![]() One, it's going to prevent the needle from jumping right out of the groove if it gets too extreme. The term can sometimes be applied to vinyl in that the physical limitations of what the medium is able to store and reproduce is such that it can be advantageous, particularly in the lower frequencies, to reduce the dynamic range - meaning the low notes that are being captured - to reduce the dynamic range to do a couple of things. So if the singer gets too loud, it doesn't jump out of the track, and if gets too quiet, it doesn't get buried behind the other instruments. That can be done in a creative sense, where we can apply, say, dynamic compression to a vocal track that needs to sit over a jazz trio, for example. METCALFE: Well, dynamic compression is a tool that we may apply to reduce the overall dynamic range. And when we talk about dynamic range in a recording medium, we're talking about the range between the noise floor - sort the bottom point where the noise becomes a distraction - to the top point, where it starts to introduce harmonic distortion, where the, technically, the waves that are being captured start to change in their form, and they're no longer precisely what we're feeding into it. METCALFE: Dynamic range we can think of initially as a musical term, meaning the range from the loudest notes being played to the softest notes being played. Maybe I'll ask you, Scott Metcalfe, first. So when we're talking about all of this digital technology, there's a lot of terminology that I don't think everyone completely understands. So what we found was that vinyl was a limiting factor in our ability to do accurate and reliable listening tests on loudspeakers, and we had to find a more reliable and more accurate medium.ĭANKOSKY: I just wanted to say quickly, I'm John Dankosky, and this is SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR. And we were testing cartridges at that time, and it was quite apparent that the amount of distortion coming out of these devices was very high compared to CD. And I was involved in testing loudspeakers up at the National Research Council in Canada. OLIVE: Well, I mean, I grew up listening to records up until about '85, when the CD was already out. I think I know your answer, but vinyl or CD? But it's nice as an engineer to have the confidence of knowing that what I'm putting into - in most cases these days, the computer - is pretty close to what I'm going to get out.ĭANKOSKY: Sean Olive, I have to ask you. And I think, to an extent, it's that sound that some people are really drawn to. With analog formats, although the sound can be very pleasing in certain styles, it's definitely imparting its own sound on it. And it's - the closer thing to what I'm sending into the recorder is very much what I'm getting back out. METCALFE: Well, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm primarily a recording engineer, as far as working with music. METCALFE: I enjoy both formats, but my preference is definitely CD. Thank you so much for joining us, Scott.ĭANKOSKY: So, first of all, I'll ask you, Scott: vinyl or CD? ![]() Thank you for inviting me.ĭANKOSKY: And Scott Metcalfe is director of recording arts and sciences at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. He joins us from the studios of NPR West in Culver City, California. Sean Olive is director of acoustic research at Harman International. It's - listening to music is an experience, and a full experience includes putting on the record, moving over the needle and sitting back and rocking out.ĭANKOSKY: OK. First, though, here's Laura from Main St. For the rest of this hour, we'll be talking about the science of audio, what all those bit rates and sample frequency terms mean, and we'll find out how your perceptions could affect what you hear. These purists wonder if digital files can really give you that analog sound of our youth. ![]() Lots of audiophiles say that when it comes to sound quality, nothing beats vinyl. And these days, most of us probably get our music in the form of downloads - no heavy boxes, but no fancy cover art, either. And when you moved out of your parents' house, out of your first apartment, you hauled milk crates filled with your music collection onto your next life. Being an audiophile meant devoting shelves and shelves and shelves and shelves to your album collection. When I was a kid, music took up a lot of room - not in your hard drive, but in your life. Up next: how to tell your CD from your MP3, from your AAC.
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