When a single vinyl album costs more than your DAC ...

[RickSanchez]

Don't get me wrong: I own a turntable + some vinyl, and I enjoy the listening experience via my vintage Harman/Kardon amp. And I'm guessing the engineering, precision, and dedication of the folks at this company are pretty remarkable.

But making vinyl albums at this price point -- "at a cost of $400 to $600 for each LP" -- is crazy. I'd say more than half of my albums I plucked out of garage sales and bargain bins for $1-$2.

Here's the article:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/arts/music/electric-recording-co-vinyl.html

Some of the high(low?) lights:

“Audiophiles listen with their ears, not with their hearts,” Hutchison said. He added: “That’s not our game, really.”

He has invested thousands more on improvements like replacing their copper wiring with mined silver, which Hutchison said gives the audio signal a greater level of purity.

I asked [Chad] Kassem what is the difference between a $35 reissue [LP] and a $500 one. He paused for a moment, then said: “Four hundred sixty-five dollars."

 

[q3cpma]

I did buy a 80€ (I think?) LP of Gorguts' "Obscura" without even having a turntable, so I won't laugh. But I don't see the point of collecting something that isn't rare (and not particularly good music either, but that's another story).

 

[direstraitsfan98]

Collector market is always about 500-5000% higher then the regular consumer market. Collectors play collector prices.

 

[Cbdb2]

Im brinning back VHS. Its the best way to watch movies made in the 70s, even if the resolution is only 240 lines. But the tapes im dubbing are all hand assembled and dubbed on equipment from the 70s that I had to refurbish and upgrade at great expense ( but the silver wire makes everything look more colorful ) so each movie will cost you $500 dollars. For the full experiance I recommend buying a CRT tv from the 70s. I just happen to have some of these also refurbished and upgraded with silver, at a special introductory cost of $10,000.

 

[MattHooper]

Reminds me of the fancy watch market.

Some people seem to value the sheer amount of effort it takes to make or design something even over it's functionality. Which, hey, is fair enough if you are in to those things.

 

[DuxServit]

It’s called “artificial scarcity“ in the supply-demand market

 

[Kal Rubinson]

“Audiophiles listen with their ears, not with their hearts,” Hutchison said. He added: “That’s not our game, really.”

Not true. We all listen with our brains and those differ widely.

 

[macauley86]

Why would anyone buy LPs or even CDs in the age of Tidal and Qobuz?

 

[Leporello]

What bothers me is that the man apparently has access to master recordings with cultural and musical significance. Now, instead of releasing copies of them as accurate as possible to general public he deliberately introduces every possible distortion and alteration that analog technology is capable of causing. All in the notion of some misplaced notion of "authenticity".

 

[mhardy6647]

What bothers me is that the man apparently has access to master recordings with cultural and musical significance. Now, instead of releasing copies of them as accurate as possible to general public he deliberately introduces every possible distortion and alteration that analog technology is capable of causing. All in the notion of some misplaced notion of "authenticity".

No different than, e.g., the "Steven Wilson Remix/Remasters" that folks go crazy for.
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/steven-wilson-remixing-classic-albums

Remixing "classic" albums actually bothers me more than folks tinkering while cutting lacquers, FWIW. The late Stan Riker famously - or infamously - diddled with EQ on the fly when cutting the half-speed masters for the Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs LPs of the 1970s and 80s.

 

[Frank Dernie]

No different than, e.g., the "Steven Wilson Remix/Remasters" that folks go crazy for.
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/steven-wilson-remixing-classic-albums

View attachment 61182

Remixing "classic" albums actually bothers me more than folks tinkering while cutting lacquers, FWIW. The late Stan Riker famously - or infamously - diddled with EQ on the fly when cutting the half-speed masters for the Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs LPs of the 1970s and 80s.

View attachment 61180

Wilma Cozart Fine apparently mixed the taped 3 microphone tracks of the Mercury "Living Presence" LPs to stereo on the fly cutting the lacquers.
There is no physical record of what she did.
The CDs had to be done from the tapes by experienced guesswork...

 

[krabapple]

No different than, e.g., the "Steven Wilson Remix/Remasters" that folks go crazy for.
https://www.soundonsound.com/people/steven-wilson-remixing-classic-albums



Remixing "classic" albums actually bothers me more than folks tinkering while cutting lacquers, FWIW. The late Stan Riker famously - or infamously - diddled with EQ on the fly when cutting the half-speed masters for the Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs LPs of the 1970s and 80s.

