spintheblackestcircles.org

Nothing too scientific, but on average, how many spins do you think a record in your collection has had?

I'm a little ashamed to say that I suspect my average spins per record is between 1 and 2. I find that, especially in the past, my purchases far outweighed my chance to listen to them multiple times. I justified it by thinking it's better to have it, and then have the opportunity for repeat listening in the future, but I think I might have been deluding myself.

I don't get the chance to listen half as much as I'd like to records on vinyl, but I also see a lot of folks on here buying a lot more than I do. Anyone else in the same boat? If not, how do you manage to give the records the time they deserve?

That's an interesting question @chief.... generally if it's a new record and it sounds great I will stick it back on a couple more times before I give something else a go on the platter.

It does happen though - or at least did until relatively recently - that after those first couple of spins it will get slotted back in the stack because something else has just arrived through the post.

When I was younger and had to save up for a new album - and there wasn't any of this 'buy it now or pay eBay prices later' culture - I probably played the records a whole lot more because I was buying one a month or every other month.

I remember heading down Berwick Street in London in the 90s when I got my first real pay cheque and feeling guilty about blowing £30 of my salary on records... now of course we're averaging one record shipped for that. I'm hoping that, because of economics, the records I am selecting to purchase this year will get a lot more spins

I'm a millennial. Never spun a one.

It varies wildly, Chief. Some I've almost worn out. Others I have barely touched. Just the way it goes. I make a conscious effort to avoid the latter nowadays, but truth be told, some albums get lost in the shuffle even though I have great interest in them. They get overshadowed by another recent acquisition. Or occasionally a repress gets very little play because of how familiar I already am with the music.

Sad to say I am probably less than 1 per record right now as when i first got back into collecting I bought some in bulk and I often will pick up cheap records if i am remotely interested even though I don't have the time. My theory is for a buck or 2 if i only play it once, i got my money's worth, but of course all those $1 records keep me from repeatedly spinning the stuff i really like (or paid a lot for). The scores kill me though as it's a constant barrage right now of cool stuff. I keep saying it'll slow down at some point.

Now please don't ask how often i spin my 45s which i really bought in bulk!

I just about wear mine out. I only buy albums that I intend to listen to, if I'm not into it I don't buy it. If I don't like it I give it to someone else.

vi_resmusic wrote:I just about wear mine out. I only buy albums that I intend to listen to, if I'm not into it I don't buy it. If I don't like it I give it to someone else.

Same here. I like to think (or maybe like to fool myself to think) that I have a "curated" collection - I buy what I enjoy and know that I will listen to often. Since I have been listening to scores/soundtracks for more than 20 years (used to have 300 soundtrack CDs and about the same on digital, have less records now) I have quite a good idea of what works for me. Of course I throw in the occasional blind buy and/or newly released score that I'm not too familiar with but if I realize after a while that I don't listen to it, I'll just sell/trade it.

chiefbrody wrote:Nothing too scientific, but on average, how many spins do you think a record in your collection has had?

I'm a little ashamed to say that I suspect my average spins per record is between 1 and 2. I find that, especially in the past, my purchases far outweighed my chance to listen to them multiple times. I justified it by thinking it's better to have it, and then have the opportunity for repeat listening in the future, but I think I might have been deluding myself.

I don't get the chance to listen half as much as I'd like to records on vinyl, but I also see a lot of folks on here buying a lot more than I do. Anyone else in the same boat? If not, how do you manage to give the records the time they deserve?

For me it is the same as what you describe. I do not have that much listening time. That means some records have only been spun one time. But there are a couple that I do return to and those are mainly the Italian giallo type ones.
I do always buy to spin never as a form of investment. I am hoping there will be a time I will have more time to delve into my collection.

@chief -

You've gone and hit on one of my neurotic 'worry' spots there.

I have around 1300 vinyl OSTs, and hard drives full of yet more. No CDs, thanks fuck.

