The Vinyl Thread - Ropin the Wind - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No More Drake > The Vinyl Thread - Ropin the Wind

actionjackson: Jan 12, 2003

I'm listening to the Octagon album now. I can't stop laughing at "there's a horse in the hospital" right before Blue Flowers starts.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 00:32

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# ? Jun 4, 2024 11:07

Barry: Aug 1, 2003; Hardened Criminal

caligulamprey posted:

Also it's not laid-back, but Arrhythmia by Antipop Consortium is another fav.

Just Dr. Octagonecologyst to be more specific. There's weird unofficial bootleg cash-in records and an official follow-up album called Moosebumps which I haven't heard because I can't even imagine it living up to that first LP.

Moosebumps is ok but the only essential Dr Octagon album is Octagonecologyst.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 00:37

1000 umbrellas: Aug 25, 2005; We thought we'd base our civilization upon yours, 'cause you're the smartest animals on earth, now ain't you?

CPL593H posted:

HEY YOU GUYS!

I know jack poo poo about Motown records and artists. Where's a good place to start?

Motown had such a huge number of artists and subsidiary labels (Tamla, Gordy, etc.) so even if you think you don't know much, I bet you've heard quite a few iconic tunes.

Stevie Wonder is a personal fave, anything from his purple period will make the right impression (Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life).

Marvin Gaye is an obvious touchstone, and What's Going On is as good as any place to start. It's worth noting that Berry Gordy (head of Motown) thought that doing a protest record was the dumbest possible idea and chided him to stick with cheery pop songs, a note that Gaye thankfully ignored because... I mean Jesus, because now we have What's Going On.

Smokey Robinson has an undeniable voice and plenty of great tunes (Tracks of My Tears is the first one I remember hearing and going "poo poo, I gotta find out who sings that song...").

A lot of these artists (Temptations, Four Tops, Supremes) were churning out hit after hit after hit, so you might be best served looking into Best Ofs, or like those "The Essential So and So" compilations. "Gettin' Ready" by the Temptations is a great record with some classic tunes on it.

The Jackson 5 started on Motown. Surely you know "ABC," "I Want You Back," etc. A sick tune that Smokey Robinson penned and a little Michael Jackson slayed on their first record is "Who's Lovin' You."

I'm sure others will have suggestions (and sorry I don't have time to dig up YouTube links for all these tunes), but it really is such a huge pillar of American music it's hard to recommend any one place to start. In fact, if anyone has a deeper knowledge of Motown and wants to recommend some deep cuts by the non-A-list artists, I'd be glad to hear em.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 06:43

GnarlyCharlie4u: Sep 23, 2007; I have an unhealthy obsession with motorcycles.

Proof

bigman.50grand posted:

Yeah, biwire is one of those things that makes sense on paper, but whether or not it makes an audible difference I couldn't say. It's been years since I stepped foot in a recording studio, but I never saw a biwire setup in the wild. My thought on audiophile stuff is that if it really worked the pros would be using it.

My understanding of biwiring is that you're pumping full wattage to a smaller number of speakers, so like 80 peak watts split between 2 speakers vs 80 peak watts between all 4 speakers in the tower. A woofer needs more energy to move than a tweeter, so biwiring (in theory) would deliver more energy to the mids and tweeters creating the highest of fi-est Whipped Cream and Other Delights you can imagine. My guess is the speaker would sound better at lower volumes, but I'm a loving moron so vv

I think you're confusing bi-amping with bi-wiring.

Bi-wiring = you're still using the same amp channel to drive the same number of speakers. You're just doing it with twice as many wires.
Bi-amping = two amps (or two amp channels) power one speaker. It's up to however the speaker is constructed to divide that power between it's drivers.

If you've ever seen the tiny little wires they use to build your speakers you would realize pretty quickly that bi-wiring is pretty pointless.
If you are using a sufficient gauge cable to compensate for the length of the cable so that you do not introduce too much more resistance to the circuit, then there is literally no reason to run a second set of cables.

Edit:
A good example of Bi-amping that is not audio-foolery: I'm using a mini-dsp into a 4 channel amp to power 2 speakers with the crossovers removed.
The Minidsp acts as the active crossover AND room correction for each speaker.
Each speaker has a woofer and a tweeter, so each speaker has 2 channels from the amp. One channel for left speaker tweeter, one for left channel woofer, same for the right.
The speakers sound MUCH better in this configuration than with the lovely factory passive "crossover" they came with (it's really just a choke and a capacitor on the tweeter. The woofer is full range.)

