By: Andres Luis Makilan, Staff Writer
In an era dominated by digital streaming services, vinyl records have been making a resurgence into the homes of students. With their charm and captivating sound, it offers listeners an experience worth more than just music.
“That feeling of holding the vinyl, I think, is quite unique.” Says Milo Stretton (11), a member of the jazz band here at Mills. He himself owns quite a few vinyl records himself, ranging from more recent albums like Tyler The Creator’s 2019 album Igor and Tame Impala’s 2015 album, Currents, to more popular jazz albums like John Coltrane’s 1965 album A Love Supreme and Miles Davis’s 1959 album Kind of Blue.
He continues, saying “It’s not something you get from listening to tracks on Spotify; it gives you this sense of ownership [over the album].” He goes back to say that vinyl records offer a bit of insight into the past, stating that the vinyl cover contains a part of history as you can see the people who’ve played on it, and the date that it was released on the back of the cover.
David Gregoric, the music teacher/band conductor at Mills shared a similar answer, saying that because digital platforms have such a large repertoire of songs and albums that “you just kind of lose the essence of hearing a song all the way through.” He elaborates with the fact that there should be something said about how the songs and albums are organized from the artists point of view, and how digital services kind of strip that organization away from it.
Gregoric also says that there’s a difference in the listening experience in the more technical aspect of things between vinyl and digital, referring to the fact that digital services compress the sound of the songs so that people may download them faster and that the songs don’t take up that much bandwidth. In his words, “It’s [the sound] been reduced, sonically speaking. It just isn’t the ‘original’ sound of the recording.”
On the other hand, Stretton (11) believes that there’s a difference in the representation between vinyl and digital because “you can see the record moving.” He goes on to say that the experience is different because it feels a lot more special if you can see the vinyl playing in front of you, because as he said earlier, it gives that sense of ownership and the fact that “it has a different vibe.”
Vinyl records are more than just relics of an bygone era; they offer a special way to connect with music itself on a deeper level. As Stretton (11) puts it, “Sometimes you can find these ‘hidden gems’ that not many people know about.” For those who seek more than just music, vinyl records deliver a timeless charm that resonates with listeners both old and new.
