I guess the analogy didn't quite click.
Again, this conversation is just not grounded in reality. Have fun.
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Digital vs Analog
- Thread starter icarus88
- Start date
We are talking about a technology that disappeared years ago, there is no point in arguing with people trapped in the digital universe, let everyone do what they like, audiophilia is a subjective concept
Actually I didn’t pay an arm and a leg for my Sony SACD player, about $500.00 way down from the $2000.00 when they were first introduced, my problem was there were extremely few SACDs available in albums that I wanted, I’m not sure they are even available at all anymore, the IPod was a great invention but in my opinion was the beginning of the dumbing down of sound quality that many people associated with all “ Digital “ music which is a shame.
well, you're right about the arguing part (fun fact - I'm not arguing, I'm having a discussion), but 100% wrong about audiophilia being subjective. More like pseudoscience in many cases.
For you, technical terms in sound are more important than the sound itself (how many bits, how many kHz, compression rate, etc.)This eventually made the sound more mechanical.It is important how music makes you feel
You have really no concept of how analog recording or actual physical sound works.
If you prefer pure analog recording, fine, have at it. Just spare us the technobabble.
that's 100% laughable. You don't know anything about me, and for you to make those kind of assumptions about me is not only ridiculous but also quite rude.
Neither is superior or inferior, they are just different. Analog has its limitations as well. I've been a sound person for 20 years and have digitized a lot of old multi-track and some acetate tapes that required a lot of work because the audio degrades. Even when they were recorded back in the day the engineers had to compensate for the side effects that the equipment they used introduced during recording. I grew up with cassette tapes and, don't agree they sounded great at all. Also, surround sound is much older and I don't think it has anything to do with digital.
There are differences that one might like better, but "better" is a subjective term.
There are differences that one might like better, but "better" is a subjective term.
I'm not even gonna touch this one, except to laugh at it.
Lots of opinions on the subject of analog vs digital, I find myself stuck in the middle. There is a certain characteristic in analog that is so often missing in the digital realm, but it you are careful in crafting what you put in and have proper processing on the output the listening experience can be just as rewarding.
As someone that worked in analog studios dealing with tapes and tape machines as well as recording vox and instruments I really appreciate the ease of recording in digital and there are too many advantages to count. The problem IMHO is the impression that putting crap in and then fixing it "in the box" is utter bs. Certainly there are amazing tools these daze but those will never replace the genuine article if you are fortunate to have one of those holy relics. OTOH those digital and software tools do give access to very close models of said rare and holy relics to use mere mortals.
With the advent of Eurorack analog modular synths and the occasional analog synths there is a bias against digital modular and digital synths that is quite skewed. They each have their places and charms but I am more than happy to have access to those functions in the digital realm again cherishing the opportunity to be creative in ways I would never be able to access in the analog world.
I do miss the ritual of listening to music on Lps, I try to spend one day a week revisiting the rituals of my past musical listening especially for the many Lps in my collection that are not and will likely never make it into the digital realm [except in my collection]
As someone that worked in analog studios dealing with tapes and tape machines as well as recording vox and instruments I really appreciate the ease of recording in digital and there are too many advantages to count. The problem IMHO is the impression that putting crap in and then fixing it "in the box" is utter bs. Certainly there are amazing tools these daze but those will never replace the genuine article if you are fortunate to have one of those holy relics. OTOH those digital and software tools do give access to very close models of said rare and holy relics to use mere mortals.
With the advent of Eurorack analog modular synths and the occasional analog synths there is a bias against digital modular and digital synths that is quite skewed. They each have their places and charms but I am more than happy to have access to those functions in the digital realm again cherishing the opportunity to be creative in ways I would never be able to access in the analog world.
I do miss the ritual of listening to music on Lps, I try to spend one day a week revisiting the rituals of my past musical listening especially for the many Lps in my collection that are not and will likely never make it into the digital realm [except in my collection]
The initial post contains some grains of truth, but in general is overwrought and underthought.
Digital recording is more accurate, as long as the bit rate is high enough. So I assume OP feels that an analog recording is in fact better than the original sound source that was recorded. This implies that it’s just the distortions in analog recordings that we like.
Sometimes too much clarity makes things less enjoyable. A beautiful analog recording hides detail. When you actually hear all those details, a recording may sound flat because there is less ambiguity. When there is analog murkinesss filling the cracks, your mind fills in the gaps. Good digital presents things as they are, and for many people, a distorted reality may be better than the real thing.
Digital recording is more accurate, as long as the bit rate is high enough. So I assume OP feels that an analog recording is in fact better than the original sound source that was recorded. This implies that it’s just the distortions in analog recordings that we like.
Sometimes too much clarity makes things less enjoyable. A beautiful analog recording hides detail. When you actually hear all those details, a recording may sound flat because there is less ambiguity. When there is analog murkinesss filling the cracks, your mind fills in the gaps. Good digital presents things as they are, and for many people, a distorted reality may be better than the real thing.
My cousin had a reel-to-reel as part of a very high-quality component stereo system in the late-'70s/early-'80s. To this day, it's still the best sounding recorded music I've ever heard.There is small but very knowledgeable and committed group who are avidly into reel-to-reel audio as the highest analogue format. I agree but can't afford the luxury
Check out Doc Bottlehead to start:
Bottlehead
As someone who had to drag out a lots of racks and a giant analog console to FOH, I’ll take the flaws of a digital console in a live situation anytime over having to patch/troubleshoot the rats nest of fan to fans and inserts cables needed for analog.
I can see the benefits of analog in a controlled studio environment but for live events your average concert goer isn’t going to notice.
I can see the benefits of analog in a controlled studio environment but for live events your average concert goer isn’t going to notice.
In reality, I noticed that digital effects lack dynamic feeling compared to the analog ones (so, if you kick strings harder when playing through analogue pedal, the way it sounds will change, while if you do so with digital effect connected, the sound will be the same just louder).
I am not a fan of using software in any way, recording on a computer is already mandatory nowadays, no one has another choice (unless they are very rich and have time), there is nothing to be done about this issue anyway, we are recording digitally in the end. But it is a fact that it kills music
I am not a fan of using software in any way, recording on a computer is already mandatory nowadays, no one has another choice (unless they are very rich and have time), there is nothing to be done about this issue anyway, we are recording digitally in the end. But it is a fact that it kills music
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It’s not the only thing killing music. Pitch correction, over compression, and putting everything on the grid did that years ago.
