Digital Delay: The little dirty secret of vinyl mastering (including past AAA records) 

ATTENTION! Some viewers have misinterpreted the message here and I was probably not very clear. Digital delay is NOT present in the current quality AAA productions that we all know and adore. I was mainly referring to the shocking fact that since the late 70's several records that we all believe being analog (AAA) have actually been cut with a digital delay and there is practically almost know way to know which had it and which not. Moreover, I SUPPOSE that other current random AAA productions made occasionally by lables who don't usually make AAA records may have in fact used a digital delay, perhaps not even knowing it since ity takes place in the lacquer mastering phase. As Michael Fremer pointed out Abbey Road, Sterling Sound, Cohearent Mastering, Emil Berliner Studios, Blue Heaven, GZ Media and many others all use analog delay tape heads when mastering and I would add also Quality Record Pressings. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I was a cutting engineer back in the 80's (1984) and I was lucky enough to have been handed a brand new, state of the art lathe, the Neumann VMS-80 SX-74. That was the only one lathe I ever worked with as a mastering engineer. This fabulous vinyl-cutting lathe included a Neumann SP-79 mastering console and a SAL 74B amp rack, paired with an MCI JH110B mastering 2-track tape player with two 1/4" heads with delay mechanism for normal and half-speed cutting. I agree with 99% of what you say in the video, because I lived all that myself. But I strongly disagree with the 1% of what you stated, which is that this lathe cut a digital conversion of what was played on the tape and used the analog content just to prepare the lathe for the changes needed to be done to get a perfect cut. Well, I know that for the lathe and array of components I came to know like my hand, this is not entirely true. The feed being cut into the acetate was the analog one, from the second head (delayed), of the tape player. The other analog feed, coming from the first head, was fed to the electronics in the SAL 74B rack, so that the filters and other electronics could provide the proper signals for the cutter to automatically adjust pitch, depth, and other non-musical tasks, instead of having to do it manually as in the VMS-70. T I believe this is the biggest difference between these two great lathes. This automation embedded into the VMS-80 allowed the cutting engineer to focus entirely on the nuances of the music, mastering and enhancing what was to be cut to make a better sounding, commercially and/or artistically desirable, final cut. I know this because I've been there, done that. Many, many times. I became a mastering engineer thanks to this marvelous Neumann lathe. Thank you for the beautyful and well done video

This is a great video! I recently produced my first all analog Album. Recording and Mixing all analog was something I knew enough about and so that worked out fine. When it then came to mastering and cutting all analog I started to find out that almost all companies who offer this service can't even do it all analog. They have like you said a digital step before the cutting. I was shocked because they are often getting analog master tapes and then before cutting they are converting it to a digital file to then put it on a analog format. Crazy! I finally found the Emil Studios in Berlin who have the right gear (Studer with a pre head...) and went there with my Mix tapes to have it mastered and cut all analog. I hope with time poeple will understand this part of the AAA process better and we will get more analog cutting from the analog tapes. Keep up the great work!!!

Thanks for this nice presentation and summary of the digital delay. While it is a well-known procedure amongst the pros of the industry and for most of the engineers involved in the musical production, many audiophiles are still unaware of all the technical steps needed to produce a vinyl record, from the recording until the LP slides out from the press. Your video also highlights why the SPARS code is (and always was) an inaccurate tool to track the devil (=digital conversion) within the conception and birth of a record.

Thank you Guido for another well thought-out and well presented video. I remember this detail in your interview with Kai Seeman of Speaker's Corner, and I was shocked by it. This scandal comes down to honesty in marketing and truth in packaging for the audiophile community, one which more than others has the knowledge and expectation of truth in the details. I look at audiophile labels in the classical world and, pre-digital, some labels (Decca, Everest, Mercury, RCA, etc.) go into excruciating detail about specific microphones, tape recorders, cutting amplifiers, and cutting lathes used. Early stage digital labels would market and trumpet the new digital technology. I have a Decca album from 1980 that uses one-third of the backside jacket devoting four paragraphs to the new technology and how it revolutionizes the sound. All honest. All true. All respecting the listener. Makes me glad that I buy only used records pressed from the early fifties to the mid-sixties. At least I know these are fully analog which I love and enjoy. (And I spell "analogue" as "analog" so no one will know I'm such a late boomer, who hates hipsters who call records "vinyls.")

