Recording on Vinyl

[sdgreaser]

I was just wonder how I can go about find the equipment I would need to record an LP. Is it even posible to find Blank records? Please you know of anything let me know.

[Dom Franco]

The last time I cut an Acetate disk was in 1974.... I am sure that some old machines still exist. Collectors have most likely started hoarding them as antiques. I imagine that it would cost you way too much money to produce a record now. Since the whole industry has gone to CD's.

Sincerely;

Dom Franco

[skweeks]

NO WAY!!! but it's not dying so don't worry about it.. i don't know about producing your own, but i heard about a machine that was going to come out for it like next year (for home use, cost around $2000 if i remember correctly)... United is the cheapest that i know of for getting them done professionally but there are lots and lots of companies doing it professionally... i'll talk to some of my friends who have put out 7" 's if you want to know...

[Dom Franco]

Ok!
So if you make a record..... how are you going to play it? Where will you sell it?

Sure there will always be a niche for "purists", but very few people own record players anymore.

Dom Franco

[Jon X]

When I was shopping around for CD duplicators I found a few that would do a few vinyls at a minimal extra charge. I was thinking of getting 10 made just to have them. Just about anybody can burn a CD of whatever they want, but not many people have actual vinyl LPs of their stuff.

[skweeks]

if your going for commercial/radio success, your right, records are more or less useless... however for indie/punk/hardcore/low-fi/etc underground bands who are too big to burn enough cd's or copy enough tapes themselves (so they actually have to get them done professionally) but are too small to order 10's of thousands of cd's or tapes (in which case the price level per cd/tape would be much lower) vinyl is a good option... putting out 7" splits is pretty common for young bands trying to build audience too

[Dom Franco]

Cool;
I have a bunch of old albums, and I'm glad to see that the younger generation still has it's own form of nostalgia. Mabye Hula Hoops will make a comeback.

Dom

[busboy]

Vinyl isn't dead. If it were, all those companies that do record manufacturing would have gone under.

Club DJs who do their own live spinning THRIVE on records. Vinyl is still an essential part of punk law. NOFX just released a new EP that is available ONLY on vinyl. Thousands of people continue to swear that vinyl is the ONLY pure form of analog sound reproduction. And then there are the posers who buy records because they like it when their friends come over and go "Oh...you have records. Man, you're so indie." And then there are people like me who buy vinyl versions of everything (because it's usually cheaper), record it onto my computer, digitally remove all the pops and clicks, and then burn it to a cd.

So...what you have to do is determine your audience. Vinyl isn't dead, but you may not have the audience for it.

As far as record cutting heads (and blank records for that matter)...you can still buy them. However, they are more expensive than they're worth. And unless you know what you're doing, you might as well throw your money out of an airplane.

If you want to release a record, your best bet is to have a professional do it for you. Someone mentioned United earlier, and they're great. But what the hell do I know?

[This message has been edited by busboy (edited 05-31-2000).]

[This message has been edited by busboy (edited 05-31-2000).]

[sludgehammer]

I do a radio show on Calgary's university station and we still get a lot of vinyl sent in, mostly 7"s. If other indie stations are like our's, here's a tip for inide bands: Radio stations get tons of cd's every week, some of which make the playlist where they are soon replaced by newer playlist disks. The turnover for the new vinyl section is a lot slower so the 7"s end up staying on the playlist for a lot longer. It can work to your advantage as far as airplay goes until it gets scratched up or whatever but by then the band has usually released the songs again on a full length. Just something I've noticed as a dj. Maybe it doesn't apply everywhere.