Sunday, August 30, 2009

Ramble from phair

Okay, my sister, who rocks, gave me a vinyl transfer system for my birthday. For the younger set; musical recordings used to be stored on large round discs and played by scratching a specially designed needle across grooves etched into hard plastic. The technology was developed at some midway point between the wheel and the hula hoop. Being slightly older than the JFK assassination, I have alot of vinyl records. Boxes and boxes actually. Hence, the gift.

I love the concept! However, I was freaked. The task required me to figure the thing out in order to achieve fulfillment of the concept. Figure it out on my own-some. Oh, heavy burden...(shout out to Shakespeare). And, before I can even get to the computerized part of the gift, I had to assemble the turn table (round plate like surface to put records on top of in order to scratch out sound with afore mentioned needle - trust me it was state of the art once upon a time).

Going back to the 'older' comment of this post should give you some idea how new technology might hold a bit of dread for me. Terror might be a better word. Remember, when I was in college...'mini' computers were the size of rooms. We were still using mimeograph machines...and getting tipsy on the smell. Everybody knew somebody whose cousin's best friend's sister's boyfriend went to school with a kid whose neighbor died from eating pop rocks and then drinking coke really fast. As the story went, his mouth exploded causing his head to slip off his shoulders but I digress.

I stared at the box holding the concept of something, which intrigued me for more than two weeks. My plan was to attempt the procedure of assembly, installing, and trials of recording when I had nothing else to do. This weekend was wide open...nothing scheduled. I mean my usual weekend trip to Mission Church needed to be scrubbed because Jack Nicholson took my usual seat. And, it is pissing rain so no sand time for my butt today. Perfect opportunity to fail and get frustrated without it interrupting any good plans for the day. Or, tomorrow. Sometimes, when I get really frustrated with my inability to rule my world, it can ruin two whole days in a row.

So at 2pm, I set off to tackle the obstacle. To climb my Everest. To soar (and, I'm thinking sink) in my attempt to change and grow and evolve. At 2:22pm, I halted my efforts

I'm still stunned. It was one of the easiest things I've ever put together. That includes lacing up new sneakers. In under thirty minutes, I was able to: debox, assemble the turn table, move my stereo receiver and speakers next to the computer (this was the most tedious part and I might have been able to hook directly into my computer if I thought the whole thing through), install the software, run the tutorial to learn how to record - edit - remaster, and transfer a song to its new digital home. Amazing!

I feel like a flipping genius.

One of my buddies asked about the quality of the transfer. Personally, I think the program cleans up the recordings nicely. Replay on the computer sounded better than the original on the stereo. But, that is just me. I'm still riding my endorphin pony around the living room. I'm totally impressed with myself. I was able to achieve the feat of carrying the concept to its completion.

Now, I'm going back to transferring my past into my future. I wish you a wonderful week filled with the joy of being a flipping genius!

phair


First up...congrats ,phair...new music for your IPOD! And thanks for coming by to share it. I still have a few albums in storage waiting to be uploaded as well, but I did get lucky a few years ago and copied most of them on to the hard drive with help from a friend. What amazes me is the crap they will turn into a CD, and yet some great music from my past has been lost or skipped by. Oh well, typical, I think.

Now on to your updates! Enjoy them.

Elisa

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