Quality Record Pressings - Excessive Dishing and Warping

Yes, Vinyl Flat with the heating pouch has worked extremely well for me on numerous records. I imagine there are other threads about Vinyl Flat.

 

They don't specify whether "Quality" means good quality, or poor quality.

My vote is "poor."

Stevie Ray 33-1/3 RPM box set. Six discs. I've played five. Two are off-center.

Rush remasters. Most were good, a few excellent. Power Windows and Hold Your Fire? Off-freakin'-center.

Two Elvis 24 Karat Hits sets. Six discs between the two sets. Five of the six discs are, yep, off-center to varying degrees. I managed to Frankenstein together a decent but not perfect set.

No real problem with dishing, and I have a few QRP records that sound phenomenal. (Like the 45 RPM Shelly Manne/Bill Evans Empathy album originally on Verve.) But this off-center nonsense needs to stop. The SRV and Rush records are very recent releases. Even a hack plant like GZ Vinyl seems to grasp the concept of on-center vinyl (although I haven't bought many, since anything I've gotten from GZ is full of scuffs and scratches).

 

QR pressed Box 1 of Tom Petty Studio LPs and imho garbage quality control Tom's 1st release self titled was scratched so bad the LP wouldn't track, others in the set were warped, all had haze and scuffs. Southern Accents side 2 was stamped with another lp. LOL!

I've had tons of issues with other QR pressings.

Not a fan!

 

Start up issues? I just got the latest SRV "In Step" 45 rpm press at QRP. This has got to be the worst pressing I've ever played in 50 years!
Tracks 1&2 on side two have visible dings that just skip repeatedly and are off center. Side 3 tracks 3&4 skip repeatedly and are off center. (the problem is beyond cleaning)There was an excess ring of vinyl waste still stuck to the perimeter of the second record. I had to peal it off. I'm not complaining here I am just trying to hold QRP accountable and make others here aware of this lack of "quality" for this garbage

 

Ah no, Tom Petty Box 1, 3 LP sides off-center....

 

Sorry about that and you're absolutely correct.

I made that comment in 2013. My opinion has changed since then about Chad Kassem and QRP, although I've had issues from time to time with their quality control.

 

Yeah, I thought the quality was improving until yesterday. This was really bad.
The Flowers in the Dirt LP I picked up the other day was flawless and is just some generic pressing. QRP is promoting themselves as a cut above other plants. Actually they can suck.

 

QRP talks up the guy whose in charge of their plating and quality control. It seems like he needs to do a better job.

 

Yeah, that guy is a total fail, IMO. I've never had a record that didn't have the excess vinyl trimmed off before this.

 

Maybe it's time to contact Chad? I had an issue (and so did another forum member) with a Presitge stereo reissue of a Kenny Burrell LP in June 2016. The issue didn't pertain to warping or the record being pressed off center. Side 2 of the LP played with surface noise from beginning to end. Chad personally called me as well as the other forum member to ask questions regarding the pressing. Turned out the entire run was faulty. It could have been in the plating. Not sure. QRP ended up pulling the LP until later in the year.

He needs to hear that his plant is turning out defective product. It's not the first time I've heard complaints regarding QRP pressing albums that are off centered. I'm sure Chad does not want to be grouped together with the GZs of the world, especially the way QRP bills itself.

 

I guess people waiting for the Beatles Red and Blue albums to be pressed by QRP should stop waiting and buy the current European pressing instead.

 

This is one of the annoying things about new vinyl pressings. How old is this technology? It's like when I hear about a failed car part whose basic idea that's been around for 70+ years old leads to a catastrophic failure. Really? How long have you been making cars? Same thing with vinyl. All of these things are preventable and should never happen.

There is no excuse for it.

Also, this heavy weight vinyl is ridiculous. 200 gram vinyl is not only unnecessary, it just leads to more manufacturing errors. I think even 180 gram vinyl is too much. Standard weight is just fine. I don't why companies pressing vinyl work against themselves.

 

For sure, I have the Euro pressings and they are fine.

 

Yep, I think I'll shoot Chad an email.

 

I have a dozen of QRP's RCA Living Stereo Red Seal classical records. Since classical music recorded in that era was not "compressed", and there's a lot of pianissimo sections on these performances, the clicks, pops, and "needle getting stuck because a fragment of vinyl is sticking up" are very noticeable and inexcusable.

I've found that cleaning them all on my Nitty-Gritty helps somewhat, but there's no excuse for the clicks and pops on these premium priced pressings.

I don't know what other people's experiences are with these RCA Living Stereo records, but I will never buy another one or any product from QRP.

 

We are getting charged premium prices and getting poor quality pressings.

