Vinyl Vs CD? Let the Battle Begin!

a reply to: abago71
As far as a best find, I would have to say:

A Band Called Death-For The Whole World To See.

a reply to: Tulpa The vinyl is the best especially the skin tight suits - records are 2nd best if you treat the records with care,clean em, keep em upright in a cool clean environment they won't have any pops or clicks. I think Vinyl has an emotional content that digital music can't match, One time i bought a group of 6 early Beatle albums on the Parliphone label on e-bay. Just took a flyer on em expecting they could be beat up,they looked to be in mint condition was quite a thrill. Definitely think some copies sound better than others-. Spinning Vinyl is definitely a love affair,

a reply to: Tulpa


I've kept a pile of albums and singles for years. They're boxed up and safe from harm's way.

In contrast, CDs have come and gone whether they're scratched in the car and thrown out at old women and kids or given away on a whim. I dumped 300 or so early this year rather than organise them into their boxes again Everything can be downloaded and stored on drives upon drives. Got about 300 left and they never get played.

It's funny, I remember looking for the 'secret' messages on the insides of vinyl records. All the cool indie labels did it. Or smiling at lyric inserts and gatefold sleeves. I'd buy PVC sleeves to protect the collectibles and give them top status. The point being that vinyl records seem to build up more memory associations than CDs.

Another contrast to CDs is I've always regretted selling my records when I was out of work and skint. I don't care about almost any CD that's been and gone. Two Kruder and Dorfmeister CDs bought, lent and never returned are the only ones.

a reply to: Tulpa

There's no competition from peeps who have actually listened to a warmed up turntable system..

And if you smoke enough, you can actually hear the steps in the digital wave on cds etc. For reals.

a reply to: abago71

Good turntables help. 12" singles are almost indestructible. Got a few which look pretty well abused but you can play them now and hardly hear any defects. Having said that, playing out on a big sound system can expose defects in a rather unpleasant way.
I love strange band names.
How about Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranois? I don't know much about them but they were one of the first micky-take bands I fell for. Great fun music that poked fun at punk, prog rock, Zappa and country and western. A favourite was an album with no name but real chocolate box cover art. Really tacky looking but an all time classic. Couldn't find it on CD but found a two disc "best of" collection. All the tracks and more of their stuff. Fortunately, I still have the vinyl. Saw the best of CD on eBay and it was going for £25!!!

a reply to: PsychicCroMag

Always best to take care of your vinyl, true. See my answer above re quality. Bad producers, engineers and studio mix have a lot to answer for.
I've heard bad DJs play and they forget that when you start with the faders at 10, there's nowhere else to go and not all vinyl is produced to the same levels.
Finding my way round big fancy looking mixers was a steep learning curve cos all mine have been pretty basic....good but basic.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Some of those messages aren't so secret. I have a few one sided test pressings with smooth b sides and one or two with messages all over them, even pictures that look like a kid's been drawing on them with a needle!
Kruder and Dorfmeister...hmmm, I'd read about them and they were described as dub so I had a punt on a DJ Kicks mix CD and was really underwhelmed. Give me Mad Professor or King Tubby any day. That's proper dub.
I was kind of blase about CDs too. I thought only vinyl had rarities but I've lost a few CDs which have turned out to be virtually impossible to replace.
No good me crying over spilt milk, though. Once you pass a certain number, its hard to remember if something's gone for good or just hidden in the mass.... Dammit! I'm sure its in there somewhere!
Cheers

originally posted by: skalla
a reply to: Tulpa

There's no competition from peeps who have actually listened to a warmed up turntable system..

And if you smoke enough, you can actually hear the steps in the digital wave on cds etc. For reals.

Warmed up is an important thing.
I played a few times with some traveller types. They'd made their own sound system. Built their own giant speakers and their bank of amps had its own box on wheels. That was HEAVY. The speakers were like bloomin' coffins and took two people to carry.
Their soundman sat and played with the EQ to make sure nothing blew up and it sounded awesome. They were pretty easy going about who they let on the decks but a couple of guys got a rollacking for unplugging their headphones without cutting the fader first. That POP can do damage!
We let some guy have a mic once and do some MCing but he wanted to be seen and pulled a cable over the decks skating the needle across one of my tunes midflow. He got thrown off pretty quick and I had to start the track again. Killed the mood but we never saw him again so....heyho.

a reply to: Tulpa

Yeah the Kicks album wasn't so good. To be fair, most of the DJ Kicks sets were disappointing although I've kept Peterson, Jay and (I think) Herbalizer's sets. It's the 'K&D Sessions' double that kills.

