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Pirates Press to Resurrect the Flex-Disc,Thoughts?


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These things are not going to be cheap. The bulk of the expense of pressing a record is all up front: mastering, plating, setup fees, etc. After that, a black 7" costs about $0.51/each to manufacture, depending on the plant. So even if these things cost a quarter to manufacture as opposed to fifty cents, a label still has to front hundreds of dollars for plating and mastering which will keep the total cost of a flexi-disc project unreasonably high.

These made sense back in the day, but in 2010 this is completely pointless.

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...I see Fucked Up doing extremely limited runs on these things and then kids paying big bucks on e-bay for a fucking flexi...these things are crap, waste of money, time, and energy

I'm calling the Fucked Up thing...let's see how long it takes before they make a limited release on Flexi

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Pirates press doesn't "press" anything but buttons on the phone/computer. This is outsourced from elsewhere. I believe Erika is either doing these or about to. To keep these cheap I'd go to the source. Otherwise it is a bit pointless. I think the poor sound quality is a bit overstated. They're not the best but I've got a few that are definitly passable. Thing is that you can't play them too often or they literally will wear out. I still want to figure out how that guy did that Le Shok 7" with the playable cover. That's a novelty I can fully get behind!

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Pirates press doesn't "press" anything but buttons on the phone/computer. This is outsourced from elsewhere. I believe Erika is either doing these or about to. To keep these cheap I'd go to the source. Otherwise it is a bit pointless. I think the poor sound quality is a bit overstated. They're not the best but I've got a few that are definitly passable. Thing is that you can't play them too often or they literally will wear out. I still want to figure out how that guy did that Le Shok 7" with the playable cover. That's a novelty I can fully get behind!

Steve,

Patty from D4 knows the guy who ran that label, I believe it's the same process as the flexis, he explained it to me once a few years ago.I think they're just pressing either in clear 7"s and attached to the covers or the covers were coated in a clear coat of some kind and the grooves pressed into that.

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I agree with the majority that the sound sucks, but would it not be cool if each issue of razorcake or let's say a hard copy vinyl zine came with one that featured 4 different bands each issue. Would that not be cool?

Sure, I'd be fine with that. There's a much better chance of me playing the flexi than hopping online to listen to the mp3, assuming that's the alternative.

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The thing is that it doesn't appear to just be attached. It seems to be apart of the cover itself.

I know we were talking about the weirdest most ingenious ways to lose money and I brought that up and he was like that's exactly what I was thinking about and went into the whole story about that guy making crazy shit like that and losing tons of money.... I think it's pressed into a clear coating on those covers.

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...I see Fucked Up doing extremely limited runs on these things and then kids paying big bucks on e-bay for a fucking flexi...these things are crap, waste of money, time, and energy

I'm calling the Fucked Up thing...let's see how long it takes before they make a limited release on Flexi

Ben Cook already presses lathe 7 inches in editions of like 50 and 66. He did a Young Governor one that sold out in 45 minutes so yeah I think you're spot on with the flexi's being next.

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If they're done cheap enough to be given away/included with a label or distro's orders/zines, why the hell not? They're a great way to give you an idea of what a band sounds like, and quite frankly, I'm more likely to slap one of these on than to find a band's myspace page because my internet connection sucks. Think about it...there may be a bunch of people on here who haven't heard Cheap Girls (get the fuck on it), but if they got a P+P order that had a flexi with one of their songs, they could at least hear what they sound like and whether they want to drop $10 (or however much) on a full length.

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"Soundsheets

Eva-Tone Soundsheets are thin plastic sheets containing recorded impressions playable on any phonograph. We've been making them for over thirty years in quantities from a few thousand to 20 million. They are the least expensive high fidelity audio communication you can buy. Soundsheets can be bound into publications without damage, and gathered automatically in direct mail packages. They can be played up to 500 times.

We offer a variety of products combining Soundsheets with colorful printed components. Eva-Tone is a major color printer, and can bind books and magazines including Soundsheets in house. If your plans include direct mail, we have high volume automatic inserters here which assemble Soundsheets with printed components. "

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I agree with the majority that the sound sucks, but would it not be cool if each issue of razorcake or let's say a hard copy vinyl zine came with one that featured 4 different bands each issue. Would that not be cool?

i feel the same this would be rad. i remember buying music mags back in the day and loving the flexi i think i may have an old mad magazine with a flexi in the middle.

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