Contents of the pack and other information What VEPACEL contains

Immediately prior to the introduction of the CD in 1982, prerecorded cassette tape sales surpassed those of LPs.²¹ Then, in November, the first digital audio,

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twelve-centimeter Compact Discs (CDs) and players shipped in Japan. Sony and Philips had combined their technologies and the Philips’ launch came in 1983.

Nyquist had developed his sampling theorem in 1929, and it took many more theo-retical, electronic, optical, and mechanical developments to bring digital optical technology to commercial fruition. The shiny silver discs were initially more expen-sive than LPs or cassettes and the players cost many hundreds of dollars; there was resistance from retailers (CDs did not easily fit into vinyl bins) and consumer uptake was slow at first. Regardless, by 1985, consumers had purchased millions of CD players and disc manufacturers could not meet demand. Growth became exponential. According to Philips,

. . . some 390 million CDs were sold worldwide in 1988, 56 percent more than the year before, the growth rate in the Netherlands was more than 100 percent.

Research showed that CD player owners purchased 16 CDs in the first year of ownership, and around 9 or 10 discs in the following years. By 1989 CD sales had reached a share of 80 percent of the total audio carriers market, while that of LPs had declined to only 12 percent.²²

There were technical problems in the beginning. Marketing initially cast CDs as being virtually indestructible. Consumers soon discovered that a thumbprint or scratch could cause them to skip or stutter on early CD players. Some of the first CDs manufactured were mastered at a low level (not taking advantage of the full sixteen-bit dynamic range). Labels often used second- or third-generation produc-tion masters, thus transferring not only the original but also generaproduc-tional tape noise and audio degradation to the CD. Once producers, engineers, and artists under-stood these problems, they brought pressure to bear on the labels to remaster for digital, and to improve transfer protocols.

The frequency response of a CD is flat within ±0.5 dB from 5 Hz to 20 kHz, with a signal-to-noise ratio of better than 90 dB. LP mastering had always been a compromise; the low end often needed to be shelved in order to keep track width manageable. The high end (particularly sibilance) would not always cut cleanly onto the master lacquer and the vinyl pressing process could exacerbate the prob-lem. For producers and engineers who embraced digital mastering early on, the transfer to CD was, at least in theory, more transparent. With a well-mastered CD, it is possible to listen to others’ recordings on a high-end system (such as in a pro-fessional studio) and hear something closer to the producer’s intended result than you might on analog consumer formats. There are many variables in vinyl playback systems, such as wow, flutter, the type and quality of stylus, tracking arm weight, resonance and distortion, vibration, rumble, and the accuracy of the equalization curve. Different pressings can sound different, especially ones from other countries.

Cassettes did not improve matters; they were sonically inferior to LPs in many ways.

Simply the inconsistencies from machine to machine, and from one make of cas-sette to another, marked them as an unreliable professional audio source—despite their portability and convenience for casual listening.

Singles

An unfortunate consequence of the introduction of the CD was the eventual elimi-nation of the single. From the beginning of the recording industry until Columbia’s introduction of the microgroove LP in 1948, consumers could buy a single piece of music (with a B-side, once double-sided flat discs were introduced). RCA came up with the seven-inch, 45 rpm vinyl single in 1949 as a counter to Columbia’s LP. The vinyl single eventually replaced 78s and the LP replaced the book-like collections of 78s known as albums (hence the application of that term to LPs, full-length cas-settes, and CDs). For more than a century, there had been a cost-effective means of making single tracks (with a B-side) available. Cassingles (cassette singles) requiring less tape and using minimal packaging were attractive to consumers because of the low price (often the same as seven-inch vinyl). These typically comprised the one

“radio” track and bonus B-side(s). Unfortunately, standard, 120 mm, CDs cost the same to manufacture, whether they contain seventy-six minutes or three minutes of music. Labels experimented with small diameter and creatively shaped CDs but these required an adaptor to play in any slot-fed CD players (as in most cars and some computers).

The larger companies appeared to favor the elimination of the single.

Consumers would have to buy the whole album to get the one or two tracks they liked. Full albums generated more revenue for the label. No more singles meant no more “singles with options deals” and diminished the opportunity to test artists in the marketplace at a reasonable cost. Eliminating the single was not completely irrational. If a single becomes a radio hit too far in advance of the album being made available for purchase, marketing impetus is lost along with revenues. On the other hand, the financial risk is much lower with a new artist on a singles deal and the viability of a project can be tested more cost effectively. Singles gave consumers the track they wanted and there was more incentive to fill the album with meaning-ful tracks rather than fillers (more of which later).

Napster ultimately diminished major label control of the market by making almost any music you could think of available instantly and for free. The peer-to-peer system created the largest library of music ever, made singles available again, and for the first time allowed users to downland individual tracks from any album. iTunes has never achieved the magnitude of Napster’s peer-to-peer library. Nevertheless, it did restore a critical revenue stream and continued to deliver not only singles but also individual album track downloads, unless they are blocked by the label or artist.

Mixing

Mixing usually refers to a mix comprising mostly material recorded during the original production usually for a single or inclusion on an album. Mixers do

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sometimes add and change material and this has become more common recently.

Remixes often change much of the material and nature of the original production, more of which later. Specialist mixers began to emerge in the early to mid-eighties.

Mixing had become a post-production process with the introduction of multi-track machines but was still regarded as being part of the producer and/or record-ing engineer’s job description. Before multitrack recordrecord-ing, and even durrecord-ing the interim sound-on-sound period, mixing or balancing still needed to be done but it was done live during the recording. Even prior to electric recording, early acoustic recorders, producers, or musical directors made the decisions about placement of the performers relative to the recording horns that affected final recorded balance, tone, ambience, and so forth. Despite the term “balancing” or “balance engineer”

that was often used through the sixties, mixing as both a pre- and post-production process has typically involved more than simply balancing the musical elements.

Relative balance of instruments and vocals may be the most critical aspect, but stereo (since the fifties) and front/back placement, refinement of sounds relative to each other by means of equalization, augmentation with effects, and dynamic control are also important parts of a mix. Additionally, in recent years surround sound mixing has become more prevalent. Mixing and remixing are related but different processes that require specialist skills and are arguably separate art forms.