Todd's Vinyl Field Guide

Investigations into Music, Records, and the Art of Paying Attention

This repository contains the working manuscript for Todd's Vinyl Field Guide, a personal collector's handbook organized as a series of investigations rather than conventional chapters.

The guiding idea:

The best pressing is the one that makes you forget you're evaluating a pressing.

Working structure

• 00-front-matter/ — title page, dedication, preface, and how to use the book.
• 01-learning-to-see/ — foundational investigations about observation, listening, deadwax, and collector psychology.
• 02-led-zeppelin/ — the first artist-focused section.
• 90-ideas/ — aphorisms, recurring characters, motifs, and structural notes.
• 91-notes/ — research notes on mastering engineers, inscriptions, pressing plants, and terminology.
• assets/ — future photos, figures, annotated deadwax images, and diagrams.

Drafting principles

1. Write forward before polishing.
2. Let philosophy emerge from concrete records.
3. Teach observation before interpretation.
4. Treat deadwax as evidence, not authority.
5. Trust listening over consensus.