Old vs. new

I’m always surprised at how good bop til you drop sounds, given that it’s supposedly the first digital LP. It doesn’t have that shimmery flourescent sound I associate with so much 80s era recording. Maybe a lot of the bad digital sound of the early days really does come down to poor or lazy mastering, or otherwise inadequate implementation 

chakster

all the pressing machines, cutting lathes... are all vintage, they can modify it with new parts, but these equipment is no longer made.

You're mistaken - there are several companies manufacturing new pressing machines, such as Viryl and Record Pressing Machines.

The 3M digital recording system was a 32 track 16bit/50kHz tape recordings paired with a digital mixer and 4 track mastering deck.  Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly" used this system.

"And artists like Michael Jackson were early adopters of digital."

I remember reading an interview with Bruce Swedien, Michael Jakson’s engineer. It was in late 1980s, maybe 1991 the latest. He said he was changing approaches (digital vs. analog) often. I think he even said during same song, but that I am not sure (I read it in previous century, forgive me). He definitely said he was changing microphones and cables during songs, depending on what he had wanted to achieve.

He might have been really finicky, but he was not joking with his work.

Just last week, I pulled out a copy of The Rolling Stones Exile On Main St. bought on July 3, 1982, German pressing. It is a well-used but also well-cared for record(s). Looking at it, you might be fooled to believe it is close to never-played. I had not heard it in at least 10, but more likely 25 years. I compared it to a recent CD.

In any review in audio magazines, CD would wipe the floor with that record. "More dynamic", "less muddy", "clearer highs", "tighter lows", all those things and then some. Hey, even the words are clearer. It is simply better presentation of everything.

In my review, the record sounded "better". It is a joke of a recording/pressing/whatever else, but it is just more pleasant to me.

The only reason I can think of why I prefer clearly inferior item is that I grew up with it. In my mind, it is the way it should sound. Everything else is fake. To me, not for real.

So what did I do with that marvel of analog technology? I digitized it (DSD) and may never play the record again. It sounds close enough to avoid the trouble of dealing with the record. In fact, it sounds the same to me and to a friend of mine also very familiar with the album, but I will not claim it would to everyone.

Well, I may play it again, I probably will. Not for the sound. I love watching that yellow label rotating. Nostalgia, or whatever you call it. You know, analog love. The things I think I love.