Excellent info Guido! But, Kevin Gray of "Cohearent Audio", who is one of the most known mastering engineers, who is also mastering the Blue Note Tone Poet series, explains in a video published by Blue Note 3 years ago called: "Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series" , how he only uses full AAA chain, and no digital whatsoever, except for making digital files of the albums for streaming or download. He uses a Studer (I think A80) with 2 heads, to feed his Neuman lathe, so at least we know that most of the recent Blue Note reissues are fully AAA (except for very few where the tape was damaged).

Thank you for your detailed explanation. I have many vinyl albums that I thought were sold as all analogue, yet my digital version of the same recording sounds better and for less money. For me the best source material is reel to reel tape. I used to buy tape sparingly because of the cost, but with some of the supposedly high end vinyl records costing around $500, (what a joke), I find myself buying more and more tapes. I have never purchased a tape that I was not happy with, yet I purchased many expensive vinyl records that were just imperfect in many ways. They were not flat, not concentric, plastic flashing in the center hole and around the outside perimeter of the album, the label is off-center, hair line scratches, early pressing are better than later pressings. etc. Vinyl making is just an imperfect, hit or miss process.

Nice video, as a camera buff I can't help but note that you have to lock in your white balance before recording so that you don't have varying color temperatures during the shoot. I use to be hardcore about only trying to get AAA records but I have given up on that. I have digitally sourced recordings that sound better than the AAA variants and vice versa. AAA vs digital is simply too rudimentary a technique to judge which version will sound better. This thought process really sunk in with a couple of recently purchased RVG stamped mint records (Up With Donald Byrd and Reach Out! by Hank Mobley) that couldn't match the sound quality of digitally sourced versions. In my experience, the most reliable way to determine quality without listening is digging up info on mastering house and pressing plant (when available) or just reading discog reviews.

Guido, you hit the nail on the head! This is one of the MAIN reasons I still do not own a turntable (I have plenty of DSDs - and tapes - that sound very analog WITHOUT any of the issues associated with LPs). If I need to mimic the ANALOG sound, I use a graphic EQUALIZER (YEAH, graphic EQ, a dirty word in the audiophile community! Experience the Schiit Lokius EQ yourself to see what I am talking about - this thing is amazing) or record the DSD music to my analog tapes using "musician's /high distortion" tapes such as EMTEC/RTM SM468 or 3M 206. BTW, I have read about the ADD-1 from Ampex years ago - another reason I despise modern vinyls!

Exactly. That's what I tell all my analog-head friends at parties - _". . . and that's why all this time you've been gloating while actually listening to digitally sourced audio, sometimes even worse than 16-bit. It turns out you just like hiss, pops, crackle, warble, and lacking bass! Ha ha ha!"_ - Then they leave wide-eyed and then can't sleep for several days.

Singles are usually cut at a constant pitch so no need for a pre-play tape head on the tape machine or an electronic delay in the signal chain.... Engineers know they only have about 5 min of land to work with so the LPI (lines per inch) can be easily calculated. Most 7" and 12" singles are cut at a constant pitch and without program delay. That's why i love singles!

As a bit of a joke and for fun only I'm waiting for someone to put a compressed digital file on an lp only to be decoded by a DAC. If I can play an audio file from an old slow bit rate floppy disk then this would be possible with digital compression on a grove. This would just be for fun to maybe decode a secret song or message. Of course you would have to warn others to remove the headphones before playing otherwise you would hear loud white noise. You would also have to own a DAC to decode it. It's like kind of finding those hidden messages scribed into the near center of the vinyl or messages that would have to be played backwards like something from the 1970s. Like ELO's Fire on high song at the beginning. That had me laughing the first time I heard it years ago. It makes vinyl fun like gatefold covers with pop out scenery. I have seen some crazy things like making a record out of chocolate or even ice and it actually worked.

Before digital and analog delay lines, they used playback decks with two playback heads, one mounted several inches in front of the other so that the engineer could hear the music before it hit the lathe. This allowed the engineer to change the track pitch for loud and soft passages on the fly. And yes, this has been replaced with digital delay lines. The audio put down on vinyl is run through a digital delay line, giving the engineer the time necessary to react to changes needed in track pitch. The fact that no one ever complains of these records "sounding digital," and that people even praise them for not "sounding digital," is a bit telling, no? Good digital is completely transparent.

