I appreciate the link and the music....but given the storage requirements and time involved...why? Is there a quality issue I can't appreciate on my end?
Quite possibly a soundcheck. have to break each side into two pieces they are so big.
I do owe a make up for those dreadful Doors rips. I found out that my cart was way out of alignment and blew those big time. Those 45 rpm albums are really tough on a cart so I'm coming to find out.
It's been put back into proper form. Re ripping what I've re ripped already. For the last time, this time ...
I apologize for being dense....but I have a question about ripping...why do it?
I understand the quality of vinyl discussion and am a believer. LP's are great.
That said, I just went to look, and there are 49 albums of Todd's on Spotify (solo...there are another 18 for Utopia). The majority are live and have the same songs...but 49! If ripping is tough on equipment and brings with it the potential of under-whelming sound quality....why do it?
Beyond the storage, the amazingly low cost of music now (Spotify Premium for 4 accounts costs me $15/month) and the access to virtually anything across every platform and device makes me wonder what you're getting by ripping?
I meant to thank you, Kurt, for that rip you did of "Something In The Air" some time back. The other evening I was my back yard with a beer and a glass of Jim Beam Rye, listening to some music (far too loud) on my headphones and that came on. I sat back and closed my eyes, and for a little while I was seven years old again...
Thank you very much for that. This is exactly why I do this and share it. I just want to fill the world with smiles.
I meant to thank you, Kurt, for that rip you did of "Something In The Air" some time back. The other evening I was my back yard with a beer and a glass of Jim Beam Rye, listening to some music (far too loud) on my headphones and that came on. I sat back and closed my eyes, and for a little while I was seven years old again...
I got this a couple of months ago, unheard and unfamiliar with a lot of the material, or not with as much of his stuff I may have heard over the years here on RP. I'll be popping it open soon once I get a little more caught up. 5 LP set. I'm optimistic. Live sets also tend to be greatest hits collections of materials so this might hit a sweet spot for a big hole in my physical music. SeriousLee has helped further my interest in SW. * tip o de hat *
i like ppt and i've heard a little steve wilson
enjoyed that too
to me it sounds better at higher volume (or i end up cranking it up)
And the most recent name to add to this list is Steven Wilson.
you may have 86'd yourself from sfw's holiday list
Heh, heh ... and a lot of others, too.
I got this a couple of months ago, unheard and unfamiliar with a lot of the material, or not with as much of his stuff I may have heard over the years here on RP. I'll be popping it open soon once I get a little more caught up. 5 LP set. I'm optimistic. Live sets also tend to be greatest hits collections of materials so this might hit a sweet spot for a big hole in my physical music. SeriousLee has helped further my interest in SW. * tip o de hat *
Just a journal type entry in this thread, saving a thought before it slips away into the great wide open and gets forgotten.
The deeper I go into this, especially with all the bonus time of late, the more things are revealing themselves to me. Since I'm heavily into cataloging and organizing my collection, prepping it for listing, I read many details constantly. Mostly the runout / matrix markings in the dead wax of the inside of the LP. They are like hieroglyphics, but they are necessary to know and understand. Can contain as much information that includes the catalogue number, pressing company / plant, which specific stamper it is of the many made from the Mother copy, date, who engineered the mastering of the pressing, which company cut the lacquer and even the exact cutting lathe type used to make the lacquer / acetate. Or very little more than just the catalogue number and stamper number. But they all matter. An example using DSOTM Scroll up to the 3rd Issue of the album and you will see 86 different stampers for that issue. Divide by half for two different sides. And then the stampers get swapped and moved to different presses and even plants to replace worn out or damaged stampers so there are different combinations of these stampers. In the case of that 3rd issue of DSOTM, there were also 3 different engineers cutting the lacquers. Although there were setting charts, each one had their own style resulting in slight differences in the overall sound as well as characteristics of the different cutting lathes themselves.
Back then, as a consumer, we didn't know jack about any of this and just went to the store and hoped that whatever we got was the right thing inside and it played properly all the way through. Now with places like Discogs, hindsight is 20 / 15. All these details matter if you are going to sell and if you're going to be a smart buyer they should matter, so you do not end up with stuff that is known to be of poor material or audio quality, or both.
So along the way of dealing with all this attention to credits and seeing what exactly I have in my collection, I have noticed a trend of who was on the other side of the glass making the music I liked enough to actually spend money and get into my grubby little hands. Five names come to mind besides George Martin and Glyn Johns : AL Kooper, Todd, Bill Szymzyck and the Elektra team of Jac Holzman and Bruce Botnick. These people have been involved in the production and shaping of the music I seem to like the most. Todd is everywhere. Kooper has so many pearls out there, too. Elektra was such attention to detail and their sound had more to it than most, as a rule. Szymzyck is most notable in that he is not a musician and instead has a gift of being able to shape music for what he thinks it should really sound like.
