Written by Tom Cartman / Translated by: Eric Lee

Music has always been a passion for me. As a child, I would sit on the floor in front of my old turntable for hours, and lose myself in music. Nothing would exist for me outside of those speakers and the soundscape emanating from them. For however long the record lasted, nothing would exist outside the world and ambience being created by the musicians.

This was a feeling that I had gradually lost over the years as I grew older: listening to music had become something I did out of habit instead of something I did with a passion. It became an activity that was relegated to a background pastime; music would play as I would do something else. The attention and focus on music gradually shifted as CDs, and more recently MP3 players, created a new way of listening to music: instant, disposable, and without the need for focus. Even waiting until a song finishes before jumping to the next one seems to be an art that seems to have been lost.

Recently, however, I rediscovered the joy that had been missing in music, and I found it in the most unexpected place. Not only did I find myself suddenly paying attention to music, really listening to it, I found myself touched by it in a way I had forgotten about.

A band that I like recently released a new album and I was excited to buy it. Strangely, they released it on vinyl as well as on CD. Stranger still, the vinyl contained 4 bonus tracks! Even more bizarre, with every purchase of the vinyl the record company was including a copy of the CD, as well as a bonus CD-Rom of 10 previously unreleased demos. They were obviously keen to sell the vinyl! (Note; I have recently discovered that quite a few artists are now including a copy of the CD version of their album when you purchase the vinyl). Buying a record instead of a CD seemed like a ridiculous idea to me, but with the number of incentives they were offering, I figured “why not?”, and bought an LP for the first time in 20 years.

When the album arrived I opened up the package, grinning like an idiot, and enjoyed the magnificent gatefold and the pleasure of holding that giant platter in my hands. It had been a while since I had held a 12” record! Since playing a CD is much more convenient, I figured I would start with that. The record company had included a copy of the CD with the vinyl, so I put the LP down and popped the accompanying CD into my computer listen to it. It sounded fantastic. This album was better than their last, and better than I had hoped it would be! Then, just for fun I decided to stop the CD and put the record on instead. I wanted to rip the bonus tracks to MP3 anyway, so I may as well do it now.

The record began and the music started to fill the room. Unexpectedly, the music began to pour into my soul in a way it hadn’t done in years! I was astounded by the sound coming from the speakers. I had just heard these same songs on CD and, although I had enjoyed them, they hadn’t moved me in the way they were suddenly doing now.

The music washed over me and filled up every part of my being, rolling over me like a tidal wave and knocking me backwards. The same notes, presented to me in a different medium, were moving me in a way that hadn’t happened in a long time; speaking to me in a way it hadn’t done for a dozen years or more.

For the past few years, and increasingly so, I have constantly been trying new bands and buying new records, all in an effort to find something that could connect to my spirit, the way it had done when I was a child. All at once, in one simple drop of the needle, I found out what the problem had been all these years! CDs, although capable of more faithful sound reproduction than vinyl, were unable to create the connection to the heart that vinyl could. CDs, though pristine and clean sounding, were also, by default, lacking warmth and life.

I was astounded and excited. Suddenly I was connecting to the music again! I started looking into buying some new music on vinyl. I was especially interested to see what some of the newer artists would sound like on LP. I was surprised to discover that I wasn’t the only one doing this. It seems that, in recent years, there has been a quiet vinyl revolution taking place.

Let me cut you off before you ask how I manage to play records here in Taiwan. I found a brand-new, factory sealed record player on eBay for only NT $3000 (shipping included). It connects to my computer via a USB plug and allows me to record my vinyl onto my computer, where I can then make MP3s of it, if I choose (which I do!). It works great and produces excellent sound.

For serious audiophiles out there, however, local electronics stores that deal in higher end equipment (forget Carrefour or your local 3C) will also deal in high end turntables, but you should expect to pay upwards of 10,000 for them.

It would appear that a lot of people have started switching back to vinyl records. Some people have never stopped buying them. Artists as diverse as Eminem, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, and Editors all have their albums available on LP, if you know where to look… try Amazon for shits and giggles! I was astounded at their selection and the cost, which is surprisingly reasonable.

The simple fact that the major record companies are bothering to release these albums on vinyl should be enough to convince you of the viability of vinyl as a medium. If nobody was buying it, they wouldn’t be making it! It really isn’t just for DJs anymore, and the numbers prove it.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the sale of vinyl records, particularly 7 inch singles, has increased dramatically in the last few years. In the United States, vinyl sales between 2006 and 2007 increased by more than 85%, and between 2007 and 2008 it increased a further 89%!

Surprisingly, even here in Taiwan, a lot of record stores still sell vinyl, and if they don’t, they can special-order it for you. My small record store here in Chiayi City, Zeppelin Music, not only has the latest Madonna and Linkin Park, they also have a large selection of re-issued classics like Simon and Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, Pink Floyd, and The Police, all on brand new vinyl. In addition to this, they also carry a fairly large selection of classical music, Chinese music, and jazz. They even have a nice selection of used records to browse through, which rotates every couple of months!

I even managed to get them to order the latest albums by a Japanese band that I like, Asian King-Fu Generation, on vinyl. Made is Japan. Honestly. If they’re still making vinyl in Japan, land of shiny gadgets, there must be something to it!

