When I was young, my mother had a cleaning lady because we were fantastically wealthy and lived in a very large home on a very large estate with lots of objects that sparkled and gleamed. The cleaning lady wore a black dress with a white lace pinafore over it and carried a feather duster making her way from chandelier to chandelier, all the while eyeing my homeless man turned fabulously successful importer/exporter father. My father had an evil twin AND suffered from amnesia THREE TIMES for no apparent reason other than sweeps week.
Oh wait, that was a plot from As the World Turns circa 1982. Nevermind. Not my life at all.
We did however have a cleaning lady that came in once every couple of weeks. I would leave for school and come home to a tidy bedroom with vacuum lines on the rug. Except for that one time when I came home to vacuum lines on the rug and all of my albums piled on top of the heat register. To those of you who don't know, albums are flat black vinyl circles that magically play music when you put them on a record player. Unless of course they're warped like scoliosis, in which case they don't magically play music at all.
My name's Karen and my first foray into buying music was … the album. My record buying days were right on the cusp of the end of albums and the beginning of the CD, so like anyone who has ever bought an album I will always have a soft spot for turntables and playing 33s. I never got rid of my turntable, and in fact even bought a new one 15 years ago or so.
I've kept it hidden below the television on a shelf, out of view for all those years. Which made using it a pain, therefore I rarely did. Then a few months ago something came over me. I liked my turntable. I liked how it looked, I liked how it felt and I liked how it made the room feel.
There's something about a turntable unabashedly displayed in a room that gives it soul. For anyone looking to add character to a room the turntable is the ultimate accessory. You know those rooms with a bit of everything in them? Antiques and books and a bit of midcentury modern? The sort of room that looks like it's been lived in by intellectually superior world travellers for the past 50 years? A turntable will give it that feeling.
Well, it'll help give it that feeling.
The funny thing about playing albums is they're SO great and so awful all at the same time. Why are they great? I like the process of just flipping through the albums and picking one out. I love the little bit of scratchy noise from older albums.
I do not love that the album only lasts for half an hour or so before you have to move and flip it over. Thanks to CDs, DVDs, mp3s and apps like Songza, we've all become pretty used to having music play endlessly without ever having to do a thing. Except maybe turn the volume either up or down.
For Michael is always gets turned up.
The best thing about turntables now is that they're really easy to get working. It isn't like in the olden days when there were bare wires coming out of the back of the turntable. The newer turntables hook up to just about anything with ease. My turntable has a left and right audio cable that comes out of the back of the turntable and will plug into any speaker system or receiver that has "audio in" slots, which my surround sound receiver has. It's literally plug and play.
Other turntables have a USB plug on the end and can be plugged into USB ports on your receiver or even computer.
And if you have some sort of weirdo/tricky situation there's an adapter for pretty much everything. For instance, I just ordered this USB to headphone jack adapter to hook my wireless speaker/lights up to my turntable and receiver.
You can take a look at the different turntables on Amazon right here. They range in price from $50 to a few hundred. If I remember correctly mine was about $100.
Now please enjoy the homes of the intellectually superior world travellers.
beats solo hd on-ear headphone
Generally I do not learn article on blogs, but I would
like to say that this write-up very forced me to try and
do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite
great post.
Paula
I am feeling so great about my decor right now. We have a turntable, books, mid-century modern and hey even a little baby grand piano(that no one plays, spent lots of money on lessons for my kids that didn't stick ). The piano looks awesome though.
I love it that some bands are releasing new music on vinyl. My son has been bringing home some great new stuff. I see you have the sex pistols and if you like alternative music check out Slothrust (the band) Of Course You Do(the album) and of Montreal(the band) Lousy with Sylvian Briar(the album).
Debbie
I like the best concerts idea! Mine was Elton John at Madison Square Garden. A guest happened to show up that night - John Lennon. It was a night to remember.
Laura Bee
I stored all my albums away & sold my Sears floor model turntable/tape player/CD player/AM/FM radio when we brought our daughter home to our small home. Now I am on the hunt for a replacement. We bought our new house yesterday! In the basement, right next to my arts & crafts/sewing/laundry room is the rec room -where thanks to you , I now know where to put my two milk crates full of most of my step-dad's albums. Johnny Cash, Cream, Janis...and my mom's - John Denver, Elvis, & K-Tel compilations. I also have a Coke crate full of ones I picked up at yard sales & thrift shops.
I really miss my albums.
Barbie
I'm so sorry about your Culture Club albums and the cleaning lady! What a bummer man!
