1 month into vinyl, what I've learned*

I see threads the nature of "I'm thinking about getting into vinyl" on here so I thought I'd post my experience so far and hopefully to gain helpful insights from more experienced music collectors.

I purchased a Pro-ject Carbon debut from Crutchfield a month ago, or as I keep track of time now "30 lps ago".

Here are some things I've learned so far:

1) It is much more of a hobby than just downloading music. It's back to going to the record store, digging through piles of crap looking for that 1 minty copy of an lp I really want. It only takes one score digging through the crates to really make the whole trip worth it.
2) Be very careful with new pressings. I've had some very disappointing sounding Queen and Iron Maiden lps that were unlistenable in terms of sound quality and were brand new. So far, the original pressings (Or anything on vinyl before 1990 can be trusted in terms of mastering) will likely sound better than whatever new vinyl mix is out there.
3) If you can barely afford the turntable, don't buy it. I've already spent more on records than on the turntable and I'm 30 albums in.
4) Collecting records is fun!
5) LP's are a market. If you zig when it zags you can get some great deals. What I mean is if you like an album that is widely available, you can get a great copy cheap. The first 4 Rod Stewart albums come to mind, I've gotten 3 of the 4 for about $14 total. They are minty and have a glorious acoustic sound. If you get obsessed on getting some rare album you can end up paying a lot of money.
6) It's better to buy a clean $20 lp than a $10 copy of the same album that sounds like crap.
7) You never really know how an album is going to sound until you play it. Sometimes they can look pretty trashed and they still sound good.
8) I've been on a metal kick lately and I really prefer the sound of classic metal albums from Priest and Maiden and Metallica to the remastered versions I had previously on CD.
9) I've discovered two new groups that I like a lot from the music that was playing at the record store: Margo Price, and the Cramps.
10) The thrill of finding a record you've been digging for, in good shape, at a fair price is maybe the funnest part of the hobby, you know, other than sitting down and listening to it
11) Cleaning records is fun. Just got a spin clean this week and I thought it was fun being able to improve the sound quality of some of them.
12) This hobby is not wallet friendly.

These are just a few of the things I've learned in my first 30 days. If anyone wants to chime in with thoughts or tips for record collecting I'd love to hear it.

 

I just knew what the first post to this thread was gonna be ( concerning a certain term in the thread title )
Too bad , I posted the lst reply and i ain't gonna mention it.

 

Well, the one real takeaway from all this is that you found The Cramps.

Congratulations on that.

 

Goo goo muck , baby , goo goo muck !

 

This says it all, right?

 

I would recommend limiting the number of new records you buy. I buy them and like them but the cost is prohibitive.

 

I've kept at an average of about one per week, starting back at June 1967.

 

#2 all the way. Original pressings are the way to go, often cheap and usually superior to new reissues.

 

lol

 

Comparatively speaking, are lp's much more expensive now? (Adjusted for inflation)

Buying four new albums at a time today feels like a huge splurge.

 

It's about the same. Four new LPs at a time was always out of my range. Besides, I've found I tend to enjoy the LPs less when purchased all at once like that. I'd rather buy the one, and live with that one for a while. Get to know it.

Earlier this week I picked up Brian Eno's The Ship. It pretty much hasn't left the turntable since.

 

If you've only got 30 LPs are so, I hardly think that qualifies you to deliver any sort of opinion on the quality of newer vinyl. No offense, but try buying about 200 or more new, sealed LPs in one year (I did that once) and then see what you think of new vinyl. If you do your research before buying, you're much less likely to end up with a bad pressing. My "bad" rate for new vinyl is probably around 15%. Old vinyl can be "bad" too. Mediocre/crap pressings, LPs pressed on recycled vinyl, groove wear you can't see with the naked eye, etc.

 

Love me ! Oeh, ie, ah, ah!

 

The basic intro to records.

 

I thought that maybe 1) would be...

1) The plural of vinyl is vinyl.

 

Oh lawd ! Inevitable.
Like flies on stink.

 

Click-bait thread title.

 

Ok fine, I added the hiding under my chair emoticon.

 

Listening to the vinyls with the lights dimmed in your socks's and underwears's is a good time.

 

A lot of great observations in the original post some of which took me way longer than 30 days to grasp. In particular, I really like #6, to which I will add that I learned eventually that the frustration of buying the "wrong" copy of something three times and not being satisfied, far outweighs the pain of waiting patiently for "right" copy to come along. I don't believe in place holders or starter copies.

Well done and welcome to the hobby!

 

Point 6 is a good call, I bought Judas Priests Stained Class at a fair months back and was gutted to play the B side and have Lord knows what covering various parts of the record, left me with a horrendous sound to the record. But I got lucky with my dad owning a vac cleaner and on one visit to his we cleaned it up and now it plays flawlessly, I was ready to get shot of it before that.

I love everything about playing, listening to and collecting records. My Fiancée..... Less loving about it.

 

As another newbie (just a couple months in), I've seen the reverse, too. Used ECM vinyl is very often clean and mint looking, and the other week, I scored a cheap used copy of Pat Metheny's New Chautauqua that looked great. I got it home and played it. Side one was smooth and quiet. I flip it over, and suddenly, it sounded less like Pat Metheny and more like Bing Crosley.

 

I'm glad you're having fun with it all.

#2 on your list is really no different than what was happening when every single CD was getting remastered and reissued. Most of them sounded like crap compared to the old ones from the 80's (that we just sold to buy the new crappy ones). That's how I found the Hoffman Forums actually. I think a lot of people here did. Anyway....not all new reissues are bad. There are a lot of good ones. Just start keeping track of some mastering engineers whose names are on the ones you like. Chris Bellman, Kevin Gray, Andy Pearce, Ryan K Smith are some of the guys I think do good sounding reissues.

 

In case you are wondering about some of the replies:

People, I love ya but there is no such word as VINYLS. It's "VINYL", no 's' at end. »

 

always nice to see a collector that's happy...today I could not afford to collect vinyl..