I would also add that a digital master can sound really good. If vinyl forces producers to stop the loudness wars and produce a better mix, it's already worth the price of admission. This is useful information though and it actually may explain why vinyl sounded different in the 80s.

Wow. Shocked. Especially the fact that the digital signal is what’s used to cut. So basically unless there’s an analogue preview head we’re getting a digital recording. All the more reason to stick with tape, original pressings, or transparent labels

Very very interesting! You've helped bring out the root of mastering techniques almost no one was aware of. I can't seem to find Mint magazine website?

You totally right, Sir, there are a lot of unsolved issues by new vinyl pressing, but the costs saving forcing the pressing plant produce cheaper stuff, they even don't thinking to improving something... MOSTLY OF THEM, - NOT ALL ...

The most interesting bit about this all is that this is not something that happens with "new vinyl" only but also the last decade of "the vinyl of old" (after/before the format nearly disappeared). Many of us have not been aware that records were cut in this manner already in an era when vinyl was still a leading format. We should not be surprised, now that we know, that when manufacture of the format was resumed, it picked from where it was halted, using what was available then, instead of restoring older, very hard to find gear. This is not to say current labels, shouldn't be more honest and transparent about all the processes their product goes through.

Cutting vinyl is a complex process where lots of human errors could occur. Lots of anlog processing involved before going to the cutting head. We could easily understand the superiority of Digital audio.

Do you know if Analogue Production records especially the UHQR are real AAA? There own factory walk around video let us see their reel to reel machines...but ... I couldn't see any with a needed double head.... So, please let me know your mind which company or label does real AAAs. Thank you in advance.

Oh man...Mike at The In Groove is gonna have to drastically change his top 100 in print analog record list now. And we thought Mofigate was bad! Good video my man

Another great video, much appreciated Guid-man! Read Miles Showell’s story about The Rolling Stones box set 1/2 speed masters originated from a mysterious hard drive he was given access to for one day. Sticky Fingers 1/2 speed is notoriously bad for this reason.

I've been trying to tell people this for years

Hi Guido, as always cool video. We are being fooled on a daily basis. I didn't know these things to be honest. Prior to your video I had never heard of a digital or an analogue delay. To be honest I am no longer even interested in buying modern day vinyl. I paid 300 € for the 2x45 RPM MOFI release of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Yes, it sounds nice but I would never spend that amount on a record any longer. The prices for a lot of these vinyl releases and used vinyl records on discogs is plain crazy. 300 € for the vinyl release of Mulholland Drive OST ??? No way!!! Instead I decided to buy a high quality Technics SACD/CD/Network player that sounds better than any of my previous DACs. Finally I got to understand how fantastic CDs can sound. I compared a lot of my vinyl records to the respective CD releases and they do not sound any better now. I think I am going all digital now because I am no longer willing to finance these frauds. The only vinyl I buy nowadays is if I can find something cheap on a flea market.

Dude, I never knew this !! Thanks a lot for the information !!

Video super interessante! È possibile sapere in che formato digitale è convertito il segnale per il delay? 44,1 khz 16 bit o più?

Thank you for the revelation and explanation.

Excellent. Great information,(if a little depressing). Thanks and have a great holiday. Giles uk

Good evening, have you dealt with the subject of the CD player clock? THANKS

Tengo un Denon AVR1611 y declara 0,08 % de THD. Lo tengo desde 2013 y debo decir que me costo mucho hacerlo sonar bien. No obstante no lo digo porque no tenga la electrónica para lograrlo, sino que tiene tanto procesamiento y tantos parámetros para ajustar qué hay que hacerse especialista en estos equipos. Su calidad de sonido depende mucho de la fuete. Con audio digital suena impresionante. No le conectes un deck de cassettes porque suena espantoso. Luego de un tiempo me compré un Marantz PM5005 y en mi sala hago convivir el home theater y en equipo stereo. Desde ya que el Marantz va excelente con cualquier fuente!

Good explanation, I always found this issue confusing.

That is why original pressings are saught after and often very expensive. Of course…the Dark Side of the Moon Light Blue Triangle as the most outstanding example. Moving house, I orden up 42 years of Life. And discovered at the back of a wardrope a stack of records, I had forgotten of. All my buys of the seventies. And to my joye…of course original pressings, including the light blue triangle. The sound just blows you away. And I paid a lot of money for newer (remastered) pressing. By the way. I paid £ 7 in 1974. Anyway. Look for original pressings. Still a lot out there, when one is ready to pay the prices. And is lucky enough to own a very very good system.

