Digitally remasted vinyl
Posted by: gavagai on 08 December 2004
I know there has been sketchy digital releases of vinyl in the past (Columbia), but there is an "Audiophile" label - Venus Records of Japan - who are selling 24 bit digitally remastered vinyl. Some of these reissues are of hard to attain Jazz releases. For Example Sonny Rollins Plays (Period Records). The original of this release is listed on E-bay for $2000. Anyone out htere have any knowledge of the quality of this stuff or the engineering/mastering that goes into it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Posted on: 08 December 2004 by sideshowbob
I always feel cheated when I buy an LP and find it's a digital remaster. Might as well buy the CD in that case.
Having said that, my experience of Japanese pressings in general is that they're usually excellent.
-- Ian
Posted on: 09 December 2004 by JohanR
Well, nearly every vinyl record made since the 1970's has been through digitasion anyway. There is a process that senses the content of the musical signal before it's actually cut into the disc to determine the distance between the grooves. The direct musical signal from the tape recorder is sent to this groove sensing device, the music that is to be cut is first delayed before it is cut. Most of the times this delay is done by a digital delay.
You are cheated most of the times...
JohanR
Posted on: 09 December 2004 by sideshowbob
I can live with digital control of the cutting process, that's very different from a digital remaster of a perfectly good 50s analogue recording.
-- Ian
Posted on: 09 December 2004 by sideshowbob
True. But it's bloody annoying, especially when it's done to a recording that already has a perfectly good analogue master.
-- Ian
Posted on: 09 December 2004 by JohanR
quote:
I can live with digital control of the cutting process, that's very different from a digital remaster of a perfectly good 50s analogue recording.
I might have been a bit unclear in my post. It's the music signal cut into the disc that's goes through the digital delay. It's digiticed, delayed and converted back to analogue again.
JohanR
Posted on: 10 December 2004 by sideshowbob
OK, when you say "nearly every" vinyl record made since the 70s has been through this process, could you quantify that? At what point in the 70s? Which pressing plants, which countries, which labels? Mostly mass-produced pop music, or other genres too?
-- Ian
Posted on: 10 December 2004 by gavagai
I'll try anything. It just seems odd tthat this is the process they use. From the looks and the prices of the albums it appears that no effort has been spared to create a fantastic album. Maybe they think this is superior to analogue mastering?
Either way, I picked up a copy of "Sonny Rollins plays..."
I won't be able to compare it to the original because I do not have $2,000 (If I did I would probably buy a new record deck) or a cd, but will post my impressions of the sound quality.
