CDs over LP/records assessment - a must watch for experts and beginners

Lol, yes! For our two year anniversary I gave her a ticket to see Phil Collins live in Santiago, Chile a month ago... so I got my revenge! Just kidding, we both love Phil.

 

Instead of being soured by news of this outright scam, my takeaway is that you are blessed with a beautiful gem of a girlfriend!

Obviously, her heart is in the right place...
(...just please don’t tell her she got rooked....... just say you’ll learn How To Restore Vinyl yourself )

Think of it...
There are many forum members here, who collect vinyl, yet their significant others don’t quite share, um, the same passion.

Then, there are other members who enjoy vinyl, and are lucky that their mates, also do... or at least understand, to a certain degree.

However, your girlfriend paid a hefty sum, just to give you that start to a possible newfound passion with vinyl... she’s actually encouraging and endorsing it!

That’s a type of love none of us can buy!!!

 

Absolutely man! Telling her she overpayed would be kind of mean and wouldn't wanna see her sad or anything and I'm really grateful for this present. I'll listen to them first once I buy a turntable in the near future, these will always be my first records. The news don't really sour me, I just feel a little sad she got a bit taken advantage of but after all she really is incredible, you are completely right.

 

Any chance she mixed up the word restored for remastered? Are the albums sealed? Does Phil look old on the covers?

 

Not much of a help. Phil looked old on the original covers as well.

 

Which two albums were they? It’s no crime in enjoying Phil....especially the first few up to and including No Jacket Required!

 

I'm positively 100% sure she said original records from the 80s, restored by the owner himself. If you're referring to the Take a Look at Me Now remastering campaign I do have the complete set where he recreated the original album covers 30 years later. These two albums where not sealed, just came in its plastic bag. If any of you are curious I could post some pictures, just let me know.

 

I need to see these restored records. First time ive heard of this process.

 

I absolutely love Phil! One of my favorite artists along with Peter Gabriel and Genesis is my all time favorite band, but many people love to bring the hate on him and his music for over exposure or whatever reason that it's become a little ridiculous to do so in my opinion, but I get where they're coming from, a lot of them actually dislike his music very much, but it's fun to joke around as long as it's kept civil.
She gave me Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going, the first two albums. A year before I gave her the Take a Look At Me Now box that included Face Value and Both Sides, and when we were only friends I gave her Peter Gabriel's So limited digipak CD, she discovered both artists and I introduced her to Genesis and she now loves them.

 

Sure! I'll upload pictures a little bit later. Of course, I think you guys are right and that it's a bit of a scam/oversell, I bet your copies are just as good or even better, but I will upload pictures of both of them, but I don't think they look anything out of the ordinary.

 

I grew up with records, and cassettes (but let’s not go there.), and was never really happy with either. When CDs came along I jumped on the bandwagon so fast I nearly broke my ankle. I couldn’t believe the clarity, ease of use and hardiness of the format. And let’s not forget...no more crackles and pops. I don’t want this to be a ‘let’s bash vinyl’ post, because I freely admit the handful of record decks I had in my teens and early twenties weren’t of the best quality. Nor was I especially careful with my records. I tried to be, but they’re pretty unforgiving if you’re a bit on the clumsy side.

I will say I was always annoyed by the problems of vinyl. I don’t think I got many ‘quiet’ pressings. Even today, I still appreciate the lack of background noise on CDs. I would also add that vinyl does have a warmth to it’s sound that CD struggles to replicate. I do understand this is a major pull. Especially with the bad mastering/loudness wars that have afflicted the CD format for over 20 years now.

So, in 2018 I’m still a CD fan. They’re reasonably cheap and still plentiful. Especially if you frequent charity shops and eBay where great deals are commonplace. I do read the vinyl threads here sometimes and am shocked at the problems that affect many titles now. They aren’t cheap nowadays and anyone buying vinyl often has to accept that it might take a couple of ‘go’s’ before they get the quality pressing they want.

