I have been converting some of my old records to digital; some of the ones which are not readily replaceable. Whilst looking through some very old records from the sixties which were very worn out. I found The Doors Album "Waiting for the Sun" pressed in 1973. I bought it from the Record, Tape and Video Exchange at 38 Notting Hill Gate in London. It was a very popular place for all sorts of record enthusiast and it is still there.
http://www.mgeshops.com/music-video-exchange-38nhg/
I do not know why anyone would want to exchange a Doors record, for me they were the ultimate rock musicians and poets. I still love their music even though I have got tired of most of the rock and pop records of their era. Maybe the person exchanging the record had copied it onto cassette. I never did this as I was not happy with the results.
Copying records was alright for parties but I was never satisfied with it for serious listening. The cassettes added to the slight harmonic distortion which is always there and coupled with the tape hiss I found it tiresome listening to music this way.
I paid £4.50 for this record and way back then it was a lot of money. I must have been in a good mood or feeling rich.
I pulled the record out of the sleeve and examined it. There were not too many scratches and it was not too dusty. I cleaned the record with a carbon brush and earthed myself and the turntable. I don't know if method of cleaning works too well but I was pleasantly surprised; there were no pops and or clicks and very little static crackling. It still sounds great and compares well with CD.
For a second hand record this is nothing short of amazing, both the previous owner and myself had looked after the record very well. During the 1970's we could all afford better decks which did not damage the records so much despite repeated playing.
This copy was pressed in Germany in 1973 in 135 g vinyl. The original recording was made in 1968.
In 1968 there was enormous controversy surrounding the live performances of the Doors. The libertarian aspects of Jim Morrison's bohemian life style and explicit stage performances led to much criticism in the conservative press. He was arrested during one stage performance for indecency. He was also convicted for obscenity by a Miami court in 1969.
He also courted controversy by allegedly exposing himself on stage during a tour of the UK . He was not investigated by the British authorities who were taking a more lenient attitude to stage performances.
All this was happening during a period of turmoil and student protests against war and demonstrations supporting civil rights. Many governments were worried but they need not have been. 1968 did not lead to revolution in a political sense but it lead to a new industrial revolution focused on consumerism, computer technology and the internet.
Some elements of the libertarianism promoted by The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills Nash and Young remain. Opinions voiced on the internet remain largely uncensored, in the Western World anyway. We have a more open attitude to sex and civil rights.
Much of the the idealism and hope of the 1960's has disappeared. Playing the record , however, still keeps me in touch. The music sounds just as good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_of_1968
Thursday 31 January 2013
Wednesday 30 January 2013
The Turtles Greatest Hits
Yesterday I went into the HMV store in Oxford Street; they need all the support they can get. Whilst thumbing through the CDs and LP records I saw a copy of The Turtles Greatest Hits in 180 g vinyl. It was going at a bargain price. So I bought it.
I have not bought a record since the 1980's. I thought that I would remind myself about what playing a pristine LP is all about.
Quite often a Turtles song runs through my head but I rarely hear their music on the radio or as background music in a pub or restaurant.. I especially like their hits "Happy Together", "She'd Rather Be With Me" and "Elenore". Their music was was always fresh sounding. It was soft rock which had a little bit of folk influence. This is why Bob Dylan's " It Ain't Me Babe" suited their style so well. I also like their melodies.
The three hits and the Dylan cover are the best tracks on the record and the rest of the songs are pretty weak. This is probably why I never bought one of their albums up until now. I always preferred the Lovin' Spoonful and the Turtles could not compete in any way with Jefferson Airplane. It was worth buying the album for the four main tracks ,however, and I can now hum along to the real thing.
Another reason for buying the LP was to see what all the talk is about concerning the LP revival. I set up my deck and levelled it and adjusted the tone arm. I cleaned the needle and made sure there was no dust on the platter. I checked that the platter was running at 33 1/3 rpm. I opened the record carefully and pulled it out of its sleeve.
I examined the record surface on both sides, just as I always did. There no scratches or imperfections and no dust. I carefully placed the record on the turntable and set down the needle with headphones at the ready. Within fours seconds of playing "Happy Together" I heard my first click. Luckily it was the only one. In between the tracks I could hear a slight crackling and this was more pronounced towards the final track.
None of this crackle spoilt my enjoyment of the four songs mentioned above which sounded great musically. There was a nice dynamism to the music and I had to turn the volume up to appreciate it. I rarely turn up the volume of modern "pop" CD. In fact I usually turn the volume down if I have been listening to a folk or jazz recording before.
Whilst it was great fun to unwrap a new LP and go through the ritual of playing the disc, I am not converted back to buying any music on vinyl unless it is unobtainable from a "digital" source. The record can only deteriorate after playing it a number of times and dust will accumulate in the grooves. The mere act of playing the record creates static and this is what must have created the pop after four seconds of playing.
There is always the chance that I will scratch the record finding the tracks that I like best. I am not particularly impressed by 180 g vinyl; it does not sound any better than the 160 g vinyl we had in the 1960's and early 1970's.
I am therefore resolved to keep buying CDs and Downloads rather than vinyl. The convenience outweighs the pleasant ritual of listening to an LP. This ritual gets tedious after awhile. I therefore rigged up the deck to a laptop and converted the record to a 16/44.1 digital WAV file. I could hear no difference. I have all the advantages of the LP without the inconvenience.
The recording still sounded like an LP. I did not have to use Audacity noise removal but I did get rid of the single click. I can now play the authentic 1960's Turtles California sound anywhere by making a CD and a cassette for our older car. I can also stream the music throughout the house and also play it on a tablet computer in a hotel room.
