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SUZANNE VERWEIJ
@suuzvinyl
Suzanne’s collection covers a large number of different musical genres including Indie, Pop, Alternative and Rock amongst many others. She’s also a big lover of live music and attends a lot of music festivals and concerts with Pieter.
Suzanne's collection is one I love to follow on Instagram and she is always posting great photos of new purchases or what she is listening to with her rabbits. Her setup is fantastic and you can tell how much love and care both her and Pieter have put into curating their musical tastes into their onto the physical format of vinyl.
Firstly can you tell me what audio setup you have?
My turntable is the Rega RP3 with the Nagaoka MP 200 element cartridge and stylus. I really love the simplicity of it and the white wooden board and the black tonearm gives it a very clean look. It goes very nicely together with my white Bowers and Wilkins 707 S2 speakers. I also have a Rega amplifier and the Rega TT PSU. I really like Rega equipment as they are a solid manufacturer and their stuff is built to last. All that great equipment together makes listening to vinyl awesome.
Were there records in your house growing up?
My parents always put on music. They listened to the radio, cassettes and vinyl records so it was music all day long and I grew up with it. Dancing to "Walk of life" by Dire Straits was one of my favourites. When we were going on holidays I took the cassette player with me so I could listen to my favourites all day long. Unfortunately I could only forward the tape so you need to get the tape out of the player, forward it and then put it back again. Then I got my first discman which was great.
When did you become a record collector?
In 2006, I started living on my own and wanted a record player, so I could listen to the records that my parents used to play. My mother and I went to a thrift shop, and bought a Sony turntable for €10. Maybe once a year I bought a record to listen to but that all changed in 2015 when my boyfriend Pieter and I bought our first high end set up for our apartment. It was a big investment, but so worth it and that’s how it began.
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How many records are in the collection to date?
We have around about 1,000 records. After getting the new setup for our apartment we went from 50 to 1,000 records in five years time.
Where do you usually buy records to add to your collection?
Well I ask my family and friends if they have any records they want rid of. Sometimes I go to thrift shops and of course I try support my local record store. Of course you can buy records online but it’s so much more satisfying to go through all these beautiful records and have a nice chat with the owner. You need them and the record store and needs you. Every year of course there is that special day that every record collector loves; Record Store Day.
Do you have a want list of records?
Actually I don’t! But I’m really into the ‘90s music scene so every time I’m visiting a record store I will have a look at the ‘90s section first to see if there is anything I’m wanting.
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What’s your thoughts on using Instagram to share our record collections?
Sometimes I get very surprised when I put on a record and hear a song from a band but didn’t know they sung it originally and you realise it’s cool to get more deeper into the music. I started looking on the internet for music from the same year or bands that are similar as I love to discover new music. In November 2015 I started posting my records on Instagram and found others that share the same love for music and especially on vinyl. There was one day that showed how big the power of social media can be when Pearl Jam reposted my photo! I You have no idea how happy I was when that happened! Listening and posting my records is now my daily job. I’ll keep on spinning and posting and I love using Instagram for that.
Do you have a favourite genre of music you like to listen to usually?
No not really. My mood, the day of the week, the weather and even the season has an influence about the choice of what I want to play. It also happens that if I’m in the mood for one particular song and then I may only play that one song three times in a row. Music is also full of memories, good ones and bad ones. Everyone has a different sense of feeling with a certain song and that’s what music does with people, it connects with them. We go to festivals, concerts and buy records. When you get home you can enjoy that festival or concert again. There are memories passing by, every single time you’ll play a record.
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