So just how many people are responsible for the vinyl revival

[dudywoxer]

Vinyl sales seems to be a little more restrictive! than I. Thought

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44121657

 

[Cable Monkey]

The fundamentals of economics. Do they produce them because we want them or do we buy them because they are there? The bottom line is it doesn't matter as long as they create the niche superfans want. 

 

[toprepairman]

I bought a new vinyl record on Saturday. Limited release copy of 'Still Waters' by The Prognosis.

(came with a CD too)

 

[Mondie]

A superfan is defined as someone who only buys 19 albums a year. I bet most on the Wam with an active interest in new music and quality reissues manage that, I know I would triple it and I don't think I am particularly hung up on buying everything I have an interest in.

 

[George 47]

A superfan is defined as someone who only buys 19 albums a year. I bet most on the Wam with an active interest in new music and quality reissues manage that, I know I would triple it and I don't think I am particularly hung up on buying everything I have an interest in.

Same here...and a Superfan as well. What's not to like?

 

[ajhunter]

I think maufacturers are responding to a desire on the part of punters to own something lovely, like a carefully made record, as well as the music.  I buy a lot of vinyl from Bandcamp where some very small producers sell records on tiny production runs with a digital download bundled, along with the ability to stream those downloads at any time.  Best of both (all three?) worlds.

 

[insider9]

A good question would be; is the existence of Superfans inflating vinyl prices as such hindering the revival?

 

[bencat]

The tiny percentage that Vinyl represents compared with the Media hype that goes with it never ceases to amaze me . I stopped buying Vinyl in the eighties and have not had any reason to start again . I still have a decent enough Turntable and Arm but never been happy with buying a medium that wears from the first play.

Then if I had stuck to Vinyl my collection would be reduced by over 60% as most of it has never been released on vinyl , now the cost of Vinyl is so much more than CD that I would struggle to buy the 180 or so CD Albums I currently do .

I am glad that Vinyl is still being made and that those that lover the medium can carry on getting their fix but articles like this still seem to show that they are being fleeced because they have to keep buying at ever higher prices in order to ensure they are still being made.

 

[SergeAuckland]

The tiny percentage that Vinyl represents compared with the Media hype that goes with it never ceases to amaze me . I stopped buying Vinyl in the eighties and have not had any reason to start again . I still have a decent enough Turntable and Arm but never been happy with buying a medium that wears from the first play.

Then if I had stuck to Vinyl my collection would be reduced by over 60% as most of it has never been released on vinyl , now the cost of Vinyl is so much more than CD that I would struggle to buy the 180 or so CD Albums I currently do .

I am glad that Vinyl is still being made and that those that lover the medium can carry on getting their fix but articles like this still seem to show that they are being fleeced because they have to keep buying at ever higher prices in order to ensure they are still being made.

Not unlike the higher end of HiFi kit.

I buy perhaps 20-25 LPs a year, but well over 50 CDs, but I won't pay more than a fiver, perhaps £10 at a push for an LP, as otherwise, I'll buy it on CD. The only exception is Quadraphonic LPs, where the CD alternative doesn't exist. This means that I don't ever buy new LPs, so I'm not contributing to the vinyl revival, and frankly, couldn't care less whether LPs continue to be made or not. Little if any of the music I buy on LP is being reissue now anyway, so even if I was willing to buy new, it's not there for me. 

S.

 

[uzzy]

A superfan is defined as someone who only buys 19 albums a year. I bet most on the Wam with an active interest in new music and quality reissues manage that, I know I would triple it and I don't think I am particularly hung up on buying everything I have an interest in.

My lad buys more than 19 LPs a year .. he is more like two or three a month.  

 

[uzzy]

Not unlike the higher end of HiFi kit.

I buy perhaps 20-25 LPs a year, but well over 50 CDs, but I won't pay more than a fiver, perhaps £10 at a push for an LP, as otherwise, I'll buy it on CD. The only exception is Quadraphonic LPs, where the CD alternative doesn't exist. This means that I don't ever buy new LPs, so I'm not contributing to the vinyl revival, and frankly, couldn't care less whether LPs continue to be made or not. Little if any of the music I buy on LP is being reissue now anyway, so even if I was willing to buy new, it's not there for me. 

S.

I buy mainly CDs now .. but I do buy special remastered albums where they are half speed mastered on 180 gram vinyl.  I have also bought LPs of rare old stuff that is too expensive or not available on CD .. e.g. I got the two Area Code 615 albums on vinyl for £10 or thereabouts (the CDs were over £100 at the time). 