Don't get me wrong the LP record sounded great and the pops and crackles were almost imperceptible. Of course, it is of HIFI quality but the slight harmonic distortion which is inherent in all vinyl and cassette recordings makes the music sound a little "thicker and warmer" than a CD or equivalent download. An LP does not sound any better to me than a CD.
Now that I have converted the LP, I do not have to play it again. The record will stay in pristine condition for many years to come. Hopefully, someone will have the pleasure of playing it in 40 years time and will be able to convert it to a digital recording without the noise removal too. There will still be turntables and "computer stored music. There will also be film cameras and digital ones.
We are very lucky to live in a multifaceted world. Let's take advantage of all the possibilities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turtles
I have not bought a record since the 1980's. I thought that I would remind myself about what playing a pristine LP is all about.
Quite often a Turtles song runs through my head but I rarely hear their music on the radio or as background music in a pub or restaurant.. I especially like their hits "Happy Together", "She'd Rather Be With Me" and "Elenore". Their music was was always fresh sounding. It was soft rock which had a little bit of folk influence. This is why Bob Dylan's " It Ain't Me Babe" suited their style so well. I also like their melodies.
The three hits and the Dylan cover are the best tracks on the record and the rest of the songs are pretty weak. This is probably why I never bought one of their albums up until now. I always preferred the Lovin' Spoonful and the Turtles could not compete in any way with Jefferson Airplane. It was worth buying the album for the four main tracks ,however, and I can now hum along to the real thing.
Another reason for buying the LP was to see what all the talk is about concerning the LP revival. I set up my deck and levelled it and adjusted the tone arm. I cleaned the needle and made sure there was no dust on the platter. I checked that the platter was running at 33 1/3 rpm. I opened the record carefully and pulled it out of its sleeve.
I examined the record surface on both sides, just as I always did. There no scratches or imperfections and no dust. I carefully placed the record on the turntable and set down the needle with headphones at the ready. Within fours seconds of playing "Happy Together" I heard my first click. Luckily it was the only one. In between the tracks I could hear a slight crackling and this was more pronounced towards the final track.
None of this crackle spoilt my enjoyment of the four songs mentioned above which sounded great musically. There was a nice dynamism to the music and I had to turn the volume up to appreciate it. I rarely turn up the volume of modern "pop" CD. In fact I usually turn the volume down if I have been listening to a folk or jazz recording before.
Whilst it was great fun to unwrap a new LP and go through the ritual of playing the disc, I am not converted back to buying any music on vinyl unless it is unobtainable from a "digital" source. The record can only deteriorate after playing it a number of times and dust will accumulate in the grooves. The mere act of playing the record creates static and this is what must have created the pop after four seconds of playing.
There is always the chance that I will scratch the record finding the tracks that I like best. I am not particularly impressed by 180 g vinyl; it does not sound any better than the 160 g vinyl we had in the 1960's and early 1970's.
I am therefore resolved to keep buying CDs and Downloads rather than vinyl. The convenience outweighs the pleasant ritual of listening to an LP. This ritual gets tedious after awhile. I therefore rigged up the deck to a laptop and converted the record to a 16/44.1 digital WAV file. I could hear no difference. I have all the advantages of the LP without the inconvenience.
The recording still sounded like an LP. I did not have to use Audacity noise removal but I did get rid of the single click. I can now play the authentic 1960's Turtles California sound anywhere by making a CD and a cassette for our older car. I can also stream the music throughout the house and also play it on a tablet computer in a hotel room.
Don't get me wrong the LP record sounded great and the pops and crackles were almost imperceptible. Of course, it is of HIFI quality but the slight harmonic distortion which is inherent in all vinyl and cassette recordings makes the music sound a little "thicker and warmer" than a CD or equivalent download. An LP does not sound any better to me than a CD.
Now that I have converted the LP, I do not have to play it again. The record will stay in pristine condition for many years to come. Hopefully, someone will have the pleasure of playing it in 40 years time and will be able to convert it to a digital recording without the noise removal too. There will still be turntables and "computer stored music. There will also be film cameras and digital ones.
We are very lucky to live in a multifaceted world. Let's take advantage of all the possibilities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turtles
Tuesday 22 January 2013
The Demise of HMV and some History
I was saddened to see the demise of HMV which recently went into receivership. I hope that the administrators find a way to keep the business going.
When I first went into HMV in the early 1960's it was in Oxford Street London. I had travelled from West Wales with my parents for a family visit. I was amazed by the size of the shop and its huge displays of pop, classical and jazz music. From then on I really became interested in collecting LPs.
In those days the internet was a fantasy. If you went into an office you saw banks of typewriters and not everyone had a 'phone on their desk. Most homes did not have a 'phone at all. As far as music was concerned we had no choice but to listen to vinyl records on record players, Juke boxes and AM radio. Compared to today the sound reproduction was primitive.
Record shops were everywhere even a small town had one on the High Street. It was a good place for young people to meet to chat about their favourite groups and listen to them over headphones in a booth. Most of the time they could not afford to buy anything. The record shop was, also, frequently visited by older classical and jazz music enthusiasts. It was a place for everybody to visit and mix with their friends. It was also the place where we found out lots of information about new types of music.
During the fifties and early sixties most homes only had one Radio so there was competition for who listened to what. There were very few programmes for teenagers so it was important not to miss a pop music broadcast. No-one had a cassette recorder so you had to listen "live". If you were lucky your family had a Radiogram and you could play your own music. The competition became even more intense and usually our parents won out.
