Where Did Your New Wave Records Go?

[hubcity]

Folks,

Somehow, as the years passed, my record collection survived largely untouched. A few things (most notably everything I ever had from Duran Duran) evaporated, likely owing to roommate pilferage, but most of what I ever had, I still have. This despite several moves, a couple of basement floods (damn, those records are heavy) and a spouse who never really did understand why I can't part with that collection.

The most entertaining answer I've encountered to "what happened?" was "Dude, I've been divorced twice."

So what's your story?


-Sean
Altrok Radio
Streaming on your computer anytime, at <a href="">http://www.altrokradio.com</a>
Fridays at 10PM on your FM radio, at <a href="http://90.5thenight.org">90.5 The Night</a>

[MikeP]

I know it's kinda lame and only tangentially relevant if you file it under "record tales" but ... I still have all my records, however during my move to California from New Mexico back in '97, I experienced some "adventures in moving" courtesy of U-Haul, one incident resulted in a box of my records getting heat-damaged. I had placed a box of records on top of one of the wheel wells and while driving thru Arizona, the outer tire tread blew off and bent the exhaust pipe so that it was pointing up into the wheel well, turning the wheel well into a sort of "hot plate"! The result was that it slightly melted the outer edge of a whole box of records, basically ruining the first song on every record, many of which I had grand plans to clean-up and archive.

Definitely looking forward to more stories ... I know there are some good ones out there (pilferings, acts of god, moms and ex's who threw them out, etc.).

[Frau_Blucher]

Oh man, some of the Ex stories I've heard on here are PAINFUL!

My collection actually grew having married a new wave wife. She had some of the early east coast stuff and I had some of the west coast. Now I need a mistress from Machester. Anyway, it's not a huge collection, not so crazy rare, but several good boxes still in the basement that I have to drag up sometime.

[fuclosure]

i still have 99% of it in a closet in crates. 700+ pieces of new wave and 80's dance. some early 90's stuff as well.

my wife would love to see it go. i have priced out having them converted to mp3 and cd at $10,000 through a service devoted to conversion. when i win the lotto, i will do it. until then, they sit in the closet and will be lugged from house to house as long as i live. they are an extension of who i am. seriously. they are like a tumor.

www.blueoctoberfan.com
no mode, no me.
know mode, know me.

[marie3]

I mostly had 12 inch remix stuff and some regular albums. I had a garage sale about 10 years ago and sold what I thought I wouldn't play anymore for a buck each. After constantly moving the crate of left overs, my husband convinced me to get rid of the rest. So out for garbage they went. I always figured everything would come out on cd.
I do still have some stuff. And I have since bought more over the years.

[newwavepunkgirl]

I got rid of alot of stuff when I got into heavy metal, then I regretted it later and had to go out and buy the CD versions of the stuff I missed! Needless to say I am keeping everything now![:I]

Devolution is real

[hubcity]

[quote][i]Originally posted by fuclosure[/i]
i have priced out having them converted to mp3 and cd at $10,000 through a service devoted to conversion. when i win the lotto, i will do it.[/quote]

Honestly: do yourself a favor and start doing it yourself. Software, hardware and storage are *cheap* these days...you'll only have to win on a scratch-off ticket to get it done. For instance, assuming you've already got the computer and the turntable:

RCA jack-to-mini-headset-jack cable: $8.00
Audio software: Free! (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/)
120GB Hard Drive - $69 (often less, or more storage for the same price.)

One nice thing in Audacity: the noise reduction. Used at its lowest level, it really gets rid of turntable rumble and tape hiss (even if the tape hiss is from the master tape recorded on the record!) At higher settings, its use is noticeable, but used one notch up from the lowest setting possible, I've really been getting great results. Plus it lets you zoom in to the one-sample level - great for trimming pops and clicks.

The most daunting thing about it, I've found, is staring at the collection thinking "I'm gonna do *this*?!?"...just start doing it, a record at a time, and you'll be amazed at how much it starts becoming a part of your life again.

Take me, for example. In 2003, someone asked me if I could do radio again, and I had the foresight to think "if I just keep a record of the thirty-or-so songs I play each week by dumping MP3s of them in a directory after I choose them, and I keep repeats to a minimum, I'll eventually have something that could pass for a station format's library." And I do!

(It's like filling an in-ground pool with a garden hose. You think there's no way that hose will fill that pool, and then three days later, the pool's full, and you really didn't have to think about it. At least 'til the water bill comes...)

[quote][i]Originally posted by fuclosure[/i]
they are an extension of who i am. seriously. they are like a tumor.[/quote]

Actually, an apt analogy: something you're attached to that most people think you oughta get rid of. If you start digitizing, though, it'll stop being an inert mass and start turning into a new organ...like a prehensile tail, or something.

(Stretched that metaphor a bit, didn't I?)

-Sean
Altrok Radio
Streaming on your computer anytime, at <a href="">http://www.altrokradio.com</a>
Fridays at 10PM on your FM radio, at <a href="http://90.5thenight.org">90.5 The Night</a>

[Frank_Chickens]

Last year I had a huge clear out and threw away around 30+ records at the council dump, broken beforehand to ensure no-one would take them out and try to re-sell them.

