My Xmas Gift
Along with the analog-to-digital theme of the past few days, I received a USB turntable for Xmas. I’ve brought a box (one of many!) of old LPs to work and I’m running the conversion process in the background while I work. It is such a joy to hear all these old, obscure albums again! So far I’ve focussed primarily, and quite ironically, on my vast collection of early electronica. Very old Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre LPs.
Today I am finally hearing all of The Concerts In China again! It is as amazing as I recall. It is like I’m back in 1982.
In the height of the Napster craze I was able to snag a few tracks, and since then I’ve (re)purchased a few of JMJ’s albums off the iTunes Music Store… but TCIC and Rendez-Vous, two of my favorites have yet to be released there. (Obscure Chuck Fact: I traveled to Houston specifically to experience the “Rendez-Vous” concert… along with 1.5 million other people… to this day my parents thought it was to visit them… if they only knew. 
)
I’m listening as I capture, and right now is the sublime “Fishing Junks at Sunset”… I’m in heaven.
I’ve got my copy of Force Majeure around here somewhere… Along with Kraftwerk 1 and 2.
Comment by johnh — December 27, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
In the Tangerine Dream hopper have gone Force Majeure, Hyperborea, Phaedra, & Ricochet… on the turntable now is Rubycon.
I’m having a blast.
Comment by chuck goolsbee — December 27, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
Chuck, I’m interested in your opinion of the sound quality of these converted tunes. The War Department lobbies strenuously to have me toss my modest collection of vinyl but I am physically incapable of doing so. I know a discussion of playback quality needs the context of the playback equipment being used, but whaddya say?
Comment by Mark Webber — January 2, 2008 @ 2:17 pm
Well Mark, I am probably the wrong guy to ask. I am NOT an audiophile. I like music, I just don’t have a deep appreciation for the gear, sorry. I’m the same way with cameras. I don’t really consider myself a “photographer” so much as a visual artist who happens to use a camera now and then. I’m trained in composition and “seeing” not in F-stops and shutter speeds.
My iPod is a good enough bit of gear for me so just having the music I already own available in a compatible format is the important part for me.
The software allows me to remove the gross clicks and pops. You can certainly tell the music came from an LP though!
I had forgotten how shockingly low-tech and honestly crappy vinyl was! having atmospheric issues affect playback at such a profound level. I don’t have to remove dust from my MP3s.
I plan on ripping the stuff I really want to keep and then ditching the gear and likely even the LPs themselves. Their only real value to me is their packaging. I do miss that square foot of space in which to express things visually. Gone forever and lamented… unlike the media within!
–chuck
Comment by chuck goolsbee — January 3, 2008 @ 11:17 am