ripplemusic

Perfect, man. Spread the word!

"you know that feeling when you find a gem of a record at some shop and think "what's this doing here!?" and look around to see if anybody notices what you've got.... then go to some deserted aisle and just stare in awe at what you've just found? the mort garson LP was one of those..." God! I love that feeling! You almost feel criminal and insanely lucky at the same time! Ok, fess up, which flea market? Alameda? You gotta share! I'll even meet you there one day and split the loot. Went back to the thrift today. Nothing new. I know it's all sitting in back waiting to be put out. I'm drooling and insanely impatient.

Awesome, Morfiend! Let me know how you like it (and how our service is). I'm spinning my copy right now . . .

To my understanding, Acetates are the original press of an album, done to get the music onto vinyl. There are only 1 or a couple of acetates ever made of a particular album. Test pressings are copies used to grade the sound once the record is ready to go to the presses. There will be test pressings made each time the album gets repressed, and test pressings when a foreign country licenses an album and presses it. So there can be acetates of albums that never, ever went to press. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Just released Mos Generator 10 year anniversary special, reissue of their first album. LP has whole original album. CD included in the gatefold has whole album, plus bonus track, plus a complete live show from the time period, and download card, also included has all the above, plus another show and demos, outtakes and a live jam session!

Cool day at the local thrift store for random obscure vinyl. Got lucky, some guy had just walked in and dropped off half his collection of vinyl. Apparently, he's coming back to drop off the other half. Means I gotta go every day now. All albums were 75 cents Don Nix - Hobos, Heroes and Street Corner Clowns Wild Thing (garage rock double LP compilation) Jason and the Scorchers - Lost and Found Ian Gomm - 3 song 12 inch on Stiff Records Robert Gordan w/ Link Wray - Fresh Fish Special Roy Lonely and the Phantom Movers - Out after Dark; and Phantom Tracks The Continentals - Fizz Pop! (10" vinyl) Speaking of Labels, Stiff is always a great one to find, as is Rough Trade. And great find on the Ramones stuff. Way cool!

Totally agree on the IRS stuff. I know that comp, double LP right? and that Humans track is sick! "I live in the city." Speaking of IRS, I'm listening to the debut Alarm 5-song EP right now. Great stuff. My recent trip wasn't too fruitful for obscure stuff but I did find Player - Danger Zone - mid-tempo 70's rock (think Ambrosia) $1 Bloodstone - 1970's soul funk $1 Permanent Wave - 80's compilation with the Vibrators, the Cortinas, the Spikes and more $1 2 Be-Bop Deluxe records, not obscure but unfortunately forgotten $1 each And McGuffey Lane - 1970's country rock. No idea what it sounds like, but for 50 cents, I thought I'd find out. Got another trip planned tomorrow to another store. Let's see . . .

Ok, totally stupid, anal-retentive question. Do you file your tests and/or acetates with your regular records or keep them in a separate section? Inquiring minds want to know.

and I'm digging this thread. Thanks all for your comments. I'm drooling over your collections, particularly the Rancid and Hellmouth split. Wow. Drool. And I'm really digging your make-shift artwork, what a cool idea. Just so you know, when we get tests back from the pressing plant, they don't even come in white sleeves. Simply 5 packed in individual plastic sleeves in one box. Now, it's always a thrill when the tests come in and I get to plop that virgin vinyl onto the player.

and I'm digging this thread. Thanks all for your comments. I'm drooling over your collections, particularly the Rancid and Hellmouth split. Wow. Drool. And I'm really digging your make-shift artwork, what a cool idea. Just so you know, when we get tests back from the pressing plant, they don't even come in white sleeves. Simply 5 packed in individual plastic sleeves in one box. Now, it's always a thrill when the tests come in and I get to plop that virgin vinyl onto the player.

One thing you can definitely say about my vinyl collecting is that I'm good for the economy. I may even turn up in the next Obama plan. I've recently started buying tests of bands that really mean a lot to me, for example, I got a test press of Teardrop Explodes "Killamanjaro" one of my favorite albums of all time. I also found a test press of an obscure 70's band Jake Jones that my uncle produced way back in '72. So that was kinda fun. I wouldn't buy random ones, but for me, they do add extra flavor to my collection of favorite music, knowing that they're so rare. I recently bought my first acetate. I guess an acetate is the only thing rarer than a test press. I picked one up simply to have one and kinda say "gee, I have an acetate." But that might develop into more collecting. Like I said, I'm good for the economy. With Ripple, we produce 5 test pressings of each album we put out, we keep two for the company, give one or two to the band, and usually auction one off for charity. That's how they first came to my attention. But even we don't get acetates, so that's sparked my interest. Does anyone know how many acetates are usually produced for a pressing?

