The return of the clicks and skips partly reflects the enduring appeal of vinyl recordings.
Although CDs long ago replaced LPs and cassette tapes as the music industry's dominant playback format, a dedicated cult of vinyl worshipers persists. These fans say that so-called analog recordings, pressed on vinyl, sound warmer and capture performances more faithfully than do digital CDs.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday December 24, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 19 inches; 707 words Type of Material: Correction
Beatles song -- A story in Wednesday's Section A about computer-generated sounds meant to simulate the scratches on vinyl records incorrectly cited the Beatles song "Rocky Raccoon" as an early example of the effect. The Beatles' "Honey Pie" included such sound effects.
Analog recording transforms sound waves into electrical signals that are etched into the grooves of the vinyl disc and converted back into sound waves by a phonograph needle, amplifier and loudspeakers.
Vinyl loyalists contend that digital recordings can sound harsh and icily sterile because the process breaks up the continuous sound waves into millions of separate bits that are translated into numbers for storage, editing and duplication via computer.
Pop acts from Beck to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to Jurassic 5 cater to LP aficionados by releasing limited editions of their albums on vinyl.
The Recording Industry Assn. of America reports that more than $82 million worth of LPs were sold in 2001, up slightly from the previous two years. Sales of CDs totaled $12.2 billion last year, the association says.
Some suggest that introducing a smidgen of aural junk into contamination-free digital recordings makes them better reflect real life.
"In the age we live in, there are not many pure environments for people to hear things clearly anyway," says singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy of the alt-rock group Wilco, who regularly incorporates all manner of noise, from vinyl scratches to radio static, in the group's recordings.
"Especially for anyone living in a city, our environment is pretty polluted, and I think we've grown very comfortable with that. It makes things sound very unreal not to have something competing with what supposedly is the content, what is supposed to be the meaning."
Idea Is an Oldie
The idea of adding noise to recordings isn't new.
The New Vaudeville Band had a No. 1 hit in 1966 with "Winchester Cathedral," which mimicked the compressed range and rickety sound of a 78-rpm record from the 1920s. Two years later, the Beatles added scratchy vinyl noise to "Rocky Raccoon" on the album "The Beatles," popularly known as "The White Album."
The Monkees went a step further in 1968 with the song "Magnolia Simms," which sounded as if the record was skipping and the needle was being carelessly dragged across the grooves.