I asked the store owner why they had so much vinyl, and she says that there is absolutely a market for it. Even here in Chiayi City, she sells enough vinyl to audiophiles and collectors that it is worth it for her to stock it on a regular basis.

I was astounded.

What is it about vinyl that makes the sound so much better than CD? Surely it isn’t the record itself. The sound from a record, even the latest, newest record, is prone to pops cracks and hisses, so what’s the attraction? Why is it that when I listen to a recording on vinyl I can connect to the songs on an intimate level and be moved to tears, whereas with a CD I’ll just tap my foot and sing along?

A lot of it has to do with the way the music is engineered for the medium. Before a CD can be made, the audio files have to be prepared so that they can create a master copy. After an artist records their music and their producer has mixed the songs onto a master tape, these master recordings are sent to an engineering company who will then process the music for transfer onto CD or vinyl.

Vinyl, being an analogue medium, simply needs to have the master recording played into a machine that will cut a mold, which can then be used to create many copies at a record pressing plant. Nothing much is needed to be done once the master recordings reach the record plant.

CDs, on the other hand, are a different matter. Because they are a digital medium, everything is done electronically using sophisticated and specialized computers. This means that most master recordings, before being handed over to the CD plant for mass production, are put through a second mastering stage, known as mastering for CD. This is especially true of older recordings which were originally made on analogue equipment, however it is also often true of newer recordings. This “mastering for CD” process is where we begin to run into problems.

As part of the CD mastering process, it is becoming the norm to over-compress the audio files in order to create a more “punchy” sound. This makes music sound fuller and more distinct when you hear it on the radio, in a club, or out shopping. The idea is that if the music stands out and sounds more immediate in this way, it will generate sales, but what exactly does this mean for the sound quality?

The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary describes the word compressed as “reduced in size or volume (as by pressure)” or “flattened laterally”. In terms of music and what happens to the digital sound that you are hearing, this is a particularly apt description. Basically, it means exactly what it sounds like it means: the music has been squished together and flattened out. Over-compressed is a term referring to music that has been severely compressed, and then made louder.

 

When looking at a visual representation of a sound file, it is usually represented as a long line with many peaks and valleys running along it. The more compressed the file is, the less peaks and valleys you will see on a visual representation of it: the dynamic range is being compressed, and the frequencies that were available to be heard are now flattened and squeezed into the mix a little deeper, so they stand out less and are less noticeable.

By making compressed files louder, a phenomenon known as clipping occurs. Clipping means that the peaks and valleys that were so clearly visible in the original file are being cut off (literally) as more of the main sound fills up the visual and aural spectrum that the song is made up of.
 
By over-compressing a music file, the information contained in these high peaks is being removed from the file because it no longer fits within the frame, and once these peaks are removed, they are irrecoverable. Simply put: the audio file is no longer being presented as the artist intended and the listening experience is not the same. To illustrate this, I ripped the CD and the vinyl of Depeche Mode’s new album “Sounds of the Universe” and compared the wave files side by side. I took a screen capture of the wave files for both rips of their song “Peace”. (See Fig. 1).

The wave file on top is from the vinyl. The wave file on the bottom is the exact same song, but ripped from CD. As you can clearly see, the song has had the volume raised significantly, and has been over-compressed so that most of the peaks and valleys in the wave file are no longer there. Although it is just conjecture, I believe that this might explain why some songs sound distorted when you play the CD at home!

Be that as it may, I strongly believe that it is precisely these missing peaks which allowed the listener to immerse themselves in, and emotionally connect with, the music they were listening to. These sounds, deemed unimportant by producers trying to sell more CD, are probably precisely the sounds that allow the music to feel more real and natural. Consequently, a lot of new music, as fantastic as some of it is, feels emotionally hollow and no longer connects to our hearts and spirits the way it once did.

One could argue that a lot of the frequencies that are being lost are outside the range of human hearing anyway, so it shouldn’t matter, but I disagree. Although there are some sounds that are too high or too low for the human ear to hear, the resonances of those notes will interact and harmonically affect other notes in a song. If they are no longer there, they no longer affect the other parts of the song, and the listening experience is now altered. Besides, haven’t you ever been in a club and felt, rather than heard the bass in a good song?

I honestly believe that whether we can hear them distinctly or not, these peaks and valleys help us to connect more naturally to the music we are hearing. Just because the human eye can’t see microwaves doesn’t mean they can’t affect us, does it? They have a clear and measurable impact on the objects they come into contact with. I believe that what is being lost when music is mastered onto CD also has an invisible impact, and without these peaks and valleys, the music isn’t resonating with our spirits the way it’s supposed to.

This record I had bought had helped me to feel music again. As I sat there in my darkened study and listened to my new album for the second time, I couldn’t help but marvel at the warmth coming from my speakers, once again a child on the living room floor at my parents’ old house. I did wonder, though, how this would change the way I deal with music. Does converting vinyl to MP3 still maintain the warm sound and feeling of the vinyl source? Most of the music I listen to is coming from my iPod, and I don’t think iTunes sells vinyl rips!

Next Issue: Is there still a place for vinyl in our world of portable, disposable music? How do you reconcile vinyl with MP3s?