Wilson's remixes (he doesn't do remastering) are typically accompanied by what are claimed to be 'flat transfer of the original master tapes' (which of course are also the original mix), so I'm not sure what your beef is. Remixing as a commercial practice dates to long before Wilson ever came on the scene. Mono to stereo Beatles, for example... (and yes, some people are still angry about *that*)

 

[Sal1950]

Why would anyone buy LPs or even CDs in the age of Tidal and Qobuz?

Well I don't buy vinyl, but I do CD's and downloads.
What ya gonna do when you internet goes down?

No different than, e.g., the "Steven Wilson Remix/Remasters" that folks go crazy for.

I find the vast majority of Steve's remasters of progressive rock albums to be works of art. Plus the majority he's done in 5.1 surround which to me makes them worth their weight in gold.

But making vinyl albums at this price point -- "at a cost of $400 to $600 for each LP" -- is crazy.

Collectors market prices get nuts in just about any field. But the hipsters and vinyl junkies have lost their minds paying that kind of money if they think it's delivering SOTA sound quality.. But if you read the high end media, that's what they tell you every day.

 

[Tom C]

The Electric Recording Company’s first issues were of very rare and little known titles that were trading at a premium, say $1,000’s of dollars for an original. His reissues cost a tenth of the originals, and were done in small lots, so it made some sense. For some of them, I’d be surprised if you could find them on any format, streaming included.

 

[mhardy6647]

I find the vast majority of Steve's remasters of progressive rock albums to be works of art. Plus the majority he's done in 5.1 surround which to me makes them worth their weight in gold.

But the point is that he alters the original mixes as he sees fit -- which is what some grumble about in terms of these high-zoot vinyls that are the topic of the thread! Same difference, from my perspective -- and equally OK or execrable as a thing to do, depending on one's perspective.

... or so I would opine. B)

Full disclosure, I've never knowing heard one of Wilson's remixes (he does remix, not 'just' remaster), so I am actually agnostic on the topic. There are certainly plenty of rekkids whose sound could be improved, though.

 

[Sal1950]

But the point is that he alters the original mixes as he sees fit -- which is what some grumble about in terms of these high-zoot vinyls that are the topic of the thread

MHO on the "high-zoot vinyls" is that they're not worth their weight in recycled vinyl.

Full disclosure, I've never knowing heard one of Wilson's remixes (he does remix, not 'just' remaster), so I am actually agnostic on the topic

WHAT! Where you been livin, in a cave? LOL Hard to beleive.
I understand what your saying but I'm mainly interested his 5.1 remixes so not modifying the original balance is impossible.
Anyway,
"I know, it's only Rock & Roll, but I like it.

 

[WesParker]

I recently bought a record player because I thought I'd enjoy the tactile aspect of changing out records and having the artwork. Also, even more importantly, forcing me to listen to entire albums rather than semi-randomly generated playlists. I was all fine and dandy with it until I realized that all the new vinyl releases/re-releases that come out are $20-$40 each and at my local record shop, if it's an original pop/rock album from the 90s-2000s, they are asking $60-$80. I don't have time for that sort of thing, so not sure what I'm going to do now about adding any new vinyl to my collection. I did recently get a original copy of Moving Pictures from a vinyl pop-up at a destination brewery a few months ago (tre hipster). It was only $10. Of course, in my 20's (early 2000s) I picked up a triple LP of Rush's first 3 albums for $2.

 

[esm]

Why would anyone buy LPs or even CDs in the age of Tidal and Qobuz?

Because the collection I own will never disappear or stop working just because one company is having a licensing dispute with another company.

Because my collection isn't at the whim of some startup that ran out of VC money and didn't have enough subscribers to keep the lights on. (I still miss Rdio.)

Because you have unusual tastes and some of the things you like aren't available on any of the popular streaming services. (So many of the Japanese artists I enjoy either don't have a presence or only have a minimal set of their material on common streaming services.)

I use streaming for discovery of new things, but for anything I listen to with any frequency, I eventually track down physical media.

 

[koro]

That first quote is pure gold.

 

[Sal1950]

Why would anyone buy LPs or even CDs in the age of Tidal and Qobuz?

And so far no one is offering any streaming of multich music to any worthwhile extent.