Hey everyone. Just venturing back into the world of vinyls after many years away. I played my 12" original remix of Lets Go Crazy & it sounds shit! However, some of the SOTT period singles still sound great. Likewise the vinyl albums of Originals & Welcome 2 America [my only 2 albums on vinyl!] sound immaculate. So, my questions are:

1] If I am rebuilding my album vinyl collection, should I hunt out original prints from the likes of ebay etc assuming they are classed as VG+ & above OR do I steadily build from the Sony Legacy releases over recent years?

2] Which brings me onto this - in your expereince do the new prints sound far superior to the old prints? - I understand that no remastering has been done?

3] What in your opinions, from the Prince only catalaogue sound best on vinyl? I imagine that the more organic albums ,especially Parade & TRC will sound stunning unlike say AOA whihc I imagine will just sound like it is - a load of Josh studio trickery!

Help!

Vinyl may struggle to cover the whole frequency band of what's used in Art Official Age. AOA is very bassy and with strong treble. There's so much going on. CD is perfect sound quality in terms of what the human ear can hear, and with vinyl that's not always the case. The 80s stuff will sound absolutely fine on vinyl. I've said it many times before though. The main thing affecting sound quality is the mastering. A lot of the engineers and producers should be fired for the crimes they're committing against music. Only by firing them can we retread the path of using less tracks, not piling up the tracks.

I've got back into vinyl in a big way the last couple of years too. I've found that music from the "vinyl era" (up until the early 90s) just sounds better on vinyl and current music doesn't and so I just don't bother with new stuff. I have the Purple Rain SDE on cd but actually prefer the original and I haven't bothered getting the remastered vinyl.

Milty2 said:

I've got back into vinyl in a big way the last couple of years too. I've found that music from the "vinyl era" (up until the early 90s) just sounds better on vinyl and current music doesn't and so I just don't bother with new stuff. I have the Purple Rain SDE on cd but actually prefer the original and I haven't bothered getting the remastered vinyl.

There are probably very very few people who prefer the Purple Rain SDE to the original.

The plural of vinyl is vinyl.

I would generally say if you want them to sound like you remember them sounding seek out pressings from the era when you first purchased them. I own two original Lets Go Crazy 12 inches from 1984 so maybe your's is just worn out. Vinyl played enough times with crap needles will in fact, strangely, sounding like crap. I would definitely advise you to use discogs extensively if you're looking for pressing notes/comparisons (if you're not already). Also, the discogs marketplace is vigorous. Great place to get a lot of the bigger releases at VERY low prices. Of course the more limited/rare the release the higher the price will be. But for things like popular Prince releases where the numbers pressed are like, in the millions, you can get some of them for like $1 plus shipping (from reputable sellers).

fortuneandserendipity said:

CD is perfect sound quality in terms of what the human ear can hear,

.

Sure, so we get higher bitdepth, higher sampling speed audio and hear a difference.

Good vinyl can carry frequencies over 20 KHz.

Good transfers of such vinyl can create highres FLACs, etc

I do not know how to do such things (pop, crackle, rumble free audio from vinyl...without postprocessing) but such stuff can sound wonderful.

Cerebus said:

I would generally say if you want them to sound like you remember them sounding seek out pressings from the era when you first purchased them. I own two original Lets Go Crazy 12 inches from 1984 so maybe your's is just worn out. Vinyl played enough times with crap needles will in fact, strangely, sounding like crap. I would definitely advise you to use discogs extensively if you're looking for pressing notes/comparisons (if you're not already). Also, the discogs marketplace is vigorous. Great place to get a lot of the bigger releases at VERY low prices. Of course the more limited/rare the release the higher the price will be. But for things like popular Prince releases where the numbers pressed are like, in the millions, you can get some of them for like $1 plus shipping (from reputable sellers).

great advice, thanks.

RODSERLING said:

Would be nice if someone or several people here could give their opinions about how the vinyl released after Prince death sound. Especially the Sony reissues.

In all honesty that's what I really need guidance on. Funnily enough I just read on twitter that some / all? of the Sony Legacy releases were remasters of some description done from source material from Kevin Gray / Bernie Grundman. I didn't actually realise that these vinyls were being released from 2015 onwards !

