Discovered on the incomparable Analog Apartment, which we love. Please, please, PLEASE, Archer Record Pressing Plant, do not close, EVER. Three minutes of vinyl junkie bliss.
How to clean a vinyl album? It’s a question that plagues crate diggers from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station. (Heh.) Do you want to know how SOME people clean their vinyl records? One rocket scientist on a message board somewhere suggests you IMMERSE your vinyl records in STEAMING HOT WATER.
Run right out and try that if you’re crazy enough, and by all means, be sure to let us know how that worked out for you.
Other people claim a dab of Lysol does wonders–but I’m not into giving that a try, are you? Ditto for the dude who suggests Methylated spirits. No way–not unless it’s a copy of a Paul Williams record that’s been used as a sun visor on a 68 Volkswagon. I’d love to hear the damage done that way…could be the next house disco treat if you throw some beats under it.
The vinyl record cleaning method described at Rebuilt Tranny’s Rat Rod Record Exchange makes the most sense of all the methods mentioned online that I could dig up. Use a bit of soap on a synthetic fiber brush, scrub gently in the direction of the grooves, then rinse with water. Purists, avoid getting the center label wet or you’ll weep great oceans of tears. Dry with a microfiber cloth and you’re done.
Bravo, Rebuilt Tranny, for offering the most common sense vinyl LP cleaning method on the web. Oh, did I mention that he runs the vinyl through Audacity’s click and pop filter afterwards and makes nice, clean Mp3s out of his nice clean records? NOW you’ve got some clean sounding tracks.
I discovered a fascinating blog post at COLOURlovers (a craft blog, not a vinyl blog) called Unusually Colored Vinyl Records. It featured a variety of impressive colored vinyl productions including the Man Or Astroman release, “Your Weight On The Moon” on glow-in-the-dark vinyl pictured above. But the REAL treasure in this blog post was the mention of some seriously vintage post-war vinyl produced in Detroit by a company called Sav-Way Industries.
The Vogue Picture Discs are amazing for their detail and the instant visual reference to the post war era when they were made (1946-1947) but the real stunner for me was the visual theme of the Marion Mann track, “You Took Advantage of Me”.
Decades before The Tubes put out Mondo Bondage, here’s a very racy post-war vinyl record implying all sorts of naughty things with this picture. There are some 74 Vogue Picture Record titles in this collection, which you can view more of at the University of California Santa Barbara, but none of them are quite as provocative as this one.
Sure, it COULD be argued that this was an innocent depiction of the song’s theme, but lest we forget, post-war culture in the 40s was filled with double entendres created to titillate and amuse while maintaining “plausible deniability” in a so-called respectable society. Mondo bondage indeed!
–Joe Wallace
Ever wonder what it takes to make a vinyl LP from start to finish? The actual creation of the physical product, as opposed to recording the music itself is fascinating, and a company called TruTone Mastering Labs has put the entire process online in a step-by-step pictorial.
For me, the most interesting part from a visual standpoint is the plating process:
But you’ll be amused to learn that your favorite, most expensive vinyl collectible in your stack originally looked like THIS before it became the precious thing you revere now as a sacred object: Continue reading The TruTone Mastering Process