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CooterBrown

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I just bought the ELAC Miracord 50 and a few albums to get started on the Vinyl hobby.  So far I have been trying to choose albums that play through without any bogus annoying songs.  So far I have Jimmy Buffet's Songs you know by Heart, The Best of the Eagles 2 disc, my buddy bought me Daft Punk Random Access Memories.

 

So, a few years ago I decided to decorate part of my office with cool record covers.  I had the covers and records framed and hung on the wall over my tv.  Last night I pulled out the discs and rehung the frame.  I have nice sleeves for the discs, but I don't know how to store them without the cardboard album covers.  I looked but I can only find more sleeves.  Any recommendation for how to store these loose discs?

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  • 3 months later...
On 3/20/2020 at 8:48 PM, Anton Chigurh said:

Let’s bring this back since we are in quarantineland.

Busted out the UD One Step version of Texas Flood tonight.

Y’all got anything cool recently?

Stuck working from home, so listening/transferring a bunch of LPs over to digital, helps pass the time.  I'll update as I go along.

Today, a bunch of my parents' country LPs, that Johnny Paycheck is really damn good. (The Roadhog Moran LP is mine, picked it up at Goodwill for fifty cents a few years ago...)

 

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  • 2 months later...

Good thread to read.  Getting back into this after a few years of neglecting the vinyl I had.  New Rega Planar 1 came in today (fit my budget better than others).  Can't wait to hook it up later and start enjoying things.  Spent some time cleaning records with the spin-disc on Saturday, while adding to Discogs at the same time (using the VinylBox app). 

This thread has taught me about Mofi, but maybe with my beginner level bookshelf setup I can get away with CheapFi....

Anyway, thanks to all who made this one fun (and educational) to read.

 

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Good thread to read.  Getting back into this after a few years of neglecting the vinyl I had.  New Rega Planar 1 came in today (fit my budget better than others).  Can't wait to hook it up later and start enjoying things.  Spent some time cleaning records with the spin-disc on Saturday, while adding to Discogs at the same time (using the VinylBox app). 
This thread has taught me about Mofi, but maybe with my beginner level bookshelf setup I can get away with CheapFi....
Anyway, thanks to all who made this one fun (and educational) to read.
 

Found one of the original Planer 3 at an estate sale last year. 75 bucks. Still a nice unit.


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Good thread to read.  Getting back into this after a few years of neglecting the vinyl I had.  New Rega Planar 1 came in today (fit my budget better than others).  Can't wait to hook it up later and start enjoying things.  Spent some time cleaning records with the spin-disc on Saturday, while adding to Discogs at the same time (using the VinylBox app). 

This thread has taught me about Mofi, but maybe with my beginner level bookshelf setup I can get away with CheapFi....

Anyway, thanks to all who made this one fun (and educational) to read.

 

Found one of the original Planer 3 at an estate sale last year. 75 bucks. Still a nice unit.

 

 

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Sorry for a stupid question, but is there a good site for reading about different pressings?  Discogs just seems to list them all en masse, which for me is a bit confusing to read.  Wikpedia sometimes has things on them, but just wondering what some of you use to know that something is a good pressing or not.

 

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15 minutes ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

Sorry for a stupid question, but is there a good site for reading about different pressings?  Discogs just seems to list them all en masse, which for me is a bit confusing to read.  Wikpedia sometimes has things on them, but just wondering what some of you use to know that something is a good pressing or not.

 

Steve Hoffman . net is a good site for that kind of info.  But that's a rabbit hole I try not to go down.  I'll check for reissues that are expensive, especially 'remasters', but I'm content to buy cheap old records and not worry about the minutiae of various pressings for all but a few records.

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Yep, Steve Hoffman.

 

Google “best pressing of XX record Steve Hoffman” and you will get some good results.

 

You can ask here too; I am pretty knowledgeable as well as a lot of the other posters.

 

Rules of thumb:

 

Get as close to the first pressing as possible if you want an original.

 

Always try and get something mastered from the original analog tapes using analog equipment. This is considered a AAA recording.

 

Most MoFi/MFSL (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab) releases are great, especially the later ones from the 2000s and up where pretty much all of them are.

 

For jazz, the Blue Note 80 series and Tone Poet series are well liked. Music Matters makes incredible quality stuff (I have two SRX releases on the way from them). Most 70s reissue Blue Note is good (lots made from original 50s/60s stampers). OJC reissues from the 70s and 80s give solid quality most of the time. Nothing beats an original RVG mastering for me, but those are expensive to find in good shape.

