What follows is an analysis of the dynamic range of various audio formats such as cassette, vinyl and digital. What will become clear is that digital is superb at handling dynamic range and analogue formats are not. However, there is a difference between this form of objective analysis which doesn’t take into account the subjective creativity of using lower fidelity mediums to create and record music.

We, as human beings, are capable of hearing a factor of a hundred thousand (100,000) difference in the amplitude of an audio signal, this equates to a factor of ten billion (10,000,000,000) in power! We use decibels, a logarithmic unit to describe this as the numbers get very large very quickly. The dynamic range of our hearing is approximately 140dB from the quietest sound we can perceive, around -9 dB SPL at 3kHz to the threshold of pain at 120-140dB SPL (every +3dB is approximately a doubling in power) . However, we cannot perceive these differences at the same time as the mechanisms of our ears adjust to different auditory stimulus. This is also why you’re more likely to damage your hearing if you work in a loud environment before going to a loud concert.

Moving on to audio delivery formats, it is easy to ignore early phonographs when discussing vinyl. These were often made of Shellac and span at approximately 78 rpm (78.26 rpm and 77.92 rpm). Due to this construction, speed and the hardness of the needle that played them, they had a dynamic range of around 40dB when new which quickly reduced to 30dB through wear.

Modern vinyl with microgrooves (33/45rpm) enjoys approximately 55-65dB with the high fidelity outer rings getting as much as 70dB dynamic range. There are also other limitation of this format such a frequency response which is handled using equalisation (RIAA) hence the need for Phono Pre-Amps.

Compact Cassette/Musicassette averages around 50-56dB depending on tape formulation. Very specialised tape head configurations, noise reduction, XDR and Type IV tape used together, in the right way, may expand that to 70dB but it was a rare and expensive set-up in the 70s, 80s and 90s and is even rarer and still expensive nowadays.

Compact Disc at 44.1kHz sample rate with a bit depth of 16 bits yields a theoretical 96dB but with dither can push to over 120dB of dynamic range. We must also remember that with a reconstruction filter (in the time domain) or anti-aliasing filter (in the frequency domain), digital does not output the stepped (quantised) waveform that many believe it does.

The beauty of the digital audio signal is that noise and distortion can be separated from the audio signal. […] The only real theoretical limitation to the accuracy of a digital signal is the quantity of numbers in the signal representation and the accuracy of those numbers. These are both known and controllable design parameters.

Grant Erickson

Compressed audio formats are where it gets more interesting. The right compression even a lossy type (data compression), especially one that employs VBR (Variable Bit Rate) can sound as good as uncompressed digital audio. This has been the subject of technical research papers and listening challenges but is beyond the scope of this particular article (although will be the subject of a future blog).

Thus in terms of dynamic range, the ability to separate noise from a signal and thus, copy fidelity, digital is superior in every technical way. However, I have also heard digital spoken about as “clinical”, “too clean”, “lifeless”, “brittle” and “crystalline”. It’s no accident that so many audio plugins have been created modelled on antiquated analogue gear.

As precise as digital audio is, I would argue that our ears often prefer the sound of analogue formats, despite their countless flaws. The noise, crackle, distortion and added harmonics are often referred to as sounding “warm”, having “character” and being “real”. Perhaps, it is these analogue limitations that define the music.

Stu Welsh

Owner & Curator here at Fiercely Indie. Stu’s background is in Sound Engineering and Education. He leads undergrad and postgrad courses at dBs Music, acts as Producer for Live in Session and, is a huge fan of vintage recording gear.

As a Sound Engineer who started my career during the advent of multitrack tape machines, I have spent a significant proportion of my life trying to increase the fidelity of analogue formats. High bias tape, Dolby NR, filters, gates and a whole arsenal of other gear but with the advent of CD Standard digital recording, there was no longer any need. 44.1kHz, 16 bits is enough for the noise floor to be lower than any other equipment in the system.

The proliferation of computers and smart devices, means most modern musicians enjoy access to a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Often music recorded and produced via these means is tweaked, tuned, time-aligned and corrected. However, these processes also have the potential to make the audio sound ultra-clean and precise and without careful consideration, produce a high fidelity output that may lack a musical quality. These modern mixing practices can rob a song of its raw beauty.

I am privileged to have experienced the shift from analogue to digital recording practices, balancing an understanding of both mediums. I have learned about the processes involved in capturing performances in both domains. Creating purposely noisy records in the analogue domain and pushing way too far into the super bright, often lifeless sound of digital.

Despite it ease of setup and use, perhaps we should not automatically record everything in DAWs just because we can. Consideration should to be given to the recording medium employed. For example, a seventeen track punk album recorded in a damp, leaky basement on equipment with questionable safety features should, perhaps not be presented on the same format as a string quartet performing in a beautifully ambient space. Each example has its own unique features and the recording medium should be considered integral to the process of recording.

As professionals it is easy to believe that all audio should be technically perfect. However, in my experience this is not the case at all. Art is beautifully imperfect, messy and emotional and music should be too. To present it as anything else is to miss the point entirely.

Stu Welsh

Owner & Curator here at Fiercely Indie. Stu’s background is in Sound Engineering and Education. He leads undergrad and postgrad courses at dBs Music, acts as Producer for Live in Session and, is a huge fan of vintage recording gear.

* A minute deviation in the thickness of the oxide layer can cause a huge change in output level (up to 1dB per 1/10,000th of an inch).

