Best Albums to Own On Vinyl – 50 Essential Records Every Collector Should Own

Marc HenshallCulture & Industry, New to Vinyl88 Comments

Compiling a list of the best albums to own on vinyl is no small task. There’s a staggering amount of music history to consider, and at the end of the day, you could ask ten different people and get ten completely different lists. But I can conclude one thing for certain: there’s no better way own music than the beautiful canvas of … Read More

The History of the Record Player and Turntables

Marc HenshallCulture & Industry3 Comments

When you pull a record from its sleeve, place it on your turntable, and lower the stylus, you’re witnessing a beautiful playback mechanism over 100 years in the making. What began as an inherent human desire to preserve our mortal voices eventually unfolded through a series of incremental breakthroughs that gave birth to a cultural music revolution. Your modern turntable … Read More

AI-Generated Music: Do We REALLY Want This?

Marc HenshallCulture & Industry10 Comments

No matter where you live in the world and regardless of your native tongue, one single language unites humanity: music. In the words of the late American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Music is the universal language of mankind.” Without even needing to understand the words being sung, music has the power to move us emotionally. It’s part of what separates … Read More

Significantly Different Mono/Stereo Mixes on Records

Marc HenshallCulture & Industry13 Comments

During the infancy of stereo – particularly in the mid to late 60s – albums were mixed in mono and stereo, respectively. In many cases, the mono version was the main mix, with the stereo version being somewhat of an afterthought. Stereo was new, and engineers took the opportunity to experiment with spacial separation. In mild cases, the difference between … Read More

Best Gatefold Album Covers – Iconic Classics

Marc HenshallCulture & Industry17 Comments

First introduced in the mid-1960s, gatefold album covers greatly increased the creative possibilities of album cover design. Effectively doubling the canvas size, both inside and out, cover designers could showcase seamless artwork, or extend a theme beyond what is initially seen from the front cover alone.  As the popularity of gatefold album covers grew throughout the 60s and 70s, many … Read More

Album Covers and Art: Does it Still Matter?

Marc HenshallCulture & Industry10 Comments

Designing an album cover has been a well-respected job throughout music history, often considered just as important as the music itself.  Many of the best examples are as familiar to the eye as the music is to our ears.  In the days when vinyl was the primary music medium, getting the album cover just right was essential to commercial success. … Read More