The vinyls and dub versions were rare and cost a bomb because DJs loved them. It's hard to tell from this YT upload because the original quality isn't there.

I was kind of blase about CDs too. I thought only vinyl had rarities but I've lost a few CDs which have turned out to be virtually impossible to replace.

What about cassettes? Are you old enough to have had them? Man, we'd tape pirate radio mixes as well as sharing DJ mixes from warehouse parties and local club nights. In a fit of shortsightedness, I binned a bin bag full of them and have rued the day ever since. Certain tracks pop in my mind and I remember what mixtape they were on. They're almost certainly lost for good and it's a melancholy feeling to realise it.

A message we can all take from your OP is to treasure music in all its formats and never assume it'll always be available.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Cassettes was all we could get at first.
I went to Shelley's nearly every week until they closed it down (then knocked it down) and we used to get one then all our mates would copy them and we copied theirs and so on.
After that we had to go round the corner to Kinetic (previously Entropy) but that wasn't the same.
Tape to tape decks were the coolest thing ever!
I would spend a lot of time recording radio shows, too. Then really carefully string together tracks I liked editing out all the ads and talking.
We could get Key 103 out of Manchester until our local station got the FM booster and pinched a wider span off the range. Bah! Humbugs!!!

I've still got a Synergy cassette of DJ Stika playing old Shamen stuff somewhere but all the big boxes of six or eight pack rave stuff I had are now gone.
I've still got a load of tapes but mostly different types of stuff. Some Mad H drum n bass stuff that he recorded at home I'll always keep because he sent them to me as soon as he'd finished recording and all the tunes were hot off the press.
An ultimate one off which I've got three copies for emergencies is one that Full Effects recorded for me.
I shoved a brand new sealed tape in his hand after he did a set at Kinetic. Never expected to see it again, to be honest.
Two weeks later he turned up for a techno night and he came over and gave it me back. Track list and everything. I've managed to get hold of all the best tracks from that on vinyl (at great expense, I might add) and wouldn't part with it. I've got nearly all his live sets from there too but that one will probably be played at my funeral.

Best Shelley's tapes were the ones where I got a shout out off the MC.

a reply to: Tulpa

Christ! We used to get down to Shelley's. You'd have gone to Monroes too then? Blackburn. Empire in Morecambe, Back2Basics in Leeds, Cream etc. Good man

a reply to: Kandinsky

Never needed anything but Shelley's.
Right on my doorstep.
Eclipse (then the Edge), Milwaukee's which I didn't like and the odd trip down to London.
Fantazia, Dreamscape, Dance Planet were the all nighters back then.
I never really wanted to start clubbing cos I was all about the festival scene before I found the rave tent.
I think I missed out on the Blackburn and Burnley side of things but I met a few people at Shelley's who went up there.



Happy, happy days!

And before I forget. The Orbit at Morley was like dying and going to heaven! That place had the best music anywhere.

Growing up my family had a lot of vinyl and I used to listen to all my records on that. Got a cassette player in the 80's then graduated to cd's back in the 90's. Then went full circle around 2000 when I got myself dj equipment and got a box full of old school vinyl records. Today it's mostly mp3s but I miss the vinyl feeling. I do have a usb vinyl player and I plan on start using it soon, I've lost every single record I had but it's time to start collecting again.

I also agree with the cover art being a big part of buying albums growing up. I've bought some of the worst albums ever blindly just because the cover was cool, you live and learn lol

a reply to: Tulpa

They were good nights and the travelling was good too. We lasted into maybe 2012 going to the breakbeats nights in Blackpool and Manchester. Evil9 and KraftyKuts. Gets to the point when you look like you're only there to pick your kids up lol.

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: Tulpa

They were good nights and the travelling was good too. We lasted into maybe 2012 going to the breakbeats nights in Blackpool and Manchester. Evil9 and KraftyKuts. Gets to the point when you look like you're only there to pick your kids up lol.

