Can Digital Recordings Sound as Good as Analog?

In this http://www.artistshousemusic.org video interview, Carl Beatty, a veteran engineer and Professor of Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music, discusses whether digital recordings can sound as good as analog, and what determines the quality of a good or bad digital recording. He also shares his thoughts on whether or not consumers care about sound quality.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Berklee
• Carl
• Beatty
• Engineer
• Recording
• Sound

[lindenhu]

He doesn't hear the middle on cd because the low end bass of vinyl is all panned to the middle. So, the middle on vinyl is in the wrong place, but people have fallen in love with that. The bass is in the middle on vinyl because of a physical limitation of the cutter head. This from a veteran engineer.

[louiscfc93]

@5irR4p70r you blame rap even tho rap has been around before digital.blame modern technology and youths lack of  appreciation of music

[discoAL]

i didnt care at first but when they started to reissue the records i loved on DIGITALLY REMASTERED cds, i noticed right away. the sound was crystal clear, and i remember saying to myself "wtf happend to the low-end" digital was too bright and airy, it wasnt the same feel and listening experience for me.

[gotchaman80]

I can't stand the older "Johnny come lately's" that are now just getting into music because they can buy it on CD and in the early days were to lazy to:

A. Buy a good turntable with a good needle.

B. Owned cheap cassette players so their tapes sounded horrible.

[rickcrouch]

I don't believe digital (@high sample/bit depth) sounds worse than analogue, just that the sound engineers have lost touch with what music should sound like, or that they have to answer to someone higher than them that doesn't have a clue.

[carpdiem88]

FLAC will fastly replace MP3s in the next few years.

[MrDaveFerrier]

agreed, to me the middle in digital is less focused. center mixed material in analogue recordings seem to have a really nicely pinned image

[RiaRadioFMHD773]

In my opinion, digital is cold, harsh and rather (blue), while analogue is warm, full of feeling and (orange). Having stated that, my favorite digital codec has to be FLAC because it most closely reproduces all the nuances that analogue contains. the 3rd channel of stereo (right minus left) is most noticably clear in analogue and FLAC while in mp3, if low bit rate, tends to sound "watery". I would love to hear some mp3's in 640kbps if possible and compare them side by side with FLAC.

[bryceHUHwhat]

In the immortal words of Dr. John Zoidberg, "(if) Your recording technique is bad (then) you should feel bad."

[cygnusx211268]

@lindenhu That is only dependent on how the music was mixed.

[MrKaivalyapada]

Yes, sir! You are absolutely right! Long live the analogue!

[apd10141]

who thinks he looks like jemaine clement