I think the main advantage of vinyl is when the material was recorded on analogue tape machines (where when the record companies put them on CD they didn't care much about the tapes they used or how well they did the audio conversion to digital) where invariably the vinyl always sounds better than the CD.   Technically if the material was digitally recorded then there is possibly no advantage to having a vinyl pressing of it (as again you are dependent on the care taken converting it to analogue).    Dave Grusin who may produce musak to some is all about the reproduction of his music as such he proclaims the best way to get decent sound digitally is to record it live (as few overdubs as possible) .. the same of course is true of vinyl where in the 80s much money was spent on limited edition vinyl where the acetate was cut directly from a live performance (not from a taped performance) and so the issue was limited to the number of pressings that could be made with a single master stamper.

I tend to buy about 12 to 24 vinyl albums a year but upwards of 80 cds .. 

I am over the moon vinyl is alive and kicking because it means that the means to play them is alive and kicking too  

 

[Chumpy]

The hyped 'vinyl revival' might actually mean something if people bought value analogue-processed proper vinyl/listened/bought on superior hifi-musical attributes.

FM probably to go pretty soon for ugly-sounding/performing/overpriced digital radio too ...

 

[MartinC]

Vinyl sales seems to be a little more restrictive! than I. Thought

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44121657

Interesting all though probably not that surprising. In that the sort of people prepared to go to the extra hassle of vinyl because they prefer the sound are pretty likely to be people with more of an interest in listening to music and therefore buying more music.

 

[Spider]

I think it is a totally fudged article to maker content for the BBC website on a slow news day. With a sample size of 2000 people with no indication of age spread or any other detail on the survey and it’s content then I don’t think it is representative of the trend in vinyl sales.

I probably buy about 12 - 15 new albums a year but I buy a lot more than that from the used market. Is that a super fan?

Looking at the reports and pictures from the Munich show turntables were evident in great numbers with lots of new models. Who is buying all those if two thirds of buyers are already super fans who have a turntable? It doesn’t add up to me.

 

[Timbo21]

I think the main advantage of vinyl is when the material was recorded on analogue tape machines (where when the record companies put them on CD they didn't care much about the tapes they used or how well they did the audio conversion to digital) where invariably the vinyl always sounds better than the CD.   Technically if the material was digitally recorded then there is possibly no advantage to having a vinyl pressing of it (as again you are dependent on the care taken converting it to analogue).   

I used to work in one of London's main mastering places in the 90's. Much of the material was mastered either from 1/2" analogue or from DAT. Most of the time the albums were compiled to Sony digital 1630 or a digital workstation, and then the vinyl cut from that. Some were mastered straight from 1/4" or 1/2" to the cutting lathe. However, I was rather appalled to see it was being passed through a not-so-great stereo digital delay with even worse A/D, D/A converters before it got to the lathe.

Because the lathe needs to work out the spacing in the grooves for louder/bassier moments, etc, it needs a delay between the desk output. It looks at the incoming signal and then has time to open up the 'land' between the grooves before the audio reaches the lathe head. Originally, pre digital, this was achieved with another tape machine that had the correct delay between the record & play heads. When digital came in they just stuck a digital delay in place of the machine. IIRC it was 670ms for 45rpm & 900 ms for 33rpm delay that was needed. So, 'pure' analogue on the vinyl pressing wasn't standard probably since the 80's, although I think some places offer that now as an extra.

 

[SergeAuckland]

I wonder how much of this is just another example of the much quoted 80-20 split. I wouldn't be at all surprised if even in the 'Golden Age' of vinyl, 80% of the records were bought by 20% of the record buying people.   For every record collector, there must have been lots who just bought 'Manuel and the Music of the Mountains' or 'Mrs Mills plays the Beatles.'

S.

 

[DocStewart]

Hi Timbo,

Which mastering studio di you work at?  For the Rockabilly stuf we used to use CTS in Wembley, where they had the old extra head Studer, but used an AMS delay for the Var- pitch. I used to argue with Bob Jones the mastering engineer about this and we did try the old way, which we all seemed to prefer.   My preferred cutting room was TAM in Finchley, there it was twin head Lyrec into the desk and then into the Scully lathe.  Really great sound from Tony Batchelor, the owner and engineer.

 

[Colinjg]

I'm not helping with vinyl sales.  I play vinyl most days but have bought virtually none since 1992.  Lots of CDs since.

 

[Guest]

Hi Timbo,

Which mastering studio did you work at?  Really great sound from Tony Batchelor, the owner and engineer.

I used to work in one of London's main mastering places in the 90's.

Would be of great interest to the guys on here if you could post up some more of your working experiences.