Occasionally I'll get freaked out that there's only so many free hours in the day, and I can hear my beloved LPs softly moaning from lack of love, stuffed away between all the others crying for attention. (No really...I hear them!)

And then I do some crazy mental maths and work out how long it would take to listen to all of my records JUST ONCE back to back....and it's something like 1500 hours, or 60 days!! :O

Sometimes I do 'blind dip' - just grab something from a crate and invariably it's something I either a) love and haven't listened to in ages, or b) was a new release purchase that got spun a few times initially but then prematurely filed/forgotten. Both of these are a good time, though there's a third category: c) Why did I buy this? Is it really essential? Worth moving on? And that will lead, once again, to a spin or two. So it all works out really.

Basic problem I have is my idiosyncratic storage system. 2/3rds of my LPs are crated, on the floor. This facilitates a lovely way of looking through them, almost like a 'record store browsing' feeling, and I can look at the beautiful artwork as I go which is a big part of the associative thinking which goes along with soundtrack music collecting for me. If I'm flipping through and I come to that OG Lifeforce sleeve (off the top of my head) then I know I'll feel the need to spin it and mentally re-imagine that awesome film through the score.

But the main downside is the space it takes up - horizontal rather than vertical! Approx 1/2 of my available floor space is crates, so there's limited room for parties or practicing the tango here! I've been seriously considering going the Kallax route myself of late, since there appears to be no slow-down on the horizon in my buying habits ;)

How about some approx figures anyway, to answer your actual query? I'm gonna pull 10 lps at random from the crates, and guesstimate ballpark spins per:

MODESTY BLAISE (Harkit)
3-4 spins.
If I'd pulled the OG next to it, would have been 4x that! Which does throw up the 're-issue' thing, in terms of when it's a beloved release that you have already owned the OG for a while. My own re-issues tend not to fair that well for spins against OGs - for numerous reasons!

LUKE CAGE (Mondo)
25-35 spins.
And most of these were in the first few weeks, since I was obsessed with the album!

WOMAN IS SWEETER ( (Kilmarnock)
15-20 spins.
Superb Galt MacDermot 70s vibes. Sought this one out at the time and span it a whole bunch. Only have to see cover/have it in hand to need to spin it immediately - which Im now actually doing! :)

GONE GIRL (Columbia)
5-6 spins.
Great score, but it's all fairly similar (and a double LP) so needs a special time to invest in a good spin. Funny enough, had this convo with TG recently - do we really NEED to have 2xLP release of some OSTs? I kinda feel like I'd spin this more if it was just an album of best cuts, but who knows. I get the impulse for 'complete score' that we have, but perhaps it's not always utterly necessary? Plus it would keep the prices down a bit.

THREE AMIGOS (Warner Bros)
4-5 spins.
Would be a ton more if I'd had this since back in the day, but only added to collection about 4 months ago.

WILLOW'S SONGS (Finders Keepers)
30-40 spins.
So much so that kick myself for not getting a back up of this at the time. It's a special album.

PET SEMATARY (Mondo)
3-4 spins.
Again, if this had been the OG single platter it would be a ton more. I really appreciate having this expanded 2xLP, but again it's a time investment thing. Love the artwork too - a good case for if I come across this, I immediately wanna listen. But it's buried (heh heh) there in the crates for the most part.

GRUPPO D'IMPROVVISAZIONE NUOVO CONSONANZE (Superior Viaduct)
1 spin.
So there you go, this '72 Morricone classic re-issue gets the first single digit. I have to say, don't listen to a huge amount of 'difficult' music these days, and was very grateful that the first two Gruppo LPs were re-issued, but I clearly don't feel compulsion to pul them out much when I could spin a tuneful OST by Il Maestro to a great film. Having said that - totally want to spin this now to remind myself what it's like - which I shall do toots sweet!

