Vinyl converted to MP3/M4A still sounds amazing!

By the way, the last time i heard normalize is when i opened Napster (when it first came out) downloaded music and was told to normalize so the tracks would be the same across the board.

I don't think ive ever heard any kind of audio pro use the term normalize let alone modulate in relation with it hahah!! Thats hysterical.

Ahh, yes, jazz fusion. I can totally handle the fusion stuff if it's not too, umm... jazzy.

Angel Witch is a killer. I don't own the album, but I've heard the title track and I have a few of their others on compilations. I'm not usually big on compilations, because they're usually the "hits" but metal comps are a totally different animal. I just threw Angel Witch S/T on my ebay watch list. I'm trying to up the NWOBHM in my collection anyway, and it would be a most awesome addition.


Ever hear Witchkiller? Somewhat obscure Canadian metal. Great EP.

What do you all think of Klipsch speakers?


I like them.

@NittyGritty

If your only introduction to normalization was through P2P file-sharing programs, then you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Normalizing DOES NOT change the dynamics of the recording AT ALL. Anyone who's ever used Cool-Edit/AdobeAudition/ProTools/Cubase/etc. will know exactly what Normalizing does, and what dynamic compression does... they are absolutely different and unrelated. You're not doing anyone any favors by suggesting that normalizing alters the dynamics.

If you normalize to 100% you're not constantly "modulating to 100%". You are raising the amplitude of the entire recording to the point where the highest peak reaches 100%. It won't make everything have the same volume level, but it will make sure that the highest peak is at 100% which is optimal, because if your highest peak is at 50% or 75%, when people play the recording back on their computer or stereo they're going to have to crank it up to hear. I don't believe in compressing the shit out of a recording, and I don't want to have the entire recording peaking at 100%... because that sounds like shit. One more time I must remind everyone NORMALIZING DOES NOT COMPRESS ANYTHING UNLESS YOU GO OVER 100%.... That's it... I literally spend 10 hours a day producing commercials and other features for radio, and while the end product gets compressed by the audio processing equipment at the transmitter, my finished product is never processed or compressed unless I absolutely feel it is required.

It's like turning up the volume on your stereo. :)

it is not the vinyl that makes any apparent change in sound good



you seem to be forgetting your vinyl was made when the master tape was fresh and brand spanking new (also completely unmolested)


All albums are recorded on tape first before going to vinyl, and those tapes do not age gracefully.


With that said, your typical MP3 on amazon vs the vinyl version will sound almost identical except the vinyl will have pops cracks and occasional static

(i owned 250 albums on vinyl before i realized how pointless it was to keep maintaining such an old, dusty, and HEAVY collection of music i could not take with me.


In the end it was not the format that made your music sound amazing it was the mix and the fact that the engineer knew what he was doing vs the kiddies who get stuck remastering these aging albums (they do not have the passion the 1985 engineer had for it, thus they do not really care that much, its just a job)

I had John Fogerty's 'Centerfield' on vinyl, and then i bought it on Mp3 (through amazon), it sounds literally identical so identical it killed my interest in vinyl.


I bought the Talking Head's 'Greatest Hits' and again it was identical.


I bought Bob Seger's Greatest Hits...and it was 300% better than the vinyl version, same with Blondie and the guess who (their mp3 releases had far better sound than the original vinyls)


I have seen the opposite occur however, Iggy Pop and the Stooge's 'Search & Destroy' was superior on vinyl, iggy pop destroyed the mp3/cd re-release because he had no idea what he was doing


Creedence Clearwater Revival's music is an example of it getting worse with each release, the blue label fantasy vinyls were superior to all later releases.



Overall Digital Formats are a good thing, most of the time the sound gets better but i still hate digital amplifiers and the like (i still run to an analog amp via an analog soundcard, your ears are analog)

I have Rush album on BLu Ray.


Haven't even listened to it yet lol

Klipsch speakers are great. I have a friend who uses them exclusively. I don't have them though. I use crap speakers to mix all my original music because I figure the average person these days is going to be listening on their cellphone, laptop, or all-in-one system anyway... of course, that's the same reason most modern engineers are compressing the hell out of everything. I do have two old stereos, one pioneer, and one kenwood, and I will taste test my recordings on those after the mixdown though my vintage Acoustic Research speakers.

Nope, I haven't heard them yet. I will check it out later today. After these delivery guys leave.

Generally 70's vinyl sounds better than any re-release on any other format... but that doesn't mean that newer digital releases don't come REALLY REALLY close... so close that it shouldn't even really be an issue. I think the big problem is that the early CD mixes were rushed and butchered by engineers that were applying analog recording techniques to the then new digital format... hence the clipping and the muddy sound.

For me... Steely Dan's Aja sounds better on vinyl than it does on the remastered CD releases. But there are exceptions, for example Steely Dan's Katy Lied was destroyed during the mixdown process by faulty noise reduction equipment, and the vinyl sounds like ass, even the MFSL version... in comparison the digital remaster sounds gorgeous.

Also, a lot of the original 60's rock vinyl sounds nasty, while the digital remasters from the dusty old tapes sound great.

To get back to the OP's original point. I absolutely believe that the warmth of vinyl can be captured on a digital recording (even on a medium-bitrate MP3!). For example, in the studio many of my clients have requested that I record them on analog tape, and then (obviously) transfer that back to digital... although recently I have noticed an uptick in people requesting that I run them off cassette tape copies for distribution... anyway I'll shut up now... sorry. You've just touched on a subject I'm passionate about.