GnarlyCharlie4u fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Feb 24, 2020

# ? Feb 24, 2020 06:55

CPL593H: Oct 28, 2009; I know what you did last summer, and frankly I am displeased.

1000 umbrellas posted:

Motown had such a huge number of artists and subsidiary labels (Tamla, Gordy, etc.) so even if you think you don't know much, I bet you've heard quite a few iconic tunes.

Stevie Wonder is a personal fave, anything from his purple period will make the right impression (Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life).

Marvin Gaye is an obvious touchstone, and What's Going On is as good as any place to start. It's worth noting that Berry Gordy (head of Motown) thought that doing a protest record was the dumbest possible idea and chided him to stick with cheery pop songs, a note that Gaye thankfully ignored because... I mean Jesus, because now we have What's Going On.

Smokey Robinson has an undeniable voice and plenty of great tunes (Tracks of My Tears is the first one I remember hearing and going "poo poo, I gotta find out who sings that song...").

A lot of these artists (Temptations, Four Tops, Supremes) were churning out hit after hit after hit, so you might be best served looking into Best Ofs, or like those "The Essential So and So" compilations. "Gettin' Ready" by the Temptations is a great record with some classic tunes on it.

The Jackson 5 started on Motown. Surely you know "ABC," "I Want You Back," etc. A sick tune that Smokey Robinson penned and a little Michael Jackson slayed on their first record is "Who's Lovin' You."

I'm sure others will have suggestions (and sorry I don't have time to dig up YouTube links for all these tunes), but it really is such a huge pillar of American music it's hard to recommend any one place to start. In fact, if anyone has a deeper knowledge of Motown and wants to recommend some deep cuts by the non-A-list artists, I'd be glad to hear em.

I was thinking more of the early stuff, particularly soul and female vocal groups. But these are good suggestions. Thanks.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 07:44

Barry: Aug 1, 2003; Hardened Criminal

GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

Edit:
A good example of Bi-amping that is not audio-foolery: I'm using a mini-dsp into a 4 channel amp to power 2 speakers with the crossovers removed.
The Minidsp acts as the active crossover AND room correction for each speaker.
Each speaker has a woofer and a tweeter, so each speaker has 2 channels from the amp. One channel for left speaker tweeter, one for left channel woofer, same for the right.
The speakers sound MUCH better in this configuration than with the lovely factory passive "crossover" they came with (it's really just a choke and a capacitor on the tweeter. The woofer is full range.)

Yeah, now I remember why I bi-amped my speakers. IIRC the factory crossover is pretty trash on them.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 17:52

Fors Yard: Feb 15, 2008; Aside from getting shot in the head, David, what have you done with yourself?

On a sort of related note, has anyone tried the speaker setup Eno suggests on the back of On Land?

I've been curious to try it sometime and it seems pretty simple.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 18:32

Detective No. 27: Jun 7, 2006

K-Mart 1989-1992 is up for preorder. Limited to 500.

https://lost-angles.com/album/kmart-1989-1992

I don't know if anyone here cares about vaporwave or not.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 18:44

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

I do, but ouch even at retail price they're often pretty $$ to get hold of (but then $$$ if you miss the print). $40 delivered is a sting I don't know I can afford given I've been treating myself too much lately.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 19:34

Detective No. 27: Jun 7, 2006

It's such a curse given that physical releases in this genre are blink and gone forever. Kinda appropriate given the genre.

I really want a copy of Floral Shoppe, which I see for just under $50 on eBay. I'll grab one in a couple months as a gift to myself for finishing grad school. I listened to a ton of vaporwave when getting through my bachelor's a few years back.

# ? Feb 24, 2020 20:11

bigman.50grand: Mar 31, 2007; no

GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

I think you're confusing bi-amping with bi-wiring.

Lol, you're absolutely right. I was thinking of bi-amping. Bi-wiring on its own is totally useless. I still remain skeptical of vanilla bi-amping, though.

Your bi-amp use case is really clever and I would definitely expect to hear a difference since you've also changed crossovers with the DSP. Did you have to pull the OG crossovers from the speakers or does the bi-amping bypass them entirely?

Re: Eno, it definitely works and is an interesting sound. He's right on the money, the center image sound of the stereo field is out of phase and you're hearing only sounds that are panned left or right in the stereo field. The more panned in one direction the louder the sound.

You can try it with your current setup without much effort. Unhook both speakers and then hook one back up using the + terminals from both channels. It's a neat way to listen to music and hear stuff you otherwise miss. If you want "It's Too Late" by Carole King ruined forever listen to it this way. There's a punch in at the start of the piano solo you'll never not hear again.

bigman.50grand fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Feb 24, 2020

# ? Feb 24, 2020 20:18

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

Detective No. 27 posted:

I really want a copy of Floral Shoppe, which I see for just under $50 on eBay. I'll grab one in a couple months as a gift to myself for finishing grad school. I listened to a ton of vaporwave when getting through my bachelor's a few years back.

