I’ve enjoyed reading this thread. I definitely love playing vinyl records. Like others it is a mix of nostalgia, the physical process, the beautiful record covers to read while I listen, the hunt for old vinyl in the record shops, and the beautiful music that LPs can produce.
But honestly it mainly comes down to two things for me.
One is that with an LP it makes me relax into the music more, I am less distracted, I play the whole record, and I feel more like I am at a concert and in the audience. The process of playing a side of an LP naturally discourages skipping tracks or repeating tracks. It encourages me to instead put on the LP, sit down, and relax for 20-60mins with beautiful music, just like I would if I went to a concert.
Two is that I love classical music recorded in the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s. The recording engineers at the time really knew how to properly capture a performance and make it feel like you are in the audience (not the engineer in the recording booth). And the best way to get these recordings is on the original vinyl LPs from that era. Plus there are so many wonderful musicians, performances and recordings from that time that only exist on LP. And it is really fun to go hunting for records and finding new performances.
If I have any kvetching to do, it is less about vinyl vs non-vinyl and more to do with the esthetic of modern recording engineers and producers. Back in the 60s/70s the target was speakers with a record player in a front room and people who wanted to feel like they have performers in the living room and the engineer/producers were masters at that esthetic. Now it seems like the target is headphone listeners who want to hear all the details and feel like they are the producer or in the recording studio.
But honestly it mainly comes down to two things for me.
One is that with an LP it makes me relax into the music more, I am less distracted, I play the whole record, and I feel more like I am at a concert and in the audience. The process of playing a side of an LP naturally discourages skipping tracks or repeating tracks. It encourages me to instead put on the LP, sit down, and relax for 20-60mins with beautiful music, just like I would if I went to a concert.
Two is that I love classical music recorded in the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s. The recording engineers at the time really knew how to properly capture a performance and make it feel like you are in the audience (not the engineer in the recording booth). And the best way to get these recordings is on the original vinyl LPs from that era. Plus there are so many wonderful musicians, performances and recordings from that time that only exist on LP. And it is really fun to go hunting for records and finding new performances.
If I have any kvetching to do, it is less about vinyl vs non-vinyl and more to do with the esthetic of modern recording engineers and producers. Back in the 60s/70s the target was speakers with a record player in a front room and people who wanted to feel like they have performers in the living room and the engineer/producers were masters at that esthetic. Now it seems like the target is headphone listeners who want to hear all the details and feel like they are the producer or in the recording studio.