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My dad's 1978 vinyl copy of Rumours changed how I listen to modern mixes | Blast from the Past - Free To Speak

My dad's 1978 vinyl copy of Rumours changed how I listen to modern mixes

I was visiting my parents in Portland last month and my dad pulled out his old Fleetwood Mac Rumours album. We listened to it on his beat up Technics turntable from 1982 and I swear I heard details in the drums and guitars I never catch on Spotify. Now I'm wondering if I should ditch my streaming subscription and hunt for a used turntable at thrift stores. Has anyone else noticed their favorite old albums sound way different on vinyl?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_leo2mo ago

That whole bit about your dad's Technics table from '82 got me thinking. My uncle had one of those and he used to stack four records on the spindle at once like some kind of madman. Thing lasted forever though. Reminds me of this time my friend tried to play a 45 on 33 speed because he was too lazy to change it. Suddenly a 2 minute single sounded like a funeral dirge. We laughed about it for weeks. Anyway, the warmth thing is real but it also depends on your speakers. I had a pair of old Advents that made everything sound like it was underwater. Swapped them out for some JBLs and suddenly even my digital files had that rumble you are talking about. Go figure.

reese_lee92mo ago

I used to be solidly in the "vinyl is just hipster nostalgia" camp. Then my buddy brought over his original pressing of DSOTM from 73 and we played it against the 2016 remaster on Tidal. The vinyl had this warmth in the bass that the digital version just flattened out completely. Sold my Spotify subscription two weeks later and found a Pioneer table at Goodwill for 12 bucks.

margaretramirez2mo ago

Oh come on, you're telling me that a 50 year old record with all its pops and crackles sounds better than a lossless digital file? That's just your brain tricking you because you want it to be true. The 2016 remaster is objectively cleaner and more accurate to what they recorded in the studio. You're basically saying you prefer the sound of degraded tape and dust in the grooves over hearing the actual music the way it was intended. And don't get me started on the convenience factor, having to flip the record every 20 minutes is not some cool ritual, it's an interruption.