Shawhan 1

Tim Shawhan
Heidi Hansen
English 1010
24 October 2016
Music Recording: the Best Medium
Ever since the advent of the CD, there has been much debate over the
superior form of audio storage: analog or digital. As with anything, both
formats have their plusses and minuses. These include, but are not limited to
size, storage capacity, and quality. To the human consumer, one is clearly
superior, and that is digital.
Here's a bit of history on digital audio, the first commercially
available audio recording in America was Nippon Columbia, in late 1977, but
there have been numerous unverified reports of successful digital recordings as
early as 1976 (Fine, 1).
Now, most people do not understand the difference between analog and
digital audio. The main difference is the media, analog is always on a physical
object, like a long play (lp), or 45 vinyl, a gramophone cylinder, or a cassette. A
digital audio file can be on either a physical or non-physical medium, like a CD or

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a file on a computer. Less obviously, in the sound waves themselves, there is a

small, nearly unnoticeable difference. In an analog sound wave, there is a smooth,
unbroken line, cut physically into a physical surface. In a digital audio file, the
computer "takes snapshots of the soundwave at a given rate (Rumboltz)." That rate
is called sample rate and is usually 44.1 kHz, or 44,100 snapshots per second.
What that means is that digital is not quite as accurate as analog, but it is quite
close, the difference is unnoticeable to the human ear.
Now that that is out of the way, it is time to move on to more important
topics. For example, the size of the media. On one hand, there is the old, analog
lp's one side could have a little over 40 minutes to a side or 80 minutes in all,
stored on a disc that is about one foot in diameter according to Scott Hull (Hull).
Granted, at the time, over an hour of music on something smaller than a newspaper
was a technological marvel. Then came the cassette, with its 45 minutes that could
fit in a pocket.
Now, consider digital audio. This is, no doubt, the most common audio
format in the world today. With modern technology, one could easily fit two weeks
worth of music in their pocket. I would be willing to guess that you, the reader, has
at least three hours of music in your pocket right now. Dont believe me? Go
ahead, check, I can wait.

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As further evidence, there are a lot more companies producing analog-todigital conversion products and services than there are companies producing
digital-to-analog products and services. This obviously means that there are more
people transitioning from analog to digital audio. If everyone is doing it, can it
really be wrong? One could make the argument that entire nations have been
wrong in the past, however, this is more than just one nation, this is entire
continents, the world even! How can only a few voices even hope to be head over
the world? The simple answer is that they cannot, and that is a fact.

Those that still cling to the old ways will try to claim that their medium has a
superior quality because theirs is an exact replica of the original sound that was
produced. That is in fact the truth. They do have a superior sound due to forcefully
carving groves into a disc made of vinyl then dragging a miniscule needle through
those groves to then reproduce those sounds through a complicated
electromagnetic process. However, at the current time, digital audio files often at,
and sometimes exceeding that 44.1 kHz sample rate. It just so happens that the
human ear has a "sample rate" of roughly 40 kHz according to rumleymusic on
Gearslutz. That sample rate is in quotes because the ear has no sample rate, but
without getting into the science, there needs to be at least double the number of
samples per second as the frequency of a sound in order to accurately reproduce

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the sound. The range of human hearing happens to be 20 Hz to 20 kHz meaning

that if humans did have a sample rate that it would be 40 kHz. Most commercial
recordings have a sample rate higher than that of a human, meaning that the human
ear cannot distinguish between a digital recording and an analog recording.
That being said, all of those people who believe that their precious vinyl's
are superior to the rest of the world and their mp3 files in terms of sound quality
are skating on thin ice that is melting fast, and to all those people, I say, "you are
welcome aboard the S.S. Waveform anytime."
As stated before and clearly explained, the world of digital sound is clearly
superior to that of the analog oldies. Not only is it easier to carry digital audio, but
there is no discernable difference between analog and digital, which is the main
argument that analog believers use. I do have to admit, however that vinyl records
have over CD's, and that is album art. It is hard to put good album art on a CD, it is
just too small.

Works Cited

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Fine, Thomas. "The Dawn of Commercial Digital Recording." ARSC Journal., vol.
39, no. 1, 2008., pp. 1-9,11,1317http://libproxy.nwc.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/
220876463?accountid=46698.
Hull, Scott. "Deciding How Long To Make Each Side Of Your Vinyl Record."
N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2016.
Rumboltz, Robert. "Digital Audio." Audio Recording. Northwest College, Powell.
18 Oct. 2016. Lecture.
Rumleymusic. How Many Samples per Second Can the Ear Differentiate?
Gearslutz, 30 Mar. 2013, https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remotepossibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/825131-how-many-samplesper-second-can-ear-differentiate.html.