One thing you can definitely say about my vinyl collecting is that I'm good for the economy. I may even turn up in the next Obama plan. I've recently started buying tests of bands that really mean a lot to me, for example, I got a test press of Teardrop Explodes "Killamanjaro" one of my favorite albums of all time. I also found a test press of an obscure 70's band Jake Jones that my uncle produced way back in '72. So that was kinda fun. I wouldn't buy random ones, but for me, they do add extra flavor to my collection of favorite music, knowing that they're so rare. I recently bought my first acetate. I guess an acetate is the only thing rarer than a test press. I picked one up simply to have one and kinda say "gee, I have an acetate." But that might develop into more collecting. Like I said, I'm good for the economy. With Ripple, we produce 5 test pressings of each album we put out, we keep two for the company, give one or two to the band, and usually auction one off for charity. That's how they first came to my attention. But even we don't get acetates, so that's sparked my interest. Does anyone know how many acetates are usually produced for a pressing?

Question for y'all. I recently started picking up an occasional test press which I think are cool since they're so relatively rare. I also bought my first original acetate or an old favorite 7" 80's song. Are there any of you out there who collect test pressings and acetates? Love to talk about em as I get more into them. What to look for, what to look out for, etc.

Question for y'all. I recently started picking up an occasional test press which I think are cool since they're so relatively rare. I also bought my first original acetate or an old favorite 7" 80's song. Are there any of you out there who collect test pressings and acetates? Love to talk about em as I get more into them. What to look for, what to look out for, etc.

Got a run planned today to my favorite 1$ bin record store. Let's see what fate brings my way! And I totally agree on learning labels. Twin Tone was a great one. I look for anything Beggars Banquet, early Capricorn stuff. IRS, Stiff. All good

Got a run planned today to my favorite 1$ bin record store. Let's see what fate brings my way! And I totally agree on learning labels. Twin Tone was a great one. I look for anything Beggars Banquet, early Capricorn stuff. IRS, Stiff. All good

New pet peeve. Spending all day reviewing some really cool records, but none of the labels made it clear which was side A or side B. Come on, help a fella out!

nothing is simple. You will be a business and have to pay taxes. You can register the label however as a sole proprietorship, which means the taxes will just be part of your annual tax return, and any losses (and costs) will be tax write offs for you. At Ripple Music, we formed a LLC because there were two of us, so we couldn't be a sole proprietorship

Perfect! I do the exact same thing. All Music.com on the iPhone and random late 70's/early 80's album in hand (and early 70's hard rock/metal).

some cool finds recently (not all obscure) Boz Scaggs - Down two then Left - $.50 The Girls - (Dirtnap Records) - $1 The Fools - $.50

Fortunately, the Grey Area/Go Rydell split was damn good. Particularly (to my taste) the Grey Area side. And yes, that one confused me a bit at first also.

One more thing, very annoying -- when a 7" vinyl doesn't say if it's 45 or 33 rpm. May not seem like a big deal, but I just reviewed a punk split single and I swear one side is 45 and the other side is 33. Either that or the music is so bad I can't tell what speed it's supposed to be played at. Either way, let me know. 45 or 33.

I don't mind gatefold packaging for single LP's if the art is good, or theirs inner notes, or a pocket for a CD with bonus material. What irks me are 12" albums where one side is music, the other side is blank

LOL love it! Got me plenty of those!

Great thread, would've been real helpful when we first started Ripple Music and had to figure all this stuff out on our own. As a general rule, we use Pirates Press and we've been very happy with the quality, timeliness, and results. They're also easy to work with and definitely guided us through the process when we were newbies and didn't know what mastering meant. All art, and production work is handled through them (our graphics guy does the art and sets it to meet their templates.) We did a couple projects through Gotta Groove Records and they were fine also, but Pirates was easier to deal with and more responsible to our timelines. By the way, we've done plain black 12", 12" double-LP gatefold, 7" split singles, double 7"-gatefold, and double LP multi-colored vinyl gatefold projects so we've pretty much run the gamut and Pirates has always delivered. As a general cost issue, a run of 500 12" black vinyl, with all work done inhouse at Pirates tends to run around $2500. That's a loose number, so don't hold me to that, but as we shopped around it seems pretty standard. That includes covers, labels, dropcards, etc. Our newest project is a single 12" LP with a gatefold, the CD with extra bonus cuts placed into a pocket on the inside of the Gatefold cover, and a dropcard with even more digital download bonus cuts (like a whole live show). So there's really no end to what you can configure. We did look once into extras like an embossed cover, but it's really expensive and multi-colored vinyl is a big cost over black vinyl, and I'm not really sure it's worth it. Looks cool, but I'm not convinced fans care for the look of the vinyl. My 2 cents.