All the Radios and Radiograms had valve or tube amplifiers. Unlike today they failed quite often. Luckily my father always had some spares. We used to repair the equipment ourselves and we even changed condensers when they failed. It was useful to know how to do this as repairs at the local shop were expensive. If you did not know how to change a valve you were literally cut off from the outside world for a week or two.
Early Televisions were also valve driven and most families could only afford one which was usually bought on credit or hire purchase. If you did not keep up the payments the Television was reclaimed.
Money was in short supply for most families so even a trip to HMV or a private record shop meant that you came out empty handed if you were a teenager. Buying a HIFI was beyond most people's budget so they had to settle for a Radiogram or a "Dansette" record player. Even then they had to save hard to buy one outright or buy on hire purchase. A teenager would be very lucky to get their own record player for their own exclusive use : you had to share it with your brothers and sisters.
Because the record equipment could easily damage your vinyl recordings the singles and LP's were made of tough heavy duty vinyl. I have some Beatles LPs which were made of 160 gram vinyl. Even these records were quickly damaged by the heavy tone arm of a "Dansette", their ceramic cartridges and sapphire needles. The needles quickly wore out but they were too expensive for a teenager to replace them very often if at all.
Storage space was at a premium and no record store, not even HMV, could keep unlimited supplies in the back office to meet the demand for a new Beatles or Rolling Stones release. You had to order it or wait in the queue on the first day. This generated a lot of free publicity for the record companies when huge queues of excited teenagers were filmed outside of HMV Oxford Street. Imagine the cost of transporting and storing thousands of 160 gram records; no wonder LPs were relatively so expensive.
In West Wales there was no point in queueing for the latest release as you had to order it. West Wales was low on the list of priorities. You needed patience. This meant that you enjoyed the record that much more when you got your hands on it.West Wales was not just behind the times as far as records were concerned. The latest fashion ideas took six months to penetrate down from London and Liverpool.
Transistor radios were only starting to become available and affordable. The programme material was limited for teenagers, in Europe, until Radio Caroline came along in 1964. They broadcast from international waters in the English channel . It illegally broadcast pop music for 24 hours but you could only pick it up after dark in West Wales. An AM radio signal can only travel for hundreds of miles by bouncing off the ionosphere as a "sky wave" at night.
Until pirate radio the major source of music for the teenager was the single and LP vinyl record played at home or at a friend's house.
The advent of pirate radio marked a big change in the attitudes of the government and society in general to the control of our cultural life. This was not just for young people but for the whole nation. In 1960 the famous trial of the publication of Lady Chatterly's Lover by Penguin books began the end of the censorship for publications in Britain. Theatre censorship continued until 1968.
The BBC blocked the broadcasting of the Beatles "Sergeant Peppers" album as late as 1967. This censorship did not last long. The also tried unsuccessfully to ban the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen" in 1977. They soon gave up on that one too. They have now, more or less, given up censorship completely.
Young people and their records played an important part in the liberalisation of the cultural life of the Western World. The influence of the Beatles, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, the Sex Pistols and the Clash, Frank Zappa and the Doors and many others has been immense. The record shop played a vital role in disseminating their music.
Records also played a vital role in family and friends relations. We used to borrow and lend records to our friends. We also played them a lot together. We did not have the money for so much individual ownership.
At Christmas the whole family would gather around the gramophone with the neighbours; there was plenty of social contact.
My father was a great fan of Errol Garner and I had to grudgingly admit that Garner was one of the greatest jazz players ever. He choose jazz but he could just as well have been a great classical music player. I still enjoy his music so much I could listen to it for hours.
Times have changed so much. I am sure that if I had suddenly been transported into the future as I teenager I would have suffered culture shock. This does not mean to say that times are worse now. In many ways they are better especially as far as music reproduction equipment is concerned. We can now play good quality music anywhere. Good quality equipment is affordable. We don't have to save up for a record. Some popular music is still being mastered with a full dynamic range. Times are good.
The Internet, and the ease of downloading, coupled with illegal copying has lead to the demise of HMV. The rise of individualism has also contributed. We must therefore be careful of social isolation. You no longer need to get out and go to the record shop and meet people and exchange ideas and musical knowledge face to face.
We could be losing something here; the importance of social interaction and the ability to deal with it face to face.
Records and record shops are an important part of our cultural heritage lets hope they survive. This is why I shall continue to buy records at my local shop. I really hope that HMV survives too.
When I first went into HMV in the early 1960's it was in Oxford Street London. I had travelled from West Wales with my parents for a family visit. I was amazed by the size of the shop and its huge displays of pop, classical and jazz music. From then on I really became interested in collecting LPs.
In those days the internet was a fantasy. If you went into an office you saw banks of typewriters and not everyone had a 'phone on their desk. Most homes did not have a 'phone at all. As far as music was concerned we had no choice but to listen to vinyl records on record players, Juke boxes and AM radio. Compared to today the sound reproduction was primitive.
Record shops were everywhere even a small town had one on the High Street. It was a good place for young people to meet to chat about their favourite groups and listen to them over headphones in a booth. Most of the time they could not afford to buy anything. The record shop was, also, frequently visited by older classical and jazz music enthusiasts. It was a place for everybody to visit and mix with their friends. It was also the place where we found out lots of information about new types of music.
During the fifties and early sixties most homes only had one Radio so there was competition for who listened to what. There were very few programmes for teenagers so it was important not to miss a pop music broadcast. No-one had a cassette recorder so you had to listen "live". If you were lucky your family had a Radiogram and you could play your own music. The competition became even more intense and usually our parents won out.
