Is ripping vinyl worth it?

[MeetsMandy]

Hey guys, not posted in awhile!

Got a question that needs answering! So I can spend ages looking at various underground music sites and listen to so many obscure techno/house tracks that I'd love to play out. Only problem is they're on vinyl only! I have some shitty Numark TT1610's which are really shitty belt driven turntables so I don't bother mixing with them or buying that many vinyls however I did wonder... Would it be worth me buying vinyl's and then ripping them to WAV? Or would it lose a lot of sound quality? I want to rip some big tunes so I can play them out on decent speakers and I don't really want shitty quality tracks! I have a mate who has proper 1210's so I could use his turntables to rip tunes as I know mine wouldn't be of much use? Plus I get to experience all the fun of going record shopping!

Anyone on here do this? I would love to talk to someone about it. I think doing this with vinyl would separate myself from djs who just buy tracks online? Plus my collection would build up and one day I could just bring my vinyl along to a club and play out straight away!

[Jester]

Up to you mate but personally i wouldn't invest in vinyls unless i planned on playing them. I would contact the label and ask nicely if they could release a digital version, but where's the exclusivity in that eh?

[MeetsMandy]

I do plan on playing the vinyls that I buy, but I want to know about sound quality and ripping them? if I was willing to just buy vinyl I'd get decent turntables however I am getting cdjs which would be more suitable? Also Labels must get loads of people wanting the digital copy and they'd never release them lol

[Hippie]

Pedantic point - the plural of vinyl is vinyl
Ahhhh that's better

Yes - doo it doo it doo it

Rips are usually a bit wibbly wobbly tho and thus a pita to beatgrid and mix on a controller unless you tap the beat in when you need it, beat match and adjust by ear or warp them into shape with ableton.

[MeetsMandy]

So I should deffo start ripping!? Plus I'd just be beat matching by ear as if I was playing on vinyl

[Kwal]

I'd love to have some of that Art Department and Seth Troxler shit that they release vinyl only, but I prefer to leave it alone as is, it's what they intended it to be.

[Thumper]

I buy and rip a lot of vinyl. A loss of sound quality? Perhaps a little. Aside from the mastering, there are going to be cracks and pops. I like that, though. To be honest, I haven't had a lot of trouble with wobbly rips. The vast - and I mean 99.9% - are as easy to beatgrid as digital tunes, and every bit as precise.

A lot of the current lo-fi house is a wee bit different. I assume that this is less to do with the quality of the vinyl press and more to do with the production techniques. I've a bunch of old Acid House from the mid and late 80's that is wonky to the point of being un-gridable, and is very similar in terms of how it was made to this newer stuff: Wonky old analogue gear, recorded to knackered old master tapes, that sort of thing. I got the new Greg Beato one on LIES last week and two of the tracks are all over the place. I'm going to have to sit down and do some work to find out whether it's me, the pressing or the production. Considering the third track is pretty much perfect I'm guessing it's the production.

In comparison, I have digital tracks that are every bit as bad. Most of it is about how that music was made. Not a lot you can do about it. I guess you could stick it in Ableton and try and warp it but that brings it's own problems. Anyway, yeah, if your just mixing by ear lt's not really a hardship to just manually adjust.

[b1sh0p]

If a tune isn't available digitally and only got release on vinyl, it might for a reason. They might want it to be a vinyl only release. I won't play those tunes out of respect for the artist and label.

[Kwal]

If a tune isn't available digitally and only got release on vinyl, it might for a reason. They might want it to be a vinyl only release. I won't play those tunes out of respect for the artist and label.

+1

[UncleFunky]

Pedantic point - the plural of vinyl is vinyl
Ahhhh that's better

I got flamed last time I mentioned that.

I rip vinyl all the time and never have a problem beat-gridding it. I'm a vinyl junkie at heart and prefer something physical to digital. Buying digital leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

My answer - ripping vinyl is indeed worth it.