News

2015: The Year of the New Record Presses!

Michael Fremer  |  Dec 20, 2014

New record presses are the big news today. First: GZ Media yesterday announced that brand new presses will go online at the Czech-based company's pressing facility (the photo is not of a new press! We've not yet received photos).

"Now it´s going to change," says Michal Sterba, CEO of GZ Media. "In the last two years we have seen 30-40% annual growth of demand for vinyl records. This year we have sold 100% of our production capacities. The development of this new press will allow us nearly double our production capacity in 2015." With 14 million records produced in 2014 GZ Media is the largest manufacturer of vinyl records in the world.

In other new press news an anonymous source tells analogplanet.com that Pallas has new presses coming on line as well.

"Ten new lines" analogplanet was told. The prototype has been up and running successfully for 6 months.

Happy New Year!

COMMENTS
vinyl listener's picture
Submitted by vinyl listener on Sat, 2014-12-20 15:09

... nt

J.D.'s picture
Submitted by J.D. on Sun, 2014-12-21 11:50

.

JJZL's picture
Submitted by JJZL on Sat, 2014-12-20 17:49

This is evolving from a work of love to an industry. Now we need new analog tape recorders, record cutting consoles and heads appearing in the market.., and the sky is the limit.

JJZL's picture
Submitted by JJZL on Sat, 2014-12-20 17:53

Are those the rumours you talked about in a comment you made a year ago?

How is it this happend in Europe when most records are bought in USA and is there where you find higher record pressing plant's concentration?

Thank you for the great news

Steelhead's picture
Submitted by Steelhead on Sat, 2014-12-20 21:20

Mikey, Weren't you discussing new pressing technology for a greener press with Cornell University a few years back?

Pallas with increased production, SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim Tavegia's picture
Submitted by Jim Tavegia on Sat, 2014-12-20 23:16

I hope they can find their way to producing a short video tour of their place. 14 million lps. I wonder how many of those make it over here?

gMRfk6LMHn's picture
Submitted by gMRfk6LMHn on Sun, 2014-12-21 02:25

My biggest problem with GZVinyl was the source of the vinyl they were issuing. I got stung quite a few times by the record companies (not GZVinyl) emblazoning the front cover with mastered from the original analogue tapes by Bernie Grundman when they clearly were not. A prime example was the Metallica Boxset I shelled out big money for only to find nothing in the deadwax (BG or CB) to tell me the LPs were pressed from the US lacquers.

In saying that I haven't had as many issues with GZVinyl regarding quality as others have had. I'm sure GZVinyl wants to produce the best quality vinyl they can and I am delighted to see they are increasing their capacity. It's a great 'vinyl' story and we should all wish them well.

James, Dublin, Ireland

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Sun, 2014-12-21 08:58
Both recent Rolling Stones boxes were pressed at GZ and the pressing quality was superb....though of course the 1971-on box was awful sounding.... unfortunately there's no "truth in labeling" law when it comes to LPs but there should be! Of course those Metallica LPs in America WERE mastered from tape by BG but no doubt digital files sourced from their mastering was sent overseas for those boxes...
Martin's picture
Submitted by Martin on Mon, 2014-12-22 10:24

the line " though of course the 1971 on box was awful sounding" as it was. In comparison with halfway decent or not even halfway decent originals that 1971 on box is basically unlistenable. When in posession of originals, that box would never get played. Never.
I remeber getting a friend to put a couple out of his set on.
At the risk of going too far, that box courtesy of "Masher" Marcussen, a man who likes his dynamic range, umm, compact.

audiof001's picture
Submitted by audiof001 on Sun, 2014-12-21 06:34

The resurgence of vinyl certainly makes me smile. I held on to my record collection during the CD era and built on it when others were tossing out their lps. We're fortunate that the new record collectors see value in what many of us have loved for decades. The growth of the record market certainly proves that vinyl isn't just for hipsters anymore.

gMRfk6LMHn's picture
Submitted by gMRfk6LMHn on Mon, 2014-12-22 04:16

I used to frequent a great hi-fi store here in Dublin (Cloney Audio) and made loads of friends there over the years, people used to go there to listen to new gear/music and have a chat. When CD came on the scene, from day one I was never convinced, slowly but surely all of the people who went to the store changed over to CD except me. I was the butt of many a joke for not ''keeping up with the times'' and they referred to me (in a fun way) as the dinosaur. Thirty years on and the joke is on them, because many of them regretted getting rid of their LP collections and are building up LP collections again. To this day I don't have a CD player in my system. I just love vinyl and have never bothered getting into the digital vs analog debate. VINYL IS DEAD! LONG LIVE VINYL!

James, Dublin, Ireland

Paul Boudreau's picture
Submitted by Paul Boudreau on Tue, 2014-12-23 04:48

Fortunately I also kept my records/albums/vinyl and never stopped buying them, although there were times when I thought I had seen my last new one. Fortunately those days are gone, at least for now.

marcel_kyrie's picture
Submitted by marcel_kyrie on Thu, 2014-12-25 10:39

I remember being told that, "CDs would sound better and last forever." It was a couple of years before anything I listened to came out, but when I saw the Feelies' The Good Earth on CD, I thought, "this is the time." I think that was '87. It wasn't long before the disappointments started adding up. By about '95, I had gotten rid of all CDs, and the CD player. CDs were selling for close to $20 then, and I knew damn well they were only worth a couple of bucks, tops.
I had never gotten rid of my records, and had continued to buy them, so, disaster averted! And I've never looked back.