I don’t think I’d ever collect vinyl again. Even if I could afford decent equipment and the product itself. However, it is nice to see it back in the shops and doing well. I’m all for as much physical product being available as possible.

 

A friend of mine used to clean his records with Pledge in the 80s. They didn’t sound great, but they really shone.

 

One word of warning, which is probably obvious to many on this forum but not all: Don't buy one of those cheap Crosley/Victorola/etc. turntables. Their tonearms are too heavy and have the potential to damage your records. Plus, you're not going to appreciate the sonic goodness of a good-sounding record if you're listening to 2-inch speakers anyway.

Here's where you find out how much your girlfriend really loves you (ha ha) because you'll probably want to spend a non-trivial amount of cash on a decent turntable, amp and speakers. I would say to skimp on the latter two if rather than the turntable since you can always upgrade your amp and speakers later, but if you buy a cheap turntable and damage your records, you can't "refurbish" them again later.

Without going into too much detail -- and with the caveat that there are plenty of "audiophiles" who will tell you that you need to spend at least a thousand bucks on a turntable or you might as well throw your records in the trash -- your main concern should be the quality of the stylus and (especially) the tracking force (mass) of the tonearm. Again, you can always upgrade later, but you can't repair a record that's been physically damaged by a too-heavy tonearm.

 

If there is a way to ‘restore’ vinyl, there’s going to be a lot of very happy people on SHF.

 

Hello to Bolivia!

I think we have tried to help you understand the easy ways you can get deluded into paying more for something that you should really try and understand before you take your wallet out (same goes for your girlfriend, as generous and thoughtful gesture as it was).

With that in mind, I'm not sure if you are the person to try and convince this forum of the superiority of the CD medium with a YouTube video.

(Personally, I do believe in the superiority of the digital medium, in the way of ergonomics as opposed to the vinyl medium I grew up with. My experience is, just forgetting for a couple of generations how much interference comes in-between you and the music in the grooves, has convinced me most people will be far more satisfied with a good mastering on a CD through a medium-priced system, than the same mastering put onto an LP, and dealing one-by-one with every audio artifact that pops up, just to hear, eventually what will prove to be, the same mastering on the CD. Make no mistake, I do indeed believe an LP can bring you a superior audio experience...but only after the highly-un-ergonomic - and expensive - experience of tracking down vinyl quality, matching the right components of a turntable, cartridge, stylus, interconnects, going back to the dealer for better sound equipment, investing in a record washer, weighing your purchase options versus affording more records, and frankly, food for the kids...and then ultimately settling for a result your budget can afford you, and being willing to listen through whatever tics, pops, scratches, hum, road noise and gremlins that are still lilely to pop up next...none of which you need to go through with a CD player to achieve the satisfaction of bringing your friends and yourself hours of highly-improved listening satisfaction...all while keeping in the back of your head the dream that you still could be merely one lottery jackpot away from Achieving The Ultimate Sound Experience that everybody who ever tried to sell you on it, promised to you. Glory, Hosanna, Hallelujah.)

 

Man like others have said, cherish the fact that your girlfriend supports your music habit and very well could have turned you on to a new habit. Welcome to the dark side lol. And those two PC records are amazing....and now you can always say they were your “first” on vinyl.

 

I will say he has a soothing vocal presentation. Just not sure if I really learned anything from the video. Purt much basic stuff there.
It is obvious he is not a vinyl junkie though!
To the OP - enjoy your journey, wherever it takes you!

 

That dude has to post on here regularly.

