{Discussion moved from the music room}


Hi Alex,

Sorry Marco, busy day today, so not had the chance to respond.

Yes, I did play it again (at twice the volume ) and I do indeed agree that it is a good recording - very "tight" with plenty of warmth. However, (here's where the fisticuffs start ) I've got plenty of modern recordings that have similar attributes - though I would suggest that they are all "proper" recording artists/producers. To take your point, I do agree that a lot (most) of what is today called "pop" has been over produced, and tailored for ipods and computer speakers, but I don't necessarily agree that just because it is recorded in the digital domain it is crap... Suggest you move this to a separate thread before you kick my ass!

(Actually, the worst sounding CDs I've got are those that were recorded before CD came along, and then were just transferred "straight" to digital... (I presume) - bass light, far too much etched treble...)
No worries, dude

Re: the bit in bold... It's not that all-digital recordings are crap - far from it; some are very good indeed, but rather that to my ears the best sounding CDs by a country mile (other than the cream of the audiophile discs currently produced) were those made during the mid to late 80s, which used to be marked as 'AAD', and were produced from an analogue source.

The Electribe 101 album was one of the last of those.

If you're struggling to discern the unique sonic characteristics these discs have (and it *is* unique) compared to all-digital recordings, fair enough. However, I'm sure that if you listen more carefully you'll definitely be able to hear the difference.

What I'd suggest you do if you have time this weekend, just as a bit of fun, is look out, say, a dozen mid to late 1980s 'pop' CDs (I presume you have some?) marked 'AAD' and the same amount of 'pop' CDs from all-digital recordings made today, which are 'DDD', but are no longer marked as such, and then report what you hear in a thread in 'Digital Expressions'.

Would you do that for me? I'm sure that people would find the results interesting, and I'd value your opinion.

If after listening to the CDs you genuinely 'get' where I'm coming from, it'll be invaluable experience for you during any 'analogue vs. digital' debates in future

Marco.