numanoid

Yikes

Your cartridge isn't set up right. Download a stylus protractor. Print it out, and it's pretty straight forward from there. It isn't an audiophile only problem, it is noticeable if your system isn't set up right (as is evidenced with this post). You can minimize this distortion by adjusting the arc your stylus traces, and the overhang. Also, more expensive cartridges track the center better, due to the size of the stylus. You really do get what you pay for. And if the distortion is as bad as you say it is, stop playing your records until you fix it. You can damage the groove wall and then even a super expensive stylus perfectly tracking will still sound distorted.

My next release will be done here.

On Die Slaughterhaus I have stuff to trade... But I'll buy it too. This has eluded me for too long.

I need that Devo.

Maybe... I could see Big Brother doing a repress, but that makes me wonder why they haven't yet. And I also wonder why Simply Vinyl hasn't done them yet. I have all of the originals on vinyl (including the Masterplan 10" box set), and nearly every 12" single. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only Oasis fan here.

When I got mine pressed, I did the 140 gram upgrade. And they still managed to screw up my pressing. Now everytime I put on a record that sounds bad or is warped, I can look at the matrix number and it's almost always a "U" number. And I think the fact that they are willing to press at a lower weight is just so they can blame their shitty quality on the fact that you didn't pay an extra four cents per record for the heavier weight. Aardvark is a good option, but that only takes care of the plating. The vinyl is still going to be dirty, and they're still going to press things off center, and they're still going to warp your records one way or another. This is more of a cautionary post, I guess.

Specifically, I put on my Wavves "Weed Demon" 7-inch for the first time today. It's kind of a quiet track, and all you hear is surface noise, lots and lots of it. The off center pressing was the Rob's House Records release with Gentleman Jesse, The Carbonas, etc. It's pressed so far off center that it's unlisteneable. It's the one on white, I'm not sure if the black ones are better, but it shouldn't matter. They should be able do load the stampers in the center of the press! Just about every "standard weight" pressing that comes from them is warped in some way, usually a concave warp from not being cooled correctly or something. But even if everything else is perfect, there is always a shitload of surface noise, especially on their "trash color vinyl". It really is trash... it's the leftover scraps from all of the other color pressings. And it sounds like it.

Seriously... Bands, labels, PLEASE stop using United! I can't count the number of times I've put on a brand new black vinyl record and it's as noisy as something that's been played 50 times. If it's not pressed off center or warped, that is... If you don't care about sound quality, then what's the point? A little extra money can get you virgin vinyl that sounds good from somewhere else.

I have it as a B-side on the "Come As You Are" picture disc. But it's not on my original 1991 Geffen pressing.

I am going to use an American company. I was just concerned that some of my PP stuff was mp3 sourced. Seems silly to go overseas, and through a middle man, to get something that I can just get here instead.

I was researching where to do my next release, and of course I considered Pirates Press. There is a rumor I found saying that when they email the masters to GZ, they compress them to mp3 format. Does anyone know if this is true? They do say that they email everything to GZ... So do you think they use uncompressed wav files? Or flac? Or do they really just compress to mp3?

Nothing is wrong with warp, as long as you work at United.

The music isn't the investment. The vinyl it comes on is. This same argument can be applied to CDs and downloads. Why isn't there a CDcollective.com? Or why aren't we talking about all of our CD and download variants? If it's only about the music then the medium shouldn't matter. It seems like people are lying to themselves (or maybe not, but it seems like it). At least I'm up front - I like my records, I like the music on them, but I also love that they keep their value and sometimes go up. And they are way cooler than CDs. And it's nice to have that 1/100 that is hard to come by. If you still don't believe me, then what's with all of the fuss about owning test pressings? 1/3. C'mon...

This is a very backwards statement. What you're saying is that people only collect / listen to vinyl in order to brag about them or flip them for more money. What you're saying is that people only collect / listen to vinyl in order to brag about them or flip them for more money. This is EXACTLY what I mean. Why else would you buy every color of Reinventing Axl Rose? Or why didn't people buy Shape of Punk to Come when it was readily available at Hot Topic before this recent reissue? Because it was on BLACK! When I sold my copy of Shape for nearly $300 on ebay, it was because I knew there was going to be a reissue, and it would be identical to the one I was selling. I was right. And when I did sell it, I had two friends at work lamenting about how they never bought one because "they were all on black". And I did state that this is the passive collector, and generally speaking, I don't think these people will be around in five years. And yes, I spend a lot of money on records, and I do like to be able to brag about them, and I would like to know that my investment will be worth at least what I put into it. And I would say most any collector of any collectible will agree. Though what I brag about would be laughable to most (my Depeche Mode collection comes to mind).

