Needledrops?

A needledrop is a digital transfer/recording made from a vinyl record.

Are they any good?

That would depend on several factors:

1. The condition of the vinyl

2. The particular mastering/pressing (whether an original pressing or a reissue) and whether the pressing is from the original master in the country original releasing the album (as duplicate masters are often made for overseas pressings)

3. The equipment used to play the vinyl

4. Post ripping software used (e.g. click repair etc.)

5. The bit depth/sampling rate used

The "Close to the Edge" needledrop should be very high quality. 

I think that this is a new phenomenon -- needledrops being offered "legitimately."

The not-so-underground internet music sharing communities have been sharing needledrops for years.  Aside from the (il)legality, I am not interested in them because they seem highly variable and generally huge files that are more likely to have been derived from mediocre hardware than anything else.

I can see the attraction of digital files generally (and have purchased and own gigabytes of them), but why would I want to buy a needledrop vs. the file they used to cut the vinyl in the firstplace?

Bart

I agree that it would be wonderful to have access to a digital transfer of the original studio master tapes in hi-definition format (assuming that these have not deteriorated beyond recall) but there does seem to be a place for high quality vinyl transfers if these master tapes are no longer available and indeed some of the latest classic prog DVDA and BR releases have included these.

So what exactly is on the DVDA or Blu-Ray discs?  Is the needledrop derived from a vintage recording, or is it a needledrop from the newly-minted vinyl.  I assumed the latter.  And if it is . . . what's the digital portion, if not the files used to create the vinyl?

I'm confused!

I don't own the Blu-Ray version of Yes's CTTE reissue having purchased the DVDA version which does not have the needle drop on it. However the Jethro Tull "Benefit" DVDA reissue includes a dub of the original UK single of "Teacher" taken from a clean copy of the original vinyl single as no master reel could be located in the Chrysalis or Sonet (who issued the single in Scandinavia) archives.

I was, of course, referring to classic recordings which would have been mastered from analogue tape rather than digital files.

BTW the Blu-Ray of CTTE contains several different versions of the classic album (5.1 surround and stereo remix by Steven Wilson plus Hi-Res transfer of the original stereo album mix) in addition to the needle drop and other bonus material.

I cannot begin to tell you how much it annoys me they released it on bluray what a bloody stupid idea.

I even wrote to someone and asked why it was not available to purchase as a download or at the very least a CD of the remaster.

They just said it was out of their hands and down to Atlantic.

Bluray FFS, wheres the logic there?

Renzo,

I have been ripping my vinyl for a few years.

Good points:

1. It sounds like my LP12

2. I can remove any clicks or scratches

Bad points:

1. It sounds like my LP12

2. I can remove any clicks or scratches

3. It is a long, slow, boring process, especially when doing (2).

On some mono albums it HAS been good to select the better rendered track and double it; my album of High Society benefited from this enormously, and the CD is complete pants.

What I like is the fact that the vinyl sourced vocals are great, no hint of edge. My feeling is that well mastered digital has better more sub-terraineon bass; How often do you get well mastered digital? Maybe more often now, but with the race to zero DB we get other issues.

M

Interesting,never heard an LP12 but everyone faves about it it seems, so why would it be a bad thing? I'm curious to listen to the CTTE one, once I get the software sorted I'll rip it off the BR and give it a listen.