THE BLOODSTAINED SHADOW (Death Waltz)
3-4 spins.
Lovely music to be sure. But a victim of premature filing methinks. Again, now that it's in my hands, will keep it out of the box for a few days and spin it.

AMO NON AMO (AMS)
2-3 spins.
Love that I have this, and enjoyed it when it first arrived a couple times, but it's not my 'go-to' Goblin score. Need to dig into it a bit further for sure. When I first got "Bagarazzo Mark..." by them it took a couple of spins to fully get into it, and now that I have it's one of my favourite (non horror) LPs of theirs!

So there you go - not especially scientific but a fairly thorough experiment in answer to your posed question @chief! :D

Now...I'm off to play Luke Cage again. And again. And again....

@Scojo: great read! And now play that Bloodstained Shadow again

Good posts, thanks. Lots of detail @ScoJo. I like it, but without doing, you know, the actual maths, that looks like your average is double figures. Assuming a 40 min LP, that's 5,200+ hours (at 10 hours a week, that's a decade of listening)! I think in the last 3 years I've probably managed to listen on my turntable around 300 hours? (barely-educated guess).

I've never bought something I had no interest in. A few times I've maybe been 'persuaded' by a limited run to jump on something, but there are few records that I've not found some merit in. I estimate I have about 200 scores/soundtracks on vinyl, and there are probably only a couple I can't see me listening to again. I can't even think what they would be (off the top of my head, I wasn't a big fan of Dark Star, surprisingly, or Midnight). At the moment I'd estimate I have at least 20 that I haven't listened to yet. This puts me off revisiting scores that I've listened to once but maybe not loved straight away, until everything has been given a first spin! Anything with a digital download mostly goes to the back of the queue for similar reasons.

I think my average might be 10 per titles. I've got quite a few titles that got only 1 or 2 spins but I do try to spin them in between my favorites. Like, I will spin something that I listen to often, a cult classic... and then I will pick a cube from my Kallax, and check what's in it, and choose something that I have not listened to often and spin it, regardless of what mood I wanted. Just to challenge a bit my spinning habits, and to give some love to my lesser releases and rediscover them. At the same time, it helps me sort out things I need to get rid of.

It's hard to find time to spin it all for me as well, but to be fair, I have been buying a LOT of stuff. I've bought between 75 to 100 releases since the beginning of the year. the past 4-5 years have increased my rate of purchase so much. I'm now standing at 1225 LPs/DLPs/Boxsets from 9 years of collecting. If I spin 3-4 releases per day, I'l go through the collection in a year ( If I stop buying more titles :| )

chiefbrody wrote: there are probably only a couple I can't see me listening to again. I can't even think what they would be (off the top of my head, I wasn't a big fan of Dark Star, surprisingly, or Midnight)

Interesting - did you know/were you a fan of either film before you jumped on the OST? I say that because, in both of those cases, I'm pretty sure prior affection for the film would add immensely to experience of owning the OST/enjoying it, whereas if you don't know the films those are both especially weird listens! (Both are heavy on dialogue for starters....)

Juss a observation mind :)

ScoJo wrote:Interesting - did you know/were you a fan of either film before you jumped on the OST? I say that because, in both of those cases, I'm pretty sure prior affection for the film would add immensely to experience of owning the OST/enjoying it, whereas if you don't know the films those are both especially weird listens!

Well here's the story. Both were back in happier times when I had less 'rules' over what of buy. I haven't seen either film. Dark Star is the only Carpenter film I haven't seen multiple times. When the score was announced I expected something 'Carpenter-esque'. I might have been interested just through WRWTFWW, having picked up 'Pieces' previously. Midnight I'd seen some love for on here, and I trusted OWS's distro selections, so took a punt. I've not given up completely on either and I think a watch might greatly improve the experience - as it has done for many (It Follows, Ex Machina, Interstellar all being high profile recent examples).

I love Midnight, i have a few versions and a 7". But I guess i have a greater connection to the movie since it is Pittsburgh centric.