 

Analogue Productions makes very solid stuff, too. Music on Vinyl (MOV) is usually good.

 

Avoid Wax Time, DOL, DOXY, and Jazz Time. These are poorly made and mastered euro releases that are essentially bootlegs, since their copyright laws are much more lax.

 

If you see that something was pressed at Pallas (Germany), RTI, or QRP, it should be solid.

 

The Vinyl Me, Please Record club does cool stuff and their releases are usually top quality (their main reissue lines are usually AAA if possible and they typically use the good record plants mentioned above).

 

With older original records we can get into a wormhole on records plants and pressing/mastering qualities, but in my experience, the stuff made at the Presswell, Monarch, Terre Haute (was owned by Columbia), AllDisc, and Santa Maria plants was usually solid. Others were hit or miss. I am forgetting a lot of them and that is only my own anecdotal evidence, though.

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i take the complete opposite approach. buy what you want, you won't be able to tell the difference in 99% of the pressings you find...or you could fool yourself into thinking you do and waste a lot of time. 

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On 6/25/2020 at 9:36 AM, stc said:

i take the complete opposite approach. buy what you want, you won't be able to tell the difference in 99% of the pressings you find...or you could fool yourself into thinking you do and waste a lot of time. 

I lean towards this. The only ones I research are the whole remastered, 180 gram pressings since some (not all) of that is bullshit and not worth the cost compared to a cheap, used original pressing. 

Edited by destroya
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So, I asked my question about pressings *after* I had purchased a few.  Bought a "six eye" of Dave Brubek's "Time Out" and definitely over paid.  Too much snap, crackle, and pop for me.  My Dad's original (?--not sure, but he probably just bought it at a Marine Corps base in Japan during Vietnam) copy of "Time Further Out" sounds better.  Wondering if I should have just got the newer 180g pressing they had for 25 bucks.  Oh well.  

Fun times, I pulled out Dad's "America" album and my son, who has to my knowledge never heard them before was humming "Horse with No Name" for the rest of the day.

ZZ Top's "Tres Hombres" 180g pressing sounded good to my ears, but not particularly full of "depth," if that makes sense.

"Beggars Banquet" 180g  (?) sounded great.  Like, fantastic.  

Anyway, that's my blog for today. Oh, I also signed up for VinylMePlease and went with the 'classics' track starting with an Errol Garner album.  

I'm looking to get some Zep for the son, and some Taylor Swift to keep the daughter engaged.  So opinions on if these are good/bad solely in terms of the quality (no debates on Ms Swift, please) would be helpful to me:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IXHBMLS/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/Led-Zeppelin-Remastered-Original-Vinyl/dp/B00IXHC0QY/ref=pd_sbs_15_2/142-2026225-4666013?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00IXHC0QY&pd_rd_r=4a0fb25a-151f-4f9d-81f7-6eac8b4b8527&pd_rd_w=T1two&pd_rd_wg=QG8r4&pf_rd_p=d28ef93e-22cf-4527-b60a-90c984b5663d&pf_rd_r=1AW8W683ZTXTJF7XG9JP&psc=1&refRID=1AW8W683ZTXTJF7XG9JP

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Lover-VINYL-Taylor-Swift/dp/B07YMFX3DZ/ref=tmm_vnl_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

 

Thanks in advance.

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2 hours ago, Anton Chigurh said:

The John Davis Zep remasters are supposed to be decent.

Not sure on the T Swift, but one guy mentioned some non-fill issues with his copies (when the vinyl doesn’t fully flow and fill the groove of the stamper completely when pressed), so it seems hit or miss there.

As far as Taylor goes, my daughter has had no issues with the Target version of Lover. 1989 plays well. Reputation picture disc is iffy.

That's way too much T Swift info for a grown man to know. 

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On 6/28/2020 at 2:56 PM, destroya said:

I lean towards this. The only ones I research are the whole remastered, 180 gram pressings since some (not all) of that is bullshit and not worth the cost compared to a cheap, used original pressing. 

I agree. I have a $10, 60 year old copy of Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballards and the sound is so deep and rich. 

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46 minutes ago, RiverwalkMiner said:

I agree. I have a $10, 60 year old copy of Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballards and the sound is so deep and rich. 

Holy crap, I have the same record!  Another hand me down from the folks.

And yeah, Taylor Swift is one of the few pop stars my young one likes that well, I mean sometimes I hum along as well.  

