It’s been a matter of hours since we’ve mentioned vinyl records on DJWORX and it always gets the discussion juices flowing, thus we have an important question to ask. But before we get there, some news — to further support the argument in favour of vinyl’s awesomeness, Ars Technica covered an interesting story that ran on local paper site The Tennessean about a vinyl pressing company in Nashville that’s expanding its capacity by adding another warehouse of machinery.
The company has just purchased a 13,200 m2 building for $5.5 million will increase capacity by another half as much again, adding 16 presses to the existing 30 along with plenty more warehouse storage space. Another benefit should be the fact that spreading over two sites reduces the impact should there be some sort of disaster. You might remember the huge disruption to labels caused by a Sony Music warehouse burning down in the UK a few years ago.
One comment on the Ars story caught my eye especially:
“Man, times have sure changed. I used to run an indie hip hop label, and the last vinyl I pressed was in 2001 I think. At the time we used a plant in the Czech Republic, it was the easiest option compared to the US, which was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive (I did press in the US before that). Who would have guessed that all these years later, when I’m thinking of selling off my 1200’s because I just never use them that vinyl would be expanding?”
Just over a decade ago, the only place for a small US record label to get vinyl pressed at a reasonable cost was all the way over in Eastern Europe, quite possibly at the same factory the DJWORX picture disc was produced. Now, The home of music in the US, Nashville, houses one of the bigger pressing factories.
At this point, the discussion over the sound quality of various formats is largely irrelevant as digital downloads take over the world (until something new comes along), but the Jay Millar, Director of Marketing over at the record fabrication company United Record Pressing LLC offered a take on why vinyl is clawing back territory:
“Our belief is that it’s being driven by the rise in digital. People who want something tangible and the best sound quality and experience are going to vinyl as opposed to CDs.”
Look, no-one’s denying that vinyl sales are low compared to other audio format, and that it’s unlikely to make any impact in the grand scheme, but the fact is, there are more people buying vinyl than years gone by. In fact, Mark recently wrote that we collectively bought over six million records in 2013, more than we have since the 80s!
Yet again, we’re clearly seeing an upward trend in vinyl sales, and one of the biggest reasons fans of the medium give for its continued existence is the tactile nature of the record. From the moment you step into a record shop, you are part of a sensual experience. Walking up to the counter, talking to the person behind the counter. Being handed a stack of records. Pulling each one out and listening to them. The cover art. Sticking them on your shelf or in a crate. Flicking through them to find something to listen to. Vinyl is not just about sound. It’s about owning a physical piece of music history, however small.
And neatly tying in with the last story — United Records is the pressing plant of choice for manufacturing Jack White’s vinyl creations.
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And just as I was about to wrap this up…
A very interesting documentary hit my feed. ‘Sculpting Sound: The Art of Vinyl Mastering’ is a succinct six minute video highlighting the process and experience of mastering a vinyl record. One of the key points from this is the depressing claim that there are only two companies left in the world that cut records (at 4:20). “Lost art”, indeed!
Now the important question…
Much has been made about the rise, fall, and subsequent resurgence of vinyl. But given that we’ve already shown that it’s not possible to be a DJ playing new music purely on vinyl, this question naturally arises off the back of this story: If there were more DJ-friendly vinyl releases, would you buy them and use them?
Only two companies? If one is United Record Pressing in Nashville, the other one must be Record Industry in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
Interesting.
I think there’s a distinction between pressing companies generally, and the ones that still use traditional etching methods. The video is a bit vague on the matter, but I wonder if there are others that use laser etching or some other method.
I definitely would and already do. In the last 2 years I’ve bought 90% vinyl releases. I’m not sure about other genres but allot of the best House and Techno imo is being released on vinyl and some of it exclusively.
Definitely would buy.
I’m seeing companies releasing old albums at hefty prices and they’re still selling.
Also due costing more Indies have to sell less vinyl than digital to recuperate the cost.
And we know people like their special/limited editions.
I love records and I would buy them again but the got more and more expensive. I remember buying 12″ maxi singles for 10 DM (about 6,00 EUR). Nowadays they are 15+ EUR – if released at all. I pay about 2 EUR for the same release on iTunes.
I know it’s hard to compare the prices of a vinyl record and a digital release but I can’t spend hundreds of Euros every month compared to 50 Euros on iTunes for the same amount of music. I simply couldn’t afford it.
I don’t think anyone would expect you to go like-for-like with vinyl purchases. Back before the digital explosion, you would just be more choosey about what music you spent money on. Digital has made music almost disposable. I find myself spending less time appreciating individual tracks and moving on to my Next Big Sound much quicker these days. With vinyl purchases, I would get to know the music inside out, down to where on the record there might be crackles or skips.
why would you buy 50 euros a month for digital files that are worth nothing? that’s like throwing your money in the air and getting nothing in return..unless you play these files to earn money for radio or club or weddings etc.., then i can understand but seriously spening money on a file is pretty much throwing it away..don’t we all want tangible things, thats nature right?
i don’t need “ALL” the music that is coming out, like Serkan said it’s disposable, people move on from one big thing to the other, specially teenagers.
Be happy with a small good quality collection, rather than never satisfied with a huge disposable collection of mp3s, less can be more rewarding, im not a collector..im am just a listener of good quality vinyl.
i meant like happy dan said lol
Delaware, I’m guessing you’re not a working DJ….
15 Euro for one EP? I hardly pay over 8 euro (around 11 Aussie dollars for me) for a new release
Rashad from D&M did actualy say “there’s now two companies left worldwide that make actual cutting lacquers”. This is not the same as there being two companies left who cut records.
However this would imply any mastering engineer who uses a cutting lathe (and there are quite a few of them still, judging by the various documentaries and interviews floating around alone) has only two suppliers to turn to for materials. If they themselves have no lacquers left to cut, everything else down the production process – plating, creating the stampers, pressing… becomes irrelevant.
Being a digital DJ means I have to carry a backpack and I have my whole collection with me. I don’t want to ever trek to a gig with a crate of vinyl, especially when I may have to also bring my own turntables. If I can get the same album for $10 (or less) digitally at FLAC that would cost $15 or $20 on vinyl… then why am I going to buy it on vinyl? I also don’t have to worry about wear and tear of digital files.
All I’m hearing is ‘I’m lucky enough to be getting paid to be the center of attention playing other peoples music. I can’t be assed carrying around the medium that sets apart my genre from pop music – I’d rather take in my laptop because its too heavy’ – I think this is a lazy and somewhat insulting excuse to those who aren’t lucky enough to gig regularly. To me it’s the equivalent of miming at a concert. I wouldn’t take what you are doing seriously no matter how many loops you stick and effect knobs you twist…
Well, it’s a good thing I don’t do what I do to for your respect, or to be taken seriously. Actually, I don’t do what I do to be taken seriously by anyone. It surprises me anyone does.
I mean, we’re all just playing other people’s music and trying to act important about it.
‘it’s not possible to be a dj playing new music purely on vinyl’
WRONG (in my best arnie voice)