Why vinyl records survive the digital age

Do not underestimate the rituals and tactile sensations.

Ask the recording audiophile why vinyl is back, and you might hear the common phrase: “Of course he is back! This is a more accurate reproduction of the original! It just sounds better than numbers! ”

To this I reply: “Really? Or is it just that the equalizer is better tuned? And since when have we suddenly become so bother with the perfect quality of records? Personally, I grew up on audio cassettes that I listened to on the boombox. They sounded disgusting, but we liked it. "
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I think the reason for returning vinyl is much deeper than the sound quality issue. The quotation by media analyst Marshall McLugan, who wrote: "Media is a message." In other words, “the type of carrier is included in any message transmitted by it, and creates a symbiosis in which the carrier influences the perception of the message”. And nowhere is this more pronounced than in the world of sound recording.

Multisensory

This attractiveness contributes to the entire process of handling vinyl. It activates several senses — sight, hearing, and touch — unlike digital streaming broadcast services that activate only hearing (offering the joy of immediate satisfaction). Records provide tactile, visual and auditory sensations. You feel the record. You hold it in your hands. The question is not only the size of the picture on the cover or booklets in the kit (not to mention the unique beauty of color vinyl or discs with color printing). Due to its size and weight, a record has authority, importance, and its size conveys its significance.

For all its fragility and physical qualities, the recordings respect the music and the past. They should be handled with care, because the past deserves preservation. They are easy to scratch and their quality is reduced as a result of scratches. They are subject to the actions of elementary forces - after lying in the sun, they are distorted. They, like living beings, are ephemeral.

And although launching Spotify and searching for a track (any track! You have a choice of 30 million tracks!) Is clearly the most effective way to listen to music, sometimes efficiency turns out to be not the most important quality. Albums on analog discs, and this is the nearest that we have to sound waves. These waves are extracted from a flat, spinning vinyl disc with a diamond. Brilliant rolls on the record. The bulges on the tracks push the diamond up. Everything in this process is built on tactile physics, which distinguishes it from digital services.

Stephen Bieber, a vinyl fan and author of The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk , summed up the attractiveness of the recordings like this: “As in many other cases, the Luddites were right. Old methods were better. Vinyl has a wealth and depth that digital recordings lack; warmth, if you will. And even if not, he still looks cool, spinning on the disk, and he should be treated gently so that he correctly plays music - therefore he is also more humane. Everything is like in love - if you want to feel warm, you need to take care. ”

Ritual

Bieber's last statement refers to the main mystery of vinyl. The awkward process of starting to play a record is similar to a ritual, this feeling is similar to how an artist creates his work. First you need to find a record - and these treasure searches can take 5-10 minutes, depending on the size and organization of your collection. Finding a record, you get it. You release the album from the cover. Or, if you are a real fan, you remove the album from the cover, but the disc remains in the inner envelope. Because you previously turned the envelope 90 degrees, so that the disc does not fall out by chance. Therefore, you take out an album in an envelope. Then you gently put the plate on the disc player: the hole in the disc is done so accurately that you need to press on the plate to lower to the end.

Your respect is demanded by both the album and the needle of the player. There should be no dust on the record, so you get your Discwasher D4 + System cleaning system. You take out a brush with a wooden handle from a cardboard box. You take out a small red bottle of “High-Tech Cleaning Fluid for Recordings” and a tiny needle brush neatly placed inside a wooden handle. You gently wipe the needle with a brush, causing a pleasant sound coming from the speakers.

Then you apply 3-6 drops of liquid on the cloth-covered side of the brush with a wooden handle and rub it with the bottom of the bottle. Then you put the brush on the plate, carefully observing the correct orientation of the bristles. You lick the finger of your other hand, put it in the center of the recording, and gently turn the disc under the brush. At the end of these manipulations, you start the disc and lower the needle - very, very slowly - on a rotating vinyl record.

And the music begins to play.

Lessons

Sensations from handling the plates teach interface designers a few lessons.

1) Developing to affect several senses can be more effective than affecting only one sense. Therefore, mobile applications, where there is sound (by pressing buttons and other things) and tactile sensations (tactile feedback) that complement visual cues, are more popular with users than purely visual ones.

2) In the design always consider the carrier.

3) Always consider the user's mood. Consider every aspect of his physiology and how it can be associated with sensations. For example, one feeling may seem preferable to another because it will remind him of his childhood, or because he always did just that (my mother prefers coffee, ground with a manual coffee grinder, because she always did that, and not because that she thinks coffee tastes better). In the act of abandoning modern technologies in favor of simpler tools that already worked normally, thank you very much, maybe something from a riot.

In life, not everything is connected with simplicity and speed. Sometimes people need to do something more slowly, especially if the process triggers a memory from the past, satisfies a deep need, or fills a behavioral gap. If the process is too simple, its perceived value will decrease.

Some people sometimes want the process of listening to music to demand respect for themselves, that it offer a reified ritual that pulls us out of the daily banalism of our digital existence. Speed ​​has its place, but a certain waste of time can have its value, creating a pleasant sensation of meaningfulness. For this reason, religious rituals do not take five minutes, and we should not forget about it, while digital technologies continue to control our lives.