Vinyl

Vinyl records were the main source of recording audio, whether it was music, or documentaries, or even interviews, from ages passed.  Yet all these years, it has managed to live on.
After the medium started to phase out by the mid-90s when everything started to shift to digital, especially with commercials showing the newest line of Compact Disc players, with 10-30 seconds of Anti-Skip technology, known as BUFFERING today, giving clean, and crisp digital sound.
Ah, the world has gone from high fidelity, to a world of convenience.

I used to be into vinyl, but not to the same extent as I find myself today.  I enjoyed listening to CDs, then MP3s.  I started out shooting Digital photography, with my first dSLR.
Strange, as my tastes have grown, so has my desire for something simpler.  I drive a manual transmission car, shoot film on manual cameras, and sometimes automatic cameras with manual controls, and even the odd fully auto camera, but that's very rare.
After going on with 35mm film for a while, I find myself moving more and more into the realm of Medium format film, for more resolution.  Of course, nothing looks like 35mm film! It's a feeling all its own.
I guess as I have gone more form quantity to quality, it just makes sense that I'd get back into the world of Vinyl records.
High Fidelity, it seems, is well on its way back.

After popping into a few record stores (yes RECORD stores) on the weekend, I couldn't help but notice one thing.  They were very busy!  I mean, they were BUSY!  I could barely move in there, and people were pulling up records left and right, testing them on the Technics SL1200 turntables, or Stanton tables... or even the odd Rega Planars..
It was amazing to see!  Of all the formats to be making a massive comeback, it seems Vinyl is making a huge one!
I guess the age of convenience is coming to a close.  Artists today are even noticing the trend, and have begun releasing their albums on LPs, as special editions, with "Digital Download" or even a "CD" with the purchase of the LP.  Of course, they do charge a bit of a premium for said Vinyl, but that's okay, it's worth the added price, if you get a good LP.

Even SPs are back!  The smaller 45s are being released..

I had a cheap Candle Turntable, I got from my father-in-law, which had been sitting for far too long.  The platter's drive wheel (a piece of round hard rubber) had been sitting too long against the drive pin, and well, you can imagine what happened.  There was a tiny, but noticeable, divot in the rubber.  So as it played, the sound of the rubber, coupled to the bump bump bump of the divot, was picked up by the stylus and tone arm, and thus, pumped out through the speakers.  Plus, that, and the motor was starting to die.

My wife and I went out and picked up a Technics SL-Q200 turntable, with a Shure M92E cartridge.
Sadly, the needle fell off (old) and so I had to order a new stylus.  But we did listen to a couple of records with it, and found we also needed a Pre-Amp, so we could listen to the vinyl properly.

After the Stylus arrived, and the pre-amp was setup, we got to listening to the albums we have been picking up.

Coldplay - Ghost Stories
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Nine In Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion II
Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation

Just a few to get started....  We've been quite enjoying listening to the uncompressed audio of Vinyl.
So yes, High Fidelity is well on its way back!

One thing, I absolutely love how the cartridge just seems to float on the stylus as the record spins.  The sound is something else.. The warm tones of Vinyl indeed!

Until next time, keep those shutters firing!