When many think about vinyl recordings, they think pops, cracks, skips, and a warped record spinning around on a turntable. As a result, the default choice for preferred music medium tends to be digital. However, those who understand and appreciate the warmth and beauty that is vinyl know that there is so much more held within those grooves. While it is true that a digital recording is void of cracks and pops, the actual quality is far less than that of a vinyl record. This is because audio data is lost due to the compression of the data files.
The loss of audio data when it is compressed to produce a digital format result in an experience that is changed from the original intent of the artist and producer. For some music, such as that created by unsophisticated producers and artists simply looking for a hit, this is no big deal. However, for artists who are truly seeking to make the music an experience with each listen, recording quality matters.
This is not to say that digital cannot be of high quality. This is also not to say that digital does not have a place. I will be the first to admit that I listen to digital more than vinyl. I am not carrying my system to the gym to listen to music while I work out. Nor am I sitting it in the backseat of my truck to jam out on my way to work. High quality digital makes my work out better and my ride more enjoyable.
Where the vinyl difference is most significant is when music becomes an experience. There’s nothing quite like the experience of dropping a needle on a great vinyl recording and listening to the music come to life. Vinyl allows you to hear the music as it was intended and as if you were in the studio when it was being recorded. This is something digital cannot fully achieve. Vinyl allows the listener to warmly drift into the music, rising with every slide of the bow across the strings of a violin, bounce with the beat of a drum, float with each breath that pushes a note through a saxophone, and bob with every pluck of a guitar. Vinyl brings life into a room at an experiential level that digital cannot quite achieve.
There’s also another experiential component to vinyl that cannot be matched by digital. It is the joy of searching for and collecting great music on vinyl. Owning a physical piece of music versus a digital format that is housed in the matrix is much more satisfying and somewhat nostalgic. The mere process of pulling an album from a library, appreciating the cover art, taking care to clean the vinyl, placing it on a turntable, dropping the needle down, and sitting back to enjoy a work of art is an experience in and of its own and one that pressing play on an iPhone cannot contend.
The Warped Vinyl Aficionado is dedicated to the fair assessment of vinyl music and the growth of vinyl record collections by those who appreciate quality and experience.
www.warpedvinylaficionado.com
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