Is it just me or is vinyl QC getting a lot better?

Isn't it amazing the dichotomy of experience?

 

Definitely seems to back up @TheVinylAddict as far as label-based problems go!

 

Funny you mentioned Yellow Brick Road. My gosh, I couldn't count how many domestic copies of that I have owned and never, ever got a quiet one. Luckily I have a Mobile Fidelity on vinyl now and I'm good forever.

 

Totally agree with you. The problems are far more prevelant with the pop volume kind of releases in the under $30 range than more expensive reissues. However, I have never found a decent copy of Queen's Greatest Hits vol 1 or 2 and those aren't cheap. So, as others have said, there are no hard fast rules but generally I have found the higher the price, the better the chances for a good pressing. But, I got Nilsson's Schmillson for $20 and it's a beauty.

 

Oh, it's legendary among record store guys. I actually managed to get a relatively quiet early US MCA pressing a few years back ... felt very, very lucky.

Don't forget, MCA was the major label with the deepest ties to the Mafia back in the '70s and '80s. Cheap, noisy vinyl was the worst of the side effects to consumers.

Their initials might as well have stood for Mob Corporation of America.

 

Me three!!! That is why I made the "MCA" quip earlier... I have two current copies, and they both suck... not sure at this juncture I am ready to pay up for a Mofi, also have it on CD.... I may just live with what I have.

 

No doubt the black rainbow vinyl was the most consistently bad vinyl I ever encountered from a major label. I don't understand why the bigger artists tolerated it.

 

I'll sit on the fence at this time and place, I still get slightly warped records, which do not affect
play, but to still occasionally get off centre pressed records, drives me bonka's!
I'd rather a record full of scratches and pops than a new off centre pressed record.

 

It's you,
I just got Jethro Tull "Minstrel In The Gallery" Steven Wilson Mix and edge warp affects side 2 all the way thru and less so side 1 .
Disappointing; how can 30-40 year old used records I buy be perfectly flat but brand new sealed ones be warped?

 

Completely depends on who you buy from.

This is not magic people. The good plants get more demand and put out more quality products, for certain releases.

If you are like me, which I doubt many on this forum are, you want music of obscure artists and have to pick the only available releases which many times are terrible.

 

One thing I can not stand is non-fill. I had never heard of this defect until the "vinyl revival". I have been into vinyl since birth. I have albums from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s (not to mention, 78 rpms). I would be hard pressed to find one in all of that, that has non-fill defects. Yes, while I do agree that, in general, quality has gotten much better than the days when Rainbow/Scorpio were my only hope of finding something I couldn't find anywhere else; but... non-fill is reeeediculous and unnecessary in a technologically advanced age. Someone simply isn't doing their job. That should just never be. Playable warps I can handle (though there is no reason for warped records, either, not from the plant). Non-fill makes me wanna take the record back to the plant and slap the **** out of everyone responsible for making sure that doesn't happen. Sleep at home!

 

Non-fill is indeed annoying, but it's definitely not new. I have some LPs from the 70s with non-fill.

 

My failure rate approached 60-70% before I finally said to hell with it. If I'm going to be shelling out $30-35 for a high-quality record, I expect it to be completely and totally flawless. No excessive noise, no no-fill, scratches, thumping, warping, off-centeredness, etc... I got barred from several major audio dealers in only three years. As my system started improving, I noticed flaws in records I previously thought were flawless... That's just f&%king ridiculous.

 

Yikes, did you stop buying records completely or stop buying new ones?

 

All the records in the local shops are scratched-to-hell and trashed terrible 80s reissues, and none of the sellers on eBay actually play-grade their records, so I always end up getting something noisy or with defects. Buying records sucks. If you're into the thrill of the hunt, that's one thing, but when I realized I wasn't able to enjoy music anymore because I was constantly sending records back, and unable to enjoy new-to-me music because my first few listens were always about hearing any pressing defects, and when my eBay return rate was literally 100% in the past year alone, even with brand new records...

I decided it was time to give the compact disc a try.

 

Thought it stood for "Music Cemetery Of America"

Cbeers

 

Excellent!

 

I got Noel Gallaghers new LP Who Built The Moon recently and it looked like someone had been playing frisbee with the record. According to other reviews this isn't a one off with this record - full of fingerprints, dust and large scuffs - a disgrace.

 

A trip to the moon eh, good choice.

 

Nope.

 

I don't want it to sound like I'm ready to ditch the format. That's not even on the table. A millisecond of non-fill on a random new pressing is annoying; but, no where near annoying enough to make me ditch such an otherwise sonically satisfying format. QC (for some pressing plants) simply needs to continue to improve.

 

Oh yeah - vinyl quality aside it's a great album

 

Its on vinyl?

 

They were (MCA) actually dubbed "Music Cemetery Of America" in 70's and 80's because of millions of unsold records. Mafia wing had allegedly also sent people to real cemeteries.

Stiffed: A True Story of MCA, The Music Business, and the Mafia

Regards

 

Classic!

I now have a new acronym in my vocabulary!! How true! I bought MCA's back in the day when I was clueless.... gave many of them away. THere are some decent ones, but anything that said "Nice Price" is now part of my brother's collection!