To many, the format** that crams four tracks (two each side for stereo playback) into just over an eight of an inch, has had its day. However, what makes the format particularly appealing for small labels, like Fiercely Indie, is that anyone with a decent cassette recorder and a printer/copier can make a limited edition, small run of cassettes in-house. Unlike vinyl, which requires a complex physical manufacturing process, they are currently the only viable analogue format that can be created on-demand.

** The Compact Cassette, or Musicassette (MC), we use today was introduced in 1963 by Philips and remained one of the two most common formats for recorded music from the 1970s into the 1990s alongside both the vinyl record and, later, the compact disc.

All in the Name of Research

This week I’ve been doing (the most enjoyable) market research. Purchasing small, special and limited run cassettes. Listening on my Nakamichi Dragon Denon DRM-550 deck, examining the various approaches and generally learning more about underground cassette culture.

When the drums kicked in on the blue Intravene tape, I was instantly transported back to mid-nineties; just from that beautiful lo-fi, saturated cassette tone. Whether that’s just nostalgia, I’m not sure, but it’s been a long time since I blindly purchased this much music and enjoyed listening to every single track.

Love them or hate them, there’s something about an analogue format which can be used as an outlet for creative expression both in terms of music and artwork. I very much look forward to continuing my research and experimenting with the medium of tape as we release some small run, limited edition Musicassettes over the coming months.

Stu Welsh

Owner & Curator here at Fiercely Indie. Stu’s background is in Sound Engineering and Education. He leads undergrad and postgrad courses at dBs Music, acts as Producer for Live in Session and, is a huge fan of vintage recording gear.

The other week we were honoured to host the excellent Dr. Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, an academic and author specialising in fan culture, the cult of dead celebrity, music and music heritage.

Jen’s guest lecture was excellent and our students are still talking about it now.  I took the opportunity to ask her to sign my copy of ‘Why Vinyl Matters’, which she graciously did, with her usual flare.

So why does vinyl matter?

Well, firstly, this isn’t going to be a book review.  The book is excellent though, go and buy a copy immediately, if you don’t own one already (I imagine a lot of people reading this already will). Perhaps a better title for this post would be ‘Why does vinyl matter, to me?’.

Why does vinyl matter, to me?

I’ve tried answering that question a few times, over a coffee, with hastily handwritten notes, discussions with academics, being cognisant when playing vinyl, and it’s a tough one to answer.   Not because there aren’t any reasons, but because there are so many and the majority of them are equally as applicable to any physical, analogue format; but I will attempt to keep this about vinyl.

For me, it has little to do with sound quality.  I am well aware of the format’s sonic limitations and will happily (academically or otherwise) debate formats, sonic perception and audio objectivity vs. subjectivity.

However, this post is not about the sonic pros and cons of the format, instead it is about interaction, experience and human nature.

Digging

There is just something more authentic about being able to flick through a big crate of vinyl albums than scrolling through Spotify.  The feeling of the record sleeves under the fingertips, the special “flick” you learn and improve at, the way the cardboard brakes on the air pressure between the sleeves as one 12″ cascades into another.  A short pause … stopping on a classic cover, or some interesting art I’ve not seen before. The role of the physical format here, one could argue, is almost as important as the music itself.

Ritual

Sliding the vinyl from the sleeve, that distinctive papery crumple.  The very-careful balance we learn, of holding the disk between the fingers and palm of the hand, before placing it on the turntable.  Placing or lowering the needle gently and precisely into the groove.  That pregnant pause before that first subtle crackle comes over the speakers, shortly followed by the sonic signature of that particular pressing.

Entropy

Listening, really listening, sitting in the ‘sweet spot’ between the speakers and actually hearing the record.  Knowing that every play will wear the needle and the groove very subtly; meaning that one play, almost indistinguishable from subsequent plays, is actually unique and will never be exactly the same ever again.  A sonic sacrifice.

Knowledge

Reading the liner notes; before the days of the Internet, so much information came from those notes.  Who played what and on which track, who wrote each song, where it was recorded, who engineering it, who the producer was,  where it was pressed …

The artwork, often full of glorious studio or tour photos.  I still study all the studio pictures closely, occasionally I find a piece of studio or music gear I am not familiar with and that leads me on a new mission to learn about it.

Artwork

Then there’s the artwork, presented as either a 12″ square or a 24″ x 12″ rectangle if it’s a gatefold. Die-cuts (ELP – Brain Salad Surgery), embellishments (Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers features a zip on some pressings), coloured vinyl (which is making a comeback), picture disks (Tool – Lateralus features the art of Alex Grey), shaped disks, inlays, inserts, posters …  I fear we have lost the art of the record.

Experience

During the last century and, to some extent, the start of this one, we lived in a world of collections, where the idea of owning and currating physical objects was celebrated.  Storing them, maintaining them, interacting with the medium itself. 

However, this process has been largely supplanted by streaming media. Spotify and Apple Music means we can listen to any album, at any time without having to own or store that physical copy. Therefore, it could be argued that, the idea of a tangible format become less about access to the music we love and more about having a authentic experience.

Social

I find this ritual highly social too.  It’s great to have friends and family over to hang out and play records.  It’s fun to teach people, who have never had the pleasure of placing the disk on the turntable, or the needle in the grove, how to go about it.  It’s a memorable experience which adds ‘weight’ to the music. That interaction is almost impossible to replicate with modern digital platforms.

That is why I love vinyl.

And, then, all too soon, the last record of the night spins out and the needle sits in the dead wax at the centre of the beautiful black circle …

“Click!“

Stu Welsh

Owner & Curator here at Fiercely Indie. Stu’s background is in Sound Engineering and Education. He leads undergrad and postgrad courses at dBs Music, acts as Producer for Live in Session and, is a huge fan of vintage recording gear.