39goose's picture
Submitted by 39goose on Sun, 2014-12-21 11:58

Glad I didn't by many multiples. Didn't know, now I won't even open a copy for me !!

eugeneharrington's picture
Submitted by eugeneharrington on Sun, 2014-12-21 14:03

I think I would rather see those new presses in the hands of some other concern like QRP, Optimal etc., rather than GZ Vinyl! Still it's great that Pallas is ramping up its production of vinyl discs with new presses. My local record dealer told me today that his vinyl sales this Christmas are twice what they were the same time last year. Something is definitely afoot!

Thurenity's picture
Submitted by Thurenity on Sun, 2014-12-21 16:55

This year I've heard concerns about demand, so this is good news that money is being spent to expand the infrastructure.

jmoray's picture
Submitted by jmoray on Mon, 2014-12-22 06:19

Read this article from the Globe and Mail, Toronto Canada's Business newspaper. The last plant in Canada sold 6 working/operating presses plus 9 others to a company in New Jersey. maybe Mikey can shed some light here. Who's expanding or opening up?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/a-record-revivals-b-si...

Joe Crowe's picture
Submitted by Joe Crowe on Mon, 2014-12-22 12:02

Selling our presses and mail order sucks big time. No deals on shipping, prohibitive return policy and on and on. Even hi-rez downloads are restricted. Back when the free trade agreement was signed many said we had been taken to the cleaners but I am only beginning to realize how badly.

JJZL's picture
Submitted by JJZL on Tue, 2014-12-23 17:39

http://ventsmagazine.com/pirates-press-and-gz-media-build-new-vinyl-pres...

It appears they are partners with GZ. Do the people of Pirates Press still make vinylk themselves?

JJZL's picture
Submitted by JJZL on Sun, 2014-12-28 09:02

Hello again

It appears that Pirates presses everything through GZ.

It appears GZ has deployed only one press at the moment, although they plan to deploy more presses.

And it appears that most GZ presses are manual and probably this new design could be manual too

Happy new year¡¡

Maury's picture
Submitted by Maury on Tue, 2014-12-30 10:30

I read the available information on this news and it is very vague as to particulars. There has been an on-going worldwide search for mothballed record presses over the last decade due to the absence of any production line for new presses. i believe the last production line was closed in the 1980s. The search for old presses to refurbish was mandated by the high cost to make a one-off new press. The estimates I have read over the past few years ranged from $200k to $400k to produce a brand new custom built record press vs $30k for refurbishing an old one. Setting up an actual new production line from scratch to make record presses on a regular basis would cost several million dollars I believe.

If the above information is true it begs the question as to where the money is coming from to either build a custom press or create an entire new production line to manufacture record presses? In the absence of specific information describing what they are doing I am inclined to believe they are simply refurbishing mothballed old presses and bringing them back online. United is doing the same with 16 additional presses I believe this year. However United is not making new presses but simply putting old presses they found elsewhere back into operation. I don't think there are significant numbers of mothballed presses remaining around the world so the added capacity will not be that much in the future via this source.

Again, is there information on exactly what these "new" presses are: whether a custom built, a new production line or a refurbished old press?

JJZL's picture
Submitted by JJZL on Wed, 2014-12-31 19:05

Hello

from what is available on the press release of Pirates Press (http://www.piratespress.com) it appears that the presses are new. http://newnoisemagazine.com/pirates-press-gz-media-build-vinyl-press-boa... "San Francisco-based independent vinyl manufacturer Pirates Press and Czech-based GZ Media are proud to announce the creation and successful implementation of a brand new vinyl pressing machine – the first made in 30 years. This brand new press, the first of many to be created, will steadily increase production capacity and decrease what are already the vinyl industry’s quickest production times."

Happy vinylic 2015

Maury's picture
Submitted by Maury on Thu, 2015-01-01 17:19

Yes I read all that from GZ but their press release and other info from Pallas is very vague on what they are precisely doing. Far vaguer than would be needed for business purposes too. To set up a new manufacturing line for a moderately complicated piece of equipment from scratch (since all prior manufacturing facilities are long gone) would require a major investment in the millions and a separate facility. I would think it would be beyond the resources of GZ and Pirate unless someone or some label unmentioned is financing this behind the scenes. In addition it would be nutty for each pressing firm to try and build their own machines from scratch rather than someone setting up a separate plant that could provide presses for the entire industry. If I saw a unified press release from the pressing plants and the labels that would be convincing and make business sense. For each firm to build their own machines implies that it is a trivial process to construct which I don't believe from all the discussion of the past few years. Again I would like this to be true but will keep the champagne bottled until I see something more specific and verifiable about the manufacturing process.

scottarichards's picture
Submitted by scottarichards on Sat, 2015-01-10 10:22

I know Mr. Fremer was at CES so he may have missed this in-depth article in the Guardian that talks at length on the vinyl resurgence, including the new production issue and quality time at Optimal

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/07/-sp-vinyls-difficult-comeback

Maury's picture
Submitted by Maury on Sun, 2015-01-11 20:51

What was interesting in the linked article on Optimal is that Mr Runge was rather skeptical about new presses being made as opposed to refurbished presses.

GeorgeZ's picture
Submitted by GeorgeZ on Mon, 2015-01-26 02:10

A first publicly released photo of the new press can be seen on the main page of GZ Media vinyl web:
www.gzvinyl.com

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