Tour of a vinyl record-making factory

boing
1

Originally published at: Tour of a vinyl record-making factory | Boing Boing

…

1 Like
2

Previously on Boing Boing:

1 Like
3

I’m an engineer. I can appreciate the skill, talent, and commitment involved in mass-producing any complex object. All the people and equipment involved in this process are fascinating. But at the same time, as an engineer, I cannot abide inefficiency. So this whole endeavor, requiring such exacting precision, all to produce an object whose audio reproduction (if it isn’t ruined by a speck of dust or the needle itself) is still inferior to the digital alternatives, confounds me.

2 Likes
4

I appreciate the sound quality from both analog and digital sources (both in high resolution), but vinyl keeps a solid place in my heart for the many tangible things one can enjoy, including (but not limited to) the cover, handling the vinyl, the magic of needle + groove = wow, and having to care for your record and forgive its minor flaws. One has to take those things in total. There’s a sound quality in analog that defies description, which simultaneously defies the concept of ‘absolute purity’. Also, you don’t have to like it. :slight_smile:

1 Like
5

The only saving grace of vinyl for me is that it’s physical media that I own that won’t be changed by some company’s modified end user license agreement later. I can listen to crap, slowly-degrading audio for as long I want.

1 Like
6

Also

there are 127 things that can go wrong, according to the video

This is because the music industry stores failure data in an 8-bit signed integer format. /s

2 Likes
7

That topic also had a reply with a video on Third Man Records.

Somehow, even Jack White managed to have less hype for analog media than, “your nervous system is designed to take in the sound.”

3 Likes
8

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.