When placing a LP in its sleeve - does side B be placed in front or back of the cover

This seems really strange - I know, and you might not even infer what I'm talking about.

So, look at the front cover of any record. When you pull out the sleeve, which side is in front? A or B?

I ask since, I almost wanted to put it as a coincidence but since after buying over 50 records I've seen side A on the back about 70% of the time, nearly all used - but, just for the sake of having my records stored perfect, did new records ship with side A facing back, or was it label specific how they came new? I'm just being ridiculous and it doesn't matter since it literally doesn't effect anything? (it's the last one, I know)

I've been changing all of them - as in, side A faces the front. Does anyone else do this or are LPs supposed to be reversed like that? Apologies for the really stupid question.

 

It makes not the slightest bit of difference.

 

Sorry Earl. You know I respect you, right? Anyone with a Hackett avatar is worthy of my respect and friendship. But you do know this is barking mad don't you.....!

 

A, of course.

 

It IS barking mad, but I’m with you. First of all, when I pull out a record I want to see Side One (or A) facing me. Record 1, Side One, in the case of a double-LP.

Futhermore and at the risk of being sectioned, note that inner sleeves too have a front and a rear. The rear has "foldover" strips and that reflects "Side Two", so there is no excuse for inserting the record the wrong way round, possibly impairing your sleep.

A pet hate is when some sleeves do not have visible see-through windows on both sides and often only to the rear. Very annoying.

Let’s be careful out there!

 

Hmmm... You do realise I'm now going to spend the rest of the day reorganising my records don't you...?!

 

One would hope so.

 

Another thing - sometimes the sleeve won't be marked either way, and I have to guess if it's correctly front or back. Mostly with those sleeves which show off other LPs the company had out at the time - generally I go with the side that has the label's brand, though.

 

You can damage your records by not having the A-side facing front and horizontally aligned. When sliding a record with the B-side facing front, you risk "pulling" the counter-clockwise pressed grooves clockwise and increasing groove pinch -- that can lead to damaged grooves. When I buy a new record, I carefully slit open the shrink and look in to see which side is facing front. If it's the B-side, I turn the record around and very carefully remove the record from the back, and when I play it I make sure to play the B-side first to restore the groove balance.

 

OCD is a natural discipline, it keeps things tidy.

 

I'm not a vinyl guy anymore, but I always had the first side facing forward. Simply because when reaching for a record that's what I assumed the front facing side would be. I understand a lot of people, perhaps most people don't give such things a second thought, but I do. Hell, when I put a CD back in its case, it has to be perfectly centered label-wise. In other words, not upside-down or askew in any way, but right-side up.

 

OK - I'm paying attention now (mainly because I think I may have offended The Earl...) - I've just noticed something: I just took the LP I was listening to (the first Montrose album if anyone's asking) off the turntable - because I almost always listen to all of an LP; both sides, that means that 'Side 2' is facing upwards when I take the record off. - Because of the careful way I handle records, the LP is then put into its inner sleeve still with the Side 2 label upwards. I noticed that it's then the most natural action for me to slide the inner sleeve back into the outer sleeve without flipping it over - in fact to do so would be a very unnatural movement (for me at least).

Therefore.... (Drum roll).... I suspect that most of my records have the Side 2 label facing forwards. My scientific study confirms the Earl's findings.

I'm off now to find some aspirin.

 

As regards shipping them out, it apparently depended on whether or not the person in the warehouse 'sleeving' the stack of records had them arranged on the left or the right of the jackets.
It also depended on whether or not they were left-handed or right-handed. If they lead with one hand over the other it may invert the disc as it is placed in the jacket. Like dealing cards, slip or twist.
(Seriously, this comes from extensive, well, ... some research, and discussion with record folk regarding the operations at the EMI premises on Slaney Road, Dublin.)

 

Rarely is a plain inner devoid of all writing ... sometimes there’s mention of a patent or, glory be, a date of manufacture. This is often but not always on the 'back' side (on which I should probably be slapped).

 

Lost count of the amount of records I've had to take back to the shop due to WFS, or Wrong Face Syndrome, as it's known in the trade. What's worse is when the shop employee looks at you like you're an idiot, or crazy.

 

Gordie: Alright, alright, Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?

Vern: If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy-Pez. Cherry-flavored Pez. No question about it.

Teddy: Goofy's a dog. He's definitely a dog.

Gordie: I knew the $64,000 question was fixed. There's no way anybody could know that much about opera!

Chris: He can't be a dog. He drives a car and wears a hat.

Gordie: Wagon Train's a really cool show, but did you notice they never get anywhere? They just keep wagon training.

Vern: Oh, God. That's weird. What the hell is Goofy?

Etc.

 

When I was just such a shop employee, I always offered a seat, to avoid further distress.

 

I was not offended by any comments here.

I actually did get some genuine insight. Worth it even with all the joking, I KNEW this was a horrible question but at the same time... it barely wasn't. I was this close to just not posing at all.

 

If you're someone with vision problems, then you, I assume, would always try to put side A of a record facing forward. But how would you know which is the front of the outer sleeve, that you weren't holding it upside down? If you had your records in plastic sleeves, put a marker on the front side of the plastic?

Sorry, thinking aloud there. But there must be audiophiles who have vision difficulties, and they must have ways of keeping their records in order.

 

I think it's important to note which of your records originally had the a-side front and which had the b-side front. Post-it notes are good for this task. You can abbreviate as I have done, for example: Orig B-side FT / Re-bal 8/26/18. This indicates that the record originally had the b-side front, then the rebalancing procedure was performed on August 26, 2018. That way you know what's what with your a's and b's.

 

Does that apply for those of us Down Under?

 

Correct. Most important should you ever try to sell it on SHF [For Sale] Vinyl.

 

Pretty tough to unload an unbalanced original b-front, but you have give full disclosure on this stuff. I re-balance before trying to sell anything myself.