is it possible to make digital audio sound like vintage vinyl


sam here with another question. is it possible to make digital audio sound like vintage vinyl ? i realize i'm gonna get ripped a new a-hole however this is not a joke question. honest answers please i can take the heat

as crazy as it sounds it seams perfectly logical to me. now here is what i did using my 2013 dell pc windows 7 32bit.

using foobar 2000 with the convolver dsp filter i made an impulse file consisting of a 1 second wave file extracted at 32 / 88 

from the intro to pink floyds us and them on 1st press vintage vinyl u.k harvest label. just the surface noise before the music 

starts and applied the impulse file to a digital album to see if the digital album now sounds like vintage vinyl.here's the results

not sure if i made the digital audio sound worse or really what i achieved ? feedback will help me decide if i should

abandoned this pipe dream and move on. source is digital download flac 16/44 same source for both before/after samples.

audio sample 1: http://pc.cd/GB3

audio sample 2 (impulse applied) http://pc.cd/7eA

audio sample 3: http://pc.cd/7DP7

audio sample 4 (impulse applied) http://pc.cd/bw2

audio sample 5: http://pc.cd/3etrtalK

audio sample 6 (impulse applied) http://pc.cd/lTf7
guitarsam

Showing 9 responses by geoffkait

As I’ve been advising of late many cassettes from the mid 80s on 🔜 are digitally remastered. Kind of Blue, about 8 of the Stones repertoire, most if not all Led Zeppelin, etc. Vanguard did some including two Country Joe and the Fish, I have all of the above. I’m just scratching the surface. Digalog was one trade name for digital cassettes. Perhaps many that aren’t advertised as digital actually are.  Digital had arrived and cassettes we’re not going to be left out of the technology. Even the plastic cassettes had evolved by the mid 80s. Cassettes are the best sounding digital format. Fabulous!
A couple things stick in my craw about digital, not much air and not as squeaky as analog. There is the overly aggressive compression of a heck of a lot of CDs to consider, too. Even LPs and hi res downloads can suffer some serious compression, according to the unofficial dynamic range database. Analog can be liked to heroin for the junkie whereas digital is kind of like methodone, a heroin substitute for when the dealer is out of town. 🤗

guitarsam OP
sam here and let me say that i hate the side effects of vintage vinyl (1970’s) however the sound is alive . i have not tried an expensive dac and that might be an answer?

the fact that vinyl can’t be brick wall compressed for the loudness wars has a lot to do with vinyl sounding alive?

>>>>I’m afraid the loudness wars has affected vinyl too. The overly aggressive compression occurs during mastering so no format or media is exempt. So when you examine the Unofficial Dynamic Range database you’ll find that vinyl oft suffers the same fate as CD, also SACD, BLU-RAY, hi res and even SHM-CD from Japan. Having said that the one media that has largely escaped the loudness wars is cassettes.
Did I mention how good digital cassettes sound? The best of both worlds. Great SNR and dynamic range and more analog than digital. Almost as analog as Pure analog Cassettes but no air I’m afraid. 🤗
If by “real” you in the recording real then I agree. But not “real real” instruments and voices.
And another thing. Digital actually doesn’t do bass very well, analog is juicy like Lucy. Harmonically a lot more realistic. Your preferences may vary.
A few things digital generally doesn’t do nearly as well as analog. Air and squeaky sounds and applause. Oh, and raindrops.
You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear 🐷 You can paint a donkey different colors but it’s still a donkey. Once you have a format that doesn’t have air you can’t magically get air by converting it to another format. Hel-loo!