And the most recent name to add to this list is Steven Wilson. Evidently he also loves a lot of the same music I do based on his involvement in a mother lode of remixes he has done in the past 10 or so years now. His ear and touch is just right for me. The music he reshapes ends out sounding like it should. Nothing over the top, just more like why couldn't they have done this to it way back when ? Of course because the tools were different. Wilson has digital tools. Sucks the winds out of the analogue versus digital shitstorm. What he does just sounds good and you don't even think about anything technical, which is the ultimate compliment imho.
The horizontal shelves are solid and supported by the upright dividers taking most of the weight off of the dowels that hold them in place on the sides.
Kurt... just in word in defense of the Ikea shelves... The comment above is absolutely the same for Ikea. The problem is people putting them together wrong or using then "on their side". If you google Ikea Kallax failure and look closely, the long boards are verticle. In the picture below, you can see that the unit failed because the long boards inside the square are vertical. The confusion here is that the long board on the top is correct, but the "insides" of the box need to be turned 90 degrees. Your unit is the same from the pictures...and should be fine based on your decription.
The added weight on the top is just a bonus to ensure failure.
What's interesting on the Walmart site...they don't have squares bigger than 2X2....so you can't really put them together wrong.
Here's the unit I bought, a 3 X 4 with the long boards running horizontal. I would have got the 4 X 4 but it would have been too high for the light switch. On the left are what is left of my original Peaches crates. They are stacked with a 1 X 12 birch plank running in between each level and screwed into the crates below each plank. Those are stacked 4 high and are not going anywhere ever again. The 3 X 4 unit is rock solid, does not wobble in any direction and is not in any danger of falling away from the wall either. I would not be worried about a 4 X 4 falling away from the wall as well, they are very stable. The VPI box in the foreground on the left is my MW-1 Cyclone record cleaning machine. Probably the single most important piece of gear I own other than my TT. It's going on 3 years old now.
The horizontal shelves are solid and supported by the upright dividers taking most of the weight off of the dowels that hold them in place on the sides.
Kurt... just in word in defense of the Ikea shelves... The comment above is absolutely the same for Ikea. The problem is people putting them together wrong or using then "on their side". If you google Ikea Kallax failure and look closely, the long boards are verticle. In the picture below, you can see that the unit failed because the long boards inside the square are vertical. The confusion here is that the long board on the top is correct, but the "insides" of the box need to be turned 90 degrees. Your unit is the same from the pictures...and should be fine based on your decription.
The added weight on the top is just a bonus to ensure failure.
What's interesting on the Walmart site...they don't have squares bigger than 2X2....so you can't really put them together wrong.
Vertical/Horizontal, pish/posh: These things need some triangulation. Even crappy pasteboard backs that are held in place with half-inch brads every 6 inches will keep a system like that from racking. Of course a far better option would be to use some little L-braces to tie the shelves to studs in the wall. And yeah the stacking one on top of the other... this isn't the office of an engineering major. I'd be a lot more worried about that whole system coming away from the wall.
Agree that triangulation would add strength, but isn't necessary if you simply follow instructions. The use case for record storage is a tiny minority in the global sales for these units (or any unit...we're talking about vinyl sales). Their primary appeal is as inexpensive, stylish storage and display. Making them record-owning-idiot-proof would likely lose more sales than it generates. If you can't follow instructions and need record storage, go buy metal racks at home depot.
The horizontal shelves are solid and supported by the upright dividers taking most of the weight off of the dowels that hold them in place on the sides.
Kurt... just in word in defense of the Ikea shelves... The comment above is absolutely the same for Ikea. The problem is people putting them together wrong or using then "on their side". If you google Ikea Kallax failure and look closely, the long boards are verticle. In the picture below, you can see that the unit failed because the long boards inside the square are vertical. The confusion here is that the long board on the top is correct, but the "insides" of the box need to be turned 90 degrees. Your unit is the same from the pictures...and should be fine based on your decription.
The added weight on the top is just a bonus to ensure failure.
What's interesting on the Walmart site...they don't have squares bigger than 2X2....so you can't really put them together wrong.
Vertical/Horizontal, pish/posh: These things need some triangulation. Even crappy pasteboard backs that are held in place with half-inch brads every 6 inches will keep a system like that from racking. Of course a far better option would be to use some little L-braces to tie the shelves to studs in the wall. And yeah the stacking one on top of the other... this isn't the office of an engineering major. I'd be a lot more worried about that whole system coming away from the wall.
The horizontal shelves are solid and supported by the upright dividers taking most of the weight off of the dowels that hold them in place on the sides.