Really hope those far more qualified than me will chip in here & advise us all...Bart that means you! ...& don't beat me up becuase I don't have the time to research etc !

Hmmm.

If very good masters were made (perhaps before his death), stored in 24/192 or even better, then Sony could apply the vinyl EQ if not already done in the mastering process and create all that is needed to press vinyl discs.

In such case, assuming the vinyl is of constant quality and not too many discs are pressed before refreshing things, the sound should be very similar.

How then can we explain (not so subtle?) differences?

udo said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

CD is perfect sound quality in terms of what the human ear can hear,

.

Sure, so we get higher bitdepth, higher sampling speed audio and hear a difference.

Good vinyl can carry frequencies over 20 KHz.

Good transfers of such vinyl can create highres FLACs, etc

I do not know how to do such things (pop, crackle, rumble free audio from vinyl...without postprocessing) but such stuff can sound wonderful.

I miss the old gramophone players where the sound quality was really crackly and if you tried to 'scratch' you would end up breaking the thing. I once knew someone who claimed she could definitely scratch, not mix - as that was her brother's forte, somebody who was well versed in DJing at clubs. Her friends would eagerly anticipate her best scratching attempts. But come the night, she was always too mashed out of her brains on ecstacy to even be cognizant of what was going on around her, let alone operating decks. Almost like me on my bike earlier. I was short of sleep, deficient in protein, in an unexpectedly high gear, which makes it harder to pwedal, and with a completely flat front tyre, which also makes it harder to pwedal. But anyway, I digress.

I guess anyone could muck about with those old record players and say they were able to scratch. But more likely than not, you'll end up permanently scratching the record. Which will give it a new 'mix' but not one worth envying. No, mixing is definitely harder than scraching, but not in a way that will ruin your equipment. Which reminds me, Kanye West is rumored to be working on a mix of two songs. One, by Bob Dylan called 'Believe in You' (great song by the way) and the other, Todd Rundgren's 'Believe in Me' (also great song by the way).

The resultant efforts of this new Kanye mix - or to give him his new name, 'Ye'

.... will be a song called 'Believe in Ye'. Fuckin' marvellous. This man has no limits.

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

Dynamic range? In the 21st century?

You must be kidding.

Never noticed the loudness wars?

Never noticed the effects of such on Prince materials that came out when he was alive?

Never noticed how misunderstood this was when Prince `oversaw` the PR remaster disaster?

fortuneandserendipity said:

Milty2 said:

I've got back into vinyl in a big way the last couple of years too. I've found that music from the "vinyl era" (up until the early 90s) just sounds better on vinyl and current music doesn't and so I just don't bother with new stuff. I have the Purple Rain SDE on cd but actually prefer the original and I haven't bothered getting the remastered vinyl.

There are probably very very few people who prefer the Purple Rain SDE to the original.

I mentioned on another thread . . . a good reason to pick up PR SDE is if you wanted to frame that purple vinyl for your wall. Perfect use for it. Not for actually playing!

So strange that the Disc 2, mastered by Bernie Grundman, sounds as good as it does and from questionable (tape) sources!

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

Hey everyone. Just venturing back into the world of vinyls after many years away. I played my 12" original remix of Lets Go Crazy & it sounds shit! However, some of the SOTT period singles still sound great. Likewise the vinyl albums of Originals & Welcome 2 America [my only 2 albums on vinyl!] sound immaculate. So, my questions are:

1] If I am rebuilding my album vinyl collection, should I hunt out original prints from the likes of ebay etc assuming they are classed as VG+ & above OR do I steadily build from the Sony Legacy releases over recent years?

2] Which brings me onto this - in your expereince do the new prints sound far superior to the old prints? - I understand that no remastering has been done?

3] What in your opinions, from the Prince only catalaogue sound best on vinyl? I imagine that the more organic albums ,especially Parade & TRC will sound stunning unlike say AOA whihc I imagine will just sound like it is - a load of Josh studio trickery!

Help!

You're equating content (Parade vs. AOA) with how good the vinyl sounds. It's really got more to do with the mastering, as someone else here noted.

