Man, where to start without sounding patronizing or condescending? You will quickly have more money tied up in records than equipment if you get the bug, and a lot of desirable records are not new and you can’t buy them on Amazon, but have to hunt for them. Copies turn up on the Internet via places like E-Bay and Discogs, but you do have to know a little.
I guess I’d start with what kind of music you like and what you want to explore.
Amazon is great for new issues of things, but in many cases, not all, new records aren’t fully analog-- the source material was digitized and the record is cut from a digital master. Not that there is anything wrong with that if that was how the record was originally made, e.g. a newer release, but for older treasures, you will probably find more joy in earlier issues that didn’t have digitization as part of the process. (Nothing against digital, but folks looking for the analog experience won’t get the full measure with a reissue taken from a digital master, though in some cases, that may be the only way a particular record is affordable or even findable today).
Cleaning-- there are best practices observed in manual cleaning; I find that a machine helps in removing the fluid and water rinse steps; I also use ultrasonic. Much has been written about this subject- in my estimation, it is less about equipment and more about method. There is no "magic bullet"---
The tough part about acquiring records is condition. A record can look ok but suffer from groove chew due to play on kludgey, improperly aligned equipment or can have surface scuffs, hairlines and assorted uglies but sound fine. We hit bottom in the U.S. during the oil crisis; the fancy made for audiophile records will not only set you back costwise, but are typically limited to tried and true best-selling stuff that gets reissued repeatedly. Sometimes, a reissue can actually improve on the sound of a mass market record that was made during the heyday of vinyl but in many cases, you are paying for a brand name mastering engineer, a "special" vinyl compound and fancy packaging.
At my peak, I had about 17,000 LPs. I’ve skinnyed that down to around just under 6k records, taking into account those I’ve bought in the last few years.
There are various pockets of knowledge- the classical guys might not know jazz, and those guys might not know rock in its myriad forms. There are various blogs for different genres. The London Jazz Collector is considered a top tier blog for Blue Notes, Strata East and other blue chip jazz records. I even write a blog, but am all over the place, musically, and my taste may not be yours. So, I’d start with what kind of music you like, what you want to acquire and if you are lucky enough to live in an area that has a good retail trade in brick and mortar stores, with used bins, you read, research, take a few chances, get tips from others and get immersed. I get turned on to a lot of records from other people. Ten years ago I wasn’t listening to much jazz. Now, that’s pretty much 80% of my listening-- and that can change. (To me, jazz was a real learning experience because though I knew some of the big names and some of famous albums, I really didn’t know much beyond that. Spending time listening, finding artists you like and tracking their progress on other releases can lead you to some jewels).
Good luck and welcome to the fold,
Bill Hart
I guess I’d start with what kind of music you like and what you want to explore.
Amazon is great for new issues of things, but in many cases, not all, new records aren’t fully analog-- the source material was digitized and the record is cut from a digital master. Not that there is anything wrong with that if that was how the record was originally made, e.g. a newer release, but for older treasures, you will probably find more joy in earlier issues that didn’t have digitization as part of the process. (Nothing against digital, but folks looking for the analog experience won’t get the full measure with a reissue taken from a digital master, though in some cases, that may be the only way a particular record is affordable or even findable today).
Cleaning-- there are best practices observed in manual cleaning; I find that a machine helps in removing the fluid and water rinse steps; I also use ultrasonic. Much has been written about this subject- in my estimation, it is less about equipment and more about method. There is no "magic bullet"---
The tough part about acquiring records is condition. A record can look ok but suffer from groove chew due to play on kludgey, improperly aligned equipment or can have surface scuffs, hairlines and assorted uglies but sound fine. We hit bottom in the U.S. during the oil crisis; the fancy made for audiophile records will not only set you back costwise, but are typically limited to tried and true best-selling stuff that gets reissued repeatedly. Sometimes, a reissue can actually improve on the sound of a mass market record that was made during the heyday of vinyl but in many cases, you are paying for a brand name mastering engineer, a "special" vinyl compound and fancy packaging.
At my peak, I had about 17,000 LPs. I’ve skinnyed that down to around just under 6k records, taking into account those I’ve bought in the last few years.
There are various pockets of knowledge- the classical guys might not know jazz, and those guys might not know rock in its myriad forms. There are various blogs for different genres. The London Jazz Collector is considered a top tier blog for Blue Notes, Strata East and other blue chip jazz records. I even write a blog, but am all over the place, musically, and my taste may not be yours. So, I’d start with what kind of music you like, what you want to acquire and if you are lucky enough to live in an area that has a good retail trade in brick and mortar stores, with used bins, you read, research, take a few chances, get tips from others and get immersed. I get turned on to a lot of records from other people. Ten years ago I wasn’t listening to much jazz. Now, that’s pretty much 80% of my listening-- and that can change. (To me, jazz was a real learning experience because though I knew some of the big names and some of famous albums, I really didn’t know much beyond that. Spending time listening, finding artists you like and tracking their progress on other releases can lead you to some jewels).
Good luck and welcome to the fold,
Bill Hart