I didn't throw out any of my valuable ones, just the cheap crap compilations, the first Haircut 100 album, Men at Work etc.

Hubcity, I would love to put the remaining vinyl onto CD. The things that are stopping me is a lack of space for the record player and more importantly the highly FUSTRATING problem of transferring it while ensuring the bass/treble/volume isn't too much or too little. That is the one thing that has REALLY put me off trying before.


--

"As chairman of the Cradle of Filth fanclub I'm the most insensitive man in Britain, but even I can see there's tension there"

[bpdp3]

I think there's been some pretty good discussions on this in the 'Vinylmania' Forum (check the archives). I've still got every one I ever owned, and my vinyl collection is well over 6,000 pieces at this point (I'd ballpark it at 75% new wave/"alternative"). For me, it's just a ridiculous aesthetic preference. I still buy new and used vinyl all the time.

....Yes, my wife hates it. Yes, I live in fear that my kids (1 and 4) will someday attack them when I'm not looking. Yes, my next move will probably shatter my already-crumbling 40-yr-old body. When we moved into this house I got smart and bought a bunch of boxes from "Bags Unlimited" designed specifically for records. That helped.

I've yet to attempt putting any of it on mp3 or even CD. Will make a mixed cassette every now and then just to have in the car (only because I have the tape deck and know how to do it)....Someday I'll get serious about joining the rest of you in this century.

[2Nu]

Have pretty much the same LPs, 12"s and 45s since the late '80's, a modest collection of club standards (about 7-8 milk crates worth).
For the better part of 15 years they were well cared for and played fairly often.
However after my last move in '01 they languished in U-haul boxes in my detached garage until they were ravaged by a termite infestation the following year.
I was heartbroken to see those storage boxes containing so many pristine jackets and sleeves turned into a muddy pulp.
However, I really didn't do a proper damage assessment until just recently and was happy to find only about a dozen or so suffered any significant damage while the rest were not damaged or just lightly soiled.
They have since been moved to the relative security of my dry and termite free basement where they will continue to take up space as record collections usually do now that my playback format has gone primarily to mp3.
Given that admission, I will steadfastly hold onto them as tangible proof of my music 'proprietorship' in the event the RIAA gestapo come a knocking upon my door. (whatever good that might do me)[:(!]

<IMG SRC="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/richp62/Icons%20Avatars/inot.gif">
"Talking With People That Agree With You Is Like Jogging In A Cul-de-sac" - Bill Moyers

[WolverineSyr]

So many of my old albums ended up in garage sales over the years. Then a few years later, I'd regret selling a certain album and go back out in search of a copy.

I dated a dj for a little while, who stole a ton of my 12 inchers. Today, I keep my albums (maybe 30 or so) and about 300 12" singles in crates in a closet. My partner keeps bitching at me to get rid of them, I say "yeah, we'll move them next week," knowing that I'll never do it & never get rid of them. Wtf anyways, they're a bog part of my past & memories and I can't part with them.

I bought one of those Pioneer cd recorders about 7 years ago with great expectations of converting all my vinyl to cd. I just finished crate #1 last week...[:D]

[Mechi]

Well... as my dad doesn´t like New Wave, I got everything myself and still haven't lost anything (and plan to keep everything I have). Some albums that I own are here in Argentina very rare (like for exmaple DM's Music For The Masses, which is not a rare album in most northern countries). Then I have my brazilian vinyl edition of Joy Division's Substance... which I love....

And I'll buy more vinyls in the future... each time I enter my fav store, the girl that works there says "I got something perfect for you" and ends up showing me some weird New Order vinyl. [:D]

"Destroy everything you touch today
Destroy me this way
anything that may desert you so it cannot hurt you"

[birdmadgirl]

My parents thought it'd be fun to clean out my bedroom while I was off at college and chunked all my records. Their reasoning was that I had replaced everything with CDs, so why did I need those scratchy, popping records? [:(]

I have a few Cure records that the husband has surprised me with over the years, but that's all.

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[react010]

My God, since Napster came about, and up till this very day the only thing i think is: I wish i hadn't bought ANY of it at ALL [8D]
Could have bought a HUGE house from all the money i spent on buying vinyl over the years up till 1989....
But it's all still there in my (3rd) basement (and wot a HEAVY load to shift indeed when you are moving house [}:)]!!). Anyway: i found all of the mp3's i wanted to have of all those vinyl's i own, so there was no need for ripping from any vinyl myself.

Damned, i wish we had Napster (and everything that came after it) in the day....

[WolverineSyr]

Can you imagine how different things (including this site!) would be if we had instant access to any music we wanted back then?

I know we've been through it before, but personally I'm happy that it wasn't around. I appreciated the one album I could buy every month a lot more than easily downloaded music today.

I also appreciate discovering all these "new" old groups/songs, etc. so much more now.