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Recording Artist with questions about vinyl

Personally, i stay away from the confusing and often disappointing maze of newly pressed vinyl. I'm still trying to grasp why so many happily purchase contemporary music that is almost always recorded/mixed/mastered in the digital realm pressed onto an analog playback medium....to each his/her own. :scratch2:

Put out a CD first. If there are massive requests for vinyl, then consider it.
Best of luck! /2 cents
 
libertycaps said:
Personally, i stay away from the confusing and often disappointing maze of newly pressed vinyl. I'm still trying to grasp why so many happily purchase contemporary music that is almost always recorded/mixed/mastered in the digital realm pressed onto an analog playback medium....to each his/her own. :scratch2:
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For one thing, digital masters have a much higher resolution than the "redbook" CD format. Analog has theoretically infinite resolution. Therefore, all things being equal and done right, the analog is still going to be superior.

On that note, how about a 7", 7.5ips reel tape release? :smoke: Cheap Trick pulled off issuing their latest album on 8-track (among other formats), and if done right no home format is going to beat 7.5ips tape for sound quality.
 
Cheap Trick pulled off issuing their latest album on 8-track


I saw that!!!! I laughed so hard but then though.. Brilliant!!! LOL
 
Tape machines have their own multitude of problems and compromises. BTW, Where is quality bulk recording tape coming from these days? Thot it was all OOP for lack of demand.
 
Sam Cogley said:
For one thing, digital masters have a much higher resolution than the "redbook" CD format. Analog has theoretically infinite resolution. Therefore, all things being equal and done right, the analog is still going to be superior.
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If you are referring to vinyl, theoretically and practically, it has far worse resolution than digital. If you are talking about TOTL tape, it would be roughly similar to TOTL digital
 
I would rather see it on 2 discs. I can think of a few advantages, less inner groove distortion, better sound over the whole album and probably the most important, I love gate folds. And if you can fit the 45rpm on 2 discs, make it 45rpm.
 
Pio1980 said:
Tape machines have their own multitude of problems and compromises. BTW, Where is quality bulk recording tape coming from these days? Thot it was all OOP for lack of demand.
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Despite the fear of this going way off-topic, there are at least two current producers of reel tape, and Quantegy keeps saying that they're working on re-starting production. Somewhat ironically, there are more current producers of RtR decks than tape.

dnewma04 said:
If you are referring to vinyl, theoretically and practically, it has far worse resolution than digital. If you are talking about TOTL tape, it would be roughly similar to TOTL digital
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Any digital waveform is going to be sampled, and the sampling rate for redbook CD isn't all that great. Yes, there are CDs that sound great on a quality CD player, but -all things being equal- an analog waveform is going to trounce it every time, IMHO.

dnewma04 said:
I don't know who Gate Folds is, but expressing your love for him in Ben Folds' thread seems inappropriate.
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I do believe you're being sarcastic, but I believe he was referring to gatefold album covers. :lmao:
 
Just wanted to say thanks for putting the effort forth to create a good sounding album. I have lots of LP's, CD's etc.. that are downright unlistenable on a decent audio setup due to distortion and other artifacts. My brother is a huge fan, whereas I have not had much exposure. Ill be sure to check it out.

Evan
 
libertycaps said:
Put out a CD first. If there are massive requests for vinyl, then consider it.
Best of luck! /2 cents
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Sorry, but this is terrible advice. The demand will be there on street date. He can figure out a good number of records to press based on sales history of similar artists. Waiting to release the vinyl version will without doubt result in lower sales, since people will gravitate to either the CD or legal or illegal downloads around release date and will have moved on to other things by the time he finally decides to release the vinyl version.

The vinyl version has to come out when all the press, radio, tour dates, and retail visibility are happening. You can wait a couple weeks or so (this happens sometimes because of a longer timeframe for pressing records), but much longer than that and you're better off not even releasing the vinyl version.
 
Vinyl Thoughts.

Ben,

I would go with what Bob recommends, I had the pleasure of working with him a few years ago on a project and it was the best mastering experience i have ever had and i have worked with a lot of mastering engineers and have and would recommend him to anyone who has a quality recording that is ready for mastering. Such a nice guy as well as magical ears.