Was bored until your upload popped in notifications 😅

could we talk about the mix for streaming. Where do the platforms’ sources come from?

Basic rule of thumb... if there is no black and white bar code on the record jacket (pre mid 80s), it's all analogue.

3 Questions: 1-Do you have any videos detailing the steps of production from recording session to media, so that we can see where something can be "digitized" along the way? 2-Have you done any videos on the issue of digital masters of analog media (phonograohs and tapes) and whether they really are "analog" then? 3-Have you ever addressed the issue of whether a tape or phonograph of digital music (example: digital synth music) is really "analog", even if the production steps are all analog?

Wow missed this one. Great post. I missed Fremers post as well, Could someone share the link with me?

I love my records but have to say I am really coming around to SACD

The music at very low volume we hear at the start of the record just before the actual music is because of the delay in the cutting process, am I right?

Of course.

I've just thought of something (and it's a beneficial use of digital). What about a plugin for Audacity that scans the wave-form and outputs pitch and depth numbers over time? You could make a recording of the master tape on computer, Audacity outputs a file showing pitch and depth info, and the guy making the cut actually sits there adjusting the pitch and depth according to the numbers that have been produced by the file. He'd have to sit there paying attention, but it would be a lot quicker than the current analogue method

Btw, maybe this has been mentioined here before but did you notice that ever since the scandal prices for MOFI releases on discogs have dropped a lot. I am seeing Santana's Abraxas for less than 600 € now. There were times when it couldn't be purchased where less than double that! And my Marvin Gaye MOFI release now also costs 180 € as opposed to the 300 € that I paid and the seller told me it was a good investment as it would most certainly grow in value over time. I can clearly see that now.

Mastering studios were the earliest adopters of digital technology - as you said, in the 1970s - with a digital delay line replacing the preview head; and - as you said - originally at 14-bit. And this was not rare but commonplace and increasingly standardised in the era of vinyl as a mass market format; yet - as you said - many pressings that will have been through this digital step in the mastering chain, from this era, are now regarded as superb examples of the LP format (often collectible and commanding high prices). So what does this tell us? It tells us that AAA in itself is meaningless as guarantor of sonic and musical quality. A well-engineered recording in a great sounding studio tracked with quality equipment will sound fantastic if decently mastered even with a DDL line from the analogue tape feeding the cutter head. Conversely, a poorly made recording will not land on your turntable as an excellent sounding LP, even if Bernie Grundman cuts it AAA. Far from a dirty little secret, but open industry practice from the heyday of mass market vinyl sales. I don't think the musicality of the finished product can ever be reduced to single component or process in the chain from musician's physiology to consumer's phono cartridge.

Very good, I am a musician, I always known what they did. You need two heads or a delay, no way around that. So i always buy before digital, otherwise you get DIGITAL. There are not enough machines with two heads around, only very very few pressings of today are really analog.

Ciao! Ti saluto dall'Argentina. Voglio domandarti questo: _ascoltando un vinile con le cuffie_ è il suono della prima head quello che si ascolta a volume bassissimo un secondo prima d'ascoltare il "full" oppure il delay? Io sono fan dei Reder's Digest box sets e dei Audio Fidelity Records degli anni 60, poi delle collezioni italiane di musica clasica Fratelli Fabri e Curcio, Folklore Argentino e Tango fino ai primi 80 e poi Pop anni 70 e 80. Vorrei dire che in quasi tutti io posso ascoltare questo secondo di musica prima che comincie a suonare il full ma non succede con i dischi fine anni 80, 90 e i più nuovi che ho. Io non sono fan dell'audiofiglia, il massimo che ho in quel senso sono Abba Voulez Vous e The Album in versione doppio lp 45 rpm masterizzato in half speed alla Abbey Road che suonano essattamente uguali ai remasters anno 97 (cmq bellissimi!) 👋

6:42 is this why I noticed that records made starting in this era sound so much better than the records made before that? I had guessed that they changed the formula and/or manufacturing process for the raw vinyl. Did they do that too?

