/fɔːr saɪdz ˈfreɪmwɜːrk/Modeled after the physical structure of a double-LP record; each side a
distinct domain of Waxlore practice.
Four Sides Framework
1. The organizing structure of the Waxlore
Collective, modeled after the physical architecture of a double-LP record, dividing the practice
of analog sound stewardship into four discrete yet interdependent domains — each embodying a distinct
mode of engagement with the artifact, the signal chain, and the cultural record.
2. A comprehensive methodology ensuring that preservation efforts account for both the
technical mechanics of analog media and the rich cultural narratives they embody, treating analog sound
as a living, dynamic practice rather than a static collection of artifacts.
Side ATurntable Techniques
The pedagogical discipline of Waxlore. Covers foundational learning related to turntables, including
mechanical engineering principles, tonearm geometry and calibration, cartridge alignment, and routine
maintenance practices. Side A is deliberately designed to lower barriers to entry, inviting newcomers
into the practice of analog listening without demanding prior technical expertise.
A practitioner grounded in Side A possesses the tactile and conceptual vocabulary necessary to operate,
diagnose, and maintain playback equipment — the prerequisite for all further engagement with the
analog signal chain.
Side BStylus Soul
The high-fidelity engineering domain of Waxlore. Explores the intersection of hardware mechanics and
subjective listening experience, examining the components of the analog signal chain — cartridge,
stylus, tonearm, platter, phono stage — and the ways in which each shapes the character of reproduced
sound.
Side B resists the reduction of audio quality to specification sheets, insisting that the "soul" of
the analog recording is a function of physical contact between stylus and groove: a phenomenon as
measurable as it is ineffable. Practitioners working in this domain develop both rigorous technical
literacy and a refined capacity for critical listening.
Side CInner Grooves
The musicological and archival domain of Waxlore. Examines the cultural logic embedded within physical
pressings: the provenance of specific editions, the significance of matrix etchings and lacquer
origins, artist histories, label genealogies, and the broader sociohistorical contexts in which
recordings were produced and circulated.
Side C positions the vinyl artifact not merely as a carrier of audio, but as a primary document — an
object of material culture deserving the same rigorous interpretive attention given to any archival
source. Practitioners working in this domain are, in effect, historians of the groove.
Side DWaxlore Journal
The narrative and editorial arm of Waxlore; the connective tissue that binds Sides A, B, and C into a
coherent practice. Encompasses long-form essays, retrospective analyses, preservation guides, and
field reports that weave together raw physical data, technical insight, and cultural history into a
sustained written record.
Side D ensures that the knowledge generated by the other three sides does not remain siloed in
individual practice but enters a shared corpus — one that can be transmitted across generations of
Waxlorians. It is simultaneously documentation, curation, and argument.
Structure & Intent
The Four Sides Framework is not a curriculum to be completed sequentially, nor a hierarchy in which
one side ranks above another. It is a topology — a map of the total terrain of Waxlore, in which any
given practitioner may occupy multiple sides simultaneously or move fluidly between them over the
course of a listening life.
Design Principle: The double-LP is chosen as the structural metaphor deliberately.
A record with four sides implies continuous engagement, the necessity of turning the object over,
attending to it from multiple angles. No single side constitutes the whole work.
The Four Sides at a Glance
Side
Domain
Primary Mode
Core Question
A
Turntable Techniques
Technical / Pedagogical
How does the machine work?
B
Stylus Soul
Engineering / Perceptual
What does the signal feel like?
C
Inner Grooves
Archival / Musicological
What does this pressing mean?
D
Waxlore Journal
Narrative / Editorial
How do we transmit what we know?
Integration & the Living Archive
The framework's most significant contribution is not any single domain but the insistence on their
integration. A Waxlorian who possesses only Side A knowledge can maintain equipment but cannot
interpret what they are playing. One who holds only Side C knowledge can describe a pressing's
provenance but may be unable to hear it faithfully. The Four Sides Framework demands, at minimum,
functional literacy across all four domains — and rewards genuine depth in each.
This integration is what distinguishes the Waxlorian from the collector,
the audiophile, or the crate-digger. Each of those figures inhabits a single side. The Waxlorian
holds all four.
On Transmission: The Four Sides Framework is also a theory of knowledge transfer.
Side D exists precisely because technical mastery and archival depth are insufficient if they cannot
be written down, shared, and handed forward. The Journal is not supplementary — it is the mechanism
by which Waxlore reproduces itself across time.
Relation to the Waxlore Collective
The Waxlore Collective organizes its research,
publishing, and educational activity according to the Four Sides Framework. Each side corresponds
to a distinct output channel within the Collective's broader mission as a decentralized cultural
preservation engine — ensuring that no dimension of analog sound stewardship is neglected in favor
of another.
The Framework also aligns with the Collective's foundational "Archive & Anvil" methodology: Side A,
B, and C constitute the technical and cultural archive, while Side D is the anvil — the active
practice of working that material into transmissible form.