The folk song theme is catchy though.

I hold like 50 records in this home.... umm I have quality albums that i prefer to spin mostly and then theres a stack i spin less.

I am currently making sure I have listened to everything I have, as my bluray collection still has some things wrapped in plastic and unwatche, and I don't want my records to be treated the same way, especially seeing as how I can read/ cook/ do housework/ play video games at the same time

. I started with my regular, non soundtrack records at the beginning and every Saturday listen to a bunch of them.

I'm doing the same with mynsoundtracks too.

There's a couple of albums which are regularly listened too, but a lot of mine have only been listened to once or twice.

Too many records, too many films, not enough time.

Mu issue is unless its a newer release i can't remember where everything in on my shelves.

I need to reorganize my collection, but it's a daunting task as the only things that are still where they should be are DW, Mondo, OWS, Lunaris, and WW. those I keep in their own labels sections by catalogue number, and other new releases are grouped into soundtracks and non, but all the old stuff is starting to get so mixed in that it needs a full day to just figure it all out and how i want to organize. i know most of the goth is together, but i think its in-between a chunk of original soundtrack pressings so that needs to be fixed.

@Hatter,

As someone who as only very recently invested in a butt load of kallax and completely re-arranged my collection - I can only say that IT IS SO WORTH THE EFFORT. You will be repaid one thousand fold for the time and expense ma fren ;)

At the moment I'm just proper trippin' that I can walk around in my room for the first time in 5 years, go up to a shelf unit, spend one or two minutes scanning the goods (not crawling around on my achey old-man knees) and make my decision for Christ. Spinning has just been given a new lease of life round these parts - and I was always a shelving hater! Honestly can't remember why now......

As for the organising of said - it was a bit like decorating/DIY for me in that I DREADED (and endlessly prolonged) making a start, but then once it got going it was just the most fun. And alphabetising your records doesn't end with the furniture/cat covered in paint either :D

I buy more and more records and more and more Kallax, i am about 20 cubes out of order already.

I need/want a service or need to create a service of people that come to your house and:

A) Alphabetize your record collection
B) Add everything to discogs for you.

optional service: clean your records with SpinClean or a cleaning machine in bulk.


that would be the life...

There's got to be a market for that @monster!

@steve, I sometimes wish I had 50 LPs, 50 DVDs, 50 CDs, etc, and then I wouldn't be in the same position as @J.R., just trying to play or watch everything once so it's not a complete waste of money. Sure, there are records and CDs I've played many times, but for LPs and DVDs/Blu, the majority have been played < 3 times.

@monster

Yes..all of that...now.

I have most of everything in two cabinets that flank my TV, and ended up being perfect for records (Glass doors too!). each one has 4 shelves and a space roughly the same dimensions as an expedit, and another 2x4 expedit pretty much filled. with a wooden crate of recent purchases (recent being months in this case).

The opposite was is floor to ceiling expedit, but as I'm also an avid book and film collector they are filled with those as well.

I want to expand it a bit, but i'm concerned that the difference in thickness between the expedit and the kallax will drive me crazy. Thoughts from the room?

Jimmy_Mike wrote:I'm a millennial. Never spun a one.

Yup, plus they flip better when you can add 'never played' in your eBay listing.

@hatter

I have a 2x4 kallax and a 2x4 expedit either side of my TV their depth is the same which helps a lot. As long as you have a big enough TV you can't really tell. There's your excuse for a new tv if needed ;)

My only gripe with kallax/expedit is it gives a tendency, in my case anyway, to file genres into cubes. So most of my Jazz is squeezed in one cube, and a bunch of other stuff in the 2nd rate, reject cube. Which many years later becomes the OMG I totally slept on this cube :D

Handy for filtering your collection but a pain when dealing with cubes with bits of different genres.
Currently have a dilemma if my DW morricone should stay in my DW cube, or contribute to my 0.5 morricone cube, and then where do the morricone libraries go!?!?