All the Radios and Radiograms had valve or tube amplifiers. Unlike today they failed quite often. Luckily my father always had some spares. We used to repair the equipment ourselves and we even changed condensers when they failed. It was useful to know how to do this as repairs at the local shop were expensive. If you did not know how to change a valve you were literally cut off from the outside world for a week or two.
Early Televisions were also valve driven and most families could only afford one which was usually bought on credit or hire purchase. If you did not keep up the payments the Television was reclaimed.
Money was in short supply for most families so even a trip to HMV or a private record shop meant that you came out empty handed if you were a teenager. Buying a HIFI was beyond most people's budget so they had to settle for a Radiogram or a "Dansette" record player. Even then they had to save hard to buy one outright or buy on hire purchase. A teenager would be very lucky to get their own record player for their own exclusive use : you had to share it with your brothers and sisters.
Because the record equipment could easily damage your vinyl recordings the singles and LP's were made of tough heavy duty vinyl. I have some Beatles LPs which were made of 160 gram vinyl. Even these records were quickly damaged by the heavy tone arm of a "Dansette", their ceramic cartridges and sapphire needles. The needles quickly wore out but they were too expensive for a teenager to replace them very often if at all.
Storage space was at a premium and no record store, not even HMV, could keep unlimited supplies in the back office to meet the demand for a new Beatles or Rolling Stones release. You had to order it or wait in the queue on the first day. This generated a lot of free publicity for the record companies when huge queues of excited teenagers were filmed outside of HMV Oxford Street. Imagine the cost of transporting and storing thousands of 160 gram records; no wonder LPs were relatively so expensive.
In West Wales there was no point in queueing for the latest release as you had to order it. West Wales was low on the list of priorities. You needed patience. This meant that you enjoyed the record that much more when you got your hands on it.West Wales was not just behind the times as far as records were concerned. The latest fashion ideas took six months to penetrate down from London and Liverpool.
Transistor radios were only starting to become available and affordable. The programme material was limited for teenagers, in Europe, until Radio Caroline came along in 1964. They broadcast from international waters in the English channel . It illegally broadcast pop music for 24 hours but you could only pick it up after dark in West Wales. An AM radio signal can only travel for hundreds of miles by bouncing off the ionosphere as a "sky wave" at night.
Until pirate radio the major source of music for the teenager was the single and LP vinyl record played at home or at a friend's house.
The advent of pirate radio marked a big change in the attitudes of the government and society in general to the control of our cultural life. This was not just for young people but for the whole nation. In 1960 the famous trial of the publication of Lady Chatterly's Lover by Penguin books began the end of the censorship for publications in Britain. Theatre censorship continued until 1968.
The BBC blocked the broadcasting of the Beatles "Sergeant Peppers" album as late as 1967. This censorship did not last long. The also tried unsuccessfully to ban the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen" in 1977. They soon gave up on that one too. They have now, more or less, given up censorship completely.
Young people and their records played an important part in the liberalisation of the cultural life of the Western World. The influence of the Beatles, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, the Sex Pistols and the Clash, Frank Zappa and the Doors and many others has been immense. The record shop played a vital role in disseminating their music.
Records also played a vital role in family and friends relations. We used to borrow and lend records to our friends. We also played them a lot together. We did not have the money for so much individual ownership.
At Christmas the whole family would gather around the gramophone with the neighbours; there was plenty of social contact.
My father was a great fan of Errol Garner and I had to grudgingly admit that Garner was one of the greatest jazz players ever. He choose jazz but he could just as well have been a great classical music player. I still enjoy his music so much I could listen to it for hours.
Times have changed so much. I am sure that if I had suddenly been transported into the future as I teenager I would have suffered culture shock. This does not mean to say that times are worse now. In many ways they are better especially as far as music reproduction equipment is concerned. We can now play good quality music anywhere. Good quality equipment is affordable. We don't have to save up for a record. Some popular music is still being mastered with a full dynamic range. Times are good.
The Internet, and the ease of downloading, coupled with illegal copying has lead to the demise of HMV. The rise of individualism has also contributed. We must therefore be careful of social isolation. You no longer need to get out and go to the record shop and meet people and exchange ideas and musical knowledge face to face.
We could be losing something here; the importance of social interaction and the ability to deal with it face to face.
Records and record shops are an important part of our cultural heritage lets hope they survive. This is why I shall continue to buy records at my local shop. I really hope that HMV survives too.
Tuesday 8 January 2013
Beatles New Vinyl Release
I have been debating with myself about whether to buy the entire Beatles Catalogue of LPs in Stereo on 180gm vinyl. Even though they have been on-sale since November 2012 there is very little information about whether I should buy them or not. So, I will have to make my own mind up.
I have read the customer reviews in Amazon and mostly they are favourable. Many customers, however, have received LPs which are damaged or spoilt by scratches, warping, mis-centred spool holes and even fingerprints. Amazon has provided good customer service and has replaced the damaged vinyl. But what about the music does it sound better?
To me, Beatles music sounds great no matter how the music is reproduced unless it is 64 bit per second MP3. So why should I buy the re-mastered vinyl records when I have already got a number of the original mono versions: I also have the latest CD re-masters which sound almost perfect. But, the music was always better than the technology.
All the reviews, that I have have read so far, have all been about making comparisons between older vinyl versions and the current offering. There is also the continuing and arid debate about which is better: CD or Vinyl? Think about it, both media are able to provide HIFI sound reproduction and should really sound almost the same. One medium may, subjectively, please you more but so what?
