# The Real Deal... - Site: Analog Industries - Author: Chris Randall - Date: 2012-04-04 - URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/04/the-real-deal/ The funny thing about getting vinyl (or CDs, for that matter) made is that it is essentially a long, boring process, punctuated with brief flashes of blind panic. My sister has told me that this is what being in Iraq is like, but I don't think the parallel is very accurate, honestly. The mastering lab didn't lob any mortars at me, for starters. In any event, I got the test pressings today, and as I listened to 'em I had a couple of thoughts. The process for making CDs, while sharing the net result, is significantly different than that for making vinyl. When you have a CD made, you send off (or upload) a digital master and some Illustrator files with artwork, and in a couple weeks, FedEx Ground shows up at your doorstep with a couple dozen boxes. It's a fairly simple workflow, without much in the way of things that can go wrong. One time, a friend of mine who owned a label had a CD pressed, and instead of whatever industrial band's music, it had Tito Puente's Greatest Hits on it. While I felt this was a sizable improvement, subjectively, obviously his customers wouldn't have been too happy with that. That's the worst problem I've ever heard of when pressing CDs, and easily remedied with a phone call and a couple more weeks of waiting. (After that, we always did what we called the Tito Check; that is to say that we made a point of listening to units from several different boxes to ensure they had the correct content.) Where making CDs is a science, making vinyl is much more of an _art_. You have to make subjective choices along the way that are heavily informed by the process itself. The only real limiting facet of a CD is the total time; when manufacturing vinyl I have discovered that there are many interdependent factors, and the entire process is sort of an exercise in finding out how much fuck you're willing to give about any particular aspect. The main thing I noted is that receiving these test pressings made the whole thing much more real. A CD is, at its base level, fundamentally indistinguishable from a downloaded file or a USB thumb drive. It is simply a container for bits. With a vinyl record, however, the medium is part of the message. Yes, it is anachronistic. That much can't be argued. Yes, the sonic quality is demonstrably different than the digital file from whence it came (and, on paper at least, worse, although there's a subjective "better" in there as well.) I hate to use the word "cooler," but the simple fact of the matter is that it's fucking cool to make a record. And I relish the fact that I can use the words "record" and "album" in their proper context, rather than as placeholders. It's big. It's black. It's round. It fucking crackles. Drop that tonearm, yo. ## Comments (21) **bassling** (2012-04-04): It spins me out to think that a record was once a record of something in the Guinness Book of Records sense **chaircrusher** (2012-04-04): Let me be the first to curmudgeon you on your use of the word 'album.' It's actually a misnomer for LP records; albums were the large heavy books that held 78 RPM records. They were 'albums' because they looked like picture albums. But hey, shifting usage based on obsolete tech, play on. People still tell me my phone is ringing when it's actually playing a MBV song at top volume. **lazenbleep** (2012-04-04): i got my sizeable record collection back after 3 years in storage this week. ALL my personal music has been digital for the last 3 years. First thing I noticed, EVERYTHING crackles. 2nd, my bedroom now smells exciting, my heart skipped a little when I walked in yesterday, and I realised it was the 'record shop' stimulus. 3rd, some of these records have been with me a long time and most have a story. 4th, my knees hurt after carrying them up the stairs :# **lazenbleep** (2012-04-04): i also noticed that the fun/quirky/i might sample that/i used to like that records don't NEED to be on vinyl. digital is made for that crap and i can have as much of it as i like. vinyl is for the sexy/special/mindblowing stuff. apart from 7" singles, thats a whole other thing :# **Chris Randall** (2012-04-04): @chaircrusher: I was so tempted to edit the post and change my reference to albums to "LP" just to make you look silly. I think everyone should take a moment to stand in amazement at my restraint. ;-) -CR **Wade Alin** (2012-04-04): I've had my music on many CD's, countless advertisements - but only now do I feel like I've made something of myself. Vinyl is some very powerful shit. **bmedich** (2012-04-04): I once bought a cassette of Eno's "On Land" as gift for a friend and it had a Millie Jackson live album on it. **bongo_x** (2012-04-04): >it is essentially a long, boring process, punctuated with brief flashes of blind panic.< Wait, isn't that "working at a studio"? At least it was when I was staff. bb **Chris Randall** (2012-04-04): Never been staff at a studio. Wouldn't know. -CR **puffer** (2012-04-05): Got a new, dead-stock Panasonic linear tracking turntable a few weeks ago. Waiting on my high-end needle. So when this comes out I'm ready to fucking spin the shit out of it. And, yeah, all true. Just something about vinyl. **sinsect** (2012-04-05): SMG "Wired" on CD: damn good. SMG "Wired" on vinyl: a staple of my old DJ days **sinsect** (2012-04-05): @Wade Alin: i CANNOT WAIT to hear what you do with In Radiant Decay using modern processes! as a fan and supporter since 96 (97?), I would absolutely be honored to donate a remix. **Downpressor** (2012-04-05): The other thing with test pressings is the need to listen to em in a couple different environments. I just never found that need with CDs. **Alan Tomlinson** (2012-04-05): A college roommate of mine attempted to purchase "Ghost in the Machine" from a record store in 1982. The cover was correct, but the LP had side one of "Ghost in the Machine" on one side and side one of "Breakfast in America" on the other. I suppose somebody at the pressing plant for A&M had some 'splaining to do at some point. I thought it was pretty cool since I found more than 20 minutes of the Police to be pretty taxing. Cheers, Alan Tomlinson **Adam Woodyard** (2012-04-06): You guys just made me dig up something I didn't realize I even had. http://imgur.com/G9woY **renderful** (2012-04-06): well done. **Chris Randall** (2012-04-06): @Adam: That's awesome. 20 years ago in August, too. @Alan: While Sting may be a pompous ass, I'll take pre-Synchronicity Police over Supertramp any day of the week. That said, only drummers like Synchronicity; I'd rather listen to Supertramp if that were the case. -CR **ecallender** (2012-04-06): I was happily surprised to find the whole XX Britannia series is up on YouTube. My jaw hit the floor while watching the John Hassell section of Reggae Britannia ( http://bit.ly/HPRQAu , about 46 minutes in). We get to see how this elderly guy with a disc cutter in his living room shaped the sound of British Reggae. Long live vinyl. **obscurerobot** (2012-04-07): wow, I had no idea that there was more than just Synth Britannia. There goes my weekend plans. **rapfreak** (2012-04-08): I've easily bought hundreds of new CDs and only had a serious problem once when there wasn't a CD in the jewel case at all. Luckily I bought it from somewhere they trusted me enough to let me exchange it. **dj empirical** (2012-04-21): the only Tito problem i ever encountered was when i bought Remix dystemper. instead of the Skinny Puppy remix disc, it was some christian gospel thing. kept it, though. got Key to autograph is a few years later.