That’s very interesting information thank you! It would be nice for the elite mastering engineers of today to comment on what they use for the delay. But even if it is analog, the delay tape adds an extra generation copy I was not aware of. I wonder if 45’s could be cut without a delay at all, at a constant pitch?

Very interesting and informative not sure I understand it all but eye opening none the less

I always thought, a digital preview would be used. So you are saying, instead the actually sound is digital? How about syncing a digital form of the analog source to be used for the preview? I mean, why should the packing optimization required to be analog? Of course I am interested in analog audio, to state it clearly.

If over 90% of all AAA have this digital step, then I think the problem is not the process, but the audience's beliefs that somehow digital is evil. There is nothing inheritedly wrong with digital. One can argue that the reason why vinyl sounds so good is because the mastering process required to get the material on vinyl makes vinyl sound a particular way and that CDs sound so bad because none of those mastering choices are needed for CD. Nobody could hear the digital in MoFi pressings and everyone praised their one-step releases...The only one person backtracking is Fremer, but that guy has issues.

There also needs to be a new technology where the stamper never goes bad and can be used an infinite amount of times. Yes?

I still don’t understand why digital delay is bad. If all it is used for is th determine the width of the cutting groove, isn’t the information put into that groove still the analog signal?

Something that I thought of is that I have records from the 80's Randy Travis and George Strait albums which were recorded digitally. Bur still have a wider and fuller sound than modern digitally sourced music . So is it the delay or what ?

Where did the 99% number come from? All of the US based audiophile mastering engineers I'm familiar with, Bernie Grundman, Kevin Gray, Steve Hoffman, Joe Harley, etc, use an analog preview head. The VMS 80 is not "still available" (6.55) The final Neumann lathe was built in 1987.

Ok, so that digital delay is a digital conversion, which is pcm conversion and not dsd conversion, correct? Most vinyls are pcm vinyls masquerading as pure analog?

I don't understand why it should be so expensive for the extra tape head. Most reel to reel decks that I used in the past have 3 heads (Erase, Record and Playback heads). This allows the person recording to monitor the recording. You're able to listen to the actual tape with less than one second delay after the record head. How hard would it be to wire a deck to allow for two playback heads?

This stuff has been digital since the mind 1980's. Especially all the "remastered from original tapes" releases.

I recently watched a Paul McGowan video about how Octave Records transfers its DSD recordings to vinyl and it seem they do not undergo any compression during the procedure and I can't help wondering how a perhaps 90 plus dB dynamic range is going to be accommodated on a disc, particularly if a lot of the high level information is at low frequencies.

Sorry we question your favourite moving magnet cartridge for £250.

Hence, if the analog signal has been converted from A to D and vice versa for this delay proces the statement that vinyl sounds better than digital does no longer hold water. That said if vinyl compared to digital still sounds nicer to our ears then something else in the chain after the record itself comes in to play. The first thing that comes to mind is the mechanical to electrical conversion done by the phono cartridge. makes sense ? Same goes for tubes. They are not better than transistors but they are adding something to the sound ( a color) a sound hat I like. My 2cents

Isn’t the digital mechanism controls only the delay/speed whilst the sound stays analogue the whole chain ? Meaning those are 2 parallel processes ?

If it is recorded on analog tape, what does the rest matter? I've got good ears but telling the difference between a digital delay, which, by the way is obsolete for this job once they have created a copy master..

Guido... is mint magazine available in English?

Have you checked to see what these digital delay lines are like in modern pressing plants with the latest electronics? What are the sample rates being used today? I'd be willing to bet they take the sample rate of the supplied master, regardless of what it is and in what format (DSD, PCM, etc) it is supplied, and simply delay it while supplying the audio file bit perfect to the DAC. And I'm also sure that the A/D-D/A conversion that occurs with an analog master is probably going to be audibly transparent, given the capability of modern digital audio processing I also wonder about the weird claim of reducing the signal down to as low as 8 bits in older pressings. Is it possible that they used that low bit rate conversion only for the lathe pitch control, but passed the audio signal through at a higher rate? Let's not forget that regular PCM processors with 16 bit processing were already available in the late 70's. I do agree with you that there should be more openness in exactly how "analog" a modern vinyl lp actually is. I'm reminded of the old Monty Python skit where the guy said to his wife "It's only got a little Spam in it".