Kurt... just in word in defense of the Ikea shelves... The comment above is absolutely the same for Ikea. The problem is people putting them together wrong or using then "on their side". If you google Ikea Kallax failure and look closely, the long boards are verticle. In the picture below, you can see that the unit failed because the long boards inside the square are vertical. The confusion here is that the long board on the top is correct, but the "insides" of the box need to be turned 90 degrees. Your unit is the same from the pictures...and should be fine based on your decription.
The added weight on the top is just a bonus to ensure failure.
What's interesting on the Walmart site...they don't have squares bigger than 2X2....so you can't really put them together wrong.
This is a story much more than just about vinyl records, it is about music on physical media as well as the the future of music itself as part of our daily lives.
There was a fire out in the middle of the desert in SoCal the other day. It took out a key piece of the physical music food chain and may be irreplaceable. What is not mentioned in any of these particular articles that are linked in the main story is that the Scientologists own half of the remaining DMM cutting lathes ... there are only 4 known to remain in existence ...
If you donât care about vinyl, the music medium, at all â no judgment â youâll want to skip this post. Youâre welcome.
So what just happened, and why should I care?
Apollo Master Audiodiscsâ building burned down the morning of Friday, February 7th 2020 circa 8am PST. Here is one of the first reports on the fire. Thankfully, no one involved was physically hurt. Of course, the workers at Apollo no longer have jobs for the foreseeable future.
Apollo provided at least 90% of vinyl mastering studios/plants with the needed lacquers (acetate discs) to cut masters for any new audio vinyl pressing in the entire world. They were also apparently the only manufacturer of the cutting styli needed to create such masters.
...
Why do you care for vinyl so much? I mean, formats come and go, right? You know that, right?
Despite talking so much about vinyl in this entire piece, the primary reason Iâm writing all of this is that we donât lose a vital part of the music industry, period â notably our core network of independent labels whose innovations have allowed the entire music industry to thrive. The music industry has flirted with disaster on and off through the past century, but I no longer trust we can risk another flirt and ignore it.
While I donât agree with everything in his article, Craig Havighurstâs âThe Devaluation of Music: Itâs Worse Than You Thinkâ from 2015 hits on many key points that are still valid today â and highlights why the music industry is in a more fragile spot than ever. Itâs become more common to hear from friends, âI just listen to podcasts now. I rarely listen to music anymore.â Music is becoming more ephemeral to more people, and this feels entirely preventable. And yet, here we are.
That is why if I hear a song that I like enough to own, I download the mp3 and have multiple backups of these files. I stream to see which songs that I want, but always have physical copies of songs I purchase. Kids today don't even think about things like this in our disposable, squirrel like temporal existence. And of course they all need to stay the Hell off my lawn.
This is a story much more than just about vinyl records, it is about music on physical media as well as the the future of music itself as part of our daily lives.
There was a fire out in the middle of the desert in SoCal the other day. It took out a key piece of the physical music food chain and may be irreplaceable. What is not mentioned in any of these particular articles that are linked in the main story is that the Scientologists own half of the remaining DMM cutting lathes ... there are only 4 known to remain in existence ...
If you don’t care about vinyl, the music medium, at all — no judgment — you’ll want to skip this post. You’re welcome.
So what just happened, and why should I care?
Apollo Master Audiodiscs’ building burned down the morning of Friday, February 7th 2020 circa 8am PST. Here is one of the first reports on the fire. Thankfully, no one involved was physically hurt. Of course, the workers at Apollo no longer have jobs for the foreseeable future.
Apollo provided at least 90% of vinyl mastering studios/plants with the needed lacquers (acetate discs) to cut masters for any new audio vinyl pressing in the entire world. They were also apparently the only manufacturer of the cutting styli needed to create such masters.
...
Why do you care for vinyl so much? I mean, formats come and go, right? You know that, right?
Despite talking so much about vinyl in this entire piece, the primary reason I’m writing all of this is that we don’t lose a vital part of the music industry, period — notably our core network of independent labels whose innovations have allowed the entire music industry to thrive. The music industry has flirted with disaster on and off through the past century, but I no longer trust we can risk another flirt and ignore it.
While I don’t agree with everything in his article, Craig Havighurst’s “The Devaluation of Music: It’s Worse Than You Think” from 2015 hits on many key points that are still valid today — and highlights why the music industry is in a more fragile spot than ever. It’s become more common to hear from friends, “I just listen to podcasts now. I rarely listen to music anymore.” Music is becoming more ephemeral to more people, and this feels entirely preventable. And yet, here we are.
In the on going quest of managing a fairly decent sized record collection, storage has always been a problem. I'm done moving now so crates are no longer needed to move them around, besides, my 8 Peaches crates are on their side stacked 4 high against a wall screwed down with planks under each row. They ain't moving no more. But I can probably fill up another 8 crates with what is on the floor in 3 different rooms. I love my wife ...
