I keep seeing the term "needle drop" used here, and I'm beginning to think it means something different than what I understand it to refer to. I think of "needle drop" as that time I hit my cueing lever, not realizeing that all of the damping fluid has seeped out of the cueing mechanism, resulting in the tonearm dropping like a rock, placeing a divot in my nice new record, that results in a permanent "pop". Or, I'm using a manual table, and while trying to gently lower the tonearm, (after eleventy-seven beers), it slips, and I get the same result.
Are you all using the term "needle drop" to simply mean "playing a vinyl record"?
Artie
It typically means a digital rip made from analog vinyl record(s).
Yeah... Slang for a digitized copy of a vinyl record.
I don't like the term "rip" either... ;) And personally, I only use "rip" in reference to CDs.
I've digitised a few hundred LPs, EPs and singles, and still don't have a word for it. "Rip" doesn't feel right, and "needle-drop" sounds like an expensive accident.
What it is, is ADC . Analog to digital conversion.
It is making a digital recording from an analogue source:
a phono preamp instead of a microphone preamp,
a cartridge transducer instead of a microphone transducer,
a phonograph record instead of a musical instrument or voice.
The ADC is the same in both cases.
The recording program is the same in both cases.
"A needle drop is a version of a music album that has been transferred from a vinyl record to digital audio or other formats. Needle drops are sometimes traded among music collectors, especially when the original vinyl recording has not been released officially on a subsequent consumer format. It is also referred to as a 'Vinyl Rip' or 'Record Rip'" ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_drop_(audio)
Thanks all. That pretty much covers it. I understand.
... Or it's what happens when a Christmas tree is not watered regularly.