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tell me your ritual to enjoy music

My ritual is to just feel what I'm in the mood for then throw it on. One thing I always do is give everything a thorough warm-up of roughly 20 minutes. I swear it helps with my stuff.

If I'm in a hurry or stressed out, I find it hard to relax and get lost in the tunes. So, shut down and save for later! It's funny to mention that as much as I'm into headphone audio, I never use my iPod or anything portable.

Worst I do is listen in the car on the stock system.....but again, that ain't crucial listening at all. Just to pass the time in gridlock.
 
x_25 said:
The only thing that could be called a ritual is that I put on music while I am falling asleep at night. Could be a CD, Tape or record (usually more than one record since I have a changer) and then I put the volume low and kill the lights.
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Same here, I've been doing that everyday since i was a kid (falling asleep to quiet music, that is) and thankfully my wife enjoys it too.

Lately I have been enjoying an odd ritual- and this is the first time in my life I've really had the space and the gear to do this: I sit in my work shop and build a small system (cart, tt, amp, speakers, tuner) from scratch and listen to it for a couple of days, then do it all over again. I've done this maybe five times since the end of August. I have a pretty good stock of cartridges and tables and I've hit upon some really good synergy, good enough that I want to keep doing it just to see what will happen. Plus I like to fiddle with gear so in a way it's the ultimate in fiddling.
 
I'm totally agree with Lousy Tourist!!!!

"I feel like this is a mini-holiday, listening to the music. When its over I seldom feel like I've listened long enough, whether it's one record or a half dozen."

maybe "ritual" it's not the most suitable word i often choose a record and play it while cooking or having a shower ( i should make a mixtape for this)

but there are special situations that demands some carefully choosen music ie: after hard day working i come home and remember that second hand LP found last saturday, lay on the couch listen to music, stroke the cat until she falls asleep, stare at tubes glowing...YEAH MAN!

sometimes i just don't want silence and i need anything to break it
 
doucanoe:

In order to avoid a "hard" start up (i.e. 120+ volts at once)....I ramp the voltage up slowly with a variac while drinking an ice-cold beer.
After about 5 minutes and 12 ounces....with the variac finally ramped up to 117 volts....I'm ready for a second beer to listening to music with.


Steve
 
I'm a "bordering on old guy with a new/young family." So I usually have very little "me" time. When it does come round, I sometimes am just too pooped to enjoy it, but when the conditions are right, it's Vinyl night! Once the babies are bathed, storied and tucked in and the wife has decided to go to bed, I retire to the mancave. I like to fire up all the equipment and I listen to my tuner while all gets nice and warm and while I select the wax to be played. Radio is usually Jazz-fm or Randy Bachman's Vinyl tap on CBC-FM.

Overhead lights go off and I select a couple of mood lights. Open a cold one, setup the RCM on top of the deepfreeze and settle in to the sofa for a few hours of sonic bliss. This usually happens every other saturday night.
 
Throw wife, kids, dog out of the house. Get my cleaning equipment out, clean the records. Put one on, recline in recliner.

Oh, yes, glass of ice tea is a must. Can't drink while listening, might scratch a record...
 
Most of the time I'll turn on both of my systems in the living room. One SS and one tubes.

Go the kitchen and take my time pouring some Vodka and putting a coupla beers in the freezer.

Take my drink back to the bedroom and fire up the computer.

Back to the living room and put on a favorite CD. Usually Steely Dan.

Back to the BR and surf news sites and AK while listening to what I have on the CDP but getting a feel for what I want to hear that day or evening.

Catch a good Vodka buzz while in the BR and try not to post anything stupid on AK with said buzz. Finish surfing.

Back to the LR and enjoy tunes on both systems with a cold beer or two.

................R1:music::yes:
 
Rotoplooker said:
I'm a "bordering on old guy with a new/young family." So I usually have very little "me" time. When it does come round, I sometimes am just too pooped to enjoy it, but when the conditions are right, it's Vinyl night!
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I can totally relate to this!

It's funny how things change. In my twenties my friends and I definitely had a record playing ritual, that we observed regularly, but it wasn't directly related to stereo equipment. :smoke:

Though it probably made our systems all sound better...
 
This is the 'ritual' verbatim:
Tell my boys' and wife HI!, go to my room , switch on the pre-amp, amp, computer. Give the old bitch a 10min warm up while I load a bowl, find an album to rock, and let her rip. Either way, I listen (critical lately) after work everyday. I am still hoping that my rotel will break in a bit more and sound more natural, but the pre-amp is marvelous. I love the class A circuit that Adcom uses in their older preamps. take care fellow AK'rs. :>
 
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gearhound said:
doucanoe:

In order to avoid a "hard" start up (i.e. 120+ volts at once)....I ramp the voltage up slowly with a variac while drinking an ice-cold beer.
After about 5 minutes and 12 ounces....with the variac finally ramped up to 117 volts....I'm ready for a second beer to listening to music with.


Steve
Click to expand...

Gearhound; that's pretty much the same "ritual" I follow as well. Having a cold one while waiting for the variac to reach 117 volts always seemed so natural. Then another beer or 2 and the tubes are warmed up properly and ready for some decent listening.
 
Never have used a variac, period, I wouldn't even know how to hook one up in that manner.

Geeze, I just fire everything up in sequence, let thing warm up for about 20 minutes and sit back and listen.

I'm just a renegade I guess :D

RC
 
- open the window and let some fresh air in.
- dust amp tops.
- turn on the system.
- check the bias.
- bring in a drink of the night.
- dim the light.
- kick back and listen.
 
i'm pleased to see i'm not the only one having a ritual (or any other word you like more).

One question: i usually listen to music alone but do you change your ritual when there's someone with you (wife, husband, children...) i'm sure you change it if your ritual is enjoying music without pants and playing a racket-guitar...yes i watched Risky Business :D
 
Mine's pretty simple.

1. Take a leak
2. Decide on music to play
3. Queue up CD player or Transporter
4. Sit down on fav chair
5. Push play

I might add a step prior to hitting the john and that is pour a shot of Amaretto (on the rocks).
 
Yeah.. if my wife is there, I tend to listen to older rock and roll, and leave out the electronica and metal..
 
My rituals change depending on whom I'm with and what day it is.
On Saturday and Sunday mornings, I get to feed the kids breakfast while my wife gets a few extra ZZZZZ's. While we cook breaksfast, I'll turn on the system in the dining room. I'll hold up a few records to my son and ask him which one he wants to hear. He'll pick one simply based on which cover looks the best. We'll then play 3 or four sides while we eat breakfast, then clean up the kitchen. My daughter is only 6 months old, but has already shown an interest in Molly Hatchet.

Later in the morning, when the wife wakes up, I'll take the kids outside to play while the wife cleans the living room. At that time she decides whether to keep playing records or switch on the system in the livingroom for CD's.

At night, When It's bath time, I'll turn on the system in the back bedroom and play something there whilke I bathe the kids.


During the week, The back bedroom system gets used the most as I'm back there and my wife is in the front of the house watching TV.
 
onepixel said:
1st... I slip into comfortable, dim the lights and light some candles and some Tibetan Healing incense...

:smoke:
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Does it have to be Tibetan? I think that I still have some late 70's Sandalwood incense from Spencer Gifts kick'in around somewhere.
 
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