One more ask of the Anton/the group, if I can (sorry if I'm bumping for no good reason):  Beatles vinyl recommendations or at least what to avoid?  I have an old beat up copy of "Hard Day's night" and unfortunately it sounds awful.

 

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On 6/25/2020 at 9:36 AM, stc said:

i take the complete opposite approach. buy what you want, you won't be able to tell the difference in 99% of the pressings you find...or you could fool yourself into thinking you do and waste a lot of time. 

I mean, it really depends on your equipment.

If you have a $50 turntable and a $100 receiver then, yeah.... more than likely you won't be able to tell much difference.  That's not to say there is a direct 1:1 correlation on price to quality, but just pointing out that the more quality components you have the more likely a high-quality pressing will be noticeable, even to non-audiophiles.

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audiophiles love to find ways to justify spending money. nothing is ever good enough be it the pressing, cartridge, cables...whatever. there's absolutely no shame in picking up a $8 used copy of led zeppelin III and being perfectly happy with it. could you find a supposedly superior pressing out there and spend $50 on it? Sure. Have you gotten 42 more dollars of enjoyment out of it? Probably not, but that's for you to decide. There are audiophiles, collectors, and people who just enjoy the music for what it is. when I got into vinyl many years ago I thought I had to be all 3, over time I've learned that it really doesn't matter.  

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audiophiles love to find ways to justify spending money. nothing is ever good enough be it the pressing, cartridge, cables...whatever. there's absolutely no shame in picking up a $8 used copy of led zeppelin III and being perfectly happy with it. could you find a supposedly superior pressing out there and spend $50 on it? Sure. Have you gotten 42 more dollars of enjoyment out of it? Probably not, but that's for you to decide. There are audiophiles, collectors, and people who just enjoy the music for what it is. when I got into vinyl many years ago I thought I had to be all 3, over time I've learned that it really doesn't matter.  

I agree with all of that. It just depends how nerdy and deep you want to go with it, like any other hobby.

My issue (and Jeff’s it sounds like) was with the implication that differences in gear and pressing quality don’t actually sound any different, which is super false. It just depends what you’re after. There are definitely diminishing returns the higher you go, and I am not even all that high on the scale.

I’ve got plenty of beat up stuff that I listen to. I only really chase the high end or rare stuff for certain items or artists.
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On 7/1/2020 at 11:47 AM, Anton Chigurh said:


I agree with all of that. It just depends how nerdy and deep you want to go with it, like any other hobby.

My issue (and Jeff’s it sounds like) was with the implication that differences in gear and pressing quality don’t actually sound any different, which is super false. It just depends what you’re after. There are definitely diminishing returns the higher you go, and I am not even all that high on the scale.

I’ve got plenty of beat up stuff that I listen to. I only really chase the high end or rare stuff for certain items or artists.

Yeah agreed with this.

I have what I would consider "decent" gear, but certainly not high-end, audiophile stuff.  I have a nice Yamaha receiver, a Pro-Ject Debut III (with upgraded cartridge to Ortofon red) and decent Infinity tower speakers.... and I feel like I can tell the difference in high-quality pressings using the original analog source material vs., say cheap-o pressings using the digital master from CDs or whatever, but certainly probably not subtle differences between first pressing and fifth pressing or whatever. 

As it were, my focus is just getting stuff on vinyl that I want to hear and not being super fussy about whether or not it's the "best" pressing. I do tend to check Steve Hoffman to make sure certain catalog titles that are re-released from the 90s-early 00s aren't just cheap presses of the digital CD master, because that seems to be the era of music where that is pretty widespread.

I think my biggest splurge on vinyl so far was to buy a factory sealed Anodyne by Uncle Tupelo for $100 or so. But that was just because I wanted to listen to that record on vinyl. :) 

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  • 1 month later...

Apparently VMP started to go to shit quite a bit recently in terms of actually shipping records.  And they've announced a price increase that has pissed folks off.  Oh, and there's a 'controversy" where a good chunk of their stuff winds up with a company called Vinceron records that turns around and flips it while members are still waiting for their copies.

Letting my brief experiment there expire at the end of this month.

