Sir Didymus wrote:I'm kind of thinking there's a better way to do it.
Clearly the band think so too, as the recent NOTW reissue attests, going back to the original mastertapes to present a true analogue cut. I somehow don't think it'll be the last, and I have neither the space nor the finances to buy all these albums over and over again.
I just want the best quality versions possible. If they're not going to bother with Blu-Ray audio (and there's no sign of that happening any time soon), then analogue masters cut fresh for vinyl is the only option I'm willingly parting with cash and shelf-space for from here.
----------------------------------------------
Worth reading:
In Defense of Digital: What You ACTUALLY Miss About Analog Tape :
http://performermag.com/home-recording/ ... alog-tape/----------------------------------------------
Personally, I prefer vinyls because of the big format, the artwork and because it is a very durable material to store music on, for decades.. even through wartime. It is not affected by sunstorms or any kind of hacking, viruses or such taking over your computer ...and you are not dependent on internet connection, or a computer, cell-phone, Bluetooth or any kind of monthly cost to Spotify or whatever to play your music. All those things are also fine and practical, but I like to have the vinyls too, of the artists that I care about.
What I care less about, is if the vinyl was made directly from the mastertapes, or from the mastertapes + through a digital process before it entered the vinyl. No matter what, when playing the LPs on my turntable, I hear the sound coming from those grooves, and through the speakers, and that is what it is all about.
And remember, those late 80s/90s albums by Queen (The Miracle, Innuendo and MIH) and most new albums today, were recorded digitally in the studio, not on reel-to-reel analogue tapes. Queen used DASH tapes (Digital Audio Stationary Head) from 1989-1995. And I am not sure about AKOM.
So for the last albums, when they decide to put the music on vinyl as well, there never really was an analogue recording in the first place. There are no analogue mastertapes to go back to, as with the other Queen albums.
I like CDs too, and therefore I have all the Queen music archived on both CD and vinyl. For the daily use, I find streaming or old CDs good enough. The Studio Collection I have for archive reasons and rare playing only. I also find the box a nice way of storing/protecting the vinyls from the sun and the environment. As I remember, at the beginning, buying this box was actually cheaper than buying each album separately on black vinyl. In addition you got the colored vinyl, the solid box to store them in, a thin protecting cover for each album and a big, high quality book, only available with this collection. So for me, this was an offer I could not refuse. And to this day, I find it my best ever Queen investment.
---------------------------------------
Worth reading:
https://brianmay.com/queen/thegame/technical.htmlJustin Shirley Smith:
Since Queen own nearly all their own recordings, and have a comprehensive database of them, it was not difficult to locate the required master tapes. We treat these original tapes extremely carefully and try to minimise playing them due to their obvious value and relative vulnerability. Therefore, we never mix directly from the original tapes - we always work from copies.----------------------------------------------