Spin the black circle

[greatbear]

It was nice walking into the tiny record store and perusing the new and used stuff inside. Buying the LP of something I got a couple years ago on CD on its release date was throwback-y satisfying. Even more smile inducing was getting the audiophile re-press of a record I had for decades then bought the CD when it was finally released in that format. Better still was buying the new reissue of a record I played to death, giving the worn-out copy to a friend when I saw it was reissued way back when yet kicking myself because the reissue was simply the two LPs stuffed into a single sleeve bereft of the tri-fold jacket, art and lyrics of the original. I had gotten the CD when it finally came out, of course. The reissue on the 40th anniversary brought back the original jacket style and art, plus 180g discs that sound fantastic. Said records became a nice little break as we've been unpacking things, getting the house back in shape and doing other everyday tasks.

I have terabytes of music ripped from my CDs and other sources ready to play at the clicking of some buttons. I can play a small batch of music and not hear the same song for weeks. Many of these are high-resolution tracks that exceed the fidelity of CDs by a factor of four or more. Convenience rules the day. Yet nothing can compare to playing records. I have to get up every now and then to turn the records over or change them lest I be greeted by silence. It feels like an event, an actual performance. There's no handling a digital file and reading the liner notes. There is also the unmistakeable smell of records that can never be duplicated.

Life sounds good.

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

As for the licorice pizza, vinyl or whatever name you choose to call it, I totally agree with you on that. It's fantastic to handle, and to listen to as it sounds wonderful on a halfway decent table with a more than halfway decent cartridge etc.

Then again, I love to spin the ol' reel to reel tapes too as I now have my R2R deck connected to my system for the time being, and made a mix tape with it. Was spinning it as I was washing up most of the dishes a short bit ago.

Was hoping to find an LP pressing of Chico Hamilton's The Dealer LP from 1966, but nope, but did find a CD comp of Michael Franks though, which I bought.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I am a sort of Guardian of Old Formats. I still have R2R decks, an 8-track recorder, Beta and VHS decks, and of course cassette decks downstairs in various states of working condition. Some of the media is sparse at best anymore, I have no idea where the few remaining tape reels went, a ton of cassettes got tossed because they deteriorated physically, usually the splicing glue or foam used to the pressure pads turned to mush, likewise the 8-track tapes. I didn't have much Beta videos, I went with VHS early on, but I was given a recorder and small collection of tapes by a friend that realized his error in choice. :)

T=Finding a specific pressing of a record or other physical album is tougher, but more satisfying hunt rather than finding a digital copy online.

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

Yes- I miss going to the record store, picking out an LP or two, paying for them, and looking at the cover, inner pics/art, and reading the liner notes as I listen to the album at home.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

With me, it was a procedure that was followed similarly each time. After picking up the records, there was finding time, usually in the evening, to open the wrappers, check out the quality (is it warped, etc), blowing off the inevitable paper dust from the sleeve, and the first playing was almost always a session where I would tape the record to take with me, also to save on wear and tear of the records when all I wanted was casual playing. While the music played the liner notes got read, the artwork enjoyed, etc.. I got to hear the record as a whole because I was taping it. After that, I checked out the tape and then played the record over or some of the most intriguing tracks. Some albums got "lived in" because they were new and the latest thing. This is why some music sticks with me so immensely today. Some records were so damn cool they got played again and again. These days there is so much available with the click of a ouse that people follow their natural curiosity and get to experience so much more. This is not a bad thing, but it's not the same as the old days when "your" music came in small, record-sized doses.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I still have my records and I cherish them.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I have the majority of mine. There's a few I can't find, I probably loaned them and they never came back. I also gave some away many years ago, some of them I wished I still had.

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

As a 'recovering' audiophile, I'm one of those that insists that vinyl records are much more sonically satisfying than CD, digital, etc. of the same performance, all other things being equal. I'm not going to suggest that handling a record, placing it lovingly on your turntable, ensuring the disk is spotlessly clean, and lowering the needle reverently onto the vinyl surface is somehow sexual, but it does feel good, doesn't it?

