Monday, January 9, 2012

Records

I got a turntable for Christmas!  I don't know much about vinyl but I'm excited to explore.  So far I've just been buying used records from record stores and craigslist.  I have to admit, I don't completely understand the appeal -- I know a lot of music snobs will say that it sounds better, but I find that hard to believe given the quality of my DAC and lossless digital files.  Is it just nostalgia?  Novelty?  Mastering?  Maybe the art and concreteness of being able to hold your music.

Any advice on where to buy records and what to get would be greatly appreciated!  I think it would be fun to build out a jazz collection on vinyl.

7 comments:

  1. I kinda like the crackling sound when it starts. Transports me to a different era.

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  2. Congrats on going retro! Looney Toons is best in Boston, next to little Stevie's pizza near Berklee. Newbury Comics has good ones as well, both new and vintage. Start with an artist you like who's putting stuff out on vinyl (I just got PJ Harvey's newest). Anything 50's - 70's is cool just because of the record labels / overall packaging. Soul / funk is good stuff too. And groove on the fact that you have to listen to 25 mins of music in a row by a single artist, and then you have to get up and flip it if you want to hear more. Enjoy!

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  3. Awesome, thanks Paul! I just bought my first record from Looney Tunes last weekend. I live right above Weirdo Records, but, well, the selection lives up to the name...

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  4. Actually, it's true. Reconds are authentic.

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  5. If you transfer your record music to your pc, then it will be record quality sound. I personally like to convert cassates, because some albums don't sound authentic as cassates.

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  6. Speaking as a self-confessed music snob I think, yes, vinyl sounds better. Talking of music snobbery, there are those who insist on playing old music on original instruments or exact replicas of the same. At the risk of sounding like a musical uber-snob, I do think there is a case for playing a recording on the medium the artist envisaged it being played on.

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  7. I do agree with you there. I've noticed there are artists who pay a lot of attention to mastering, too -- their stuff sounds amazing when heard on a nice system. I've heard that most pop music these days is mastered to be listened to on ipod headphones :(

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