By the 1990s vinyl was declared dead and those amazing, small shiny discs that had only existed in the realms of science fiction became a reality. Compact Discs were born and laughed at the fragility of our beloved vinyl! These new discs were small, robust and almost indestructible. Those trusted aides from ‘Tomorrow’s World’ smeared jam on them and still managed to blast Dire Straits out at full volume. Furthermore, the amount of data they could hold for their size was astonishing. And the sound quality absolutely crystal clear!
So just why has vinyl refused to die? Firstly it’s important to recognize that CD was not the Golden Goose sold to us in the Nineties but instead more of a cash cow. Hapless consumers offloaded their vinyl by the bucket load blissfully unaware that technicians at Sony had devised a ‘laser’ that read vinyl without physically touching it and converted the information to digital, giving more clarity to the produced sound than CD ever could.
CDs aside another problem I have with digital technology is it hasn’t been a forward progression sonically. IPods, MP3 players are all about compression, like the analogy of how many elephants you can fit in a mini? Plenty if you compress them enough!
Truth is vinyl has a unique aura. Covers and artwork can be truly revered, like any good art it needs a fair sized canvas to breathe; not to be shrunk down to postcard size. This gave our beloved vinyl a sense of value that CD couldn’t provide.
Another analog format enjoying a new lease of life is cassette tape. Before uploads and downloads cassette was the vehicle for musical sharing. People taped albums, gave them to their friends, taped FM broadcasts, created mix tapes and a massive cassette trading culture sprang up. But cassette quality was generally poor. Tape to tape machines added background noise meaning that an original recording would become inaudible several generations on. However, yet again this problem was eventually solved by Dolby laboratories who created Dolby ‘s’. This function could filter out all hiss without affecting any of the original sound. Sadly, by the time this innovation was added to tape recorders in 1993, cassette was already on a decline.
Tape however, is now enjoying a renaissance, with bands and small record labels taking a DIY approach to cassette production, using the medium for demos and single releases.
Eliot Mostyn Humphreys, co-founder of Cheese Crust records, explains why cassette has become his medium of choice for their releases;
“For me cassette is a great format. It’s pocket-sized and a great medium to work with artistically. “I also love the hiss as this gives it a sense of authenticity and a nostalgic feeling. It stands out curiously against digital and means you have to go to extra lengths just to listen to it”.
So regardless of alleged technical inferiority, the analog format enjoys unrivalled longevity unmatched by digital formats. It’s seems clear that despite its shortcomings analog has a warmth, soul and aura that has cemented its place in the past and the future; analog is here to stay.
– Brendan Griffiths
