“I’ve got a music-related hypothetical question for you:
You record an album. At the beginning of the album, you add in the distinct hiss/pop of a needle touching a record and playing a few second before the music kicks in.
This album is successful enough that six months later, you’re approached by the record company regarding the release of this album on vinyl.
You are given the option to remove the hiss/pop from the album’s opening, however, if you choose to remove it, it will be removed from ALL versions of the album that are subsequently available. It will no longer be available on digital/streaming versions or any CD’s that might be made.
Which of these options would strike you as more artificial:
1. Leaving in the original hiss/pop on the first track, even though you know this is unnecessary because that hiss/pop will be present when the listener plays the vinyl version, however there will be far fewer listeners of this version, anyway?
2. Removing the hiss/pop, which does slightly change the song, and which forces you to acknowledge the artificiality of adding a digital version of an analog sound to a digital recording for the sake of creating “realness”?”