Set that $50 on fire, and you'll have the same copy the rest of us who bought one got

# ? Feb 24, 2020 23:03

JAMOOOL: Oct 18, 2004; I LOVE TWO AND HALF MEN!! YOU 20 SOMETHINGS ARE JUST TOO CYNICAL TO UNDERSTAND IT!!

I actually got mine. tbh it ain't really my favorite by her but it was one of those things I could not pass up. the reissues of Shader & Sleepline are very cool though. weird music to have on vinyl but I love 'em. Vaporwave vinyl is definitely super expensive and I think intentionally limited but for Vek & George Clanton I'll pony up. dunno about anyone else though

# ? Feb 25, 2020 00:02

Cemetry Gator: Apr 3, 2007; Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?

CPL593H posted:

HEY YOU GUYS!

I know jack poo poo about Motown records and artists. Where's a good place to start?

So the first thing in going to say is that you need to listen to classic Motown in mono. What's Going On is better in stereo, but until you get into 71 or 72, mono is your friend. Motown was meant to be heard in mono.

It's not vinyl, but there's the complete Motown Single sets. Starting around 1965, it becomes more good than bad. The earlier years are really sketchy as they tried to define themselves.

There's the Hitsville USA box that includes a good selection of the big hits in glorious mono. Once again, not vinyl, but by God, I'm gonna lead you right on this one.

A lot of artists, you can really focus on their singles. The Supremes have pretty decent albums once they get to Where Did Our Love Go. Their earlier stuff is... Not great. Except Butter Popcorn, which is the greatest song ever written.

There's not really a lot of ways you can go wrong by getting a good hits collection, unless it's in stereo.

# ? Feb 25, 2020 00:04

Enos Cabell: Nov 3, 2004

My membership to VMP is done and over, but they still got me to throw down for the Thundercat pre-order. I'm a sucker for colored variants I guess.

# ? Feb 25, 2020 00:13

CPL593H: Oct 28, 2009; I know what you did last summer, and frankly I am displeased.

Cemetry Gator posted:

So the first thing in going to say is that you need to listen to classic Motown in mono. What's Going On is better in stereo, but until you get into 71 or 72, mono is your friend. Motown was meant to be heard in mono.

It's not vinyl, but there's the complete Motown Single sets. Starting around 1965, it becomes more good than bad. The earlier years are really sketchy as they tried to define themselves.

There's the Hitsville USA box that includes a good selection of the big hits in glorious mono. Once again, not vinyl, but by God, I'm gonna lead you right on this one.

A lot of artists, you can really focus on their singles. The Supremes have pretty decent albums once they get to Where Did Our Love Go. Their earlier stuff is... Not great. Except Butter Popcorn, which is the greatest song ever written.

There's not really a lot of ways you can go wrong by getting a good hits collection, unless it's in stereo.

I figured on buying some comps anyway because of everything being singles until the late 60. And I always try to get mono when a record comes in both mixes, I only avoid it when the price prohibits. I guess what I was asking for was how to narrow down which is the better stuff out of the mountain of stuff that label put out. Or just generally where to start with the two types of music I mentioned above. Thanks.

# ? Feb 25, 2020 02:59

caligulamprey: Jan 23, 2007; It never stops.

Do I really have to wait until May for this new Moses Sumney album in full?! :mad:

(Part 1 is loving sick, yo)

# ? Feb 25, 2020 03:22

Dissapointed Owl: Jan 30, 2008; You wrote me a letter,
and this is how it went:

EL BROMANCE posted:

Set that $50 on fire, and you'll have the same copy the rest of us who bought one got

Still pissed off about this. Having done production, management, and distribution of vinyl myself, the idea they just went 'Aw, gently caress it' and took off with the money and complete radio silence is baffling. And horrendously insulting.

S C U M

# ? Feb 25, 2020 04:47

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

The worst part is the lovely games they�ve been playing since. Pretending to be an independent shop in the UK that has a bunch of copies who just happened to mail to the Bandcamp purchasing list. I hope the guy chokes. It�s one thing to gently caress up because you�re out of your depth, but it�s an out and out scam.

# ? Feb 25, 2020 04:59

Cemetry Gator: Apr 3, 2007; Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?