Se7en said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

Hey everyone. Just venturing back into the world of vinyls after many years away. I played my 12" original remix of Lets Go Crazy & it sounds shit! However, some of the SOTT period singles still sound great. Likewise the vinyl albums of Originals & Welcome 2 America [my only 2 albums on vinyl!] sound immaculate. So, my questions are:

1] If I am rebuilding my album vinyl collection, should I hunt out original prints from the likes of ebay etc assuming they are classed as VG+ & above OR do I steadily build from the Sony Legacy releases over recent years?

2] Which brings me onto this - in your expereince do the new prints sound far superior to the old prints? - I understand that no remastering has been done?

3] What in your opinions, from the Prince only catalaogue sound best on vinyl? I imagine that the more organic albums ,especially Parade & TRC will sound stunning unlike say AOA whihc I imagine will just sound like it is - a load of Josh studio trickery!

Help!

You're equating content (Parade vs. AOA) with how good the vinyl sounds. It's really got more to do with the mastering, as someone else here noted.

And the pressing. The same mastering will sound different from pressing to pressing. And remastering. And how old, how many times and with how worn out of a needle an album has been played.

Might re-phrase the freakin' question as follows!

What are your favourite Prince vinyl albums !

udo said:

Dynamic range? In the 21st century?

You must be kidding.

Never noticed the loudness wars?

Never noticed the effects of such on Prince materials that came out when he was alive?

Never noticed how misunderstood this was when Prince `oversaw` the PR remaster disaster?

all that is (for now) limited to the source they are using. they were recorded in analog

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

Might re-phrase the freakin' question as follows!

What are your favourite Prince vinyl albums !

If I had to pick just one....probably the first pressings of SOTT. Still sounds outfreakinstanding to my eraholes.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

udo said:

Dynamic range? In the 21st century?

You must be kidding.

Never noticed the loudness wars?

Never noticed the effects of such on Prince materials that came out when he was alive?

Never noticed how misunderstood this was when Prince `oversaw` the PR remaster disaster?

all that is (for now) limited to the source they are using. they were recorded in analog

.

So?

As if analog cannot carry enough dynamic range?

Could it be that the first batch of a release sounds better than the later copies?

If so, how to discern? (when browsing a wrecka stow)

mb71 said:

The plural of vinyl is vinyl.

What is the plural of vinyl?

What's the plural form of vinyl? Here's the word you're looking for.

nayroo2002 said:

mb71 said:

The plural of vinyl is vinyl.

What is the plural of vinyl?

What's the plural form of vinyl? Here's the word you're looking for.

Answer

The noun vinyl can be countable or uncountable.

In more general, commonly used, contexts, the plural form will also be vinyl.

However, in more specific contexts, the plural form can also be vinyls e.g. in reference to various types of vinyls or a collection of vinyls.

So, everyone gets a ribbon today

Fuck me...the ORG summed up in 1 post!

I have all my original vinyl from the 80s including many of the 12" extended mixes from Purple Rain through Parade (including the ATWIAD ones).

I was thining of selling it (I got rid of all my CDs believe it or not) but not sure how to go about it. I don't want to list each one on eBay and a record store woudl proabably ripp me off.

GaryMF said:

I have all my original vinyl from the 80s including many of the 12" extended mixes from Purple Rain through Parade (including the ATWIAD ones).

I was thining of selling it (I got rid of all my CDs believe it or not) but not sure how to go about it. I don't want to list each one on eBay and a record store woudl proabably ripp me off.

Discogs. Discogs has the best vinyl marketplace on the internet by FAR. The only problem you're likely to run into is that very few Prince releases in those years were limited. You can get good, clean copies of all of them used for very little. Sealed, mint copies of certain releases still fetch a good amount but those are getting pretty scarce.

GaryMF said:

I have all my original vinyl from the 80s including many of the 12" extended mixes from Purple Rain through Parade (including the ATWIAD ones).

I was thining of selling it (I got rid of all my CDs believe it or not) but not sure how to go about it. I don't want to list each one on eBay and a record store woudl proabably ripp me off.

Sent you an Org note