"Keith G" wrote in message
.. .

"Eiron" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

Larf all yew like Elrond, yesterday - idly musing, in
anticipation of Ian's visit, I paired up the Brothers In
Arms CD and LP and was flicking between them (which I
can do) when Swim got back from the town. As she walked
in I said 'better or worse' on a quick snatch of both -
she picked the LP instantly. I did it twice more and she
picked the LP again both times - I could hardly tell
between them....

Now, in case you *were* being serious (highly unlikely
from a 'cassette' as mentioned above) a good CDR of an
LP is usually better than the equivalent CD, in my
book - probably due to mastering differences. (I have a
small number of albums MP3'd from both the CD and LP and
can post snatches to compare if anyone, who can make the
allowance for MP3, wants to hear them...??)

But can your better half tell the difference between an
LP and a CDR
copy of the LP? That's the real test of whether a CDR
preserves the
vinyl sound.


I suppose so, but it preserves enough (probably all) of
the 'vinyl sound' for my purposes - fine for background
sound and as a 'needlesaver'....


I have access to a Neumann lathe which is still fully
operational, even though it was taken out of service
in 1985. I have tried many times to buy it, but the
guy who owns it won't let go, even for a trillion CD's :-)

Anyway, just before the hols, I cut a 14 inch acetate
of James Taylor "Fire and Rain" from a CD just for fun.
I cut the same title seven times, so that people
could compare the inner with the outer track.
Acetates have a very wide FR, with
low surface noise. No one I played it to could
distinguish the disc from the CD. It was a simple
AB test.

What people seem to misunderstand is the fact
that the approach to disc and CD mastering is
entirely different, which to a large degree is
responsible for the difference in CD and LP sound,
just as Keith has suggested above.

Disc mastering requires a very high degree of skill,
to meet the restrictions imposed by the medium.
The art of good disc mastering is to make as accurate
a transfer of the master tape as possible. Any
fool can make it different:-)

CD mastering , something I do a lot, is very simple.
so simple a chimp could do it (and judging by
the sound of some CD's maybe they do :-))
Restrictions are few, with the result that
the CD mastering stage is often regarded as an
extention of the artistic production phase,
so that the finished product can differ
quite substantially from the master tape. In my
experience, there is often a wish on the part of the
artist to "brighten and tighten" (something which has
already been done on the master if required during
the mixdown)

So, one finds there is very little difference
between a classical or jazz CD and a good vinyl
pressing, but often a huge difference in pop material.

Iain