 

It's not my intention to convince people that CDs are a superior medium, I haven't even given records a try, so you're right by saying I'm not the right person to try to do something of the sort. But really what I wanted to convey with the link of the video is that whatever medium or release you have of a certain album, there are different options and each of them offer something unique and special to it and that it's not a general rule that a record always sounds better than the CD or a hissy cassette tape, but when something sounds off or you're not sure why you're not enjoying a certain song or album maybe check with other formats until you find the one that sounds right for you, may it be records or CDs. I love that part because you also give the albums several chances and time to digest it before it's quickly passed over because of the convenience and easy access to online streaming or youtube videos, it's a lost passion. There are several albums out there loved by many people, but somehow doesn't tickle your skin... I am extremely curious as to why and wouldn't want to pass over excellent music because of a lack of patience or not giving the work more chances and dedication. If ultimately you end up not ever liking the music for some reason you can at least say you gave it many chances and maybe in the near future your opinion changes (which is one of the reasons I really enjoy reissues and box sets, really)

 

Ya know, back before the invention of the scanner (no, not the Police/Fire variety), there were photographic businesses who served their communities with the art of "restoring" their precious family photographs. Presented with a distressed old photogrph, these artistes would clean the photo, buff-out or cover-up smudges, smears or blemishes, painstakingly erase or lessen the effects of damages from folds, aging photochemical processes...and in many cases, warm those treasured family memories with a little dash of pastel here and there to add to the realism of that magical day before your customer was even born. All hand-crafted, lovingly labored upon, conscientously massaged and nudged back at least a little further into a more pristine version of the portrait or whatever the customer came in with.

And usually, just to make sure the reproduction of the reproduction/"restoration" stood to last at least and possibly even further throughout the familys' history as the original, the shop would also include a fresh print of the finished product, so you might be moved to hide the original away from the elements, and instead show of a cleaner, fresher print of the piece, made that very week, instead.

Wait - I said, "before scanners", didn't I...? (Hold on, there's real relevance here to this thread, I promise!)

I have a lovely example of turn-of-the-century photographical portraiture depicting my grandfather, slightly brushed-up and tinted to bring some color to his cheeks, that has frankly survived his family's own history who knows how. But now it's in my posession, and I would love to bring it back to life so the family could enjoy it. In fact, they all deserve a copy. I have some pretty good skills with Photoshopping, and an eye for not overdoing it (perhaps informed by years of audio studio work), and I would like to take a crack at the thing...but only after I've given the original a chance at "restoration", so I'd be working with the cleanest, freshest state of the art before I made copies to try my own skills. And to that effect, I reached out and researched, and tried to find some of the best artistes of the craft possible, to get me started with a good image. And, ya know what they all told me, to a "T"...?

"Sure, we can do that - first, we start by making a scan of your original..." *click*-buuuzzzzzzz..... Over and over. Seems, NONE of these "artistes" nowadays, starts with the "artiste"-ing part! They just jump right into the copy-and-preservation of all that dusty old natural dismalness I'm trying to get removed BEFORE I start the scanning-and-freshening, and work from there! And that's not just me doing bad research on who would be the best to entrust the first stage of this project to - it's the norm now!

NOW, coming back to our thread...if somebody who doesn't appear to know what she's doing walks up to a guy with a lot of records in the back of his store, expecting him to do his darnedest to take the sands of time out of your old recording, as a gift for somebody who really appreciates the music...don't be surprised if his first comment after his palm gets greased is, "Yeah, hang on, I think I got one in the back..." (with the unspoken conclusion to that sentence: "...in the dollar bin...").

 

If you are making copies for your family, then scanning the photograph and working from the resulting image is probably the quickest and easiest way. Restoring an actual photograph is something different, and is best left to someone with expertise in the area (and there won't be many people with that level of expertise).

Now it may be that something has been lost in translation. And "restoring" the record simply means cleaning it and the sleeve.

 

Don't understand your comment...

 

I don't own a turntable and even I've used that joke on here. That being said, the first I ever heard of that process was from Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach and he did it as a last resort on a flood damaged album and said it worked like a miracle.

 

That is where I first heard about that as well

 

Some images requested. I included pictures of sleeves and the arwork and everything because I supposed this is part of the "restoring" and includes everything it originally did.