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When albums were advertised with prices for the vinyl album, cassette and CD, the CD's price was almost twice as much as the vinyl recording.
Today, it's the CD that is cheaper and its vinyl release that is twice as much as the CD.
Personally I prefer the CD over the vinyl record anytime. I cannot see how a "warm sounding" which is code for a lower frequency response sounds better than a CD which can reproduce a maximum frequency response of 22kHz.
There are many other issues with analogue recordings such as: lower separation between left and right channels and a lower signal-to-noise ratio due to the record's surface noise.
Then there is the static and popping noise if the record is not looked after.
Despite that, I continue to buy vinyl records because there was no CD version or the available record even in mint or excellent condition was lower in price than the CD. At the same time I would not buy "Sargeant Peppers" vinyl edition at $81 when a CD version is available for $34.
Refs:
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/cd-beatles-the-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-50th-anniversary-deluxe-edition-2cd
https://www.vinyldestination.com.au/the-beatles-sgt-peppers-lonely-hearts-club-band-20
Digital restoration of vinyl records can be achieved with a decent turntable such as a Toshiba SR-Q250 (1980s), an analogue RIAA compensated analogue-to-digitial USB converter, a laptop and a free software program called Nero Waveeditor.
Nero Waveeditor is a free software program with a graphic equalizer to alter the frequency response of the album, de-pop/de-click and perform noise reduction. The audio files are saved as uncompressed WAV files at a sample rate of 320kHz and 32-bits. The 'work' is performed on the wav file and then the completed work is saved as an mp3 at 48kHz, 32-bit stereo.
The result is that the backup files have a quality rivalling a CD.
I prefer Waveeditor because of its anti-click/anti-pop and noise reduction functions than Audacity's version. That is a personal preference. I edit out the scheduling of Nero's promotional popups by removing the entry in the computer's task scheduling program.
Making personal copies of an audio recording is legally permitted under s109A Copying sound recordings for private and domestic use under the Copyright Act, source: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00407/1dff5dc7-6859-4cbe-98d8-6e4796059843 .
Other than that, I would not purchase a vinyl record if a cheaper CD is available. But where a CD is not available and/or when the vinyl record whether in mint, near-mint or excellent condition is cheaper than the CD, I'll buy the record.
Thank you,
Anthony of fun-times Belfield in the land of the Wangal and Darug peoples of the Eora Nation.
May I add that the same techniques for digital processing of vinyl records can be applied to so-called digitally remastered CDs.
Again making personal copies of an audio recording is legally permitted under s109A Copying sound recordings for private and domestic use under the Copyright Act, source: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00407/1dff5dc7-6859-4cbe-98d8-6e4796059843 .
On many occasions, I find that CDs that are digitally remastered are not necessarily digitally remastered. I will illustrate that with two examples.
First example was a CD album of the "Righteous Brothers". One of the tracks "Ebb Tide", the beginning of the track had 60Hz, 120Hz and 180Hz hum. I used the Waveeditor's filters and denoised it. I found the same fault in version I purchsed from iTunes.
Second example. In Australian and British recordings, you use the 50Hz, 100Hz and 150Hz filters. I applied these filters as well as noise reduction in my particular version of Ronnie Burns singing "Smiley", Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock" and Cilla Black singing "Step Inside" and "It's For You".
Similarly, in my supposed digitally-restored CD of the best of Bob Marley, I used noise reduction to reduce the hiss.
Like my method for restoring vinyl records, a WAV file of the CD track is made, work is performed on the WAV file then the final work is saved as a high quality backup mp3 file.
Again this is pursuant under s109A of the Copyright Act for personal and domestic use only.
Furthermore, the noise reduction techniques can be applied to lossy compression files used in iTunes.
Follow iTune's advice to transcode from lossy compression to uncompressed WAV, perform the work on the WAV file then save as a high quality mp3 file. Otherwise without the transcoding of the lossy compressed file, the quality of the final recording may be worse.
One last bit of advice. Be judicious in your use of hum filters where the music content contains a lot of bass. The bass content may well mask the hum so don't apply the filters. Applying the filters is an art form.
Thank you,
Anthony from the centre of applications Belfield, in the land of the Wangal and Darug Peoples of the Eora Nation.