Vinyl pusher no other

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Vinyl pusher no other

Postby audiostar » Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:00 pm

Sunday Life
The Philippine Star

The guitar man
AUDIOFILE By Val A. Villanueva
Sunday,February 5, 2012

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The guitar man: From the moment he learned the chord combination of Bread’s “If”, he was hooked.


Philip Chua is no ordinary record seller. He’s a walking encyclopedia of music that has been recorded on vinyl. He was among the few brave souls who refused to be swept by the digital music revolution of the 1980s; a decision that now pays handsomely for him.

To date, almost everyone must be aware that compact disc as a music format is in death’s throes. Declining sales have led to the shutdown of giant record stores, such as HMV and Record One, with CD production being caught on a downward spiral On the other hand, sales of vinyl continue to rise, and are giving digital music downloads a stiff competition. But Philip will have none of this ‘hogwash’ because, to him, music recorded on vinyl is on a league of its own and therefore has no rival.

His popular essays on music – be it classical, jazz, pop and virtually any genre -- and how it is recorded (Records and Recordings on wiredstate.com) must have been read delightedly and reread untiringly by the forum’s more than 7,000 members worldwide. There’s never a dearth of information on his essays. When he writes about how a particular album is recorded, arranged and finally pressed for consumption, one will get to know how the artists, the record and sound engineers, and the backup musicians team up to weave notes into beautiful musical masterpieces. He dwells more on how recorded music is eventually assimilated into the people’s consciousness and empower those who embrace it.

Philip does not write these things to sell his wares. Music is his first and foremost passion, and the remuneration that comes later is just secondary. He used to run a family-owned aluminum smelting and fabricating plant, but is now involved with a company that brings in Clarion Car Audio from Japan. His taste for music and high-fidelity recordings is exquisite. For him, it is important to have the right gadget to play these recordings. His search for music Nirvana once led him to bring into the Philippines what could possibly be the best cartridge ever made -- the Koetsu cart series -- only to lose it to a gung-ho dealer who now enjoys the fruits of Philip’s labor. But he doesn’t mind; he is after all just a hobbyist.

He knew instantly that music will have a great impact on his life the moment he touched the first guitar his mother gifted him. He was in grade school, and AM radio was his main source of musical enjoyment. He grew up with the music of Cat Stevens and Elton John and two songs – ‘Father and Son’ and ‘Skyline Pigeon’ -- instantly gave him the needed inspiration. At that time, his mother already had a vast vinyl collection and portable record players to enjoy her favorite music while doing house chores. He found out later that the guitar was given to him so that his mother could just listen to him play, freeing her from the tedious rituals of playing records. It was love at first pluck, and Philip and his precious guitar became inseparable. From the moment he learned the chord combination of Bread’s “If”, he was hooked.

This started him on his way to collecting vinyl and stereo magazines. With his very first system
-- a pair of Daichi speakers hooked to a portable cassette player and phonograph in place – his life had never been more enjoyable. Before he knew it, he was making the rounds of hangouts of people who shared the same passion. He met and befriended the legendary Lito Gelano, and the latter opened his ears to high fidelity audio. With his ears now trained for quality recordings, he came to realize that some were really just not made to listen to.

Says Philip: “I started hunting for vinyls that were made with high musical standards. That was the beginning of my love affair with the so-called ‘audiophile records’, or records that were cost-no-object and made with cutting-edge technology.”

When his friends took notice of his uncanny ability to scout for good records, orders started to come in, first in trickles then by bulk. “This formed the backbone of what would be a small venture into record-selling which I have been doing for five years now while I was in transition from my old manufacturing business into a trading company,” says Philip

For him, musical content comes before audio gadget: “The hardware is the body, while software is the ‘soul’ of the hobby. There is nothing better in this hobby than discovering music that excites the senses.”

For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com. You can also visit http://www.wiredstate.com or you can tweet audiofiler at http://www.twitter.com for quick answers to your audio concerns.
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby dimfer » Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:16 pm

I think I know that guy..

oh yeah, he's a good guy, smart and good looking to boot :rock: Aw, he can play the guitar, can he sing too?

nice one Brader Val.
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby audiostar » Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:43 pm

dimfer wrote:I think I know that guy..

oh yeah, he's a good guy, smart and good looking to boot :rock: Aw, he can play the guitar, can he sing too?

nice one Brader Val.


We'll ask him to give us a concert in the next hi-fi show :lol:
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby Superman » Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:48 pm

Fantastic!
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby randybarba » Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:16 pm

Oh, I didn't know Philip no longer carries koetsu. :( . Nice article BTW, pareng Val :) .
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby jadis » Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:29 pm

Val,

Many thanks for the kind words, pare, and I humbly submit that my passion for music and audio leads me to share my experiences to friends in the hobby. That is another joy that spurs me to keep on this 'crazy' thrill-ride of ours. :)
Last edited by jadis on Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby jadis » Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:32 pm

dimfer wrote:I think I know that guy..

oh yeah, he's a good guy, smart and good looking to boot :rock: Aw, he can play the guitar, can he sing too?


i hope you're referring to this humble representation, ding. :lol:

to start with, i think any fan of cat, elton or bread CAN sing if he loves their music. :lol: i do it softly, to be safe. :lol: but as of a few years ago, i have retired from the fantastic world of the karaoke. :lol:
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby jadis » Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:33 pm

audiostar wrote:
dimfer wrote:I think I know that guy..

oh yeah, he's a good guy, smart and good looking to boot :rock: Aw, he can play the guitar, can he sing too?

nice one Brader Val.


