quoted 10 lines From: Gil <gyaker@fragment.com>
>From: Gil <gyaker@fragment.com>
>Subject: why vinyl?
>
>Why do IDM labels continue such a high output of vinyl only releases?
>Arn't CDs still cheaper to make these days? Plus there are less variables
>with how the end product will sound.
>...
>So why in the IDM scene, where the emphasis from the consumer side isn't
>so much on turntable manipulations or DJ needs, are more than half of the
>new weekly releases still pressed on vinyl??
There are numerous advantages and motivations for vinyl releases:
-- low-end frequencies are much more enveloping on a record than with a CD
While this is probably due more to naturally occuring noise than anything
else, the bass on a record is much more lush and warm than a compact disc.
It lends a release a degree of intimacy, of humanity. Being able to feel
the music in your bones is as important as feeling it in your soul. It's
the whole package.
My studio engineer friend once said that analogue is much more forgiving
than digital of mistakes and glitches in the musical process. While there
may be more variables in pressing vinyl, these hidden qualities can end up
making the recording sound better.
-- vinyl is more 'exclusive'
With low press runs and the ability to spend more time on the details of an
album cover, the release can make a much more significant artistic
statement than a crate of factory-produced CDs. Alternatively, this could
say a lot about the hipster doofus mentality of the listener. I imagine
that short runs of CD-Rs create much the same effect in its fans.
Some people like to buy handmade crafts and other goods. If you wanted
something to cherish and treasure for years, would you buy a box of four
Ugli beer glasses from Ikea or would you go for a complex, vibrantly
colorful hand-blown piece from Peter Greenwood? This is a bit extreme --
some technology is involved with making records -- but I think it makes the
general point. It's generally an issue of craftsmanship versus technical
precision and your own philosophy about these things.
-- the fun factor
Without a painfully artificial interface, CDs do not lend themselves to
playing with sound and arrangements of sound in the same natural, intuitive
way as vinyl. I mean, I never saw anyone scratch records but knew -- just
from bouncing the needle in the middle of a record -- that moving the
record at very high speeds would give a cool sawtooth effect that is fun to
play with. Add a second turntable and a mixer and you have your own sonic
sandbox.
-- chicks love the dj
With IDM listeners as uptight as us, we male primates need as much help in
the ladies department as we can possibly get: "<grunt> <snort> Hey, baby,
let me show you my three-armed, error-cancelling, laser-powered
turntable..." "Oooo..."
Alex Reynolds
SAS Computing / Biology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6228
V +1 215 573.2818 / F +1 215 898.8780
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~reynolda/
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