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Re: Question for Duff: Is Appetite Better On CD or Vinyl? askduff@seattlew
DuffMcKagan64 Duff McKagan
RT @swreverb Question for Duff: Business Considerations Aside, Is Appetite Better On CD or Vinyl? http://bit.ly/i609PZ
2 hours ago
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2 … ss_con.php
Duff McKagan
Question for Duff: Business Considerations Aside, Is Appetite Better On CD or Vinyl?
By Duff McKagan, Mon., Dec. 13 2010 @ 8:02AM
Categories: Duff McKagan 
Q: I recently received a primo condition copy of (Guns N' Roses') Appetite For Destruction on vinyl that I bought from some serious collector dude in Kentucky who is selling all his wax and moving to a music server. He has his reasons, but I am sad for him...
It's been awhile since I've heard this album in it's analogue form; through a diamond and some high powered vintage era stereo-wars kit, and it sounds so fucking awesome it's making my pubic hairs stand on end. Which makes me wonder: What's your take on the analogue vs. digital debate? Do you have a preference when it comes to the formats? I'm not talking about what you have to do to sell music these days -- I'm asking if you have a preference when it comes to sitting down for some serious listening.
For yucks, I just A/B'd the two versions through the same system and I gotta tell you that to my admittedly Lizzy-chromed ear canals, the vinyl has an almost 3-D quality and sonic signature that is absent in my compact disc version. The vinyl sounds better and it's not even close.
Am I just showing my age here being ancient and cranky about the superiority of the old ways, or is there something to be said for that chunky old analogue sound? -- El Hugo
Duff: Yeah, well, in a whole shit-ton of ways, digital music fucking killed my business.
Back when CD's first came out, I had just started making real money in GNR. I had the best turntable and amps and speakers that money could buy, and I remember Slash and I going to a CD store on Ventura Blvd. to buys some CDs and a couple of CD players. This store had everything, and I remember just starting from 'A' and ending at 'Z', filling up a whole shopping cart while basically re-stocking everything I had on vinyl.
It seemed like this was cutting edge shit, and that I was at the forefront of the technology...until I got home and realized it ALL sounded like shit compared to my vinyl. Anyone who says different, must just be so used to every bit of a digital track being used up, that actual 'space' in a song, must sound weird and maybe archaic.
But back then, we didn't realize that this was just a game being played by the major labels to do what Slash and I had fell hook, line, and sinker for; re-buying ALL of their product! Multiply that by everyone on this planet, and you are talking about trillions of dollars! What the major label powers were too short-sighted and greedy to realize is that home computers were becoming more and more popular, and that digital bits and pieces could be sent back and forth between users.
The artist is STILL the one paying the ultimate price. With gas prices up so high, no one selling CDs, and lower ticket prices EVERYWHERE, it will be a miracle to have any other choice but seeing local bands for awhile. In Seattle, though, that ain't such a bad thing!
In addition to his Thursday column, Duff McKagan is now answering reader questions throughout the week. Write to him at askduff@seattleweekly.com
Re: Question for Duff: Is Appetite Better On CD or Vinyl? askduff@seattlew
Interesting. I grew up on LP's & cassettes even when CD was exploding and taking over, because we were too poor to invest in tons of CD devices, plus the actual albums.
At first when I first heard it (CD), it seemed cleaner, but hollow to my ears in comparison to records. I talked to friends and asked around, and everyone told me how fucking stupid I was and crazy and that CD's own the ass of lame ass records (primarily because it was their daddy's music device), and how much I reguarly sucked because of it. I didn't even buy my first MP3 player until last year, because I was so stuck in the old way.
Then suddenly around them mid-2000's, there's all this revisionist mix master shit and suddenly all of these amateur DJ's start talking up about how LP's are superior to CD's. I felt like "duh, I was saying that 10 years ago and being laughed at".
Records bost a far stronger, bigger sound, and personally - AUTHENTIC - sound, that I wish I could carry one around everywhere for music. In some ways CD's are too flawless, too clean. I kind of like it the old way, like Duff.
jmho
Re: Question for Duff: Is Appetite Better On CD or Vinyl? askduff@seattlew
I feel yeh! My grandmother gave me her console radio when i was 6ish. It had a 8-track, multi speed record player, a duel cassette player Big cover your earand half your head earphones,and microphones! by say 8 I was plundering everyones music collection. it was amazing at the music in my room by the time I was 12ish. Thats when I finally started to buy new music on cd.
The records were fun to play at different speeds. The scraches pops and eventually warped or broke. 8-track was well...fun because my brothers chevelle had one! and the other cassettes I always wore them out. or recorded over the ones i didnot like from the tv or radio.
Imma go with digital music as my fav. It has done alot to replace all the old broken outdated devices I have owned and missed. Its also easier to send and share music now. Storage is also much easier now. My uncle was into vinyl with something like 12,000 records when he passed away.
Duff has a point about market moves to replace the tech every few years.
- tejastech08
- Rep: 194
Re: Question for Duff: Is Appetite Better On CD or Vinyl? askduff@seattlew
CD's hold 700 megs of data. I've read that a converted LP would be similar to a dual layer DVD, which is 8 gigs. I don't think there's any doubt that LP's offer better sound quality.