I've been looking for more crates ever since Peaches went out of business and have come up empty for anything realistic and affordable. There is always a discussion going on about record storage in the vinyl sites. Ikea's Kalax cubes were rumored to be good, but they were still expensive when you need a dozen, had problems and I believe are now discontinued. All the other prefab bookcases and what not that could work were flimsy at best when you put that much weight on them. Records are flipping heavy. They weigh about 35 lbs. per foot. How to store vinyl records. But very little about finding any proper containers.
Last week in order to get the rest of the place organized I saw a 4 cubby cube at Wal Mart with 13" X 13" X 15" cubbies for $50. Hello !!!!! Floor model was rock solid and tight. Bought one, took it home and put it together. Immediately bought another. Quality MDF and well designed. The horizontal shelves are solid and supported by the upright dividers taking most of the weight off of the dowels that hold them in place on the sides. Rated @ 30 lbs. per cube. Good finish, kind to album covers. The side walls are two inches thick and the top and bottom are even thicker. Square with enough surface area to keep the sides from any chance of wobbling. I am really stoked about finding these puppies. I can finally get everything in one room and organize the collection. I showed this to the wife. She is stoked, too. I'll take some before and after pictures when I get it done.
The Steven Wilson 50th remix of Court is due out at the end of the month. Been waiting for this one.
Have you formed an opinion on Steven Wilson remixes yet?
Yes. They are great, so far. I have both the EU and USA's versions of Jethro Tull's Benefit (the songs are different and I prefer the USA tracks and play order) and Aqualung (only one version) albums and the Yes Box Set of 5 Yes albums. I got the two Benefits first. I got the EU first because the pressings are better overall but forgot about the differences. So I got the USA version next. And the EU is a tad better but the USA copy is very doable.
Anyway, what Wilson has accomplished imho, are very loving and respectful remixes that sound like they "should". They are not earth shakingly different, just more refined and more listenable. He has demonstrated his chops with Porcupine Tree and his solo stuff ( I see that you are a fan looking at your song ratings). One may not like his music but his engineering skills are outstanding; he seems to have a gift. I just know what I've read and heard with my own two ears. It seems that he is a fan of the music he is remixing and is picking out particular albums that he thinks he can really improve and fix certain things in the way they were intended to be, not what is expedient, and make them into what he wants to hear as a fan of the music himself. I have really liked all of his remixes so far. I trust him and when looking for a replacement or upgrade copy of an album, I'll go with his efforts over anyone else's, except Bernie Grundman. Those are the first fingerprints I'm looking for when choosing. Bruce Botnik and Bob Ludwig are two other names I look for.
The Yes Box is a masterpiece of work. Chris Bellman did the lacquers at Bernie Grundman Mastering. A twofer. Win / win.
His earlier remix of Court is widely acclaimed, but only available on CD. I have not knowingly heard it yet. This 2019 50th of Court is a brand new remix and available on both digital and vinyl. He gets my benefit of the doubt with this effort and makes it worth the risk of not liking it which I believe is highly unlikely. I've been a fan of Court from day one and know all of the material very well. It should not take long to decide.
Tell you what. I'll put up the Steven Wilson remix of The Yes Album in my quiet vinyl thread Sunday. I've promised it to more than a couple of people already and have been very tardy in getting around to it. You can grab it and give it a proper listen and let me know what you think based upon knowing SW, PT and Yes so well. Let me know if you can hear what he did to it and if it makes sense to you based upon what you already know about SW.
Cheers !
So here is the SWBOX remix of The Yes Album. And The Smoker You Drink The Player You Get for something else to consider and for those who mentioned their loving of this particular album in another thread. This after 2 months and 100 plus hours of breaking in my new cartridge playing the same stuff over and over again and getting everything resolved and at peace with this new and final sound. So I really am curious about what this stuff sounds like to other ears. I played the Joe Walsh album against the CD and even with the background noise from the vinyl album, it seemed worthwhile overall. The noise at the beginning of Dreams on side 2 after Meadows is on the CD as well making it deliberate so there is a lot to take in.
Other than all of the above stuff, what ever pops up in here will still be worthy of listening to as this stuff was originally presented on vinyl under the best of circumstances. Going forward from time to time the old CLICKY may just pop up without any explanations and what is there will be there for a week or so and changed as I catch up with. If it is something that has already been done before that has been put up in the past, the new one will be noticeably improved so I am not wasting anyone's time. Also different going forward, some files are too big so rather than lower the quality, I'm busting up some sides into Part 1 and Part 2. I got used to it since getting some 45 rpm 12" copies of albums that have 4 sides rather than just 2 at 33 1/3 rpm.
Move the mouse over the title and a box with 3 dots will show up on the right. Click on it. Get them one at a time. The big box in the upper right is for a zip file, avoid.
Kurtster: Nice work! Your efforts are much appreciated
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