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I like to think playing records holds (and has regained) an allure similar to why people are still fascinated with steam engines and locomotives. One can essentially see and comprehend how the thing works by watching the process. It has (slowly) moving parts that engage one's attention. Hell, I even remember being taught how a record player works in the Pleistocene era of elementary school. There are wiggles in the record groove that correspond to sound waves. A stylus picks this up, makes it into an electrical signal, that goes into a box to make the signal bigger, and it's sent to a loudspeaker that shakes a piece of paper to create sound waves. There's a comfort associated by knowing what is happening to give you that which you are enjoying. Early CD players at least mounted the disk in a visible fashion or otherwise gave you some glimpse of the spinning disk, often with a red LED shining on it to mimic the laser that was doing the work of picking up the data, but beyond the spinning, most people had no idea what this box was doing, it was a very complex device back in the day. The act of playing the music was reduced to pushing buttons. Even cassettes had that visible moving component to their operation. Reel-to-reel in miniature. The majority of my music is kept among a couple dozen hard drives in my basement, and the rather complex (for someone's home, at least) network and whatnot behind it is all hidden from view. None of that is seen when I play a lot of the music around here, aside from the initial steps I took to rip the music and move it onto those drives. It's all just "there."

Playing records is a very tactile experience. Some people see it as a chore and don't bother anymore, but people like us enjoy the fruits of our labors. :)

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

Ah, man, you do bring back memories. I still have a ton of LPs in storage along with a lovely direct drive turntable. Cassette deck still in working condition but I lack any viable cassettes. My CD player (a unit make from a small garage company near you in Annapolis - unique feature, it uses a vacuum tube!) tray died for the second time and not worth repairing although I have some 700 CDs, many ripped into iTunes. A tube amp in working condition (same Annapolis company as the CD transport). The heartbreaker are the speakers which suffered a crumbling of the flexible membrane between the cone and housing. Company no longer in business, replacement drivers unavailable, and eBay was no luck either. The system overall is like my body, collapsing as I stare at it...

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The surrounds can be replaced, there are outfits that do this for a reasonable cost, and if you are wanting or willing to try it yourself, surround kits and glue are available. I've had a large number of speakers die from crumbling foam, mostly car speakers (all my priceless Alpines I spent over a grand on way back when), and various speakers here. I've refitted many of these home speakers over the years, with some rotting out once again. For a couple of those, rather than resurrounding them, I did my best to find new drivers with butyl rubber surrounds that will last for far longer with comparable specs/parameters. I also avoid buying speakers with foam surrounds if I can help it. It seems people and companies are aware of this problem and most hifi speakers no longer use foam.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The better places near me are, well, not so near me, those are far enough away that I need to take time to go out there, rather than a nearby stop while running errands. I miss the days when my favorite record shops in the mid-70s also did a respectable head shop business.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not like vinyl is sonically better than CD (far from it, given each version is mastered appropriately to the medium), but the act of playing a record is a far more active and enjoyable experience than a CD (or other more modern format).

Indeed, the thing I lament the most is missing the art. There's something magic about opening a 12" gatefold — it's like opening a door to another dimension.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Some of the large-format CD box sets can have the ample art that was the de-facto standard of the LP days, the last ones I got being the Immersion sets of Pink Floyd. I cut my teeth on progressive rock and British hard rock and metal, along with early electronic music from Klaus Schultze, Tangerine Dream and others, and those albums never disappointed in the album art department. Those albums had an almost intoxicating smell from the inks and glue that the new ones don't seem to have in this era of low-VOC soy inks and such. The smell of the vinyl is still there.

While not some sort of crazy high-end setup, I have a very capable stereo/home theater setup that can bring out the finest details, at least as well as my aging ears can resolve these days. I've discovered a lot of the new, enthusiast/audiophile pressings can sound remarkably good inasmuch as surface noise and dynamic range, compared to so much of the records I have from the 80s, 70s and earlier that are in mint condition. When records ruled the day, the total mass production of the things inevitably meant some of them didn't have the greatest quality control; center holes were eccentric, the surface had lots of imperfections, the stampers used were usually kept in the production line well beyond their optimum life, the lathes and other production machinery was often in need of more attention and adjustments than the labels wanted to spend on them, etc.. Since a lot of the LPs these days are being aimed at the more serious listener and the production runs are closer to boutique levels, the end products, at least the ones I'm familiar with or own, seem so much better quality. When the needle drops and I turn up the volume looking for the noise floor, I get blasted by the first notes. Doing the same with some of my older disks that have very few plays (if that) the noise floor (as opposed to clicks and pops from dust/debris) is quite noticeably higher. Of course, throwing a SACD or DVD/BD-Audio disc in the Oppo or playing a 24bit-192kHz audio file on the HTPC makes the surface noise nonexistent and the dynamic range as high as Everest. =D

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the "loudness wars" in the 90s totally killed music. I am so glad mastering is no longer trying to do that — with the 'old' artists. For example, look at Peter Gabriel. Those re-issues in the early 2000s were HORRIBLE. The re--re-releases over the last couple of years are radically better, and bring back the original dynamic range.