As I said before, I am happy to listen to the Beatles reproduced in any format on a good HIFI and even a poor one. The Beatles music has stood the test of time and ranks at the top of popular music along with Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys,The Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Rolling Stones and Elvis etc.
I have listened to and sung Beatles songs so many times that they are almost imprinted in my mind. I do not think, therefore, that I can objectively make comparisons between reproduction formats. The music sounds just as good to me in mono or stereo. I can even excuse the scratches and pops on the old vinyl LP's that I have. LP's which have suffered abuse from simply being played too much.
We need a little history to put things into perspective. In 1963, when the first Beatles LP's, "Please Please Me" and "With the Beatles" were released most people could not afford HIFI systems. We had to listen to our favourite groups on the AM Radio or on Dansette type record players or Juke Boxes in coffee bars..
None of this was HIFI and compared to today the sound reproduction was quite primitive. Full Frequency recordings were non-existent as far as popular music was concerned. The pop music sound engineers had to produce record masters which sounded good in mono on valve radios, valve record players and Juke Boxes. Television sound reproduction was not that much better even though it was broadcast on a VHF frequency.
To become popular with young people the music had to generate excitement, be full of strong rhythms and had to have easy to remember short songs. The songs also had to have relevance to a young audience. Elvis, The Rolling Stones and the Beatles fitted the bill quite nicely. The music also had to sound good played loud to the discontent of our parents.
Most people could not afford to buy good sound reproduction equipment; the Dansettes had heavy tone arms and sapphire needles which were guaranteed to wear out and damage the vinyl. Lending and borrowing records was also popular and this of course led to further damage of the precious LP.
Part of the thrill of listening to your favourite groups was saving up to buy the new release. You had to plan your savings to match the date of the new release. For most young people, the idea of going into a record shop and buying four or five LP's on impulse was a fit of fancy.
On the bus home you admired the Album art but you did not dare pulling the vinyl out of the cardboard sleeve for fear of a jolt of the suspension sending your record rolling down the aisle.
The Dansette was a primitive record player with few adjustments. There was a speed control 78, 45 or 33 rpm and on some of them had 16 rpm but no-one ever used it. There was a volume control and bass and treble for the amplifier. There was no need for a balance control; it was all mono. You had to let the valves (or tubes) warm up before you could hear a thing. As soon as you got home you warmed up your Dansette before unwrapping the vinyl: patience was the order of the day.
Once the amp was warmed up and you set the volume there was little else to do put play the record. Perhaps, you blew the dust off the needle; held there by static electricity from a previous playing session.
You pulled the record out of its cardboard art work by using the paper sleeve and then carefully slid out the precious vinyl being careful not to leave finger prints. You inspected the the vinyl for scratches and warp damage and tilted the record to see the grooves. You carefully placed the record on the turntable and hoped that the ceramic cartridge and worn out sapphire needle would n't damage your pristine vinyl too quickly.
In those days no-one except the rich could afford decks with stroboscopic speed control and turntables with belt or direct drive. Speed control was pot luck with a Dansette and the rim driven turntable was an annoying source of rumble on top of the wow noise caused by lack of speed control. There was no tracking control for the cartridge or balance controls for the tone arm.
So what happened when you placed the needle on your pristine vinyl. If you were lucky you hit the groove before the first track started. You heard the rumble of the deck and the wow from the variable revolution speed. You were also lucky if you did not hear any snap, crackle or pop. The mere act of pulling the record from its sleeve generated some static. Most records in the 60's were also pressed with built in imperfections which generated clicks and pops.
Your mind quickly learnt to ignore these imperfections and aided by the sound of the music itself you never heard much interference unless you actually scratched the surface of the record. Pop music rarely had any soft passages so it was not ruined by all the snap, crackle and pop like a classic or jazz album would be.
Quite often you could not hear any rumble but too much wow from the variable speed motor could ruin almost any type of recording. If your record was warped it could be unplayable and any form of warping created excessive wow and flutter and harmonic distortion; best to return a warped record.
You may think why we bothered. The new music of the Beatles and the Stones was so exciting that every young person had to listen to them. Added to this was the generational gap and the feeling of rebelliousness. I remember that most parents were particularly annoyed at the Rolling Stones being played at full blast; much more so than Elvis or the Beatles.
Real HIFI did not become generally available or affordable until the late sixties and early seventies when there was a big improvement in the quality of consumer decks, amplifiers and full frequency range stereo recordings. Reel to Reel tape recorders also became available to create party tape compilations.
Cassette recorders and players also become more affordable and improved in quality. Cassettes made the creation of party tapes easy. Any party tape worth its salt had a liberal supply of Rolling Stones and Beatles tracks. Cassettes were used to copy LP's to save them from wearing out but I never did this.
During the seventies stereo VHF radio appeared more widely on the scene so HIFI was now available over the airwaves. TV sound could also be a source of HIFI music and the TV channels were beginning to cater more and more for pop music lovers. We were starting to enter the era of analogue HIFI heaven.
When CD arrived, in the early eighties, music was stored on a small disk which was very strong and less prone to being scratched or damaged and then stereo HIFI became much more usable and convenient. The sales of analogue stored music declined rapidly. But vinyl LPs and music Cassettes, for that matter, still held an appeal for some music lovers.
LP lovers swear that their experience is still better. I have never held this view but I still listen to LP's to remind myself of the good old days. I still listen to Cassettes in the car. For me CD sounds better for general usage as there is no surface noise to contend with. The surface noise on LPs and Cassettes ruins the softer parts of the music when listening to classical music, jazz or folk.
