VINYL HOARDING

I started collecting vinyl about two years ago before I even owned a record player. I was kinda fascinated by all of the different patterns and colours and just how gorgeous some records can look, and I liked the idea of owning pieces that are sometimes a little bit rarer than CDs so I guess that's what drew me in initially. I went a bit crazy during the first few months of collecting, I must have racked up almost 50 records in that short space of time which really wasn't any good for my bank account, so as hard as it was I needed to slow down. I started off with quite a cheap little record player that my parents bought me to help me get into it, but once I realised that this could become quite a serious hobby I decided it was probably wise to upgrade to something a little more 'record-friendly' and robust. My current setup is a Project Essential II turntable which is hooked up to a Project pre amp, and then I just wired in my old stereo speakers and to be honest it sounds pretty darn good. I'd highly reccomend this setup if you're new to vinyl, or if you're just after upgrading your current turntable setup.

I'm now nearing my first 100 records (97 to be exact) which I'm pretty happy with, I have some pieces in my ever growing collection that I'm super lucky to have sitting on my shelf and I probably value them as I would a child to be honest. The first record I ever bought was a signed copy of Runes by Bury Tomorrow, which to this day is still one of my favourites! I also recently just scored my first test press  of Casey's Love Is Not Enough, which is quite an acomplishment. My main goal when I started collecting was to one day have a full Architects discography, complete with each variant of each album. If you follow me Instagram or Twitter I'm sure you will have seen that I'm pretty close now to acheiving that goal which I'm completely stoked about, until I realise how much money I've actually spent on my Architects records alone. If you want to expand your collection or try and find some rarities I would recommend joining vinyl trading groups on Facebook, or scouring eBay and other specialist sites such as Discogs and Deadformat.

Collecting records is great fun, I can't imagine not constantly being on the lookout for new pieces to add to the family, and the feeling of taking the shrinkwrap off and pulling a brand new record out of its sleeve for the first time is one of the most satisfying feelings ever. To me, listening to an album on vinyl makes it a much more intimate experience with the music. I'd encourage anyone to start collecting, although it's super addictive and definitley not a cheap hobby to take up! If you have any questions about choosing the right equipment then I'd be more than happy to try and help!