Vinyl Taming
Anytime I fell a little rough around the edges it’s invariably because my records are out of sorts. Strewn all around this cubicle I call my studio, records are crammed into crates, tucked under my mixing desk, shelved between cd piles, propped up against speakers, and generally anywhere they’ll fit. Being that clear floor space is a rare commodity, my cat these days has taken to sleeping on the record crates at night and curling around my latest selections during the day. I like how she’s made do with the space the crunch. I wish I could do the same and trade in my bed for even more working space. And to think, I’m only a minor vinyl addict who’s been relegated to merely romancing the remix since my vinyl buying budget got the mid-winter-poverty cut.
Of course, it doesn’t help that I throw myself into the mix with the orderliness of a chef with a kitchen clean-up crew behind him. Except I don’t have such luxury – no vinyl tidying entourage for me – and days go by till I reorganize the record mess strewn on what I call the cutting room floor. It would certainly help if after 8 years I learned to stick a record back in its sleeve once finished with it. This skill still eludes me. I swear to god the moment I pull a record from a sleeve, the latter instantly goes missing – sometimes totally unlocatable for days . I’ve tried all the tricks, making a separate pile, sticking the cover half out the crate; nonetheless, sleeves disappear consistently into the over crammed vinyl void under my mixing desk. If they designed clapper technology for record sleeves, I’d be all over it.
I remember watching Grand Wizard Theodore a few years ago in a cut and scratch frenzy that ended in a blindfolded needle drop. He just pulled out record after record, mixed them for a few seconds then added them to the mounting vinyl tower beside him. No doubt there must have been a little vinyl tidying crew for post show clean-up; but still, within the demands of quick cut and paste, record sleeves seemed superfluous. I felt a little redeemed, and I imagined when you’re the Grand Wizard, you probably never have to deal with a record sleeve again if you don’t want.
For me, whether due to lacking some organizational gene or not, this little refiling ability is one of the hardest for me to master. I hate to say it, but it honestly begets a new years resolution. Don’t get the wrong impression though; I do sort my vinyl regularly enough, most often when unpacking from a show. Most recently I captured the process on my hard drive in my I8 mix. Selections randomly pulled from my Intention new year’s record bag, unplanned but in the flow, I8 is my first tribal techno throwdown for 2007.
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