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is it possible to make digital audio sound like vintage vinyl

sam here with another question. is it possible to make digital audio sound like vintage vinyl ? i realize i'm gonna get ripped a new a-hole however this is not a joke question. honest answers please i can take the heat

as crazy as it sounds it seams perfectly logical to me. now here is what i did using my 2013 dell pc windows 7 32bit.

using foobar 2000 with the convolver dsp filter i made an impulse file consisting of a 1 second wave file extracted at 32 / 88 

from the intro to pink floyds us and them on 1st press vintage vinyl u.k harvest label. just the surface noise before the music 

starts and applied the impulse file to a digital album to see if the digital album now sounds like vintage vinyl.here's the results

not sure if i made the digital audio sound worse or really what i achieved ? feedback will help me decide if i should

abandoned this pipe dream and move on. source is digital download flac 16/44 same source for both before/after samples.

audio sample 1: http://pc.cd/GB3

audio sample 2 (impulse applied) http://pc.cd/7eA

audio sample 3: http://pc.cd/7DP7

audio sample 4 (impulse applied) http://pc.cd/bw2

audio sample 5: http://pc.cd/3etrtalK

audio sample 6 (impulse applied) http://pc.cd/lTf7
guitarsam
mikelavigne
2,243 posts
 
sam here and the fact is record companies no longer make a separate master for vinyl duplication claiming it cost too much money? almost all vintage vinyl re-issues are cut from the cd master with brick wall compression for the loudness wars making the new vinyl not any better than the digital version! geoffkait called it for the way it is. let’s face the facts. have you ever compared a vintage vinyl record to the remastered version?

i have 8000 records, and maybe 500 where i have an original pressing and a remaster. why would i own a CD sourced remaster? as none of those are that way. i’ve compared a remaster and original pressing thousands of times. in many of these cases i personally know the person who supervises the remaster. i know how it’s done.

zero cases of a CD source. period.

i’ve purchased 50-60 new vinyl records this year and 2 or 3 were CD sourced. tell us about your experience. your claim is wrong in my experience.

i agree that there are segments of music where the label or artist just want to be able to say they have a vinyl version, and another segment of those where the pressing house only does CD sourced vinyl. but generalizing that situation to all vinyl is just.......ignorant.

you start the thread by asking about how to make digital like vintage vinyl, and now claim expertise on sources for vinyl.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,353 posts
 
The correct term is "brickwall limiting".  Compression and limiting are related, but distinct.
guitarsam OP
179 posts
 
sam here and i'm not an expert on vinyl however  Regardless of what you may have been told, most vinyl these days is cut directly from a CD production master – and it’s been that way for years.
https://productionadvice.co.uk/vinyl-mastering/
owning that much vinyl mikelavigne i'm sure you must be aware of the difference in sound quality between new vinyl and original pressing of the same album. there is way too much evidence to prove that new vinyl is over compressed with much lower dynamic range than an original pressing? and i believe this is on purpose.
mikelavigne
2,243 posts
 
well, sam.....one guy in the UK does not speak for the world of vinyl mastering. certainly not for where i get my vinyl. but if you just read his summary....here;

Summary

The short version is – there’s no requirement to get a separate vinyl master done, but it’s an option if you’d like to. The main advantage will be to get a cleaner, more “dynamic” sound – but a separate master is only mandatory if your CD master is “loudness war” loud.

The most cost-effective way to get a great-sounding release on vinyl is simply to send the hi-res master files – making sure that they aren’t over-cooked – directly to the cutting engineer. They will choose the best settings to get good results from the vinyl format based on the sound of your material, as part of the normal price. For a well-mastered album, it’s simply a case of choosing the correct level and perhaps a few minor tweaks – no extra mastering is required.

And in fact, it works backwards, too ! If you master with a great vinyl release in mind (using a VU meter?) then the chances are your music will sound superb on all the most advanced 21st-century formats, as well.


he states clearly that the most cost effective way to get a great sounding release is to send a......drum roll please.......hi-rez master directly to the cutting engineer. his audience is pop producers and recorders.

he did not say ’CD’.

and this is just one guy with an opinion.
heaudio123
689 posts
 
guitarsam, if I could make a suggestion. Perhaps you could share your favourite genres of music with mikelavigne and he could suggest some modern pressing, based on his significant experience, that are mastered from high-res digital or all analog paths.  I am sure many others could do the same.
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