WHY CDs SOUND BETTER THAN VINYL
That’s a pretty bold statement, I know, and I can feel the collective
shudder of the audio world, so I feel I should back it up by telling
you a bit about myself. I’ve been a mastering engineer for 18 years.
When I started everything was on tape, digital workstations were new
and every project I worked on went to vinyl. I started at the Hit
Factory, was a senior engineer for Sony Music and now own my own
mastering lab, Zeitgeist Sound Studios in Long Island City. I’ve cut
hip-hop singles for OutKast and The Wu Tang, dance records for C&C
Music Factory and Whitney Houston. I’ve cut rock records for Pearl Jam
and Metallica. I’ve cut re-issues for The Clash and Sly and The Family
Stone. I’ve even done my share of classical records. It’s an
incredible process and it amazes me every time I do it.
Now to get into my original statement: “Cds sound beter than vinyl”. I
say it for a couple of reasons. There are sonic limitations to vinyl
that do not exist on CD. There are also degradation issues that exist
on vinyl. The act of playing a record actually destroys it. The
inverse is also true of CDs, but in a different way. That is what I
would like to discuss.
Lets start with a very brief overview of how records are cut. When a
piece of program enters the cutting chain it gets split to two
different places. One split goes to a level attenuator, some filters,
an elliptical equalizer and ends at a very rudimentary and basic
computer. The computer tells the lathe how far apart to put the
grooves. The second goes to the attenuator, the filters, elliptical
equalizer, a high frequency limiter then the cutter head, which cuts
the actual groove in the record. The groove, if looked at under a
microscope is actually a complex sine wave. There are variations in
depth, it is not straight (it’s quite wavy actually), as well as
variations in the width. All of these variations are program
dependent. If an experienced cutting engineer looks at a groove under
a microscope he (or she) will have a pretty good idea as to what is
happening in the music at that particular spot. The groove needs more
room to go back and forth the louder the program is. The longer a
record is the lower the volume will be to accommodate the longer
grooves. The more bottom end a piece of music has the deeper the
groove needs to be. Filters are usually put in around 35 Hz, but can
go much higher for longer sides. Finally the more stereo a track is
the wider the groove has to go. It’s actually a V shape and the left
and right sides of the audio are on each side of the V, with the
center being the point. The wider the stereo the wider the V needs to
be. The elliptical equalizer will take the program and mono all the
signals below a certain frequency. Stereo bass can be a disaster to
cut, as can any out of phase program. The Neumann electronics (the
industry standard) are preset at 150Hz and 300Hz. Cutter heads also
have a huge problem with high end. Most engineers will put a high
frequency filter in the program as well use a pretty aggressive
De-Esser to prevent any problems. Another physical limitation of the
medium is “inner diameter distortion”. As the record needle travels
toward the center of the disk it becomes more difficult to reproduce
high frequencies. The frequency response of a vinyl disk is
drastically different at the outer section than the inner section.
Cutting vinyl is a constant compromise.
Cds have none of these limitations. Outside of not being able to
reproduce anything above 20kHz, anything you want to put on a CD will
play. This includes all the bass you can think of, the most sibilant
thing you have ever heard and the craziest phasing effects ever
created. Want to put the left hand of your synth on one side and place
your vocals 180 degrees out of phase? You can do that, probably not on
vinyl. It might sound crazy (or awesome, hmm…) but it can be done.
Don’t get me wrong. CDs have their problems too. Most people will tell
you “digital doesn’t sound good”. It might be true, but there are
plenty of albums that don’t sound great either. The ‘80s were a bad
time. Personally I think it was a dark time for vinyl and digital was
just coming into vogue. Digital still wasn’t quite right and vinyl
seemed to be missing that warmth that people love the medium for.
Do I hate vinyl? NO! I absolutely love vinyl. I listen to it all the
time. The fact of the matter is this: with converters now sounding as
good as they do, engineers understanding higher sample rates and bit
depths with proper dithering, digital now sounds pretty good. Do I
think CDs actually sound better than vinyl? Yes and no. They sound
different, and that’s really all I am saying. Proper use of equipment
can yield fantastic sounding results on any medium. There are plenty
of albums that are still the benchmark for great sounding music. Have
you heard an original press of “Dark Side Of The Moon”? It’s amazing.
Know your gear, know your medium and make a great sounding record.
Getting involved in the argument of “back in the good old days” is fun
but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter.
I would love to hear your opinion. Please let me know what you think.
I’d like to continue writing articles about the mastering process that
interests you, so please let me know what kind of topics you would
like discussed and I will do my best to address them. Until next time,
keep listening.
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