IRS
Hmm. Interesting observations, Karen. I was taught a lot of what I know about recorded music by an ex. He was a music collector and a techie, and he would argue with you to his last breath, but I'm not an expert on the subject, so I won't. I guess I'm the split personality here; although I am a left-handed, right-brained creative type who loves quirky things, I am also on a never ending quest for perfection. Must be the raging case of OCD. :D
Karen
Could be! I can tell you that I only have a partial case of OCD. :) ~ karen
Rae
Hi Karen ~
I really appreciate your blog on the turntable. I'm toying with the idea of getting one for my husband for Christmas. He's making improvements to the house we'll be moving into soon. We are both very nostalgic and sentimental. I'll be decorating with a rustic country flair. I think maybe we were both born too late. :/
Our living area is bigger than any I've ever had! We are dividing it up into a seating area for entertaining, and the other side will be a book nook. I think a system that includes a turn table is a GREAT idea. I've noticed that vinyl is making a comeback. When I was listening to Culture Club, I was wearing out cassettes. ( also Lionel Ritchie, Madonna, Cindy Lauper, & Van Halen...I'll stio there, lol) Do you know if the ones out today use a diamond stylus? My research has been somewhat unsuccessful lately. Maybe the Feel Squad knows. Looking forward to the next time.
IRS
Yes, Karen, I have made my feelings known about the inferior sound quality of vinyl, so I won't belabour the point, and to each his own anyway. But I'm just curious - surely all of you vinyl aficionados are confusing nostalgia and quality, aren't you? I mean, can anyone really say that vinyl sounds better than digital? Vinyl is a medium that literally evaporates over time, so even a never played, and therefore scratchless LP cannot be as crisp and sharp as a digital track. I find human memory and perception to be fascinating things, and I think we all at times mix up our fond memories with subjective evaluation. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation. It's sort of like preferring a hand stitched garment, even though the stitches cannot possibly be as straight and even as if they were made on a sewing machine. But no matter, the bottom line is "follow your bliss". :)
Karen
Well for me it's not about perception or memory alone. Although those two things are important. It's truly about the sound. In fact if you ask music aficionados most of them will tell you they prefer the sound from an album. There's a depth an warmth to an album that CDs actually can't reproduce. That's because music, based on wavelengths and sciency stuff are analog. The record reproduces sound in analog. However CDS and DVDs reproduce in digital, oftentimes at a very quick rate. In fact so quick that very fast musical movements are lost. An analog album creates an exact copy of what the artist is producing. A digital copy produces a version of it. It may sound crisper to you, but it but part or the reason for that is a lot of lost notes believe it or not. And yes. I also prefer hand stitched garments. I'm almost always looking for character and soul over perfection. :) ~ karen
Shauna
How exciting, I'm an intellectually superior world traveler.
Ellen
I haven't had a turntable or albums for years, but I do like the sound of vinyl. So nice and round instead of the sharp and pointy CD's that followed them.
Jane S
I swear some of those mid century modern rooms are really from 60 years ago with a flat screen TV photoshopped in. Not yours thought, yours just looks intellectually superior.
Sandy
Ohhhh, almost forgot, I see Atonement on your shelf. It's been sitting on my bedside table for 5 years now, I just can't get past the first 50 pages.
And love the pics of the hi-fi cabinets. My parent's cabinet had an opening at the bottom for wires and stuff and our cat used to squeeze up in there and snooze. I remember when she was getting on in years, my mom was afraid she would crawl up there to die . . . she didn't.
Sandy
Ahhhhhhhh, yes, I have the OFF THE WALL album as well and NEVER bought anything Michael Jackson after that. My guys are 20 and 26 and both have had turntables for years and their album collections are quite extensive stored in milk crates they "borrowed" from the grocery store. They did ransack my 70's collection of Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, (early) Genesis, even took my Carole King "Tapestry" album but left behind most of my 80's foray into Simple Minds, Psychedelic Furs and Kate Bush . . . obviously they have no taste.
Still, the best album cover EVER has to be Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirty Cowboy with the little turntable guy taking a poop.
Nancy Blue Moon
JackieVB above said about the album art which was a big part of the album experience..Some of it was quite awesome and would look great framed and on the wall..I also loved when they included the lyrics so you could pretend you were smart and understood what they were singing..I had quite a collection of 45's and albums as I not only babysat but also made lots of crafts and sewed and sold stuff..yeah..I used to be multi-talented like you girl..My first album..I'll have to think about that one..