PUNEET SAMTANI
IN THIS DIGITAL ERA WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE ANALOG WORLD?
The sole purpose of any recording or playback medium should be representing and conveying the audio data in its truest form without any manipulation. It has been a never ending quest for all inventors pioneers and manufacturers to achieve this.
Analog Technology
The Analog technology in terms of audio and music is more than a century old.
The first sound reproduction device was the PHONOGRAPH invented by THOMAS EDISON in the year 1877.
This made way for an audio device most commonly used even today called the TELEPHONE invented by GRAHAM BELL in 1880.
Post these major inventions, the art of capturing, storing and playback of sound never looked back and this technology just went from strength to strength in making way for the digital technology today.
Some notable and successful inventions in the analog world in terms of music would broadly be the gramophone, phonograph, vinyl, magnetic tapes, the compact cassette tapes, tape recorders, microphones, headphones, mixing consoles, the LP, transistor radios, the vocoder, amplifiers, the LP, 8 track tapes. Brings back fond memories? These along with few others have left a roadmap for the technology to progress. While nostalgia creates fondness, technology moves ahead at the speed of lightening.
Digital Technology
The Digital Revolution, which marked the beginning of the information age began somewhere in the late 1950’ s. The use of the computer slowly replacing all the electronic and mechanical devices not just in the field of audio but in all fields begun.
We are familiar with the various digital recorders, players, digital audio workstations and formats which exist today. They are constantly evolving and are just getting better by the day( vastly)
The digital technology came into existence with its own set of advantages.
Digital audio doesn’ t degrade in quality every time one hit’ s playback. This would normally happen with cassettes causing them to wear off. On the other hand, It has given us the option to purchase or record audio in differing levels of file size and quality.
Having said all this, it does come with its set of limitations which it will overcome in the times to come.
The main limitations are the fact that it is still playing catch up with the analog domain in many ways. It is constantly trying to emulate what has already been done and achieved before.
It changes too rapidly for the users and faces a never ending compatibility issues between software and hardware. Thus leaving us little choice but to keep upgrading.
Need to understand the past.
For all of us who are working professionals or users in the field of digital audio, we can’ t help but ignore that most leading manufacturing companies are making plugins and software’ s which are emulations of successful analog gear. Be it tape machine, console, speaker, vinyl, microphone, compressor or any other emulations.
Why so?
The thing with the digital format is the fact that it is transparent and really does not have a personality trait of its own. Such emulations help it give some sonic texture and make it pleasing to the ears, specially when it comes to music.
Don’ t have access to analog gear?
You don’ t really need to buy analog gear to know what it is all about. You could simply listen to some great recordings in a good sounding room, maybe book a professional studio for a couple of hours to listen to music with friends.
Find old gramophone players or attend vinyl workshops which happen in some metro cities. Finding a cassette player and some cassettes wont be that difficult either.
Simply know the difference so you know what you are chasing while working on your music.
Digital recordings can be carried, moved around and can be accessed from anywhere and out on a variety of devices. It does not occupy physical space. It is also comparatively inexpensive to purchase and maintain digital equipment.
The Score Magazine
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