 

Not being a smart ass or anything but maybe Chad and his crew should have a chat with these guys Toyokasei WebSite / vinyl record pressing/Japan/Vinyl Record .

As far as I recall, they pressed the Universal Japan 200 gram vinyl reissues in or about 2007 (?) and they made a superb job of them. I bought quite a few. A contact I have in Japan very graciously offered to get them for me in Tokyo. I think they also did a Neil Young album (maybe 'Live from Massey Hall', not sure though?). I remember all of the problems with 200 gram vinyl LPs in the early to mid 2000s, notably Classic Records' many travails, but these guys at Toyokasei produced a flawless series of reissues (Nirvana, Cream, Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Hank Williams Snr., The Carpenters, Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Police and more) on flawless 200 gram vinyl. There was no need for me to take out the 'round file' for any of these either.

In a similar way, GZ Vinyl seems (in my experience) to press its records with a perfectly centred spindle hole on both sides, something Optimal and others just cannot do. All of these manufacturers, in an ideal world, should pool their resources to come up with solutions to the very frustrating issues that arise in the manufacture of vinyl LPs. It may well be a case of all the old craftsmen who had the process 'nailed' in vinyl's heyday having retired or passed on leaving a new generation of people trying to learn the craft on the job! Of course, the fact that the factories are under such pressure to get the records to market does not help either. QRP's 'collective heart' is in the right place and it must be frustrating to read about defects and problems like we all encounter when we buy new records regularly.

 

I have yet to see d defective lp that has the words "Made In Japan" on it. They seem to have high quality control and seem to take pride in making an excellent product.

 

The only problem is that I believe, the only record pressing operation that still exists in Japan is the Toyo Kasei plant, and they have a very limited capacity. It is true that while they aren't able to press many records, the ones that I have are uniformly excellent..

 

Not great experience with QRP (all Hendrix reissues). "Berkeley" record 1 was badly warped and record 2, comically warped - the worst I've ever seen. That went back. "Electric Ladyland" disc 1 has a slight warp but disc 2 ok, so I kept that one. "Axis: Bold As Love" - first copy warped and scuffed, second copy, equally so. Currently have "Are You Experienced?" en route to me: I'd be lying if I said I was particularly hopeful it won't be any different to what I've already had.

To all those people with scores of 'flat' and 'perfect' QRP records: I envy you because I've yet to get a perfect one!

 

Yeah, it may not be a bad idea to have the plant manager or whoever is in charge of pressing quality control go and see how successful plants are run.

Still, I think that QRP probably knows what needs to be done, but are they willing to hold people accountable. Also, I wonder how good the actual pressing machines are. I know that QRP has refurbished junk pressing machines. I'd be interested in seeing how well they hold up to the new pressing machines at Third Man Records in Detroit. In other words, are pressing plants willing to spend the money on new machines or perhaps buy a few and reserve those new machines for the really expensive releases.

 

Did QRP press Record Store Day Doors at The Aquarius LP that came out in 2016? That pressing is terrible. Off center and noisy. The mastering, however, sounds great. It's just ruined by crap quality control.

 

I agree that it will be very interesting to see how the new presses work out in comparison to the old/restored ones. I believe these will have computer controlled processes for steam pressure, stamper heat and cooling etc. so that alone should, in theory, eliminate many of the problems that can arise like 'non-fill', 'stitching' and so on. There weren't any new machines when Chad started out in 2011 (as far as I know) and certainly the likes of RTI, Optimal, MPO, Pallas, Record Industry etc. are all working with the older technology and doing a good job most of the time. I am sure all these plants will invest in these new modern presses over time once they have proved themselves in the workplace.

 

My first experience with QRP vinyl was when I went to a Hi-Fi Show in Dublin maybe 6 or 7 years ago. This show was run by Cloney Audio, Ireland's leading high end dealer. Diverse Vinyl had a stand at the show and I bought Tony Joe White's 'Home Made Ice Cream' reissue by QRP from Diverse. When I got it home, I was disappointed to find it was badly warped. I put it on my Japanese Flattening machine and it is perfectly flat ever since. The surface quality is sheer beauty, high gloss and free of any visual defects. I think there are a few minor soft ticks towards the end of the record on Side 1. Apart from that though, I was highly impressed at what QRP was capable of producing as a [then] start up pressing operation. It plays very well and I wish Chad would licence 'This Train I'm On'! All in all, my QRP purchases have been very good [Norah Jones, The Jayhawks, Shelby Lynne etc.) but I understand the frustration of getting unsatisfactory copies.

 

I forgot to mention that they all contain at least one side (if not both) slightly off-centre. So that's another thing they seem to be 'good' at.