"Honestly, it kind of started because of my degree. I studied Instrumentation Engineering, so I spent years on sensors and signal chains: how you turn something physical into an electrical signal and get it out the other end. At some point it hit me that a record is exactly that. There’s a groove with the sound physically cut into it, and a needle that turns it back into a signal. I wanted to actually hear it instead of just drawing block diagrams of it.

So I picked up an AT-LP60X, hooked it up to my Sony home theater, and started digging through crates around Bangalore on a student budget. Now it’s less about the engineering and more about the ritual. You pick an album, flip it halfway through, and actually sit with it. Every record I own has a little story behind where I found it."

"Nothing too fancy right now. I’ve got an Audio-Technica AT-LP60X, which I think is a great starter deck: fully automatic, built-in preamp, basically plug and play. It runs into my Sony home theater system, so it’s not a dedicated hi-fi rig, but it fills the room well enough for now.

It’s still a bit of a work in progress, honestly. Eventually I’d like to upgrade to a proper amp and a pair of bookshelf speakers, and maybe a better cartridge down the line. For now it does the job, and it gets the records spinning."

"Start slow and buy what you’ll actually listen to. It’s tempting to grab anything that looks cool or cheap, but the records you love are the ones that end up getting played but also pick up something completely outside your usual taste. A random jazz or old Electronic can surprise you, and some of the best listening sessions come from albums you’d never have streamed.

Don’t stress about the gear at the start either. A decent entry-level turntable is more than enough to get going, and you can upgrade later once you know what you care about.

Look after what you’ve got too: store records upright, keep them in sleeves, and give them a quick clean before you play them."