tube out to St John’s Wood, where Abbey Road studios is located. It is still a working studio, and all types of music is recorded there. There is a white fence out in front, with graffiti painted on it. Our guide told us that every month, Abbey Road has the fence repainted white, so the Beatles fans have something new to write on.....
THEN, the really cool part. Our guide told us we could walk across the cross walk, and have our pictures taken. It began to rain, and nobody cared. Suddenly, total strangers became best friends, as we handed our cameras to someone willing, and then, (the traffic is dangerous, you have to be careful) each of us walked the cross walk to the other side of the street. Some people took their shoes off to look like Paul, and put cigs in their right hands.......I had a pretty French girl take as many pictures as she could as I walked across the street......I could just as well been walking on air........
By the way, there were three pictures taken for the album cover. The police stopped traffic for a short period of time. The photographer was on a ladder next to the street light. Two pictures were taken walking to the right, and one walking to the left.........
>>>> A CD is a CD— they all sound the same. These are OUR records. <<<<<
I very distinctly recall the first time I ever listened to anything on CD and commenting “It sounds synthetic.”
That was my clear first impression.
It took a while to get used to it.
Here's one of the best kept secrets in the audio world. Get a pair of Bose 601 series III(**NOT Series IV** !!) speakers (back from the day when Bose actually made high quality floor standing speakers)from eBay or Craiglist for not more than $300 -- and get ready to be blown away. They are widely regarded as the best speakers Bose ever made, and they weren't even their top of the line.
Gimme Johnny and the Moondogs.
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