Is the stagnant quality of records the charm? O.L.H. (Only Love Hurts) releases their last three albums on vinyl

In fact, around 2008, before production began, I traveled around Alabama and Memphis just before recording, visiting prestigious studios in the American South, such as Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and Fame Studios, where many classic rhythm and blues, soul music, and rock and roll songs have been recorded.

As a result, before I started making Whydunit, I had in my mind the recording methods of the early 1970s, using an 8-track multi-track and recording onto reel-to-reel tape, and I wanted to release it on vinyl if possible.

The sound concepts for "typical affair" (2011) and "On The Border" (2012), which were released on record following "Whydunit?", are similar. Of course, digital recording is the norm these days, and analog is incredibly expensive. So I used digital technology to achieve the ideal sound quality possible. I was satisfied with the end product, but I was aware of its limitations.

The recorded master audio has been given a new mastering treatment for the record, which is different from that used for the CD.

Here, we carefully created a finished master version for each song, and once the overall texture was consistent, we handed it over to the cutting engineer, who would create the lacquer disc that would become the record.

I was feeling both excited and anxious until it was completed.

We're fully prepared, but in the end, we won't know until we cut the record and see it finished. Just like with a movie, even if you get a good shot, you can't really say anything until you splice the film together.

Since you can't make corrections, it's essentially a gamble. We're so used to digital that we think we can easily redo things, but with records, it's not that easy. If you leave it up to the cutting engineer, it's a gamble.

But I think it worked out really well this time. Listening to the record, I finally felt that "Whydunit?" had the sound quality I wanted. It was finally what I wanted to do.

It's really nice to be able to listen to it on vinyl.

When listening to the opening tracks, "That Man Was Too Much" and "Itchimatara" on CD, the separation between the vocals and the tracks is clear, but on the record they blend together. I was really struck by the way the chorus saturates and becomes muddled. After all, even with the digital simulation, it still couldn't be heard in analog form.

When making an analog record, the question always arises: "What can we do to prevent the sound quality from deteriorating?" Because the material is processed analogically, the sound becomes blurred, smeared, and deteriorated as it is repeated over and over again. To counter this, we can anticipate sound deterioration from the mastering and cutting stages and improve the sound quality of certain parts to make them crisper.

When we made our debut, the recording studios were already equipped with digital equipment.

However, as a listener, I'm used to the sound of records, so it took me quite a while to get used to the clear sound. It goes without saying that products recorded digitally and released on digital media have extremely clear sound quality. However, that "clarity" can also be a little alienating for some people.

In my opinion, music would be difficult to listen to if it didn't have distortion, blur, and other elements that have been eliminated in the digital age. The world has become a cleaner place, with a strong emphasis on compliance and no harassment or adultery.

It may be some time before we know if this is the right answer.

It would be hard to live in a world without stagnation. Let's all listen to analog records and learn about absurdity (laughs).

It's true that flipping from side A to side B is a hassle these days.

Music is an art form that musicians and listeners share time together. The act of listening to a record is a ritual in which both parties participate, even though it is a different experience.

The musician records the album, even deciding the track order, and the listener then removes the record from the jacket, places the needle on the surface, and plays it. When listening to an album, this ritual occurs approximately once every 20 minutes on each side.

CDs and subscriptions allow you to skip songs and change the order of songs, so unlike time-based art, music has a stronger aspect of being consumed.

It's a roundabout way of saying, "Please buy my records!"

That's right (laughs). They ask, "Are you OK with remaining a consumer?" It's fine to remain a user, but I think that by buying and listening to records, you become involved in the music and can finally become a listener.