Music storage: how do we keep our favorite records?
Find out how do we keep our junk safe!
Besides the music itself, I think personal perspectives are a very interesting topic to share because it helps us relate each other inside our culture. In the social communications sciences there’s a very interesting area called Semiotics that study every trait in human communication: images, words, media and even behavior. Inspired by this, I wanted to gather experiences in a very simple, yet common and personal, action: music storage.
Why do we keep physical media, despite having the opportunity to store digital music in the ghost dimension of bits & beeps? Everyone can have their own attitude towards this question. But, I think the strength of our Toilet ov Hell community is how passionate we are regarding our music consumption.
If you are a certified melomaniac like most of us, you will like this post, in which we share our music library. To this article, I asked our staff to talk about their collections; I think some of us will get good advices or ideas about it, because when you buy and buy and buy you will end up like a music adict version of Hoarders (Stanley made that pun, I’m in debt with him).
W, our fellow ex-president and Eagle hunter told:
“I don’t have nearly enough shelf space for all my CD’s so I keep them in two very large CD books under my bed. I always keep the album cover inserts with the CDs, and very special inserts or other artwork is kept in a drawer”.
Also, he uses a scrap book made by his lovely Mrs. W to store gig tickets, guitar picks “and other swag” (whatever he think Swag is).
Besides that, W. use a 4-cube organizer that he uses to store his vinyl that looks very cool:
Sweet and minimalist!
The funnish bear, Karhu, explained that he have his CD’s behind a tall door-shelve, along some films and other DVD’s (Including a kickass Heaven & Hell show).
What it dragged my attention is that he put them in alphabetical order. This must be popular around some of you if you have an extensive collection like the Bear.
Karhu’s favorite possession is a signed copy of the self-titled Unhuman record, mailed to him directly by Youri Raymond himself. That’s cool.
Karhu’s large shelf in which he store his swag.
Celtic Frosty, our expert in ice-cream flavored black metal, explained that he have his collection of vinyl in an Ikea book case, meanwhile he have his CD’s “stacked haphazardly in the top shelf of the crappy book case in my guest bedroom”. Our frozen friend buys mostly vintage vinyl (ONLY ANALOG IS REAL) but he gets his favorites new releases if it is special for him.
I think those Ikea shelf are perfect for music library if you have enough space in your room to put it in a corner, or next to you sound player of choice. And, of course, I feel bad for the poor CD’s (#LeaveCDsAlone T-T).
Favorite Frosty’s item is a 7″ boxed set of Johnny Cash’s Sun Records singles and a re-issue of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness that Mrs. Frosty gave to him as wedding gift. That’s sweet!
Frosty’s vinyl.
Celtic Frosty’s favorites items.
Spear, the handsome wizard that brings you This Toilet Tuesday column, has another varied CD collection with some signed material.
Battlecross’ War of Will and Allegaeon’s Formshifter are part of his autographed albums; and even the mighty Hansi Kürsch from Blind Guardian have signed a copy of the Fly single and his Nightfall in Middle Earth record because his Toilet ov Hell work. Really, Hansi love the Toilet ov Hell.
Spear stores his music in cabinets for CD’s size. This make it even more helpful to organize them and use them. Sadly, he still doesn’t know the spell to auto-organize his library, so he has a mess over there.
If he had to travel far away with just 4 of his records he would pick: Crack the Skye, from Mastodon; The Malkuth Grimoire, from Alkaloid; A Celebration of Guilt, from Arsis and Shogunate Macabre, from Whispered.
Good shelves.
It is #ToiletConfession time! It seems that The Simpsons writers inspired in our hardcore maniac Ron Deuce to that episode with The Be Sharps in which Homero (sorry, I can’t control myself) have tons of CDs of his band in the basement. He explains to us:
“All my CDs are sitting in a storage bin in my basement along with CDs of my own band that was never sold. I do however have the last 2 Gaza CDs prominently displayed on a shelf in my living room”.
Ronny Boy has his CDs inside a box. Sometimes, keeping it simple if you do not have enough space is the best.
Ron Deuce put two Gaza albums in front of his door to scare the malandros away.
Ron’s Box of Svrprises.
Jack Bauer expanded his own collection since he became one of the Toilet ov Hell writers. It seems that fighting terrorists always pays (and I think I can learn a pair of tricks from him to gain some dollars because he has some albums too!).
He stores his Widdlies and Birudilis magic in the shelf in which he have his stereo system. Like Frosty example, that’s another good idea: acquiring a furnishing big enough to store the audio player with drawers or crystal doors down to store the CDs.
Jack shows those birudilis to all his friends.
Aside from these guys, we have some other cases:
Sarah Lafayette told me that he has an entire collection with all the Accept CDs and two retro 70’s Batman and Superman albums on vinyl. 365 Days of Horror, like every zombie, put everything inside two boxes covered with filth, brains and dust on the floor. Dagon have all Backstreet Boys albums (seriously); and Joe Thrashnkill has four Ikea bookcases separated by genre for his vinyl (metal, punk, rock & country, like a good old fashioned Texan); his favorite items are: an original press of Slayer’s Show No Mercy, Heartbreaker, from Ryan Adams and an obscure compilation of 60s Japanese surf rock. Tubular!
Me? Well, since I don’t have a large collection of physical media (and most of them were pirated) I put the few original media I have in my book shelf along my J.R.R. Tolkien books. Every record here is a gift, so all are very appreciated by me. This birthday, Mrs. Leonhart gave me last Scorpions album and Helloween’s Straight out of Hell, so, they will sit right next with my other media, and I love every piece.
Archibaldo is my mascot and he take care of my stuff from the malandros’ claws when I’m out.
If my collection grows bigger, hopefully, and since I live in a tiny room, I can make Wooden Ledge in the walls to put the CDs in order. These aerial ledges serves very well and I can install it very fast with just a drill. I put two with the help of my mother to storage the kitchen appliance and they are very good.
Something like this.
So, here are some of the our cases.
As a conclusion, I think, as a whole, that music passionate people really put effort in having organization due the big volume of media they have. It seems categorization of the music is not a frivolous action; it is important, probably, as a form of expression and helps in the music listening. But, I think that the pattern in our behaviour is that we like to have an space for the listening, one that is sacred.
Aside from this aspect, my main advice is that you have to check your room first to see which option is the best for you. According to your space and budget you can use any of the options we shared here so you can have your records stored in a distinct way. Also, this is a necesary activity, not only good for you, but for the lifespan of your media.
It is your turn now. Give me your opinions. Share with us your ideas, stories, precious items, signed media and your swag in the comments.
Photos are from their respective owner. Photo of the Wooden Ledge VIA
