I am SOOO STOKED! We got our turntable yesterday. I have been playing some LP's that have not been heard for maybe 20 years at least. What is also cool is that it is a USB type. That means I can convert them over to mp3's. It can be a somewhat cumbersome process but there are a handful I want to record. I am using the free Audacity program and it does a real good job of cleaning it up a bit and quickly exporting to mp3 (or WAV) formats. I'm sure the process will go quicker as I get more familiar with it. I even cleaned up a 100 year old 78 LP. It was kind of scratchy (what do you expect from 1904?) but after cleaning it up and converting to mp3, I can hear what they played now!
Honestly though, most of these will just be played through either my receiver or our pc. There's just something different about how it sounds played just from the record. Mary is happy because she can convert to mp3 most of her Beatles records (yes, the originals from the years they came out). She really doesn't want the records played much (the kids have been WARNED!). But, putting them to mp3 would be awesome.
So, although I am more of a listener of what is out now, for a while at least, I am going to listen to some of this old stuff. So will my kids. Both of them think it is really cool to be able to play some of these. To be honest, it was their encouragement that got me to order the turntable.
Here is what I have been playing so far:
There and Back (Jeff Beck) - not a hugely popular album (although the single El Becko was played a lot on rock radio back in 1980) but one of my all time favorites. It is all instrumental and maybe a little dated but I literally wore this one out! Audacity really cleaned it up. It's now on my iPod. Jeff Beck is defintely my favorite guitar player out of the 60's (yes, I put him over Clapton, Hendrix, and Page).
Cat Scratch Fever (Ted Nugent) - All I want to know is when will Terrible Ted get some songs on Guitar Hero? I can't believe he isn't on it yet. You want some great classic rock guitarists, he was definitely up there. A big influence on my early playing and learning.
Songs From the Big Chair (Tears for Fears) - Yes, a little dated but I think that the songs were great.
Grand Illusion (Styx) - Definitely the best Styx album. This was back when they were good and relevant and still knew how to rock. I guess at this point, Dennis DeYoung wasn't annoying yet! :) A lot of the old cool rock bands really did take downturns in the early 80's: Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, etc. Oh well, I still like this record.
Boston (the 1st album) - The first rock record I ever bought with my own money (along with Kansas Leftoverture and Steve Miller's Fly Like an Eagle). Who can argue about how good this one was? I still think many of these songs hold up today. For its day, it was definitely a groundbreaking album. Every song was a hit at some level. You don't really see that nowadays.
More to come....
2 comments:
Tony - did you get the Ion turntable? I did the very same thing you did last year and it was a trip through memory lane. I also used Audacity and the process of chopping up the songs does get quicker with practice. I also tried cleaning up some songs, but ya know, I ended up not doing much of that because I kinda like the pops and crackles and slight warpage that some of the albums have, just like when I used to play them in the day! Plus they came out a little phatter without any digital cleaning. I dug out my old Zerostat and DiscWasher and used those on each LP prior to ripping, couldn't believe I still had juice in the DW bottle after like 20 years! I have 400+ albums still and ripped classic Styx, Dokken, Zebra, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, The Babys, Triumph, HSAS, UFO, Rainbow, BOC, ASIA, you name it! Anyhow, have fun widdit!
Peace, Rod
PS - Boston and Leftoverture were among my first albums ever too, I wore them both out but still have 'em. Also Double Live Gonzo was a kegger staple in the late 70's (Great White Buffalo, Stranglehold, Hibernation!)
Yes Ron, it is an Ion USB-turntable. I just minimized the pops and crackles. Not too much. That old 78 really needed a clean up though! I have Double Live Gonzo on 8-track! Now if only there were a USB 8-track machine!
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