I can't afford kids. Spent all my money on music.
If you went to Shelley's, do you remember the St. Helens crew? Matching t-shirts and all a bit nutty.
I'm talking late 1990 thru to 92/3 Cant even remember exactly when it got shut now but the cops were all over the place like rash before they killed it.
Anyway, our spot was down in that dark corner at the bottom of those stairs at the end of the bar.
Im not from St. Helens but I used to go Shelley's by myself and hung around with them til I could drag some mates along and they got into it.

Oh my! I've just had a flashback of those disgusting toilets...Kinetic was no better, either.

a reply to: Verse

Vinyl all the way for me when playing live.
And , yeah, I think everyone's got a few LPs with great covers and nasty little surprises inside.
Nowadays (and a while back) some of the best stuff was just a paper sleeve with a white label and a photocopied, typed out sheet telling you what it was.
Looks ain't everything.
Thankfully!

There is no battle, Vinyl clearly wins.

a reply to: Tulpa
As far as care, I meant the reel-to-reel tapes, not vinyl. Thank you for the tips though.
I have some 12" but not much. Mostly early rap, punk, new wave. SugarHill Gang, The Clash, Blondie...etc.
I have only one vinyl store near me and it's an hour away, so I score most of mine at flea markets. It's really hit and miss, but every now and then you find a gem.

I recently started collecting reel to reels. I have 5 or 6 different recorders and over 600 tapes. 3 1/2" to 10 1/2".
I got a couple hundred from a radio station. I have had a blast going through them all.
It's mainly 60's and 70's music, but I found several news reels, war coverage, promos, radio mystery shows (Twilight Zone, Green Hornet and other stuff).

I'm hooked!

originally posted by: Tulpa
a reply to: Kandinsky

Some of those messages aren't so secret. I have a few one sided test pressings with smooth b sides and one or two with messages all over them, even pictures that look like a kid's been drawing on them with a needle!
Kruder and Dorfmeister...hmmm, I'd read about them and they were described as dub so I had a punt on a DJ Kicks mix CD and was really underwhelmed. Give me Mad Professor or King Tubby any day. That's proper dub.
I was kind of blase about CDs too. I thought only vinyl had rarities but I've lost a few CDs which have turned out to be virtually impossible to replace.
No good me crying over spilt milk, though. Once you pass a certain number, its hard to remember if something's gone for good or just hidden in the mass.... Dammit! I'm sure its in there somewhere!
Cheers

In regard to hidden content, I was doing some research on 12 inch 45's (also called maxi-singles) and realised that the track gap was sufficient to record a second track between the grooves of the first track. To do this, all you would have to do is start the cut at the opposite side of the record.

I thought it would be great to have a record that would play differently (either a different mix/arrangement or even a different piece) depending upon where you put the needle to play it. Because of the proximity of the tracks, you'd probably never know which one you'd end up playing.

Just imagine a DJ who plays the same track on a record, but it comes out different, at different playings.

As far as I know, it was never tried.

a reply to: abago71

Those sound great. Another friend of mine, ages ago, had an old BBC reel to reel and it had three speeds(I forget exactly) but used to record about a dozen or so albums per reel. Bargain.
Storage is an issue, though, and the machine itself wasn't small!

ChrOnaut.

I heard that the KLF did a double track one where you could get a music album or a lecture on modern farming, depending which groove the needle landed in when you put it down. Never heard it myself and it was kind of regarded as a rumour (or it was a rare limited release).

I was referring to the run off tracking in my post, though. In the middle between the end of the album and the label. Mostly you'd get a cat number stamped and a common one etched in between the spiral was "Mike at the Exchange".

Underground Resistance would put the track names in that space and I've got a black label EP of theirs where they got the A and B sides mixed up. One of the tracks is backwards, too, so you had to put the needle in the centre and let it play outwards.
Really tricky on those automatic turntables cos when you put the arm past the click point it thought it'd finished and lifted up and went off!

I think it was Baby Fords "Acid Bump"which had me confused when I first saw it cos the B side looked like a kid had scratched it with a compass point with silly pictures but if you tilted it and got it in the proper light you could read all the messages on there.

You could also spot when a white label was a cheeky little bootleg, too. Some poor soul had to sit and go through all the re-pressings with a soldering iron to wipe out the cat number so it was unidentifiable!

Crazy!