11-04-2010, 15:48
Good question...
My preference is for the warm sound of vinyl, so I'd have to say high quality analog recordings represent the Golden Age IMO.
Having said that, there are plenty of excellent wholly digital recordings, so I guess ultimately the care and attention that goes into the sound of a recording is what matters.
Furthermore, recording quality pales into insignificance if the music's no good. I'd rather listen to poorly recorded shit-hot music than well recorded junk.
I've fairly limited experience of mono recordings, but I know the hardcore Beatles fans rave about the mono versions of their early albums (I came close to ordering the mono box-set of recent Beatles remasters), and then there's Phil Spector's output...
My preference is for the warm sound of vinyl, so I'd have to say high quality analog recordings represent the Golden Age IMO.
Having said that, there are plenty of excellent wholly digital recordings, so I guess ultimately the care and attention that goes into the sound of a recording is what matters.
Furthermore, recording quality pales into insignificance if the music's no good. I'd rather listen to poorly recorded shit-hot music than well recorded junk.
I've fairly limited experience of mono recordings, but I know the hardcore Beatles fans rave about the mono versions of their early albums (I came close to ordering the mono box-set of recent Beatles remasters), and then there's Phil Spector's output...