My musical tastes have changed. I do not listen to as much popular music as I used to, so CD and Hard Drive sourced sound are taking precedence from a convenience point of view. And, they do not interfere with the quiet parts of music.
Why do LP albums still hold their appeal? Apart from the ritual of adjusting your turntable and sliding a record onto a deck, there is the build up of hearing the slight sound of the record itself before the music starts. It is like an orchestra warming up or a jazz band counting down the beats at the start of a number. Similarly you hear a slight hiss from the Cassette before a number starts. This is all quite appealing.
All this is missing from CD or Computer based music; you are straight into a track without warning. Perhaps the purity of sound and its immediacy is disconcerting. There is no doubt that CDs and LPs sound a little different. That is why I get out the vinyl every now and again; just for the memories.
Cassette still has the appeal of convenience for me, as my aging car does not have have a CD player. There is no doubt that the sound reproduction is no better than an MP3 player (at 128 Kbps). What does that matter? I have a Cassette to MP3 adapter for the car but I cannot be bothered to fiddle with it. The music itself sounds just as good especially as far as The Beatles are concerned.
Why buy the new Beatles vinyl at all then then? If you are doing it for nostalgia's sake you will be disappointed. The mastering will have been done to get the best out of today's sound reproduction equipment. The original Beatles albums were mastered to get the best out of a Dansette or a Juke Box. We cannot return to those days.
We cannot return to the living conditions of the early sixties either. The modern era was only just beginning in Europe. We were behind America but catching up fast. The age of consumerism, youth and celebrity culture was just beginning. So was mass consumerism even if it did n't feel like it. You still had to save up for your purchases. There were no credit cards and hire purchase was hard to come by especially for teenagers.
A holiday job could not finance a record player and the records. Your parents still held the purse strings and it would be another ten years or so before teenagers wrested financial control from their elders.
Social control was also changing, the censorship laws were being repealed. The BBC unsuccessfully tried to introduce a ban on some of the Beatles tracks as late as 1967. There were references to drugs on the Sergeant Pepper Album. "Found my way upstairs and had a smoke. Somebody spoke and I went into a dream." How times have changed: but you cannot even smoke a cigarette on a bus nowadays.
When I bought all the new CD re-masters, I bought them one at a time. Perhaps, I was harking back to the good old days when I could only afford to buy them one at a time. This really did not work for me. I could now afford to buy them in one go; the poverty and guilt effect has worn away.
We have got used to luxury. We cannot escape it. Luxury does not always come in the form of money. There is technical and engineering advance so we can all afford mobile 'phones now. In 1963 a smart 'phone or an MP3 player was part of science fiction.
So why buy the new 180 gm vinyl? You are doing it for the luxury of hearing the Beatles on an LP with almost perfect sound reproduction. On these masters the volume of the "S's" is being reduced. This was not necessary for the original masters as most the record players sixties did not accentuate sibilant sounds.
http://beatsperminute.com/news/beatles-vinyl-remasters-to-finally-see-release-in-november/
Some vinyl purists are criticising the fact that the LPs are originating from digital masters. But this is beside the point. The sound quality will not be compromised and some of the techniques used to reduce the noise clicks and pops on the original tapes would be very difficult if not impossible using analogue tapes.
The sound engineers have used specialised pressing techniques to "warm up" the sound for vinyl. I see no point in doing this as the original versions of the albums had a lot of rock and roll content. They weren't meant to be played warm, you had to play them as loud and hot as possible . You needed your dancing shoes not slippers.
http://www.elusivedisc.com/THE-BEATLES-STEREO-VINYL-BOX-SET-180g-16LP/productinfo/EMILPB33809/
Will I be buying the boxed set even though I can afford the luxury? After writing this, No I will not. The albums would rarely leave the box. The CD re-masters will sound almost the same and the music will be just as great. I lived through the history of the Beatles so the book will probably not interest me much. I have got some of the original vinyl that I can play for nostalgia.
As far as mono is concerned, I can feed the stereo music through a mono powered speaker. The sound reproduction is miles better than a "Dansette", so I can't back to 1963 this way. I am just left with memories and words - No, I am not going to buy a Dansette. At this very moment I am copying a Past Master LP to Cassette tape so there will be some nice tape hiss between each track but I won't hear it in the car.
There is one thing that it is exceptionally difficult to do with a CD and that is to play the end of Sergeant Pepper backwards. I used to do this quite often (manually) with my mono LP. I could never make out what what being sung but there was plenty of wow and flutter. I am surprised that I never damaged that groove.
It might be worth buying the Sergeant Pepper re-master for that reason alone but be careful that you do not damage your high resolution deck and MM cartridge. The old Dansette was much more sturdy in that respect.
If you really want the luxury and can afford it then go ahead with my blessing. You deserve it after reading this. Always remember there are still the mono versions to come. That is the timeless appeal of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Pink Floyd, Caravan, Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys, Ry Cooder: I could go on forever.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-12/entertainment/ct-ent-1113-beatles-vinyl-20121112_1_beatles-nostalgia-beatles-catalog-beatles-lps/2/
I have read the customer reviews in Amazon and mostly they are favourable. Many customers, however, have received LPs which are damaged or spoilt by scratches, warping, mis-centred spool holes and even fingerprints. Amazon has provided good customer service and has replaced the damaged vinyl. But what about the music does it sound better?
