Return of the Vinyl 05/11/2011
By Brendan Harte Gilsenan
In downtown Harrisonburg on the second floor above Oasis Art Gallery sits a Jerry Garcia lookalike in a cluttered room. He wears a red tie-dye shirt that reads, “Cosmic Debris – A Real Record Shop.” More than 25,000 used records cover the tables in this small rented office space. Although Steve Cape only opened Cosmic Debris in Harrisonburg a year ago, he has been selling used vinyl for the past 26 years.
During that time, he saw the sales of vinyl decrease with the introduction of the CD. However, he noticed a rejuvenated interest once digital music caused people to feel too distanced from the product. While CD sales have continually slumped during the last decade, vinyl has been seeing resurgence. According to Billboard, the format saw a 14 percent increase in sales from 2009 to 2010.
“When we were growing up, this was our record collection and our art collection,” Cape says of vinyl records, which are more than four times the size of CDs. “There would be special items in the record like posters, or mail-off and get free stuff. You don’t get that with CDs. You don’t get that with downloads.”
There are ten 12-by-12-inch record covers mounted on two opposing walls in freshman Ross Figlerski’s room. Figlerski, 19, proudly displays the artwork of some of his favorite records. His first vinyl, 2004’s “Madvillainy” by hip-hop duo Madvillain, is joined by the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over The Sea” and the Talking Heads’ “Remain in the Light.”
“The first time I saw this in actual vinyl format I looked at it, and I’m like, ‘Holy shit. I get this,’” he says of his Madvillain record. “That was such a weird moment for me, like, ‘I can actually get involved with this. This is so frickin’ cool.’”
His eyes were suddenly opened to why people are so attracted to an outdated format.
“When people say, ‘I’m really into music’, and they have a library of 5,000 to 6,000 songs on their laptop, it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’” he says. “[But] if you walk in and see they have six crates of vinyl of new releases, it’s just like, ‘Wow, okay this guy wasn’t joking.’”
Figlerski has one 13-by-19-inch milk crate sitting in his dorm room. He has five more sitting at home in Long Island. Together, they house the more than 300 vinyl record collection he began when he was 16.
Freshman Spencer Dukoff, 19, worked at Scotti’s Record Shop in Summit, N.J. for a year and half before coming to JMU. During his tenure, he witnessed sales of the CD dramatically drop while vinyl revenue remained strong, if not increased.
“CD is cool because it is more portable,” he says. “But if I had to choose one [format] to just chill out to, I would pick vinyl.”
Dukoff believes the main attraction to vinyl is the sentimental value it holds, a quality that is absent with digital music, and even CDs. He compares owning vinyl to collecting baseball cards or stamps. “It’s more of a possession than a CD,” he says.
Another popular argument advocating the use of vinyl is a superior sound quality. Yet, Professor David Cottrell, who teaches several audio devices classes at JMU, says this notion is based off of myth and misconceptions.
He describes the “tortured path of an analog signal” as much more convoluted than the process needed for a digital signal to create a recording. Digital provides a much smoother transition from the actual sound to the copy of it.
Neither is perfect Cottrell admits. Digital is simply closer to perfect. “There is no such thing as a perfect way to record,” he says. “The only perfect example of the actual sound is the sound that actually happens in air.”
Digital recording gives the ability to boost sounds in a song. Condensing a track with digital equipment brings all of the sounds together, giving it a meatier quality. “It sounds fatter and thicker. The burger tastes better.”
Cottrell protests that digital technology has all the capabilities of making a song sound better than analog. “If you take a vinyl recording and then make a CD out of it, and you do it well,” he explains, “I don’t know that people would hear much of a difference.”
Although digital provides more advantages, many still feel they are not always put to good use.
Junior Mike Ciecierski will not download an album to his computer if he owns it on vinyl. Bob Dylan taught him this.
Ciecierski had been listening to Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” for some time on vinyl. Having the urge to listen to the album’s closing track during a walk home, he played it on his iPod. On vinyl, “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” features a distinct piano melody. The same could not be said for the MP3 version of the track.
“You literally can’t hear the piano, at all,” he remembers discovering through his iPod. “That completely fucks with the way I listen to the music, and like the music, and understand the music.”
While Dukoff thinks the sound quality can sometimes be better on vinyl, he, just like Cottrell, fails to see it as a main draw. He notices a difference on Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours.” But his Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” sounds just the same on vinyl as it does on CD.
He believes the bigger draw lies with the physical nature of the product.
“I think people who just listen to vinyl because of the better sound are just full of shit,” Dukoff says.
According to Dukoff, Scotti’s Record Shop typically carries two to three copies of select newly released titles on vinyl. Scotti’s used to stock its new and used vinyl in a back room. Now, they are proudly intermingled throughout the entire store.
At Cosmic Debris, Cape picks up the soundtrack to “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly,” and points out the artwork and the easily located album credits.
“It’s cool. It’s retro,” he says.
Although wholesale prices are too expensive for Cape to keep new titles in stock, he sees other places, such as Best Buy, beginning to carry vinyl to meet a rising demand.
“The record companies aren’t stupid, they see this,” he says.
Although technology continually advances the way we can record and listen to music, it seems there will always be people who are passionate about vinyl.
“I’ve always said, I’ve been doing this for 26 years now, and when it stops being fun I’ll quit doing it,” Cape says. “And I’m still here.”
