Is Vinyl Making a Comeback?
There was nothing like taking a new vinyl record out of its jacket. The smell of the vinyl, the crispness of the jacket and the way that the record shined before you put it on the turntable brings back memories of an era that seem faded to most people.
Well the vinyl market is alive and kicking! It’s just in a different realm! Most people still prefer vinyl because it has a warm sound and is not too digital like CD’s are. There are still musicians who prefer to put their music on vinyl for specialized markets and some would rather fight than switch to the CD format.
The vinyl market is really thriving in the genres of techno, rap/hip-hop/trance and dance music. These genres incorporate DJ’s that have to mix, blend and “scratch” sounds while the main beat is playing. It’s real hard to do that with CD’s because CD’s are not as flexible with vinyl. With vinyl, you can line up the record player needle and just blend or scratch a certain part of the album or record.
Most individuals and bands still produce the 12 inch vinyl record for special remixes and send them to DJ’s as promotional items. Some bands and groups do special editions for the fans and the fans love the sound!
So what goes around, comes around! Vinyl is making a special comeback in certain music markets.
The last vinyly record I bought was in 1991 - I think it was The Doors or some other 60’s band. I still miss that smell though, and the crackling sound at the beginning and end of tracks.
I wonder if I’ll feel this nostalgic about CDs in a few years time….I doubt it.
I still have loads of vinyl and get great pleasure out of getting Floyd and Zappa out of thier great artwork sleeves, sure they are getting a bit battered now, but the slight hizz and the crackle as the stylus hits the album is priceless - long live vinyl
I have always been a fan of the vinyl. I even recently bought a special edition one of A Fire Inside’s pre-release for December Underground. While, of course, compact disks are used mostly today with downloaded music files becoming large too, vinyls seem dead, but there is still a fan base out there that likes the classics. Special edition vinyls will stay popular for a while.
I agree with Dan. I just love hearing that “crackling” sound. In fact, many hip hop artists in the 90’s put that crackling effect in a lot of their songs and it turned out brilliantly. I’ve always loved vinyl. I could never stand cassette tapes and the way it was so easy for them to break, but please, bring on the Vinyl !