To me, Beatles music sounds great no matter how the music is reproduced unless it is 64 bit per second MP3. So why should I buy the re-mastered vinyl records when I have already got a number of the original mono versions: I also have the latest CD re-masters which sound almost perfect. But, the music was always better than the technology.
All the reviews, that I have have read so far, have all been about making comparisons between older vinyl versions and the current offering. There is also the continuing and arid debate about which is better: CD or Vinyl? Think about it, both media are able to provide HIFI sound reproduction and should really sound almost the same. One medium may, subjectively, please you more but so what?
As I said before, I am happy to listen to the Beatles reproduced in any format on a good HIFI and even a poor one. The Beatles music has stood the test of time and ranks at the top of popular music along with Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys,The Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Rolling Stones and Elvis etc.
I have listened to and sung Beatles songs so many times that they are almost imprinted in my mind. I do not think, therefore, that I can objectively make comparisons between reproduction formats. The music sounds just as good to me in mono or stereo. I can even excuse the scratches and pops on the old vinyl LP's that I have. LP's which have suffered abuse from simply being played too much.
We need a little history to put things into perspective. In 1963, when the first Beatles LP's, "Please Please Me" and "With the Beatles" were released most people could not afford HIFI systems. We had to listen to our favourite groups on the AM Radio or on Dansette type record players or Juke Boxes in coffee bars..
None of this was HIFI and compared to today the sound reproduction was quite primitive. Full Frequency recordings were non-existent as far as popular music was concerned. The pop music sound engineers had to produce record masters which sounded good in mono on valve radios, valve record players and Juke Boxes. Television sound reproduction was not that much better even though it was broadcast on a VHF frequency.
To become popular with young people the music had to generate excitement, be full of strong rhythms and had to have easy to remember short songs. The songs also had to have relevance to a young audience. Elvis, The Rolling Stones and the Beatles fitted the bill quite nicely. The music also had to sound good played loud to the discontent of our parents.
Most people could not afford to buy good sound reproduction equipment; the Dansettes had heavy tone arms and sapphire needles which were guaranteed to wear out and damage the vinyl. Lending and borrowing records was also popular and this of course led to further damage of the precious LP.
Part of the thrill of listening to your favourite groups was saving up to buy the new release. You had to plan your savings to match the date of the new release. For most young people, the idea of going into a record shop and buying four or five LP's on impulse was a fit of fancy.
On the bus home you admired the Album art but you did not dare pulling the vinyl out of the cardboard sleeve for fear of a jolt of the suspension sending your record rolling down the aisle.
The Dansette was a primitive record player with few adjustments. There was a speed control 78, 45 or 33 rpm and on some of them had 16 rpm but no-one ever used it. There was a volume control and bass and treble for the amplifier. There was no need for a balance control; it was all mono. You had to let the valves (or tubes) warm up before you could hear a thing. As soon as you got home you warmed up your Dansette before unwrapping the vinyl: patience was the order of the day.
Once the amp was warmed up and you set the volume there was little else to do put play the record. Perhaps, you blew the dust off the needle; held there by static electricity from a previous playing session.
You pulled the record out of its cardboard art work by using the paper sleeve and then carefully slid out the precious vinyl being careful not to leave finger prints. You inspected the the vinyl for scratches and warp damage and tilted the record to see the grooves. You carefully placed the record on the turntable and hoped that the ceramic cartridge and worn out sapphire needle would n't damage your pristine vinyl too quickly.
In those days no-one except the rich could afford decks with stroboscopic speed control and turntables with belt or direct drive. Speed control was pot luck with a Dansette and the rim driven turntable was an annoying source of rumble on top of the wow noise caused by lack of speed control. There was no tracking control for the cartridge or balance controls for the tone arm.
So what happened when you placed the needle on your pristine vinyl. If you were lucky you hit the groove before the first track started. You heard the rumble of the deck and the wow from the variable revolution speed. You were also lucky if you did not hear any snap, crackle or pop. The mere act of pulling the record from its sleeve generated some static. Most records in the 60's were also pressed with built in imperfections which generated clicks and pops.
Your mind quickly learnt to ignore these imperfections and aided by the sound of the music itself you never heard much interference unless you actually scratched the surface of the record. Pop music rarely had any soft passages so it was not ruined by all the snap, crackle and pop like a classic or jazz album would be.
Quite often you could not hear any rumble but too much wow from the variable speed motor could ruin almost any type of recording. If your record was warped it could be unplayable and any form of warping created excessive wow and flutter and harmonic distortion; best to return a warped record.
You may think why we bothered. The new music of the Beatles and the Stones was so exciting that every young person had to listen to them. Added to this was the generational gap and the feeling of rebelliousness. I remember that most parents were particularly annoyed at the Rolling Stones being played at full blast; much more so than Elvis or the Beatles.
Real HIFI did not become generally available or affordable until the late sixties and early seventies when there was a big improvement in the quality of consumer decks, amplifiers and full frequency range stereo recordings. Reel to Reel tape recorders also became available to create party tape compilations.
Cassette recorders and players also become more affordable and improved in quality. Cassettes made the creation of party tapes easy. Any party tape worth its salt had a liberal supply of Rolling Stones and Beatles tracks. Cassettes were used to copy LP's to save them from wearing out but I never did this.
During the seventies stereo VHF radio appeared more widely on the scene so HIFI was now available over the airwaves. TV sound could also be a source of HIFI music and the TV channels were beginning to cater more and more for pop music lovers. We were starting to enter the era of analogue HIFI heaven.