In downtown Harrisonburg on the second floor above Oasis Art Gallery sits a Jerry Garcia lookalike in a cluttered room. He wears a red tie-dye shirt that reads, “Cosmic Debris – A Real Record Shop.” More than 25,000 used records cover the tables in this small rented office space. Although Steve Cape only opened Cosmic Debris in Harrisonburg a year ago, he has been selling used vinyl for the past 26 years.
During that time, he saw the sales of vinyl decrease with the introduction of the CD. However, he noticed a rejuvenated interest once digital music caused people to feel too distanced from the product. While CD sales have continually slumped during the last decade, vinyl has been seeing resurgence. According to Billboard, the format saw a 14 percent increase in sales from 2009 to 2010.
“When we were growing up, this was our record collection and our art collection,” Cape says of vinyl records, which are more than four times the size of CDs. “There would be special items in the record like posters, or mail-off and get free stuff. You don’t get that with CDs. You don’t get that with downloads.”
There are ten 12-by-12-inch record covers mounted on two opposing walls in freshman Ross Figlerski’s room. Figlerski, 19, proudly displays the artwork of some of his favorite records. His first vinyl, 2004’s “Madvillainy” by hip-hop duo Madvillain, is joined by the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over The Sea” and the Talking Heads’ “Remain in the Light.”
“The first time I saw this in actual vinyl format I looked at it, and I’m like, ‘Holy shit. I get this,’” he says of his Madvillain record. “That was such a weird moment for me, like, ‘I can actually get involved with this. This is so frickin’ cool.’”
His eyes were suddenly opened to why people are so attracted to an outdated format.
“When people say, ‘I’m really into music’, and they have a library of 5,000 to 6,000 songs on their laptop, it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s cool,’” he says. “[But] if you walk in and see they have six crates of vinyl of new releases, it’s just like, ‘Wow, okay this guy wasn’t joking.’”
Figlerski has one 13-by-19-inch milk crate sitting in his dorm room. He has five more sitting at home in Long Island. Together, they house the more than 300 vinyl record collection he began when he was 16.
Freshman Spencer Dukoff, 19, worked at Scotti’s Record Shop in Summit, N.J. for a year and half before coming to JMU. During his tenure, he witnessed sales of the CD dramatically drop while vinyl revenue remained strong, if not increased.
“CD is cool because it is more portable,” he says. “But if I had to choose one [format] to just chill out to, I would pick vinyl.”
Dukoff believes the main attraction to vinyl is the sentimental value it holds, a quality that is absent with digital music, and even CDs. He compares owning vinyl to collecting baseball cards or stamps. “It’s more of a possession than a CD,” he says.
Another popular argument advocating the use of vinyl is a superior sound quality. Yet, Professor David Cottrell, who teaches several audio devices classes at JMU, says this notion is based off of myth and misconceptions.
He describes the “tortured path of an analog signal” as much more convoluted than the process needed for a digital signal to create a recording. Digital provides a much smoother transition from the actual sound to the copy of it.
Neither is perfect Cottrell admits. Digital is simply closer to perfect. “There is no such thing as a perfect way to record,” he says. “The only perfect example of the actual sound is the sound that actually happens in air.”
Digital recording gives the ability to boost sounds in a song. Condensing a track with digital equipment brings all of the sounds together, giving it a meatier quality. “It sounds fatter and thicker. The burger tastes better.”
Cottrell protests that digital technology has all the capabilities of making a song sound better than analog. “If you take a vinyl recording and then make a CD out of it, and you do it well,” he explains, “I don’t know that people would hear much of a difference.”
Although digital provides more advantages, many still feel they are not always put to good use.
Junior Mike Ciecierski will not download an album to his computer if he owns it on vinyl. Bob Dylan taught him this.
Ciecierski had been listening to Dylan’s “Nashville Skyline” for some time on vinyl. Having the urge to listen to the album’s closing track during a walk home, he played it on his iPod. On vinyl, “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” features a distinct piano melody. The same could not be said for the MP3 version of the track.
“You literally can’t hear the piano, at all,” he remembers discovering through his iPod. “That completely fucks with the way I listen to the music, and like the music, and understand the music.”
While Dukoff thinks the sound quality can sometimes be better on vinyl, he, just like Cottrell, fails to see it as a main draw. He notices a difference on Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours.” But his Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” sounds just the same on vinyl as it does on CD.
He believes the bigger draw lies with the physical nature of the product.
“I think people who just listen to vinyl because of the better sound are just full of shit,” Dukoff says.
According to Dukoff, Scotti’s Record Shop typically carries two to three copies of select newly released titles on vinyl. Scotti’s used to stock its new and used vinyl in a back room. Now, they are proudly intermingled throughout the entire store.
At Cosmic Debris, Cape picks up the soundtrack to “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly,” and points out the artwork and the easily located album credits.
“It’s cool. It’s retro,” he says.
Although wholesale prices are too expensive for Cape to keep new titles in stock, he sees other places, such as Best Buy, beginning to carry vinyl to meet a rising demand.
“The record companies aren’t stupid, they see this,” he says.
Although technology continually advances the way we can record and listen to music, it seems there will always be people who are passionate about vinyl.
“I’ve always said, I’ve been doing this for 26 years now, and when it stops being fun I’ll quit doing it,” Cape says. “And I’m still here.”