I collect a lot of music from labels who rarely do color. And I gotta tell you, it's kinda lame. In The Red is first to come to mind. It's pretty much all black vinyl, unless Gonerfest is coming up, then they'll do 100 on clear. That's great for 100 people going to Gonerfest, but not so much for those of us who are going to mailorder them. And since every single record after that is on black, as is every reissue, then there are thousands of the same thing out there. I think that this makes a lot of them less special, and not at all collectible. For the passive collector, this means they should just buy the CD or download. For the full time record collector, it means you have it on vinyl, it sounds good, but it will never be worth more than what you paid for it, and you can't brag about it. Which also means you'll never run into a rare color variant at a used record store either. So the inverse also takes the fun out of it. Hell, I'd even be happy if the limited version was just 180 gram... There needs to be a happy medium, between collectible version(s) and listening version. Otherwise, in the age of a more convenient medium, what's the point? I'll always buy the vinyl, but I mean, I would like to have a version that you don't have, that I had to mailorder the day it came out or get at a show. And 10X what somethings worth on ebay is the fault of the buyer, you can't blame anyone for wanting to sell a $4 record that just came out for $80-100. Laugh at the guy who bought it.

I have the Tube Box SE II and I haven't noticed too much bass or anything that makes punk and metal records sound "bad". I would imagine that would be more of a stylus issue. As far as I've noticed, it's a nice, clean signal, and perhaps the only "color" it adds would be that (and I hate this term because it's subjective and non-scientific) warmth from the tubes. It's less harsh on the some of the high frequency stuff, like cymbal crashes than some solid state stuff. Then again, there are people who say that you can't get a good tube system for less than $2000. Who do you listen to? If you do go with tubes, I would stay away from the Bellari. Only because there is one tube in that, and you really need a tube for both channels. It comes highly recommended by me.

Wow, how many times can Gaslight Anthem be named...?(!) I don't even think I bought five NEW releases this year. In my opinion, music this year was piss poor, and the direction most shit is moving is even worse. Mostly pretentious "indie" nonsense and crappy pop (punk?). Jay Reatard's "Ugly Death" was pretty good, though. And so was his cover of Gamma Ray. Nothing else really comes to mind. I forgot, the Vivian Girls "Where Do You Run To" is pretty awesome. Here's to better luck next year... Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Depeche Mode, Jarvis Cocker, to name a few.

I really like The Hives... They're better than most crap people call music these days. And cocky is their gimmick, like a new version of the Stones. As for that pressing, I would guess around 2000 worldwide. But that's just a guess. I see it about three times a year.

I agree with the article that it is a rip off to be reissuing dime a dozen album and trying to sell them for $30 each. No one needs to pay more than $0.50 for Frampton Comes Alive... Some of the reissues are nice, especially when they are true to the original art. Like the Velvet Underground that has a peelable banana. But still, it's in stereo instead of mono, which means that it's a gimmick anyway. But in the case with many records from the 60's and 70's, the playback equipment sucked and would destroy the grooves in records that were completely cared for. In this instance it's nice to be able to own a copy that no one else's crappy set up has destroyed. On the other hand, if it's some shitty pressing from a source other than the master, then it's a real rip off. And if it goes through digital processing, then it's a joke. And if it's another shitty stereo copy of something recorded in mono, well, you might as well just buy the CD. And in some cases, especially in the 80's, mastering vinyl was done cheap and poorly. This is one of the reasons that UK pressings are more sought after. The quality control and care that went into them was tenfold compared to the US counterpart. The UK did DMM when no one in the US did. So for some of those pressings I can see a high quality reissue being relevant (Devo's Freedom of Choice could use a reissue, every copy I have is muddy, but this falls into the dollar bin category, I'd still buy it though). But also, like the article says, for most you would need a decent set up to even be able to notice the difference. This is one of the reasons why the MFSL pressings are really sought after by audiophiles. In this instance I can see it being worth the price, but only to audiophiles and/or collectors. The very worst part of them is that they're driving down the value of my original pressings that I've spent nearly 15 years collecting. But it is nice when I can get a copy of The Downward Spiral for less than $100. I think that most of these reissues, specifically the Capitol ones, are mostly an overpriced gimmick, designed to lure in new collectors.

It's not the train wreck I thought it would be, but it's not great either. I made it to song 11, and that was it. Even if it wasn't bad, it's more like a bar rock band than GNR. And it's not even GNR, it's Axl using the name. I want to like it, but I just don't.

You should be able to get his account shut down. But who knows...

Why USB? Just get the tube box and put phono outs to your sound card or digital recorder. That will sound better than any USB rip.

$0.99 was way too much for that Bloc Party LP.

Make sure to get delivery confirmation, otherwise this guy can claim that he never got it back and then you're screwed.