.....totally fed up with the sound quality of the cd, I pulled out my double LP and all the 12" singles with the LP Versions and made a vinyl transfer to CD.....OMG! - I'm hearing shit I've never heard before!!
The "LP Versions" on the 12" singles are really bright and loud. It's really a shame this album is NOT remastered. I know this has come up many times.
I'm thinking I need to transfer all my Prince LP's.

[Edited 11/4/08 18:15pm]

tricky2 said:

Well go ahead then!!! I just love old-skool Prince peeps! You are right. I think I should transfer my 12' records to CD also...boy, that sounds so strange...12' records..

I know. Usually people trash the vinyl and replace thier collection with CD's.
Be careful before you do that. Some CD copies are pure garbage!

tricky2 said:

Aside from the warm sound, vinyl has a lower dynamic range so the quiet passages in the music or 'background vocals/instruments sound slightly louder on vinyl as the music is more compressed. So theoretically cd is better but you have to listen harder to hear these extra 'layers' .. If you took the cd and ran it through something like sound forge / goldwave and normalized it a little it would bring those parts of the tracks louder. Having said that id record from vinyl as I love that static sound! Plus you should always use the source you paid for... it just seems more satisfying than downloading

These days everyone in the charts is on a mission to get the loudest track over the airwaves so even though cd's have amazing dynamic range not many use it and most current pop is compressed between -6db and 0db. There is nothing like listening to prince tracks on a pair of high quality headphones, you hear stuff you missed even though you heard it 100's of times!

shaneukcouk said:

actually it's been documented that vinyl masters were lazily used for all those earlier albums Cd's (I think until '92) and Black Album. This means that masters which are skewed towards the physical EQ restraints of vinyl/needle (which sound fine when converted to vinyl) sound diminished on CD. Now, I don't know if this is true for certain, but if it is, then a vinyl transfer will sound better than the official cd. I know that a cd of the black album I have from vinyl sounds much sharper and vibrant than the official black album on CD.

shaneukcouk said:

That is very interesting and useful information..I think that it is nice that U stated using the source that U paid for..I would certainly agree.

ufoclub said:

In other words, the cd's of the albums previous to Diamonds probably have less dynamic range and a more muted frequency range than playing the vinyl record. So the SOTT vinyl transfer will sound more accurate and rich. GIMME ONE.

Pretty much every Prince 12" I have in digital form is one I have ripped from vinyl. They sound great.

Jamzone333 said:

WOW 12 foot records. Imagine the size of the turntable!!!!???

studal said:

studal said:

Aspects of vinyl create an audio version comparable to an 'optical illusion'.
What I mean by that is, the needle itself creates a sound layer of random sounds.
Cause by the friction which creates a hiss sound, or a needle bounce creating crackle or sometimes just plain dirt.
Plus, nearly every turn-table plays at a different speed, unless your using a gear driven table axle, instead of the belt driven type.

So, to keep this reply short, a Digital remaster of the original CD, compared to a Recorded vinyl can work wonders.
With a side by side comparison, the Digital version can create a punch across the board, that the vinyl can't.

maxim9691 said:

Yeah...but how many of those old albums actually get a digital remastering? Kind of a moot point.

Genesia said:[quote]

maxim9691 said:

Speaking from experience, All Of Them! 'Ultimate Prince' is a good indication of what to be expected.
As the sound spectrum doesn't exceed the limits of the recording.
So the valleys reach they're maximum sound. While the higher frequency sounds don't become distorted.

Anyone can create the same quality recording, as 'Ultimate Prince' with a good modern day digital cleaning program.

maxim9691 said:[quote]

Genesia said:

not really by professional standards. CD's are only 16 bit 44.1 hertz sound files. When lower volume parts happen they have lower resolution. A professional mastering off the mixdown reel to reel is a much higher resolution recording of the sounds. You will get better details of the instruments and vocals out of it.

ufoclub said:

I'm talking the advantages between an amateur recording a Record to a Cd versus using a cheap-o Digtal Computer Cleaning lab program.

What does 44.1 kHz mean to you ? This does not refer to the sounds you here, this is referencing the control of the sounds by the processor. Or the ability of the CD to grab samples, a CD can sample a track 44,000 times a minute.
Which equals about 10mb
Vocal samples on a CD can be sampled as low as 11.025 kHz.
These are rates that can be assured, unlike Vinyl that erodes as it ages.
That first spin may sound great, but it fades quickly!

If you need a professional opinion, then here is a good one-

Peter Elsea, director of the electronic music studios and professor of Music Technology at U.C. Santa Cruz, acknowledges that vinyl recordings have the capacity to capture a wider frequency bandwidth than CDs, but he is skeptical as to whether that difference is actually discernable to the human ear.

Elsea notes that while most CDs are unable to capture sound higher than 20,000 hertz, however, that most people cannot hear much above 20,000 hertz and that blind studies have found listeners usually cannot tell the difference between vinyl and CD. Furthermore, he says the hertz capacity that the best vinyl has at first is quickly stripped away by the stylus’ diamond after relatively few spins. "People hear what they want to hear,Elsea says, suggesting that the virtue of vinyl may have more to do with nostalgia and less to do with science."

I am a professional, and if you ever got to take a listen to the difference between a 96 hertz 24 bit DVD-audio disc and the same album on CD, you would hear the difference very, very clearly! Case and point : The Beatles "LOVE" disc from a few years ago. You get both. And they are very different. Check it out, you will love to hear it.

I'd love to meet that professor and test his hearing.

Can anyone tell me about the fan "REMASTER" album versions out their in the "internet cloud"?

They sound so much better than the original. LoveSExy and the BLack Album have amazing sound compared to the official versions. Do you know how these fans "REMASTERED" the cds?

Imago said:

there are software plug ins for audio programs called stereo enhancers, multi band compressors, exciters, and good ole EQ'ers.

there's so much more than normalize!

ufoclub said:

Professional Comedian ?

tricky2 said:

Usually the groove-sizes of 12"-singles are pressed deeper than on the lp's, which results in that more dynamic sound.
Because of the same size as an LP-format, there's more room for one track on a 12" in order to add extra sound-layers to the mix.
[Edited 11/16/08 2:46am]

maxim9691 said:

professional sound designer/producer for video/film/music, but I do think you're funny!

tricky2 said:

lol... vinyls - always better than CD's

I love my vynil!

I was playing some tonight while I was cleaning....crackles and all.