We'll ask him to give us a concert in the next hi-fi show :lol:


as per above post of being retired, i say it's best i stay retired. :lol:
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby audiostar » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:21 am

jadis wrote:Val,

Many thanks for the kind words, pare, and I humbly submit that my passion for music and audio leads me to share my experiences to friends in the hobby. That is another joy that spurs me to keep on this 'crazy' thrill-ride of ours. :)


No problemo amigo! This tribute has long been overdue. Let's keep the analog fire burning :-)
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby spare_2_win » Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:22 pm

Great article sir Val! Hats off to the vinyl master himself--Jadis. :clap: :clap:
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby jadis » Mon Feb 06, 2012 6:54 pm

spare_2_win wrote:Great article sir Val! Hats off to the vinyl master himself--Jadis. :clap: :clap:


Thanks, Loy. You're a prolific VP yourself. :)
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby Jon Agner » Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:29 pm

Its about time!!!!!! :D :D :D :D Nice write up on Jadis :)

@ Phil,

now we know why FNSF is one of your reference recordings :D :D :D :D :D
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby jadis » Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:30 pm

Jon Agner wrote:Its about time!!!!!! :D :D :D :D Nice write up on Jadis :)

@ Phil,

now we know why FNSF is one of your reference recordings :D :D :D :D :D


It's a pretty good one, Jon. Can't forget that experience when we were listening to it together. And nowadays, it doesn't pop up too often in the market.
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby sumnerbrowne » Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:32 pm

Enjoyed this piece, Val. Thanks.

Now I understand better how Philip became such an authority in records and recordings.

Thanks, Philip for continuing to share your thoughts about albums worth pursuing to the ends of the earth.

By the way, did you take any formal lessons in playing the guitar, Philip? I couldn't make out the brand of the guitar on your lap. Is that an Ibanez classical? Thanks.
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby ttommy » Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:20 am

Beautifully written portrayal of Philip! Thanks, Val.
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby jadis » Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:47 am

sumnerbrowne wrote:Enjoyed this piece, Val. Thanks.

Now I understand better how Philip became such an authority in records and recordings.

Thanks, Philip for continuing to share your thoughts about albums worth pursuing to the ends of the earth.

By the way, did you take any formal lessons in playing the guitar, Philip? I couldn't make out the brand of the guitar on your lap. Is that an Ibanez classical? Thanks.


Von,

I'd like to think that it's more of passion that bred my knowledge in the record hunt. And experience, as they say, is the best teacher. Goodness knows how many bad lps I had discarded due to bad sound. And some I bought blindly (in those days it was the only way - buy it or quit it, as there was no amazon mp3 preview then) that I ultimately sold because the music was not my cut of tea. But most of all, I enjoyed those LPs that bowled my over and melted my socks. I thought that those kinds of records are in fact the raison d'etre for me to pump money into my audio hardware. I have been guided by HPs list throughout my search and if there's one thing certain, the recording aspect of those chosen I have found to be virtually impeccable in quality, even if one does not fancy the musical content.

In those days, my mom sent me to a 'private' teacher who had about 5 students. Then, somehow having found out that he lived close to my house, he did 'home service'. And during those times, my grandfather visited and saw his 'look' - Freddie Aguilar dead ringer, long hair and all, and grandpa convinced my mom to stop all these 'hippie-like activities'. I didn't know Woodstock was in the Chinese newspapers. That was the sonic tragedy, as far as I'm concerned. Later on, I just managed to strum a little bit as time permitted but Daichi, Sansui, JBL, came along and I realized I needed not to burden my self too much actually. :lol: As for the guitar, it's my son's. Not the branded type. Many years ago, he wanted to learn to play and I got him another private teacher. It went on a while till he heard his sister playing Rihanna tunes on the piano. Nag AWOL na rin sa guitar. :lol:
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby audiostar » Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:32 pm

sumnerbrowne wrote:Enjoyed this piece, Val. Thanks.

Now I understand better how Philip became such an authority in records and recordings.

Thanks, Philip for continuing to share your thoughts about albums worth pursuing to the ends of the earth.

By the way, did you take any formal lessons in playing the guitar, Philip? I couldn't make out the brand of the guitar on your lap. Is that an Ibanez classical? Thanks.


Thanks Von. When I was starting in analog,I reviewed Jadis essays and it guided me on which path to take. You could learn a lot from the experience of others :-)
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby audiostar » Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:34 pm

ttommy wrote:Beautifully written portrayal of Philip! Thanks, Val.


He deserves it. We give credit where credit is due :-)
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby audiostar » Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:35 pm

spare_2_win wrote:Great article sir Val! Hats off to the vinyl master himself--Jadis. :clap: :clap:


Konti na lang you'd be in the same league as our late friend Pican and Jadis :)
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Re: Vinyl pusher no other

Postby audiostar » Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:36 pm

randybarba wrote:Oh, I didn't know Philip no longer carries koetsu. :( . Nice article BTW, pareng Val :) .

Thanks pare :-)
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