I hate to say it, and you don't have to believe me... but those guys in that are SOO WRONG that it's pathetic. Normalizing does not HAVE ANY EFFECT on the dynamic range, and them claiming that normalizing two voices will balance their levels (like AGC) is just flat out incorrect and ignorant. If I have to I will make a youtube video showing you exactly what Normalization vs. Dynamic Compression looks like on a wave form. When you normalize a recording the wave form stays the same, it just gets bigger or smaller, all the peaks and valleys stay the same. If you have a quiet voice and a loud voice, and you normalize, the quiet voice will still be quiet, and the loud voice will still be loud. All that is changing is the OVERALL VOLUME!!! All that normalization does is increase or decrease the amplitude of the entire recording. How can people be so stupid?!?!?

This wiki page spells it out. There are some programs that "normalize" but also compress. I get that. However, when using professional software (think protools/adobe audition), Normalization does not compress ANYTHING.

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Get out! I remember Acid Bath! I used to volunteer at Rotten Records in Upland CA - just thought it would be cool to work with/for a record label and learn the ropes...

anyway, it was a yawn fest as it mostly involved mailing out copies of cds to radio stations and reviewers.

I do recall the boys in Acid Bath calling in to the label begging for more money than their per diem was allowing.
The poor guys were starving on the tour (supporting the 'When The Kite String Pops' album).

The label owner was a major Queen fan - easily had the largest collection I ever saw. Interesting experience.
Thanks for reminding me...

How do you convert vinyl to MP3? You mean you record it into the pc as sound as a wav file? Then convert that to MP3?

It's a proces....yeah...



Can be a little pain in the ass, you have to edit the tracks up.

I know I've helped derail/bump this thread a lot...

on topic.. I really need to do this with some family recorded vinyl to preserve.

I also have 1/4 inch reel to reel. 60's era. I will probably hire my friend to preserve it for me. (He did all the cassettes from the 70s of my Great Grandmother already, they came out awesome.)

For the tapes, I still have the original reel to reel equipment that recorded them. My friend wanted it when doing the job for me because of the speed specific to the equipment. I think he's best for that job, but the vinyl, I have so much more needing done besides the family recorded vinyl. If I could do it myself, that would rock.

My current turntable is a fisher, old old. lol. So I need to start from scratch for a project like this. Otherwise I was just going to have my friend do the family vinyl too. (I don't have that recording equipment anymore)

What would be the best new dual purpose turntable for me? To preserve vinyl and replace my fisher?

I've seen the turntable to PC (costco lol), but I never looked into them. do they work?

Well, I just came in to finally listen to this album, and it's blocked in my country!! LOL

I'll see if there's another one. Now I'm curious..

Speaking of Canadian bands. Do you remember Killer Dwarfs? Darrell is a buddy, he's still rockin.. lol

[link to www.automan.ca]



[link to youtu.be]

Gonna try and find Witchkiller.



*edt*

found their demo..



[link to youtu.be]

Awesome, I'm having a total 80s flashback. Couldnt find the full day of the saxon yet, just the song, but I think I have a youtube proxy link somewhere.

I love this demo so far. haha.

Last Edited by Tangy on 10/25/2013 02:45 AM

what OP has done here is like taking a gourmet dinner prepared by a gourmet chef, fried it up ina pan & added slurped tomato sauce all over it.

sure it'll taste nice enough, some may even claim delicious! but really you should have just left the damn food alone.

I'm still listening to Witchkiller's demo.. It keeps tripping me out with the long breaks between songs.. haha. I'm multi tasking and it's surprised me a couple times.

Thought I'd share local friends of mine. Hoping good things for them. This is their FIRST gig. I recorded it.



[link to youtu.be]



[link to youtu.be]





Last Edited by Tangy on 10/25/2013 03:13 AM

I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING


DON'T MESS WITH ME.

Yea not to mention the fact that even if vynil had any advantage, when it's converted to mp3 it makes 0 sense to sound better than a regular mp3 (With the same bitrate/sample rate). It's still digital sound. So all the difference will the the noise from the vynil...

Install the freeware program Audacity and search the internet for Mogg files.

The songs in any of the Guitar Hero or Rock Band video games already have the multitrack stems of those songs on the disc. And consequently, they're out there if you know how to search.

You can load the multitrack ogg files (mogg) into Audacity and have endless fun with most of the classic rock songs you grew up with.

Examples:



[link to youtu.be]



[link to youtu.be]

Too cool, Jinxy. Ol' Rotten Ron! I've heard quite a few stories about how he fucked the band over and was a cheap bastard... at least that's how the story goes. I do think he fucked up. Acid Bath could've been bigger, though when Audie died it was the end anyway, sadly. Then Ron missed the boat big time with Agents of Oblivion! That album is much more accessible and could've been commercially successful - Dax vocally destroys all on it, a great performance.

Awesome. I creeped on your YT yesterday and listened to them:-) The have potential for sure. Shame I don't have my label rockin' yet... probably be a couple years before I can put it together and get some bands... but I will.


Killer Dwarfs! hah, yep, I have their first two in my collection. I've almost built my Canadian collection and then I will move to the rest of the world. I have a good start on most places, but many more records will be needed. It never ends, does it?

I managed to drink a bottle of local red wine last night and smoke a few bowls while rollin' through the metal compilations in my collection. Good times.

Wow, I somehow mangled the quote thingy in my reply to Jinxy.


So what's with YT blocking certain videos? That's about as lame as it gets. I noticed somehow they've recently blocked ALL of the Trouble content in Canada!! hah! motherfuckers!


Gee... I wonder who complained...

LMAO, creeped my YT, funny haha. Did you see the Monkees? That was so fun.

omg at those vids. I remember that album! I had to pull up the full ep for sanctuary. hehe

What are you using to store your collection?



[link to youtu.be]

Cool about working on your own label. Maybe someday I'll get a chance to pick your brain about it.

Maybe this youtube proxy will help. I haven't used it, just saved it when I saw it linked one day.

[link to www.proxfree.com]

[link to en.wikipedia.org]