Category Archives: editorial

Peter King’s Home-Made Record Lathe

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Lately a lot of my free time has been dedicated to researching how to build a home-made DIY record lathe. I’m fascinated by the video clips I’ve seen of people making their own records using sheets of acetate or transparency film for flexi-discs, cutting records on compact disc, even plastic plates!

The thing about home-made records that is the most intriguing–the end product does not have the indefinite lifespan that ordinary vinyl does–every play potentially reduces the lifespan of the DIY recording. This ‘destructible music’ is a wild concept–and one that is strangely attractive to me. I plan on investigating this further as it would be great to put out some crazy Turntabling Records RECORDS and see what happens.

In the meantime, here’s a look at Peter King–who apparently has a very good reputation in these circles and even cuts records for others using his setup–operating his own DIY record lathe. Amazing stuff. This video is a bit chaotic and crazy, hoping to locate some more instructive or informational clips to pass on here. I think the band having its record cut is some kind of Power Electronics noise outfit, like you’d find in the pages of As Loud As Possible.



Vinyl Pressing Plants in the USA

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Press Vinyl has an impressive collection of vinyl pressing plants in the United States. A couple of the sites that have ceased operations have had their links removed (as far as we can tell) and there was a 404 Not Found in the list (a simple case of a link not working, the actual site is live).

If you’re looking for a pressing plant that does vinyl and want to comparison shop, Press Vinyl’s list is a definite good place to begin.

While we’re on the subject, you might also want to check out the rather awesome Secret Society of Lathe Trolls, who are the biggest vinyl junkies on the planet. That’s because this forum is all about creating your own vinyl rather than simply collecting other people’s work. Bravo!

Ghost In The Machine Cassette Tape Art

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Anybody with a bit of artistic talent and some skills creating stencils can make an old scratched-up vinyl record into a work of art. But it takes a far steadier hand and considerable imagination to make a portrait out of CASSETTE TAPES.

Ghost In The Machine has a whole collection of portraits including this awesome reproduction of The Clash album artwork for London Calling. There are also some very well done portraits created using what appears to be Super-8 film. Nice work indeed. Have a look at the gallery of images at the Ghost In The Machine Flickr page.

Vinyl Killer Murders Hooked On Classics

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by Joe Wallace

The Vinyl Killer, known in some places as the Mini Clubman, is said to absolutely wreck any piece of vinyl it’s placed on. I have no idea if that’s accurate or not, but in this particular case we simply MUST believe it’s true because there’s no more deserving vinyl title than effing HOOKED ON CLASSICS. That’s one album that truly needs to be sandpapered into oblivion forever and ever amen.

The Vinyl Killer is basically a moving turntable needle with a mini-speaker. You place the car on the record and watch it drive around and around playing the album with varying degrees of quality and speed. It’s pretty funny in this context, but I’d keep it far away from that rare copy of the Phenomena soundtrack if I were you.

So with that in mind, I bring you this YouTube clip of the Vinyl Killer winding its way around Hooked On Classics, in hopes that the toy really and truly is wrecking those grooves beyond repair.

I have to say, the record actually sounds BETTER with the warbling, screechy sounds the Vinyl Killer ekes out…this is closer to noise music than 80s throwback awfulness:


Compared to the original release, this clip sounds AWESOME.