Ah, what an interesting species we are! Stick with me here and you’ll see what I’m driving at. As an audiophile, we typically strive for the ultimate, unparalleled conditions with which to enjoy or record our music and sound quality. Since the invention of the record, there have been numerous complaints among audiophiles of the day that vinyl recordings had a random surface noise generated by non-musical friction of groove imperfections in the vinyl against the needle on the phonograph. We called it “Needle Noise” and we hated it. While it was present in every recording and all the time, we largely tuned it out, but there was always a quiet part or a subtle pause in a piece of music where we wanted silence and instead we heard the random shellacking noise described above. We dreamed of the pure silent perfection of Digital Recording.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (MFSL) even printed premium records called UHQR for Ultra High-Quality Records. These were pressed with half speed masters on virgin vinyl, costing $50 when the standard issue LP record sold for $5-$8. Having dramatically less needle noise, these records were enjoyable to listen to, but still not “absolutely free of random noise”. We longed for Digital Recordings where everything was converted to 0’s and 1’s. In the quiet passages there would be nothing but zeros and we could enjoy absolute silence. We longed diligently, lusted openly, prayed, begged and urged for Digital Recordings.
Then came the cassette era. While Philips had originally invented the Compact Cassette purely for dictation, it was explained that the tape speed of 1 7/8 inches per second was too slow to offer good musical fidelity. Dramatic improvements in cassette recording techniques along with the invention of chromium dioxide biased tape allowed modern music recordings to sound great. And hey, there was no needle noise, but a new enemy emerged: tape hiss. While there is no vinyl and no needle, thus no needle noise, the tape is coated with mylar and imperfections in the mylar moving past the playback head create a high frequency random noise called Tape Hiss. Dolby labs and dbx, among others, created “Noise Reduction” which are a compounding recording/playback dual system that greatly reduced, but did not fully eliminate tape hiss. Even excellent tape could only handle a certain amount of Dynamic Range. Still, we longed for the silent, noiseless wide Dynamic Range of Digital Recordings.
Then it happened! No, the world didn’t end. No, I did not win the lottery. A joint research effort between Sony and Philips created the protocol for the compact disc (CD) which allowed full digital recording. Noiseless lead in, noiseless quiet passages in Rock, Dance, Jazz, Classical, Country, etc were hailed as “Perfection” by audiophiles- well almost everybody. A few said that digital recordings lacked “warmth” or that “they liked the vinyl copies” of favorite recordings better than their CD counterparts, despite the admitted needle noise or tape hiss. What? After waiting for so long for ultra-wide dynamic range, noiseless Digital Recordings, the big news from recording companies is that the latest versions of artists’ albums are being issued again in vinyl (LP). Blasphemy! Vinyl is coming back!
A similar story can be told with the evolution of US mail to fax to email to text to instant message, social media etc. etc. Yeah sure, there’s nothing faster or more instantaneous than email, text or other such electronic communication, but it doesn’t always invoke the same emotional, gut-wrenching, pull-at-your-heartstrings response that a good old analog, printed Send Out Card can bring. I kid you not, Send Out Cards has found that when a person sends a heartfelt, personalized card people tend to keep them on their desk, refrigerator or bulletin board sometimes years after the original send date just because the recipient is so blown away that the sender thought enough of them to create a unique, personalized card. While I myself am a huge proponent of digital recordings in the CD, digital audio tape or MP3 modalities, I was touched greatly by the reception of my first SendOutCards sent to me by Lorrie Kueffer. Contact me and I’ll gladly share with you my story. Do not under estimate the power, even in this digital age of a heartfelt printed send out card. Have a conversation with Ralph Harold, “guywithtwofirstnames.com,” avoid “perceived indifference” and “Take it to the Bank.”
Ralph Harold
ralph@guywithtwofirstnames.com
816-808-2465