Making Vinyl 2018

Making Vinyl 2018 "New Vinyl Pressing Plants Fire Up the Presses"

Michael Fremer  |  Oct 4, 2018

The second edition of "Making Vinyl" was an even greater success than last year's, which was plenty good. Following Record Store Day founder Michael Kurtz's panel "Record Store Day 11 Years Later", AnalogPlanet.com editor Michael Fremer ran "New Vinyl Plants Fire Up the Presses", which you can watch here. (Photo: Discogs sandwich of Jeffrey Smith and Sean Cannon)

It's a one camera shoot and since Fremer was doing the shooting, it's a static shot. Thanks however, to whomever passed the camera, noticed one panelist was out of the frame and adjusted the camera.

Watching this video will make clear that while these new record pressing plant owners want to succeed financially, their motivation is clearly doing what they love and providing music lovers and especially musicians who need to sell their recordings to survive and prosper, a great experience. The sense of community that pervaded the event and all involved in this revival will be obvious as you watch.

COMMENTS
Jim Tavegia's picture
Submitted by Jim Tavegia on Fri, 2018-10-05 02:03

MP3 quality is not enough for most of us over 50 and quality matters. The same cannot be said for many under 50, but who will pay $5 for a cup of "Joe". YMMV.

DC Bruce's picture
Submitted by DC Bruce on Fri, 2018-10-05 11:08

After me, the biggest vinyl fan in my family is my 37-year old daughter. She always gives me a record or 2 for holidays, and she has a small collection of her own together with some equipment to play it.

Younger people who are serious about music, more often than not, listen to records. Fewer and fewer companies are making optical disc players, and the vast majority of streamers are listening through compressed audio and equipment like Sonos.

Increasingly, it becomes apparent that serious audio manufacturers are viewing a DAC/preamp with an analog input (or even a built-in phono stage) as the market-friendly solution. That allows people to play records and stream audio (of whatever quality they want to pay for). An optical disc spinner doesn't seem to be part of the package.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Fri, 2018-10-05 14:21
Make too much sense.
Tom L's picture
Submitted by Tom L on Fri, 2018-10-05 14:08

..do buy LPs (as I stupidly insist on calling them), but most of these people have no idea where they come from prior to retail or what the manufacturing process entails.
They falleth like manna from the heavens, or so it seems.

Michael Fremer's picture
Submitted by Michael Fremer on Fri, 2018-10-05 14:21
Not true. The ones that don't know are learning.
Tom L's picture
Submitted by Tom L on Sun, 2018-10-07 08:30

...you clearly know a higher grade of hipster than we have here in St. Louis.

Hats Domino's picture
Submitted by Hats Domino on Fri, 2018-10-05 15:33

Of the artists I produce and record who don't have a major deal say the overwhelming majority of their sales come from vinyl. Very few of them even make CDs of albums anymore, yet *all* of them have vinyl pressed. These are bands whose audience are mostly 20-somethings.

The lathe in the front room of my studio is cutting 20+ records a week(!). The guy who does the cutting here just got back and said the convention was great. Lots of enthusiasm and lots of new presses starting up. It's a healthy business to be in.

Anton D's picture
Submitted by Anton D on Fri, 2018-10-05 16:28

1) Mike knows how to correctly hold a wine stem. Well done. What were you tasting?

2) Hanging with Discogs guys is good company. I love that site and have had perfect luck there. If you see them again, tell them they have a fan here!

alucas's picture
Submitted by alucas on Fri, 2018-10-05 18:57

a lot of information, i like Mikes suggestion of a gps/temp tracker for the shipping. Yes, and round the edges out so we don't have a split edge cover, shipping again. thanks for this video, always good!

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