👋🤗GREETINGS GUIDO 💚💚💚

The digital delay is only used to predict the amount of pitch, and does not introduce digital into the signal path, right?

I've been waiting ages for someone to talk about this. It's the hesitation I have in buying nineties albums. Hopefully people can build up a database of albums that don't have this problem. Surely with microscopes we can record the changing levels of the pitch and the depth on a record, and then use these coordinates to cut a new analogue release

***NOTE: We are asked all the time if we can master directly from analog sources and keep it analog all the way through to lacquer disk. YES! THAT is our specialty and we are one of the very few places in the world that still do it that way!" Quote from Cohearant - Kevin Gray. I know that Bernie Grundman also has and uses the older tape machines. Given that they have the ability to keep things analog - the question is do they keep it analog and if so, what percentage of their mastering is using the digital delay. Further, without having a full disclosure on what studio's are suing when they go to laquer we are lost. This is further amplified by Universal and others being anal about NOT giving information about their releases and whether the source is digital or analog. I suggest that this makes all the statements from MOFI BS. There is a big difference when the master tape is used verses a digital copy. They have basically again proven that their little pictures in thousands of One Steps are lies and that their standard practice is to go from tape to digital to tape to digital delay to laquer. A far cry from tape to laquer then to One Step!

Funny that many people seem to have liked the vinyl despite the digital conversion taking place, being unaware of it. Seems that the digital conversion is relatively benign and does little to alter what gets into the groove. The vinyl seems to alter the sound in a way that pleases people (via its many limitations), which is fine of course. If you like the sound, then the sound is good.

This might be superfluous but if 16 bit or below digital lathes are the issue maybe somebody could invent a 32 bit AI Smart Lathe. I obviously prefer to have analog through the entire chain but if it's not possible, 32 bit should provide plenty of resolution.

Blue note classic and tone poet LPs have this digital step or am I OK? :(

I think the max volume to ear buds, so kids would not destroy their hearing, was litigated to the point where record companies could not be sued by kids with diminished hearing from loud digitized music thru the Devices” “everyone’ IS FED BY RU-vid, just follow the Money, SO sad.

About your last words, regarding the informations that the majors should give to the end users, i think that it would be fair but unnecessary, in any case the infos regarding mastering and the operations coming first of the press and print are not a key to reading of the overall quality of the disc, as you said at the beginning of the clip, also from the 60s are easy to find very good discs, how? Pure recordings, nice takes, i have for example a easy to find and pure audiophile vinyl of "Whipped Cream" by Herb Alpert, printed in Germany under London (1964) and sounds great as many Philips, Decca, Verve, Blue Note and Deutsche Grammophon recordings, another big issue it's about the Loudness war, happening expecially in the modern records, many new productions cannot be definded audiophile due to that. Yes i know, im going Off Topic, reasons to get a good or bad record are a lot, the one that you explained here it's one between many, it's good to know, but at the end our ears are the judge.

Dirty little secret: this video is hilariously wrong. I've been to: Abbey Road, Sterling Sound, Cohearent Mastering, Emil Berliner Studios, Blue Heaven, GZ Media and many others and on and on. Where all of the great AAA reissues are cut. They ALL use a preview head not a DDL. Yes Miles Showell who cuts 1/2 speed from digital files doesn't use a preview head. DUH!

Would you like to see pictures of analog preview heads at all of the major mastering studios around the world that I have? Will you issue an apology for your spreading this nonsense? Will you take down this video or amend it? I left out of my list Capitol, which is no longer operating but Ron McMaster showed me the preview head he had. The new DGG AAA records will be cut using a special 4 track preview head because they are cutting from 4 track surround masters and mixing live to lacquer ALL ANALOG.

Yeah, the "pros" nowadays have no clue about the deliciousness of tape. I mean, if you never worked with it -- only emulators, if that -- then of course it "doesn't make a difference" and yada, yada, yada about this and that. Whatever, I say, and work with tape. Only then will one's ear know. If not, eh, you're missing out on a, uh, a "phatness" that cannot be digitally replicated. With that being said, I can't wait for the rise of the Tape Engineer! 😃

I've been saying this and they called me stupid.

I have been to all of the major mastering houses cutting AAA albums. They use a preview head not a digital delay line. This story is total nonsense.

