matt Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 kyle, if youre looking for another local plant ill put in a good word for bill smith. both kevin and dennis are solid dudes and extremely helpful/easy to get a hold of. id be surprised if i strayed away from him. exceptional product as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jailhouse Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I think I am going to be using Bill Smith for our next record. Expensive as hell, but we used to use Pirates, so expensive is something we have gotten used to. Plus I have heard nothing but great shit about Bill Smith. Aardvark for mastering, Bill Smith for pressing. The only thing that kind of sucks, is don't they have a 300 limit on colored vinyl. Like you can't get 100 of one, and 400 of another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 kyle, if youre looking for another local plant ill put in a good word for bill smith. both kevin and dennis are solid dudes and extremely helpful/easy to get a hold of. id be surprised if i strayed away from him. exceptional product as well. Thanks for the heads up. I might check them out for my next 7". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I think I am going to be using Bill Smith for our next record. Expensive as hell, but we used to use Pirates, so expensive is something we have gotten used to. Plus I have heard nothing but great shit about Bill Smith.Aardvark for mastering, Bill Smith for pressing. The only thing that kind of sucks, is don't they have a 300 limit on colored vinyl. Like you can't get 100 of one, and 400 of another? dude give them a call. they should be able to do that. also if youre into those zany transitions colors then you can get some crazy ass colors through them. id say bill smith should be excessively cheaper than using pirates. obviously this all depends on what youre looking for but as far as im concerned you cant beat the service and their location for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyperrealist Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 i've had several records cut more than once, so tests are definitely necessary.i did have one plant press vinyl that wasn't the color i ordered and refuse to credit me or replace them without it coming out of my pocket. i had the replacement color pressed, but still had to pay and i essentially ended up with 350 more records than i asked for when what i wanted was clearly stated on the order form. that's some bullshit. Which plant was this? I'll just say its a very popular outfit in the punk community that I'm 99% sure I won't be using again. And it wasn't Erika. They are fantastic. I should have never taken my work elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest afsdan Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 erika was such a pain in my ass. 2 jobs...3 sets of bad tests...1 wrong color (fixed, to be fair). it's too expensive for all the grief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numanoid Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 What do you guys think? If I make some super bad ass packaging, like a screenprinted poster, and a CDR of the tracks, which would also be screenprinted, and make this available only with this pressing, would it be worth it for you to buy? There is going to be a repress with good plates, but the bonus material will only be available with the defective pressing. Becuase let's face it, no matter how bad the pressing is, someone will want that elusive first pressing as long as it exists. It doesn't look like United is going to help me out, so I'm going to reorder, get a test, reject them, and have them replate them. I tried to explain to them that this is what I planned on doing, and tried to get them to skip a step and just replate it. I also asked if they could take them back and do a regrind or something. I dunno. I need thoughts on damage control if they don't replate or do a refund for me. They a-side is the messed up side, and as the music gets louder passed the long intro, its not as noticable. If anyone knows of somewhere to upload an mp3 of the vinyl rip so everyone can check it out, I have one available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 posting in a classic thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjustinxschwierx Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I see what you're saying, and trust me, I understand the value of developing good relationships. But the guy there did dodge my calls the week I was supposed to pick up the tests, two messages on his voicemail went unreplied before I finally got him on the phone the morning I was going to get them.I don't really have to pay shipping, which is great, but I do have to pay California sales tax (about $80 in this case). Plus, the place is 100 miles away, I was only going to pick them up because I wanted them that day (we had already agreed on the day I would pick them up). I'm upset for a few reasons... the guy knew how important the deadline was. I told him that if I couldn't have the records by then that I'd wait because at the time I could barely afford to pay for the record and ideally I would have waited another two weeks for another paycheck to pay for everything and still have money left over to survive until my next paycheck. Second, my friend and I dropped off the master CD on a Sunday morning so that they would have everything and still have enough time to get the record out for my deadline. Like I said, the plant is 100+ miles away and we got lost on the way there, so it was a waste of half a day. On the day I was supposed to pick them up I finally get ahold of the guy and he just "Oh man, I'm so sorry, I just spoke with the plating dept. and they messed up and never did anything with your master. Sorry." Then, when they finally arrived two weeks later they were no good. I see their side of it... they're busy, bad plates are a part of the game, etc. But at the same time it sucks to think about the hoops I jumped through just to get the record out and then nothing go right. I'm not 100% against using them, I'm going to wait till I have the final copy in my hand and see how happy I am. Right now I'm leaning towards not using them, but if by the end of the whole process they give me a product I'm satisfied with and leave me believing that I actually matter as a customer then I'll give them another shot. Right now the dude isn't responding to my emails, and in the past he was really quick with the messages. So we'll see. ok this is another story...yeah if they dropped the ball that badly, then I don't blame you one bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 From what I've read, it sounds like record pressing is NEVER an exact science. Everyone seems to have their horror stories about various plants screwing them over or messing something up, but then I also hear nothing but great things about the same plants from other people. I'm finding it really hard to fault the plant in my case, as I'm sure the same thing could happen anywhere. Not really a point to this post, other than it seems that when running a label that is releasing vinyl, you need to be ready for headaches, delays and screw ups at the plant and even though I haven't even officially put out my first 7" I'm already learning that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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