Do you ever recommend downloading vinyl rips from companies online?
Posted by: Consciousmess on 25 December 2018
I ask this question as I look for 24 bit versions of albums I like and sometimes they are from companies who offer many formats including vinyl rips.
Are there bona fide companies doing this or is it better not to get lured in?
I don't know of any legit source of vinyl rips. I think these "companies" are torrent sites or otherwise sources of pirated files. Back 10+ years ago there was a big Russian site that sold mp3's for pennies . . . claimed RU copyright law was satisfied . . . obviously that wasn't the case.
I really can’t see the benefit of doing this generally ... most vinyl these days is digitally mastered and recorded...and so creating a vinyl ripwould be focussing on the cutting profile, replay cartridge, arm and phono RIAA pre amp profiles to create a fancy DSP reconstruction filter... therefore any vinyl rip would be entirely dependent on these aspects... and so legitimately one could hundreds of variants of the same vinyl based on how it is being replayed ... so even if copyright had been obtained it doesn’t feel commercially viable.. unless perhaps it’s rips on a legendary phono replay setup...
I seem to recall at least one LP purchase over the last year included a card to enable the download of not just a digital file of the music, but also a file of the "vinyl rip". I haven't downloaded either so can't tell you whether the rip was any good. I guess it would greatly depend on the quality of the associated vinyl replay kit and how well set up it was for the recording. My expectations would not be that high on the last point...
However, if the system is a really good one, then a vinyl rip might well sound better than any other digital issue such as CD, DVD-A etc.. I recently transcribed my mint original early Teldec LP set of Frank Sinatra's Sinatra At The Sands. Despite having a couple, of CD issues, some Lp issues, and the DVD-A of this, it's the early Teldec that always seems to get me closest to being at the Sands on the night. And once recorded to 24/96 files it loses very little, and is still my favourite way to to listen to the album - and now I can do so while cooking without having to worry about running to pick up the arm and needle at the end of each side.
Thanks for the responses and I might go for it. The recording engineer is Bob Ludwig:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ludwig
And this Wikipedia page tells me he’s quite an accomplished chap.
Just because Bob Ludwig was the engineer, doesn't mean he was involved at the cutting stage. And of course, it says nothing about the LP replay chain.