How Long Do You Prelisten?

Went digging for the first time two weeks ago, bought some decent stuff. When I went home I asked myself "how long should I prelisten next time?" and idk, I usually just choose a track, most the time its the first one or one with a title i like and then listen to it. When I like the music I may buy it, when something I want to sample pops up I am definitely buying it.
How long do you guys listen to records?

depends for me,
sometimes I'll just grab the first thing i think sounds cool but other times I'm listening through the whole record

whatever u think feels right at the time

None of the spots I dig got turntables to prelisten (flea market, thrift stores) so I have to trust the year/musicians/producers/cover and my intuition if no or unknown info is given.

peace

I think it depends.

If the LP I've copped has an overall, not too good sound, like Lamp said; I'll keep needle dropping like 10-15 times each track to see if I can find the odd good sample on a not so good LP.

If it's some mega dope Polish jazz record or something classic, then I'll most likely just sit and chill with a brew listening to the quality music!

After I've listened, I think it's good to note down what's on the LP. Then after a few digs, you end up with lots of dope music/samples to chose from! Unless you flip it straight away. It depends on the mood.

Also, recording straight from your DJ mixer into a dictaphone can be handy, you can sort of catalogue all of the samples together in one easy file!

Peace.

For me, it depends on the price of the record. The shop I go to has a 25¢/5 for $1 section. Those, I just grab stuff randomly. I'm likely to find SOMETHIN. More expensive stuff... I listen until I get a feel for the direction the album is headed. If it takes too long to find somethin worthy then its on to the next one. I lose my sense of time at record shops and music stores. Can't really say.

I dig for records by its genre and year and sometimes for the cover. The shop use to let me listen to the records but thats because they never caught me doing it before, now they hawk me. But I listen to a whole record inch by inch even if the song's wack because sometimes there's 3 seconds of a dope vibe on it.

I listen all the way through cause you never know what you could be missing.. I copped some Jimmy Swaggart joints that are dope!! would have never picked them up as I dont usually go for that type..but there they were 6 for a dollar and staring me in the face so I had to get them and man am i glad i did so much so that i cant wait to go back to that spot and get all the rest of them!! what was i thinking??

funny you mention this... Sorta like Lamp mentioned... when I dig-- it's short vs. when I am in chill mode--at work--driving--walking--realxing, I let entire songs play through wothout skipping one. I much prefer this cause I can just screenshot the song on the iPhone or search a track down if I hear it on 91.5 .... digging just entails that I am going to be too eager to enjoy the music--which is what it's about, right? I want to enjoy it and not job it.

So in short, I guess I am a whole song listener--whole record, album, tape, dvd, video clip--whatever.

If I'm in the store and I am able to listen before buying, I'll skip around as I don't wanna stand around all day in the shop and listen forever. If there's some cool stuff on there, I'll buy it. If I can't listen before buying, I do like the others mentioned and read the credits. Sometimes its a stab in the dark, taking a chance on a cool cover or a hilarious song title.

If I'm at home about to work on some stuff, I'll listen to the whole thing if necessary. Just depends on how long until I find something that jumps out at me. Once I do, I start working before the idea goes "poof"

b.read wrote:hilarious song title.

REEEEEEEEALLY?!? I am making an album with funny titles to take your money... play it and it's all white noise-- no music.

Em.p.cee.j wrote:For me, it depends on the price of the record. The shop I go to has a 25¢/5 for $1 section. Those, I just grab stuff randomly. I'm likely to find SOMETHIN. More expensive stuff... I listen until I get a feel for the direction the album is headed. If it takes too long to find somethin worthy then its on to the next one. I lose my sense of time at record shops and music stores. Can't really say.

+ 1

KappNeffect wrote:

b.read wrote:hilarious song title.

REEEEEEEEALLY?!? I am making an album with funny titles to take your money... play it and it's all white noise-- no music.

Maaaaaaaaaan if that shit says 2011 on the back I ain't buyin' that shit! Besides, it'd have to be in the dollar bin...

But yes, there have been a few albums I copped purely for a funny track name...when it's hit or miss, I'll take any excuse to buy the damn thing.

Ill-Green wrote:I dig for records by its genre and year and sometimes for the cover. The shop use to let me listen to the records but thats because they never caught me doing it before, now they hawk me. But I listen to a whole record inch by inch even if the song's wack because sometimes there's 3 seconds of a dope vibe on it.

definitely.
i like 45s, i dig and check labels, years, song titles, producers, song writers etc...
and i can figure out if the 45 is intresting without listening to it

Sometimes if I'm not sure by the cover or musicians or price I'll look at the grooves to see the amount of dark lines and light lines. I learned that sometimes this means solos like drums or some other nice instrument solo or minimal part.
Good for sampling...Though I have been wrong about this often and the record ends up not worth keeping. But it does seem to help me at times looking at the contrast of lighter and darker lines blended all over the record.