Robin L
Master Contributor
I've spent years [said years being the transition from LPs to CDs becoming the standard] compiling, needledropping and producing radio shows of New Age music, music that very often has synthesized tones that have no vibrato holding a pitch for a long time. In fact, a lot of music that became popular 1980-1995 used production techniques more suited for digital formats than LPs. I've fooled around with electronic keyboards, had a Steinway B in the living room for a few years, love the sound of a tone sustained by room reverb. Right now, I spend more time playing a 12-string acoustic guitar that's plugged into a Roland Cube for chorus, sustain and reverb than listening to recorded music. So, it's unfortunately easy for me to hear speed variation.Some people are much more sensitive to it than others. Despite my musician training (such as it is), I am not particularly sensitive to it.
It's a little like inner-groove distortion. I don't hear that, either, and if I ever meet Robin in person, I'm going to insist that he does not teach me how to hear it.
Rick "ignorance is bliss" Denney
Spending many years transferring LPs to other formats [starting around 1975], I heard how the sound would be messed up by the recorder. When CDs arrived [for me, 1985], I could hear the differences, first noticing that CDs seemed to have less reverb on the sound. I also noticed pre-echo coming from the disc's cutting [Joan Armatrading's eponymous LP being a case in point, a clear pre-echo on the opening track]. But the quarter didn't really drop for me regarding IGD until I started a little business transferring analog discs for others. Having to monitor old, worn recordings of music I didn't like made me focus on everything wrong with the discs, and worn discs amplify the sonic characteristics of IGD. So, that's a sound I inadvertently trained myself to hear.