When CD arrived, in the early eighties, music was stored on a small disk which was very strong and less prone to being scratched or damaged and then stereo HIFI became much more usable and convenient. The sales of analogue stored music declined rapidly. But vinyl LPs and music Cassettes, for that matter, still held an appeal for some music lovers.
LP lovers swear that their experience is still better. I have never held this view but I still listen to LP's to remind myself of the good old days. I still listen to Cassettes in the car. For me CD sounds better for general usage as there is no surface noise to contend with. The surface noise on LPs and Cassettes ruins the softer parts of the music when listening to classical music, jazz or folk.
My musical tastes have changed. I do not listen to as much popular music as I used to, so CD and Hard Drive sourced sound are taking precedence from a convenience point of view. And, they do not interfere with the quiet parts of music.
Why do LP albums still hold their appeal? Apart from the ritual of adjusting your turntable and sliding a record onto a deck, there is the build up of hearing the slight sound of the record itself before the music starts. It is like an orchestra warming up or a jazz band counting down the beats at the start of a number. Similarly you hear a slight hiss from the Cassette before a number starts. This is all quite appealing.
All this is missing from CD or Computer based music; you are straight into a track without warning. Perhaps the purity of sound and its immediacy is disconcerting. There is no doubt that CDs and LPs sound a little different. That is why I get out the vinyl every now and again; just for the memories.
Cassette still has the appeal of convenience for me, as my aging car does not have have a CD player. There is no doubt that the sound reproduction is no better than an MP3 player (at 128 Kbps). What does that matter? I have a Cassette to MP3 adapter for the car but I cannot be bothered to fiddle with it. The music itself sounds just as good especially as far as The Beatles are concerned.
Why buy the new Beatles vinyl at all then then? If you are doing it for nostalgia's sake you will be disappointed. The mastering will have been done to get the best out of today's sound reproduction equipment. The original Beatles albums were mastered to get the best out of a Dansette or a Juke Box. We cannot return to those days.
We cannot return to the living conditions of the early sixties either. The modern era was only just beginning in Europe. We were behind America but catching up fast. The age of consumerism, youth and celebrity culture was just beginning. So was mass consumerism even if it did n't feel like it. You still had to save up for your purchases. There were no credit cards and hire purchase was hard to come by especially for teenagers.
A holiday job could not finance a record player and the records. Your parents still held the purse strings and it would be another ten years or so before teenagers wrested financial control from their elders.
Social control was also changing, the censorship laws were being repealed. The BBC unsuccessfully tried to introduce a ban on some of the Beatles tracks as late as 1967. There were references to drugs on the Sergeant Pepper Album. "Found my way upstairs and had a smoke. Somebody spoke and I went into a dream." How times have changed: but you cannot even smoke a cigarette on a bus nowadays.
When I bought all the new CD re-masters, I bought them one at a time. Perhaps, I was harking back to the good old days when I could only afford to buy them one at a time. This really did not work for me. I could now afford to buy them in one go; the poverty and guilt effect has worn away.
We have got used to luxury. We cannot escape it. Luxury does not always come in the form of money. There is technical and engineering advance so we can all afford mobile 'phones now. In 1963 a smart 'phone or an MP3 player was part of science fiction.
So why buy the new 180 gm vinyl? You are doing it for the luxury of hearing the Beatles on an LP with almost perfect sound reproduction. On these masters the volume of the "S's" is being reduced. This was not necessary for the original masters as most the record players sixties did not accentuate sibilant sounds.
http://beatsperminute.com/news/beatles-vinyl-remasters-to-finally-see-release-in-november/
Some vinyl purists are criticising the fact that the LPs are originating from digital masters. But this is beside the point. The sound quality will not be compromised and some of the techniques used to reduce the noise clicks and pops on the original tapes would be very difficult if not impossible using analogue tapes.
The sound engineers have used specialised pressing techniques to "warm up" the sound for vinyl. I see no point in doing this as the original versions of the albums had a lot of rock and roll content. They weren't meant to be played warm, you had to play them as loud and hot as possible . You needed your dancing shoes not slippers.
http://www.elusivedisc.com/THE-BEATLES-STEREO-VINYL-BOX-SET-180g-16LP/productinfo/EMILPB33809/
Will I be buying the boxed set even though I can afford the luxury? After writing this, No I will not. The albums would rarely leave the box. The CD re-masters will sound almost the same and the music will be just as great. I lived through the history of the Beatles so the book will probably not interest me much. I have got some of the original vinyl that I can play for nostalgia.
As far as mono is concerned, I can feed the stereo music through a mono powered speaker. The sound reproduction is miles better than a "Dansette", so I can't back to 1963 this way. I am just left with memories and words - No, I am not going to buy a Dansette. At this very moment I am copying a Past Master LP to Cassette tape so there will be some nice tape hiss between each track but I won't hear it in the car.
There is one thing that it is exceptionally difficult to do with a CD and that is to play the end of Sergeant Pepper backwards. I used to do this quite often (manually) with my mono LP. I could never make out what what being sung but there was plenty of wow and flutter. I am surprised that I never damaged that groove.
It might be worth buying the Sergeant Pepper re-master for that reason alone but be careful that you do not damage your high resolution deck and MM cartridge. The old Dansette was much more sturdy in that respect.
If you really want the luxury and can afford it then go ahead with my blessing. You deserve it after reading this. Always remember there are still the mono versions to come. That is the timeless appeal of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Pink Floyd, Caravan, Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys, Ry Cooder: I could go on forever.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-12/entertainment/ct-ent-1113-beatles-vinyl-20121112_1_beatles-nostalgia-beatles-catalog-beatles-lps/2/
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