I went into my local record shop the other day and bought a brand new LP at a bargain price. It was David Wiffin Live at the Bunkhouse Coffee House 1965. He sings folk and blues and I like this style of music very much. The LP was attractively packaged in a clear plastic sleeve. The record was produced by BB records on yellow 140gm vinyl. It was supposed to be one of a limited edition of 500 records. All this for £6, not even ten bucks; it seemed like a real winner.
http://www.maplemusic.com/artists/dav/bio.asp
http://www.discogs.com/David-Wiffen-At-The-Bunkhouse-Coffeehouse/release/3345643
I examined the record, as best as I could, in the artificial light of the record store. I was aware that I was taking a bit of a risk.
When I got the record home, I found that it was not protected by an inner sleeve. There was a square plastic insert on which was printed the record information. Getting the record out of the sleeve was a bit of task as the vinyl was stuck to all the plastic. I had to delve into the cover to prise the record out. I could feel the static electricity raising the hairs on my arms. It did not augur too well for playing the record even though I earthed myself whilst cleaning the record with a carbon brush.
When I played the record it was full of clicks which spoilt most of the music. It was not just the static as both sides of the record were badly scuffed and scratched. It was a good job I hadn't paid a lot of money for this rubbish. For the moment I decided not to take the record back: why waste petrol and time just for £6? I "digitise" all of my small collection of old LPs using a USB interface and Audacity software.
The software did the trick and was able to remove most of the clicks and noise without seriously affecting the sound of the music. The recording now sounds quite good played back via a computer and an external DAC. However, whilst monitoring the "digitisation" through headphones, I noticed some distortion during the louder parts of the music.
I am giving the record producers the benefit of the doubt by assuming that the distortion comes from the tape machines used to record the performance in a coffee house in 1965.
Digital technology rescued the situation to a certain extent but Audacity could not handle the distortion. I shall let the record store know my feelings about this. How was the record damaged? Was it during the production stage or when it was subsequently handled by the record shop? Surely, the store would have examined a record that was returned by a customer just because they did not like the music?
My bad experience was compensated by a better one from the same shop: I bought a copy of Miles Davis Blue Haze for £6. When I played it, it only had one pop sound and the surface noise was minimal. The music was great and it was reproduced very well. This is entirely acceptable. I have never bought an LP without at least one pop. The Miles Davis LP was light and wobbly 120 gm vinyl but it did its business quite well.
During the 1960s and 1970s, I was an avid collector of LPs. I have still got some Beatles LPs and 45s that have stood the test of 50 years of playing. But, I have given away most of my vinyl to charity shops etc. and replaced them with CDs. I have not got any intention to build up a collection of new LPs after this experience.
I shall only play LPs and 45s for old time's sake. However, I shall still search second hand shops for interesting music that is not easily available on CD. I can clean up the noise by using digital technology.
Most of the flaws of LPs cannot be cured by tweaking anti-skate devices, vertical tracking angles, azimuth adjustments and counterbalance adjustment of the tone arm. There is always surface noise and eventually the diamond stylus wears out your records. It stands to reason that it is a flawed medium. Even so, clicks and surface noise are usually drowned out by the sound of the music on most records. But, not so with classical music as the scratches and dust usually ruin the performance.
What is particularly irksome is the wow and change of pitch . This can still happen even if you have a stroboscope and perfect running speed. If the record's spindle hole is misaligned, by even half a millimetre, then you will hear wow. A warped record can also generate wow. To mitigate against this you have to pay a lot of money to buy a deck with a special platter.
Try looking at this Nakamichi turntable:
http://www.regonaudio.com/NakamichiTX1000.html.
I fail to see how anyone who is serious about listening to classical music would want to play a vinyl record as opposed to a CD which reproduces music pitch perfectly. A CD does not create the same amount of harmonic distortion that an LP does and the separation of channels is superior, so you can hear a better sound stage. A well mastered CD beats LP for sound quality for most forms of music and a CD really comes into its own for classical music and piano performances.
The LP is the limiting factor for the quality of the sound reproduction. For this reason, you could be wasting lots of money on expensive kit that hardly improves the performance of a flawed disc of PVC.
I have bought CDs which were severely scratched and some of the tracks where unplayable on a conventional player. I have always remedied the situation by "ripping" the CD and allowing the error correction software on the computer to do its job and restore the files to bit perfect harmony. It is then possible to play all the tracks and create a duplicate copy for playing in the car.
At one point, I seriously thought of buying the Beatles and Pink Floyd remastered LP collections. But if I did this I would have to invest in a new deck costing £2,000 or more in the vain hope of doing the records justice. Even so, if the LPs are warped or if the central hole is misplaced I then have to go to the trouble of obtaining a replacement record. £30 an album is too much money to waste.
I have got the re-mastered CDs of the Beatles and Pink Floyd and a good CD player with a good DAC which I can also use for computer stored music. I can invest the the money, saved on vinyl and the kit, in new music on CD and still have plenty left over to buy a case of good wine. For me it's a " no-brainer".
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