I really like the Fremer heads.
Z
The front cover is largely irrelevant. What you have is probably sufficient. The back cover is the more important cover, in my opinion and should contain a description is what is being done and how one can participate in the experiment. You may want to include the answer to the riddle in an envelope inside the jacket so somebody can determine what side used what chain long after the original is pressed.
I am very glad to see that this project is moving forward.
Still, most of us do pick up an LP based on the cover. As a designer, I think you can do better than this mock up. I pray you're not laying this out in MS Word.
Perhaps using the Mosaic filter to render the digital version in a grid of large color boxes rather than what looks to me like a bitmapped version... or overlapping the variations straight on rather than in perspective and showing portions of the nice analog cover rendered in Photoshop's Mosaic filtered boxes of color.
Is that how they call your followers? Artwork is ok!
Ixnay the Fremer heads, replace w/ hot young babe listening to a pair of headphones.
Don't do the sexual babe reference ..even if it's funny, because when you are from the 60's-70's Era..at LEAST you are the real deal and won't have to fake being in-the-know with anyone here..or there.Sex in advertisement has sold-out.
The golden ears bit, that facial expression of yours - is someone turning you into a new Spock?
Looks great, but why the Go Pro on your head? That's video, a visual thing. I thought this is all about sound. Then again I have not been able to attend any audio shows. Maybe that is the way most people see you?
I like it! Hey, how about making those headphone holders?!! Yes, there it is, Fremer headphone holders!!!
I just couldn't resist Michael, it's too good. :)
fuzzy ADA side. It's not A MP3 A.
What I meant to say was, I like it aside from the fuzzy ADA side. It's not cut from an MP3 after all.
Because that's what we're supposed to believe the digitally sourced side will sound like.
If the idea is that a listener may not be able to tell the difference between AAA an ADA then both covers should look the same. By having them different you're pre-supposing that ADA sounds worse than AAA.
Agree completely. What is this, Faux News?
...unless they will help fund this project. And, no side A or B on labels in case some party pooper spoils our fun by Internet reveal. Cryptic deadwax info we can look at when we're ready.
Showing a pixilated ADA cover is about as unbiased as Fox News.
Technically, this would be AAA v. AAA since the SPARS code doesn't have the ability to differentiate an analog mastering from a digital source of an analog mix.
The AAA version is clearly more focused than the ADA version. You wouldn't be attempting to influence perceptions, would you Mikey?
Why show a bias? It could taint the exercise.
Regarding the front cover, I think you should just have the original cover - half as it should be (the original), half in hazy matrix of 0's and 1's that vaguely make up the form of the other half...
Regarding being able to tell the AAA and ADA vinyl sides apart, can't it just be a small variation in the matrix code?
That way you will only know which side is playing by looking very closely at the deadwax.
which side is which is he, Michael? He'll also have to hide the original AAA cut's lead out inscription, I suppose. I'm confident in my ability not to tell, but I'm keen to hear what various folks hear. Cool project.
or made available vor download. So, we can also compare AAA and ADA with ADD. Please!
Just my opinion but I think the test in offering this product should be whether anyone who doesn't already agree with us about analog recording and vinyl playback would look at this, pick it up and pay for it to see for themselves. I thought this was a project to be taken seriously by people who aren't already in the choir, even though it certainly doesn't have to be leaden and humorless. So I say sorry, please take goofy credibility destroying caricatures of you out of the middle of the front cover, put them in a corner of the back cover if you want to make a logo for future releases of "Mikey's" (TM) comparative and reference analogue trax. Also think it inherently looks unfair to have the pixelation of the digital side of the cover so overly strong. You aren't comparing AAA to MP3, so something suggesting much more subtle pixelation might be OK but people are supposed to be deciding for themselves objectively aren't they?
that someone who believes digital is better has a turntable to play this on? And how can the pixelation influence anyone if they don't know which side of the record is which? If you can't hear a difference it does not matter and if you can, and have a preference for one over the other, you will find out in time which is which, but how could the pixelation have influenced your choice? Is not like there is some magic connection between pixelated cover art and digital record side.
Can't believe all the nit picking. If you are trying to show a pictorial representation of analog vs. digital, what better way than what Michael is doing? Haven't seen one person with a different idea for that.
Since no one will know which side is which, how does that bias anything? The whole purpose of the disc is to compare AAA and ADA so it's already "biased", if you insist on looking at it that way.
The Fremer heads are FUN. Some of you need to get a little more laughter in your lives.
End of rant.
Z
Michael did ask us what we thought, so we did. I see MF's point that making both album covers look the same would also "taint" the viewer. How about one image of the original album cover and then on one side a digital looking player, on the other side a turntable, and both are pointed toward the original album art? And a question mark next to the digital player and the turntable? I'd be happy to put it together for you - I'm a graphic designer with many album covers to my credit.
I like this idea of turntable vs. digital player. I appreciate fun and humor - funny Fremer pic is fine IMO, but if there is even any real pretension of seriousness in this exercise, then there is at least a requirement to show some control against bias. Like others have said, we're talking 24/96 here, not low quality MP3!
IMO there is a real potential for digital sounding superior since some of the processing after digitization like applying the RIAA curve can be done in a more accurate way than the analogue domain. All depends on how Kevin Gray is doing this!
I think keeping this blinded (just Kevin needs to know) until say at least 100+ responses come in keyed to a serial number to weed out fake responses would be a great opportunity to be serious about this and can truly help answer the question posed.
That is the point of the exercise - we are challenging people to hear a difference and have a preference.
Otherwise, I like it.
Take out the faces and leave a single golden here in the middle, and you've got it.
I think the cover shows a strong anti-digital bias with the pixelated ADA art work. You’re fairer then this. Don’t poise the well before folks get to hear it for themselves. That B&W photo with the gold ears not good (ugly) delete it.
Should be pixelated to match the album cover.
At first glance it was Meh.....Once you take a good look, you get the joke and appreciate the cover. I agree your image should be pixelated to match the album cover.
Looking forward to this!
If you had just a plain black cover with the two album covers as they are, with a small white silhouette of "Analog Planet", you would have a classic album cover. Less is more! You could even make T-shirts.
T-shirts......you could have a statement on the T-shirt saying "I can hear the difference". Two album covers, one in and one out of focus, with "I can hear the difference". I would buy that t-shirt.
I have to admit, I'm not really a fan of the first draft cover above. Here's one that I threw together in Photoshop. Literally took a couple minutes so pardon the low quality image, but it was derived from an internet screen shot. Also, to give credit where credit is due, drdarkfish beat me to the zeros and ones idea in his earlier post.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6Ldk_f3n01DekNLXzdkQk4ySFk
Ditch the AAA ADA abbreviations for the cover but use them in the description. Use ANALOG and DIGITAL for the cover art.
Don't let people know, at first, what side is what. Then let everyone know two weeks after the lps have shipped.
Don't let people know, at first, what side is what. Then let everyone know two weeks after the lps have shipped.