Great!! Now we need full provenance on all LP's? Now we need to know the mastering equipment used on each LP? Soon will need to know the tape use in making the master tape and not only that, which tape machine was use to produce it! This hobby is starting to be more problems than it's worth. I suggest we forget about all this and judge each record on it's on merit. Either the records sounds good to you or it doesn't. It really doesn't matter as much as we make it. A lousy engineer can have the best equipment available and still produce crap.

Way too alarmist, I think, when there's easy solution for it nowadays. After all it's not necessary to feed cutting head with delayed digitized signal. You can first make digital audio file from your analogue tape, and use this digital audio to feed groove pitch controller. This digital audio would start in advance of analogue tape audio, exactly one rotation time before. Then the analogue tape audio would be the one which is delayed, and with this one the cutting head would be fed. For instance GZ Media offers this option for you.

I really wanted to be polite and professional with my comments, but I think I’m just gonna go with grow up it’s not 1950s anymore just except the fact that things are not going to go back in time the people that used to produce manufacture operate all these analog leads I’ve been long dead the expertise are not there in the industry anymore for analog people claim to know what they are doing but often the sound is terrible. I love vinyl LPs I have a model set up Technics turntable I got NAD power amp NAD preamp NAD phono amp I think you are really taking what is a brilliant way of listening to music a nice hobby. I’m running with it a little bit too far. I mean if you really wanna go back to analog go back to wax cylinders on a really old manual wind up phonograph purely analog but that sounds crap. Take what you’re given pick out what you like. If you don’t like something don’t buy it simple us take into account. We are living in 2022 Where 1940s 50s technology is not being invested in and the expertise in that particular industry are not there anymore. Yes I know people are gonna 99 disable. What about this version? What about that person? What about this company? Yes, but they are all self taught or at least thirdhand information on what they know and I’m sorry if that upsets anybody enjoying music. Anyway, you like it when you start getting too technical and getting upset about the sauce and the mastering then I’m sorry to say you’ve taken it too far and you’re no longer enjoying the music and I will say this out loud if the analog version is not good enough on vinyl, listen to it on CD all the problems that you are related to in this video with EQ curves and so on I’m not a problem on CD or digital download, but yes I know that’s not analog which is the whole idea of the channel

Noyman... NEWMAN!!

There appears to be a lot of confusion. The digital delay is used to control the lathe. That is not the signal that is recorded onto vinyl.

At the end of the day, if you enjoy it, what does it matter? If it's "the best of the best" why does it matter? You can't get any better, so why are you complaining? It wouldn't sound that good otherwise would it? I get the whole analog snobbery, but please, get over yourselves. you're all just pissed because you all thought "analog" was the pinnacle. And you've all had your pants pulled down en masse.

If it's done by "Bernie Grundman" "Kevin gray" "Ryan k. Smith " and "Chris bellman" it's guaranteed analogue! They all use analogue delay!

This story is total bullshit. We all know that DDLs were in use for a number of years replacing preview heads. BUT ALL OF TODAY'S AAA ALBUMS ARE CUT USING A PREVIEW HEAD.

I don't agree with framing everything as analog vs. digital. Digital is every bit as good and even better, as long as the technicians know what they're doing. If they don't, it's going to sound bad, regardless of whether it's analog or digital.

Cool info, but I don't see any problem here. If it works, it works. No sound engineer who mixes professional recordings cares about your or my opinion. They just do their job however they see fit. Yes, there exist bad mixes, but really no one cares. You just don't like it and move along.