CPL593H posted:

I figured on buying some comps anyway because of everything being singles until the late 60. And I always try to get mono when a record comes in both mixes, I only avoid it when the price prohibits. I guess what I was asking for was how to narrow down which is the better stuff out of the mountain of stuff that label put out. Or just generally where to start with the two types of music I mentioned above. Thanks.

Yeh. The Hitsville box is probably the best for you. The Supremes have a 50th anniversary compilation that collects the A and B sides of their singles, and that's really good. There's also one for Martha and the Vandellas, the Four Tops, and the Temptations as well.

There's also a series of really good compilations called Ultimate for a lot of those same artists. The Smokey Robinson set is really good too.

For Marvin Gaye, there's a four CD set called the Master that starts at the beginning and goes into his Columbia years.

Just due to the nature of Motown, the individual artists tended to matter less since it was all the same hit making machine behind them. The Supremes are a bit of an exception since they gave their top material to them. But Smokey wrote hits for himself, and the Temptations, and others.

# ? Feb 25, 2020 05:05

Detective No. 27: Jun 7, 2006

I just watched a video about the whole Floral Shoppe saga. I would have been livid if I were buying at the time.

# ? Feb 25, 2020 05:22

EL BROMANCE: Jun 10, 2006; COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬

I was about to ask for a link, but instinct knew it would be on Pads channel ha. That�s a year old so it�s missing a bunch of the recent stuff, because this bullshit never ends.

I may or may not be a victim, I honestly don�t know. I bought it, it�s on my Bandcamp purchase list, but I looked through all my stuff and couldn�t find a payment taken from anywhere which is super weird.

# ? Feb 25, 2020 05:52

1000 umbrellas: Aug 25, 2005; We thought we'd base our civilization upon yours, 'cause you're the smartest animals on earth, now ain't you?

CPL593H posted:

I figured on buying some comps anyway because of everything being singles until the late 60. And I always try to get mono when a record comes in both mixes, I only avoid it when the price prohibits. I guess what I was asking for was how to narrow down which is the better stuff out of the mountain of stuff that label put out. Or just generally where to start with the two types of music I mentioned above. Thanks.

LOL now you've had two people making recommendations down to the specific record/box set/title and you keep coming back at us with "can you narrow it down" -- Just dive in dude, you're gonna love it!

# ? Feb 26, 2020 03:08

CPL593H: Oct 28, 2009; I know what you did last summer, and frankly I am displeased.

1000 umbrellas posted:

LOL now you've had two people making recommendations down to the specific record/box set/title and you keep coming back at us with "can you narrow it down" -- Just dive in dude, you're gonna love it!

I did words bad there. I meant to say that those were good suggestions that narrowed things down.

# ? Feb 26, 2020 03:16

1000 umbrellas: Aug 25, 2005; We thought we'd base our civilization upon yours, 'cause you're the smartest animals on earth, now ain't you?

I also wanted to add that if it's girl groups you want, Motown has some classics but outside of the Motown family three records come to my mind:

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes featuring Veronica
The Crystals - He's A Rebel
The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack

The first two are Phil Spector joints and should absolutely be heard in mono, the third I've always loved because those ladies from Queens always gave me more bad girl vibes as opposed to the perfectly nice conservative matching-outfit vibes.

# ? Feb 26, 2020 03:40

Barry: Aug 1, 2003; Hardened Criminal

caligulamprey posted:

Do I really have to wait until May for this new Moses Sumney album in full?!

(Part 1 is loving sick, yo)

Yeah the first part is really good, excited for the rest

# ? Feb 26, 2020 03:47

CPL593H: Oct 28, 2009; I know what you did last summer, and frankly I am displeased.

1000 umbrellas posted:

I also wanted to add that if it's girl groups you want, Motown has some classics but outside of the Motown family three records come to my mind:

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes featuring Veronica
The Crystals - He's A Rebel
The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack

The first two are Phil Spector joints and should absolutely be heard in mono, the third I've always loved because those ladies from Queens always gave me more bad girl vibes as opposed to the perfectly nice conservative matching-outfit vibes.

I've heard the title song from Leader of the Pack and that is peak girl group right there.

edit: I just remembered that I may be going to a record selling show at the end of March, so I'll have to write all these things down to keep an eye out. That Shangri-Las record goes for more than I want to pay online so I'm going to try and find this stuff in the wild. Plus one of the dealers I've bought a lot from over the years is really old school and has a lot of girl groups and soul and actually sells poo poo for reasonable prices. He's super knowledgable too.

CPL593H fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Feb 26, 2020

# ? Feb 26, 2020 03:59

Cemetry Gator: Apr 3, 2007; Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?

