I think for this metaphor to work, the 'dirt' would be not on the analogue master but the vinyl, tube amps etc. that adds 'warmth'.Originally Posted by JeffCarney
Let me give you a thought experiment: it's the year 2050 and all the audiophiles are out trying to source vintage Beats By Dre. The argument is that these headphones introduced a colour to the sound that was being dialled in for every master, and that vintage Hip Hop should only be listened to on Beats.
Now I'd argue that just because people at one era listened predominantly through a particular set of equipment doesn't mean that that colouration was desirable to the original artist. Recording engineers have to live with the likelihood of music being played through the bloated bass of a mass-market headphone in the same way that people recording onto wax cylinders had to account for the reproduction limitations of their time.
So that analogue, vinyl warmth will always have its supporters (because in many cases that's how they remember the music) but there will also be a compelling argument to opt for the sort of 'high information' presentation that you can get from a remix, and especially from a multichannel remix.
And, within the tolerances that yes it's a digital remix, it seems to me that SW often shows exceptional fidelity to the original recording, to the extent that, for example, his Thick As A Brick sounds, overall, pretty close. I suppose it helps that he's a big vinyl fan himself.
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