 

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My subscription to VMP was month to month with the Classics add on. They want me to go from paying $31 a month to $43 a month for Essentials. Classics would go from $23 to $33. Given that I often like and re-listen to the Classics record, there's no way I'm paying $76 a month for two records. I'm just going to save the money I was paying and use it on Blue Note jazz records. I like VMP but that's just nuts to raise prices so dramatically in a pandemic. It was a good run. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Same. It was a fun listen but it gets to the larger problem I have with blindly buying from them. I just don't relisten to the VMP albums enough to justify how much I spend on them. Most of the Essentials get a spin or two and then sit on my shelf. I relisten to some of the Classics quite a lot but that has lessened with most of the releases from this year. I don't have much interest in Spiritualized and don't feel like paying $43 and $33 for it and the Sonny Rollins. I cancelled this morning and it felt weirdly okay. Now I can buy more records I really want. I've realized my vinyl interest go in waves and the current one is jazz. I'm going to go through some of the exclusives and other records I got from VMP over the past few years and sell the ones I don't listen to. 

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I had quit VMP about a year ago until the Carolyn Rose release a few months back. Then there were 3 more good ones...Stevie Nicks, Stooges, White Stripes.  Don't give a shit about John Mayer so I used that month's credit to buy their release of the new Texas Gentlemen album.  I'll give it another 3-month subscription since I like Spirtualized and can potentially skip the next two essentials releases for store credit but there's not much in their store that interests me. 

Haven't opened my BVSC yet but I figure I'll make some mojitos tonight and give it a spin.

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Yeah my wife got me like a 6-month subscription to VMP for my birthday last year.  I mean it was cool to get and listen to random stuff that I probably wouldn't have otherwise, but when I looked into keeping the subscription going, the price seemed a little steep for how much I was actually listening to the records.  As you guys noted, I'd rather spend that money locally or on Discogs for stuff I know I listen to a lot.

Also - my "Texas edition" vinyl of the Old 97's Twelfth finally shipped from Waterloo the other day and is out for delivery today so... woo hoo!  New Friday vinyl!

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On 8/26/2020 at 11:35 AM, mdmost said:

 my vinyl interest go in waves and the current one is jazz. I'm going to go through some of the exclusives and other records I got from VMP over the past few years and sell the ones I don't listen to. 

 

I'm in the same boat--I go through all kinds of musical interests and currently stuck on jazz.  I didn't mention my other album I 'went out' with was "Sahara" by McCoy Tyner.  It was actually the July record of the month that I finally got at the end of August.  Something that due to my lack of knowledge never would have come up for me before.  I enjoy it, but I have to listen on headphones most days as that kind of jazz sends the wife out of the room screaming.

I'm also really digging Shabaka and The Ancestors, but I go it off of Amazon for much less than VMP has it at.  

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Wilco is putting out a 5-LP Summerteeth "Deluxe Edition" re-issue in November.  Black or limited colored vinyl also available:

https://wilcostore.com/collections/summerteeth-reissue/products/preorder-summerteeth-deluxe-edition-color-vinyl-lp?variant=32156780625985

Yes I've already ordered the colored vinyl, lol. 

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Details:

The five-LP set features Bob Ludwig’s 2020 remastered studio album as well as the unreleased demos, alternates and outtake recordings pressed on 180-gram vinyl. However, instead of the Colorado concert included in the CD package, the LP version contains a special, exclusive performance from early 1999 titled, An Unmitigated Disaster, a previously unreleased live in-store performance at Tower Records on March 11, 1999, just two days after the album was released. The 10-song set, which was broadcast on Chicago radio station WXRT-FM, highlights several tracks from Summerteeth (“We’re Just Friends,” “How To Fight Loneliness” and “Can’t Stand It”). This show will only be available in the LP collection.

All versions of Summerteeth: Deluxe Edition – Black Vinyl, Color Vinyl, CD - are designed by original Summerteeth art director Lawrence Azerrad. The iconic cover art is revisited and reimagined with deluxe treatments, including metallic foil packaging. Liner notes are written by MOJO editor John Mulvey and include new interviews with original band members, Jeff Tweedy and John Stirratt. 

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I'm getting rid of part of my collection. None of the stores are interested in classical, which is most, although not all, of the collection. Some really old stuff I inherited from my mother, probably from the 50's and 60's. Majority still in shrink wrap from Rose Records in Chicago. About 20 years ago they sold cutouts and I bought hundreds. 500-600 total. Some limited numbers of opera, country and rock. I'll give them to someone who will keep them out of the landfill.

The catch is...you have to take them all and you have to come get them. They are nicely boxed so can be stored easily, but will take up about 4 3ft. shelves. 

In Austin. 

 

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