Day 234 – Music to my ears

15

August 21, 2016 – After watching last night’s Tragically Hip performance streaming from Kingston, I was thinking about the evolution of music and how we listen to it.

Once upon a time music was only available as a live performance.

Then we learned how to record it in the most amazing manners. The first recordings were made to paper or glass, around the 1860’s. By the late 1870’s Edison had developed the phonograph cylinder, and the first phonograph disc with grooves was developed by 1887.

The first electrically cut discs were in production by the 1920’s. This particular phonograph was built in 1924 (according to the plate) and plays thick, heavy, 78rpm records that could take your head off if thrown by a ninja.

Radios began to appear in living rooms and we could listen to live broadcasts of dialogue and live and pre-recorded music.

Vinyl LP records were in production by 1948, and 45s were on the market a year later. By 1957 vinyl records were in stereo and we were hooked on the latest runes, waiting impatiently for each new release by our favourite bands.

And I don’t think there has been a media with the staying power since.

Cassettes, 8-tracks, laserdics. When CDs hit the market in 1982 everyone thought that was the end of vinyl. Then there were digital audio tapes, digital compact cassettes, minidiscs, DVDs.

Then it seemed like physical media would disappear altogether. MP3s, WMA, ACC, Ogg, FLAC….

I bought a digital turntable years ago and recorded all of my vinyl into digital format for listening on my computer and on my iPod. It took forever to record them all. Unlike a CD, which can be pushed into a player and ripped and tagged in mere moments, a record has to be played, from start to finish, both sides. After recording it needs to be manually split into tracks, and each track manually identified and labelled.

But it was worth it to hear music I hadn’t heard in years. I have a very eclectic collection of vinyl, many records were never mainstream and herald from the club days.

And, although I gave the turntable to a friend so he could record his vinyl, I never gave up the records. They went into storage, in the very back of the crawlspace, tucked away in a tote. I’m not a packrat, definitely anything BUT a hoarder, but I haven’t seen fit to let those go yet. There are too many memories wrapped up in them, and they can still be played and enjoyed.

And while most of those physical media formats have all but vanished, and digital media downloads have largely been replaced with streaming audio, the vinyl record has not only been buried, but it has been resurrected.

There is nothing quite like spinning a record. There is a nostalgia, a warmth, to the sound.

Taking an LP out of its sleeve, tilting it to the light to look for scratches, blowing any dust from the grooves. Gently setting it over the centre spindle and viewing it for warping. Setting the speed to 33 ⅓ rpm and turning the power on the set the platter in motion. Lifting the head and setting the stylus gently on the edge of the record and hearing the first few crackles as the needle moves gently inward…..and then the music starts.

It was a ritual.

And I’m glad that ritual is still with us.

No CD can ever replace the mesmerizing rotation of vinyl on a turntable.

(This is a 1924 Victrola that needs a new home, along with the strange collection of 78 rpm records that go with it.)

116 Photos in 2016 – 12. Spin / spinning