If you're looking for more soul, dig into Stax. Otis Redding is much grittier than Motown, but dude could sing the phone book and move you. Blue is a fantastic album. If by the end of I've Been Loving You Too Long, you're not broken hearted, you haven't been listening.

# ? Feb 26, 2020 06:14

CPL593H: Oct 28, 2009; I know what you did last summer, and frankly I am displeased.

Cemetry Gator posted:

If you're looking for more soul, dig into Stax. Otis Redding is much grittier than Motown, but dude could sing the phone book and move you. Blue is a fantastic album. If by the end of I've Been Loving You Too Long, you're not broken hearted, you haven't been listening.

Looks like Sundazed has a bunch of Otis Redding reissues in mono. Anything they reissue that was originally in mono stays in mono which is one of the things I love about them.

# ? Feb 26, 2020 06:25

caligulamprey: Jan 23, 2007; It never stops.

The Magnetic Fields just announced their new album, released on a series of 7"s The pre-order has a signed print is that's your thing.

I really wanna hear "The Biggest Tits in History."

caligulamprey fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Feb 26, 2020

# ? Feb 26, 2020 06:27

lament.cfg: Dec 28, 2006; we have such posts
to show you

So I happened to log into my VMP account today for the first time in a while and noticed that I have $324 in credits from the $150 gift membership they hosed up redeeming :iiam:

EDIT: You can't redeem account credit AND use a promo code on the same order. Fuckin VMP.

lament.cfg fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Feb 26, 2020

# ? Feb 26, 2020 16:33

1000 umbrellas: Aug 25, 2005; We thought we'd base our civilization upon yours, 'cause you're the smartest animals on earth, now ain't you?

Cemetry Gator posted:

If you're looking for more soul, dig into Stax. Otis Redding is much grittier than Motown, but dude could sing the phone book and move you. Blue is a fantastic album. If by the end of I've Been Loving You Too Long, you're not broken hearted, you haven't been listening.

This guy souls.

That record also features Respect (you know, R-E-S-P-E-C-T) as originally written and recorded by Otis. Spoiler alert, it's nothing like Aretha's version, which is what I love about how music used to be written, recorded, traded, and made famous. Now the same 30 people all work on like every pop song which, surprise, is why they all sound the same.

# ? Feb 26, 2020 18:40

Hot Diggity!: Apr 3, 2010; SKELITON_BRINGING_U_ON.GIF

caligulamprey posted:

The Magnetic Fields just announced their new album, released on a series of 7"s The pre-order has a signed print is that's your thing.

I really wanna hear "The Biggest Tits in History."

This makes me really mad

# ? Feb 26, 2020 19:44

Barry: Aug 1, 2003; Hardened Criminal

Hot Diggity! posted:

This makes me really mad

Yeah that's loving dumb and I would never listen to it

# ? Feb 27, 2020 00:41

GnarlyCharlie4u: Sep 23, 2007; I have an unhealthy obsession with motorcycles.

Proof

bigman.50grand posted:

Your bi-amp use case is really clever and I would definitely expect to hear a difference since you've also changed crossovers with the DSP. Did you have to pull the OG crossovers from the speakers or does the bi-amping bypass them entirely?

Yup. two separate / isolated drivers. Factory crossover completely removed and I added 2 sets of banana plugs to each enclosure.
You REALLY don't want to try to bi-amp them with 2 separate amps into the same circuit. You're gonna have a bad time if you think that'll work.

Anyway here's some vinyl.

https://www.discogs.com/Hildegard-Von-Bingen-Richard-Souther-Vision-The-Music-Of-Hildegard-Von-Bingen/release/826528

# ? Feb 27, 2020 01:20

Bismack Billabongo: Oct 9, 2012; New Love Glow

If any of you need a laugh, people are at their breaking point on frank ocean�s subreddit because his preorder Singles from last october haven�t even been pressed yet.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FrankOcean/comments/fa4e0c/blondedcos_multiple_federal_trade_commission/

The edits at the bottom of the OP are pure liquid gold.

# ? Feb 27, 2020 19:56

Dissapointed Owl: Jan 30, 2008; You wrote me a letter,
and this is how it went:

thrilla in vanilla posted:

If any of you need a laugh, people are at their breaking point on frank ocean�s subreddit because his preorder Singles from last october haven�t even been pressed yet.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FrankOcean/comments/fa4e0c/blondedcos_multiple_federal_trade_commission/

The edits at the bottom of the OP are pure liquid gold.

Imagine getting scammed and having to withhold your understandable grievances because you just respect the multi-millionaire behind it too drat much to verbally slight him in any way on an internet forum.

# ? Feb 28, 2020 11:31