F O U R T H E Y E

Sorry if this thread exists in some fashion already...

I have been listening to a lot of vinyl lately but i have yet to buy any Tool vinyl. I was told that stuff produced in the 70s was always Analog to Analog, no compression? So the quality was better, but as times went on vinyl was compressed or something? So instead of AAA it was ADA. Does anyone know if Tool does their vinyl in all analog format or what?

As far as buying Tool vinyl, does anyone have any tips on what LPs to buy, are newer presses different that older ones? Estimated prices i should pay for Tool vinyl? Im not looking for 1st issue or autographed whatever whatever... just a legit Tool LP. Nothing fancy.

I have lateralus, opiate, and undertow I believe on vinyl. Only one with any problems is lateralus is pretty terrible quality, lots of skips and general wonkiness, not sure if I bought a bad version or what.

Pretty sure Tool records their albums on analog, however that helps.

Other tidbits you may or may not know:

Official Aenima vinyl was limited to 500, you see one it's probably a bootleg.

No Salival or 10K Days vinyl exist other than bootlegs.

As littlevil said some Lateralus copies play shitty. (My brother has a copy that plays perfectly)

Official Opiate, Undertow, and Lateralus copies can be easily found even in actual stores. The priciest of these is Lateralus which will run you between 30-40 dollars (U.S. anyway)

xZ1mM3r wrote:Sorry if this thread exists in some fashion already...

I have been listening to a lot of vinyl lately but i have yet to buy any Tool vinyl. I was told that stuff produced in the 70s was always Analog to Analog, no compression? So the quality was better, but as times went on vinyl was compressed or something? So instead of AAA it was ADA. Does anyone know if Tool does their vinyl in all analog format or what?

As far as buying Tool vinyl, does anyone have any tips on what LPs to buy, are newer presses different that older ones? Estimated prices i should pay for Tool vinyl? Im not looking for 1st issue or autographed whatever whatever... just a legit Tool LP. Nothing fancy.

I can tell you that you're getting a lot of mixed/wrong/weird information as far as this analog/compression stuff goes.

Don't forget Songs of Innocence!

I wish we had a music shop in my town........ sucks not having a good music selection

joeypants wrote:

xZ1mM3r wrote:Sorry if this thread exists in some fashion already...

I have been listening to a lot of vinyl lately but i have yet to buy any Tool vinyl. I was told that stuff produced in the 70s was always Analog to Analog, no compression? So the quality was better, but as times went on vinyl was compressed or something? So instead of AAA it was ADA. Does anyone know if Tool does their vinyl in all analog format or what?

As far as buying Tool vinyl, does anyone have any tips on what LPs to buy, are newer presses different that older ones? Estimated prices i should pay for Tool vinyl? Im not looking for 1st issue or autographed whatever whatever... just a legit Tool LP. Nothing fancy.

I can tell you that you're getting a lot of mixed/wrong/weird information as far as this analog/compression stuff goes.

Care to correct it?

CDs have a larger dynamic range than vinyl so some compression is necessary to make a vinyl record from a modern recording (which is usually higher than CD quality). That said, the amount of compression done to make a vinyl record is generally not going to do much to effect the sound quality of the recording. It's only really when you get to MP3 level that the sound quality starts to take a hit.

So when people say vinyl sounds better, there really isn't any truth behind it? Especially if it's transfered from a digital format?

It's a subjective thing. Nobody can objectively say that CDs sound better than vinyl or that vinyl sounds better than CDs because that's up to the listener to decide. Vinyl has a more limited dynamic range it can do the lows or highs that CDs because that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to sound worse. It's just going to sound different.

I don't believe digital or analog recordings favor different formats. I don't think a digital recording is going to sound worse on vinyl than it would on CD or as an MP3. If a recording sounds a lot better on CD than on vinyl that's more likely because the vinyl was mastered poorly than because of the way music was recorded.

@ UKE - good points.

Zim, there are a LOT of sites out there that dig into these questions. My advice is that you do some research (Google the obvious), and then use your own ears on your own equipment and CDs/Vinyl. You will come to your own subjective opinion.

Personally I do hear a difference between some CDs and Vinyl, all other aspects (amp, speakers, room or headphones) remaining constant. I tend to prefer analog through the chain vs digital, but CDs/MP3s are so much more convenient.

One real underlying difference is that digital is discreet, zeros and ones, on or off, while analog has a wide range, allowing for a more natural representation of the recorded sound. This is very simplistic, and there are many other factors that need to be considered.

Read up, try some experiments and let us know.

NPR actually had a pretty good segment talking about a lot of this stuff a few years back.

My thought is the vinyl would sound more 'organic' than a disc or mp3.

I don't care about the audio quality personally, I just prefer the aesthetics of a record as opposed to a CD jewel case.

My brother is a huge vinyl collector so I've seen a ton of vinyls at this point, Lateralus would at worst be in the top 5 in terms of ass kickery. Just plain beautiful. Easily worth the $30-$40.

I wonder if people would have as much affection for vinyl if it was invented after the CD.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I also like the aesthetic of vinyl

Check out toolvinyl.com to read up on all available TOOL vinyl. It is my bible for TOOL vinyl. DO NOT BE FOOLED by the counterfeit AEnima vinyl. So many fakes out there. If you want a legit copy, you will have to pay for it, but it is oh so worth it. I don't know that it was limited to 500. There is no solid proof as to how many were printed. Discogs is also a good resource, but be informed...unofficial usually means fake and sadly does not mean bootleg. The true definition, not today's bastardized definition. My collection...

Oh ok, 500 is just the number I've read most often. It's not a very high number for sure whatever it is.

Same thing with Salival, no idea what the actual number is, anyone know?

Wednesday

UndKeineZwEier wrote:Wednesday

I hate how much I don't hate you.

Loulz

hellboy wrote:I don't care about the audio quality personally, I just prefer the aesthetics of a record as opposed to a CD jewel case.

Blaspheme!!

Ravenpig wrote:Oh ok, 500 is just the number I've read most often. It's not a very high number for sure whatever it is.

Same thing with Salival, no idea what the actual number is, anyone know?

I was told all Salival were fake, by a reliable source. But maybe not so reliable if they are wrong lol.

He's not talking about vinyl...