1) DMM would be amazing.
2) 45 RPM would be nice as long as you don't go over 4 sides
3) And yes to 180g

you should reach out to David Reed "Vinyl Record Guru" he is really good at finding the best manufacturing/price options for projects. Check his site out at http://vinylrecordguru.com/

Looking forward to hearing the new record big fan. Also love the work you did with Amanda Palmer's WKAP record.

Take care and good luck

brett
 
Sam Cogley said:
I think I'd listen to Mr. Ludwig - every album I've heard that he mastered sounds fantastic.

Almost every turntable out there will play at least 33 and 45, the two standard "modern-era" speeds. There are a handful of 33-only tables, but they're a minority.
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+1. LP's he has mastered always sound much better than other pressings. Having said that, I would be much more apt to buy a 180 gram half speed than a pricey 45 RPM. I'm 33, work retail and spend every cent that isn't spent on my kids on music so I may not represent your target audience. 200 gram LP's I've purchased have been more likely to be warped than the 180 gram ones, so for financial reasons and to ensure the pressing arrives in good health I opt for 180's (If the option exists). That being said, I've heard Bob Ludwig make magic with 120-150 gram pressings from back in the day and would grab those over any DMM, Half Speed, 180, 200, or whatever without a second thought.
 
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While I don't know much about your music, I think it is pretty cool that you would check out a place like this for opinions on this type of thing. I won't mention names/groups, but there are a few who have put out new vinyl, and should have talked to some people in the know, or at least fans, before putting out crappy vinyl releases.
One of my favorite newer vinyl releases is Sky Blue Sky by Wilco. It was mastered by Stan Ricker, I think, and sounds great. Well packaged as well. If any artist came to me to ask my opinion(don't know why they would, but you never know), I would point them to that one as an example of how to do it right.
I also say skip the 45rpm. If it takes more than 2 sides, put it on 2 records. If there is extra space, make side 4 a bonus side. Ryan Adams' Gold is like that. I think side 4 on that one is damn good. I'd take the bonus tracks over 45rpm any day.
 
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For me 33 1/3 is more convenient than 45, even if it is two discs but I'd encourage you to try to get it on one if you can manage to keep the sonics outstanding. I don't buy a lot of new vinyl because I often find that the sonics just aren't "vinyl-like." The actual pressing quality has been fine on everything I've bought, but the recording and/or mastering just leaves me a little flat. Gotta have great sonics for it to be worth a vinyl pressing to me.

180 gram vinyl is meaningless to me. I think it's a gimmick. I don't give a crap if it's on Dynaflex if it sounds good. Obviously few others would buy it on Dynaflex, but I personally think 150g is fine. It's still substantial without feeling like a brick. It just feels like a normal high quality record, not a gimmicky extra thick platter that must be better because there's more vinyl, even though it is perhaps harder to press and more prone to defects.

There's my .02. Glad your here on AK. My local fave radio station, WFUV, plays a lot of your stuff. Pretty cool.
 
I'd love to jump into technical A-versus-D arguments in another thread (and FWIW what gets to an LP cutter head may well be 24-96 or 24-192, way above CD quality), but suffice it to say, regardless of arguments either way, there's something visceral about LP's.
 
As long as you are asking...I'd say no to the 45rpm.

The DMM records I have are good quality, but I have many others that are very good without using DMM. 180 gram vinyl would be nice if the cost is reasonable.

What I'd think is most important is to get somebody who knows and cares about sound quality and how it relates to vinyl mastering. This is key!

and please don't press LPs from 44k digital masters....
 
benfolds said:
My record is 45 minutes and I've been strongly advised that the two album split is much better. Will cross examine some experts on that one too.
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As a fan I know what would really excite me to get the vinyl. At 45 minutes it would be pushing it to have two sides, but three sides at 33 would be just fine. Then you could use the fourth side for a couple "vinyl only" exclusives like demos or alternate mixes. I am almost exactly the same age as you and I remember as a kid getting really excited to buy a single that had a b-side that wasn't on the album (remember "Silver Spring" by Fleetwood Mac?). If both sides of the single were on the album I couldn't be bothered.

BTW, I loved the dual disc of "Songs For Silverman". It is great to use the one layer at home and the other in the car. It is really obvious that you concern yourself with the sound quality. "Jesusland" is one of my favorite tracks of this century and has an amazingly lush sound. It puts me in mind of the Elton John - Paul Buckmaster collaborations.
 
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