Hi, First analysis: Yes that's shocking, that's why reel to reel will and always will the best not digital signal transform, as well as very simple print method, we need back reel to reel for mass market! That's also why 45 rpm is stuck endlessly saying that the original from 70's pressing are always better! Anyway you don't say how the digital delay impact the signal is it a full adc then dac, or just a digital analysis of the peak which control an analog delay box, that totally different, in that case if it's for analog delay which digital control the impact isn't an issue at all! Also it can be mixed with the analog signal? So the resolution in that case isn't an issue, because 8 bit for the analysis of a peak on an average 75 db, is already sufficient. Also this is certainly for the bass frequency range which after experiment if not above 120Hz, could quiet accurately be sampled! The fact that vinyl are 99% digital in not as clear as you tell it because digitally controlled analog circuitry don't make things digital. (i suspect that's it is the case, digital controlled analog delay circuitry) Regarding the resolution i suspect clearly what 45rpm is calling a more compressed dynamic range due to low resolution of this digital part, having 24 bit one would allow better dynamic range of the signal! Remember that for an analog 48db a 8 bit signal sampling makes 0.19db step, so you need at least 12-16 bit to have correct steps, Also if the analysis is based on all the signal it's much impacting because an analog 75 db dynamic range require 24bits. In fact as for the frequency , you need at least twice the analog dynamic range to sample correctly it if you don't want to high db steps (distortion), in fact 0,01 db step are sufficient to not be noticeable whereas 0.19db are! Making a simple cassette tape the equivalent of a 16/24 bit res fill in term of db steps!!! (the more you have to sample a range the more analog volume you get 24bit of 48analog db is just 1,11758715615e-08 db step, not fabulous but sufficient), ok 16 bit is about 7,3222634947e-05, theoretically sufficient but practically insufficient as a 16 bit stream don't produce the same loudness as the 24 bit one for the same dynamic range, why still don't know! Edit: Definitively not digital it's a mechanical digital speed control (5ms speed delay correction nothing in common with sampling, and dac added to the source, Anyway there isn't any information in the article you mention to be 100% sure! even if it's clearly writted solid state device, that don't mean necessary digital processing device as known as today! Showed this to 45 rpm he got master skilled engineers whose should really confirm! Edit 2: I do state that no, vinyl AAA with this still stay an AAA for that simple reason if it would be digital, there isn't any need to use the tape anymore just a full DAA chain and that's insn't the case for the best producing plant still today whose still use analog eq + analog reverb! Also DAA vinyl cutting don't sound the same as AAA vinyl cutting with digital speed control (speed delay)! As i always saying, don't confuse digital control , with digital sound processing! So don't worry guys it's just misinformation/not well understood information your AAA vinyl are 100% analog (unless you buy mofi's ones or not respectful AAA companies) even with this digital speed delay (the only impact is a less eccentric dynamic range, which unfortunately is a much more realistic dynamic range and closer to the master what 45rpm confirm with old original pressing), by chance the vinyl HD would never comes, this one for the case was digital craps for economical purpose! Edit 3: Also remember that even with digital sound processing which i of course does not recommend, the final product is analog (There isn't any steps (distortion) in a traditional vinyl cutting, it's just a matter before cutting how you are close to the analog master). You can learn here that unfortunately again for economical purpose the perfect analog master would always be the reel copy! As for digital sound, the perfect master is the digital master, a vinyl cutting of a digital master would definitively alter it, fortunately in a better way as we know today that digital (inferior to analog never better, just can be closer to it) distortion are higher for higher frequency range starting for 192Khz/24 bit around 1Khz, putting those distortions into analog support does make a natural anti-aliasing effect still better than DSD512! (estimation to be confirmed in the future perhaps if those dac could go higher than 768Khz/24Bit/DSD512(1Bit) of equality around 6144Khz/24Bit/DSD 4096 for a 30Khz pure sinus, fortunately it would be unusable, making analog for the rest of the time of the humanity the best support for analog waves video/audio) Of course digital has also advantage no physical issues, and fast editing whose for the end listener hasn't any interest and are completely deleted by the power and space needed for a DSD512/768Khz/24Bit Decoding! Edit 5: I armed myself, so edit 2 well confirmed, digital delay isn't digital sound processing, to summarize it sample thought analog circuitry and in the worst case a pcm dac the signal amplitude, to drive the latch witch print was is called the preview sound, the goal is to target a maximum peak level doing a compression confirming first analysis 45 rpm part. Lazy and economical method, The full analog way make better result as it use the head analog compression. The best one is avoiding completely the compression part, but that require, a full listening as well as test pressing and of course no "today pointless?" (average time side 16 mn max at 33rpm...still left 8 minutes, plus if yu print at odb instead of +6....) space optimization! (for audiophile production facility it's the way to go) Anyway no digital vinyl, it just to avoid the latch to overcome the groove. So it's a digitally controlled mechanical drive with practically no impact on the sound except for the dynamic! Call it a digital controller mechanical limiter! Long life to analog.

Why are so many people unable to create a literate sentence these days, perhaps they should read what they have typed in before publishing. Perhaps it wouldn't make a difference though.

24bit is so good it's hard to tell sometimes the difference!