Analog or digital music: which is better?

There have been many discussions about the merits and shortcomings of both analog and digital music recording and playback. I think everyone has their place in today’s music scene. When I was in the music business during the 70s, analog dominated the recording industry, and the ‘Holy Grail’ was to record and reproduce music in the most accurate way without distortion.

ANALOG My first introduction to a professional recording studio was in 1969 at the American Recording Company on Ventura Blvd in Studio City, CA. The producer was Richie Podolor (stage name: Richie Allen) and the engineer was Bill Cooper. In my humble opinion, that was the best production team in the music business during the late 60s, 70s and 80s. It is almost incredible the body of work that this team, both together and individually, created. The albums listed for the American Recording Company on the allmusic website say it all.

My point is, I learned analog sound from the best. Richie and Bill showed me what recorded audio should sound like and what analog equipment can reproduce. American Recording Company was all amplified to tube (Mcintosh), mixed with an analog plate (rotary potentiometers) and recorded on tape. Many of the songs we still hear today were recorded at the American Recording Company and all exemplify the epitome of analog sound.

I have a collection of reel to reel tapes. I play those tapes through the Sony (discrete) mixing console and amplify them with a tube amp that drives vintage JBL and Altec monitors. The sound quality is excellent. The sound is warm with a soft, lulling feel to spend hours listening to. I put on the Moody Blues – “A Matter of Balance”. I close my eyes and can easily visualize the sound field (the location and apparent location of the various instruments and voices). Each is clearly defined and sounds “warm” due to the overtones and harmonics that are present in all analog-processed musical waveforms. I feel relaxed and safe and I let myself be carried away by another time and place: everything is fine in my world.

Analog audio signals are made up of complex sine waves. The components of the audio signal path (microphone, preamplifier and power amplifier) ​​provide qualities that make up ‘analog sound’. Analog sound has been described as “warm” and digital has been labeled “sterile.”

DIGITAL In the 1990s I was introduced to digital recording through a Sony CD Walkman. It had little transducers which were called ‘Headphones’. This combination was portable and the sound was clean and crisp. This was great for listening to music while doing my daily activities. When I finally added a CD player to my home system, I couldn’t immediately hear any difference. This was probably due to the level at which he was listening to music. Gradually, I was indoctrinated to accept digital sound. This was subtle: analog sources were disappearing, trade magazines and consumer advertisements touting the benefits and superiority of digital sound products. Many of the professional recording studios were ditching the old analog gear and replacing it with cleaner, more “accurate” digital gear. Millions of consumers, like me, were now convinced that digital music processing and playback was the new quality standard. The mass consumer market had abandoned the old analog standard.

In my quest to satisfy my vanity and return to the 70s glory days of Rock-N-Roll, I began collecting professional analog audio equipment to assemble the best home stereo system. I found a recording studio in Sacramento, CA that was liquidating its equipment when the owner was retiring. Among the items I purchased was a pair of Altec 9844A studio monitors. I hung these monsters on the wall, hooked up my reel to reel of tape, and put Cosby, Stills, Nash & Young – “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”. The speakers were about 12 feet apart and I sat in the center about 10 feet in front. I closed my eyes and the sound field developed. When the song ended, I realized that I hadn’t heard music like this since I sat in the control room of the American Recording Company more than 35 years ago.

When I wanted to add a multitrack tape machine to my collection, the only person I knew who was an expert on analog tapes was Bill Cooper of the American Recording Company. When I called him, he told me that they had switched to digital, but were in the process of purchasing a tape machine from Otari, as digital recorders didn’t have the “leeway” that tape did. Professionals were now realizing the limitations of digital technology. Processing.

I am an avid Mix Magazine and Sound on Sound Magazine reader, and when I look at the advertisements on the back, I realize there is a resurgence in studio tube and analog gear. What amazes me is the quality of the sound that comes from analog equipment. Recordings such as Bing Cosby “White Christmas”, Beatles “Sgt. Peppers”, Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze” were processed using analog equipment.

Currently, I am building a studio based on the best analog gear that was “state of the art” at the time of manufacture. I have (2) RCA 77DA microphones and (2) RCA Bk-5B (circa 1940-45) Altec 9844A monitors (circa 1950) Ampex AG440b tape (circa 1958) and a 1 “8-track Otari MX70 tape ( around 1980), an Ecoplate II plate echo (around 1985), a Sontec MEP250 parametric equalizer (around 1980), and an AKG BX20e Spring Reverb (around 1980).

I think the quality of music provided by analog processing is superior to digital. That does not mean that you have abandoned all digital equipment. I still use an mp3 player, listen to CDs on my car stereo, and have been known to keep old mono and stereo mp3 recordings. But at the end of the day when I sit back and listen to the CDs and mp3s they all seem to sound better through my transistor and tube processing and 50 year old Altec speakers. We all listen through different ears. Digitally processed rap and hip hop sound great to the ears of the younger generation who have never known analog sound. My 19-year-old daughter’s friends are in awe of how good their music sounds through my old analog equipment. Simply put, analog captures and at the same time enhances the soul of music that digital cannot.

For more information on the process of building a recording studio, check out my blog at: blog.albroanalogaudio.com