Vinyl vs. 'streaming': where is music best listened to?

Vinyl record sales exceed CD sales 1:24

(CNN Spanish) -

 The debate has existed for years in online forums or in friends' gatherings, vinyl lovers say that this format offers the most pristine quality of a production.

Supporters of

streaming

- or digital audio in general - say that the music played on the platforms is high definition.

But who is right?

The answer is not so simple and both may be correct.

The key is the format.

JC Losada, a Venezuelan producer and sound engineer, tells Zona Pop CNN that there are differences, and even within the different

streaming

platforms

.

The differences between vinyl sound and 

streaming

«If there is a difference.

The vinyl is very good quality, the CD is of higher resolution,

streaming

begins to lose quality and depending on the platform ... because each streaming platform has its own algorithm ", explains Losada, who has worked with artists like Ricky Martin, Shakira and Carlos Santana.

"Vinyl has a wonderful sound quality that we all know, but it has limitations with regard to frequency range and dynamic range, which means volume," says Losada.

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If you take a vinyl in your hands and examine it, you will see that the record has grooves or channels, which is where the songs are.

These grooves are traversed on the record player with a needle that "reads" that information and reproduces it.

«The little channel through which that needle travels inside the vinyl is very thin and only the needle can move a certain amount of movement to reproduce the frequency.

If the frequency is very low or very high, very extreme, then the needle has to move faster or it has to move more physically, ”explains Losada.

First difference: continuity in sound

To understand digital audio, that is, what we listen to on platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music, it is necessary to think about the concept behind the video.

“When you talk about digital audio, you imagine the same concept of a movie that is 35 or 30 frames in a second, and those frames go by so fast that your eyes join them and create movement.

In digital audio it is the same.

At one moment of sound many photos are taken.

On a CD, for example, you take 44,000 photos of the sound wave in one second, ”he explains.

Those photos, in digital format, are known as 

samples. 

And according to Losada, when they are placed one behind the other they create sound continuity.

Something very different from what happens with vinyl productions.

“On vinyl the audio is continuous because it is an electrical signal.

So, being an electrical signal, there are no interruptions », says Losada.

According to the Venezuelan producer, the second difference when we talk about vinyl quality vs.

digital audio is in the question: for what format was a production intended?

Second difference: productions recorded for specific formats

“The problem is that before, when you went and bought vinyl, it is the same sound anywhere in the world.

But now the same song that I release depending on the store where you buy it, which is streaming, is going to sound different.

So there is always the challenge that as each platform has its own algorithm, it sounds different, ”explains Losada.

For example, records like "Abbey Road" by The Beatles were intended and produced to be played on a record player.

For this reason, it lacks frequencies that are not reproducible on vinyl records.

«

Much of the music that is listened to today was recorded for that format.

We are going to talk about Bob Marley and we are going to talk about the Beatles, we are going to talk about Queen, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, La Fania… (That) music was created to be reproduced in that format.

It was recorded and captured with a technology that is consistent with that format, ”says Losada.

And what happens when an analog-to-digital production is remastered?

"It sounds weird because you hear frequencies that weren't supposed to be there," he says.

“For example, a double bass or an electric bass, it has a very low frequency that the vinyl did not capture.

So, when you go digital you start putting the

artifact in it

, as they say in English, you start putting digital tricks in it and certain 'artifacts' start to come out that were not originally supposed to be there, ”says Losada.

Which streaming platform offers the best sound quality?

According to Losada, Tidal - founded by Jay-Z - is the one that offers the best quality in terms of sound.

“Amazon Music sounds different than Spotify sounds, Tidal sounds different than Apple Music.

In my experience, the one that sounds the highest resolution is Tidal because it accepts high resolution files. "

Losada, who has multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Award nominations, explains that for this reason, producers and sound engineers currently deliver different mixes, to meet the needs that each platform or format requires.

«

One of the things that is done is if I am producing or mixing an album and the artist tells me 'hey, we're going to release this album on vinyl too', then I give him two different masters.

The master for vinyl has to have a much lower wave width than that of CD, ”he explains.

«

And then you can also submit several different masters, one for Spotify, one for Apple Music, one for Tidal.

It's been a long time since several different masters are delivered depending on the format, "he says.

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