I found that today with my first play of the Albert Hall 2005 Cream 3 LP set & recently with a Mono Yardbirds Roger The Engineer.
Yup. It seems they actually care about quality control. Those 3 new Toto ones were from Sony Legacy. They sounded like they had been dragged through a concrete yard. It’s shocking to me that sealed vinyl can sound like that, I get it that you can get the odd bad apple, but 3 different albums all sounding like they have been played 5000 times is just so frustrating. All from the same label.
Honestly, I’ve had a really poor experience with new vinyl recently. QC is all over the place. Luckily, I don’t stress about it so much now as I’ve built up my collection somewhat. I have noticed a lot of records coming with scratches. Some are from paper sleeves and they leave audible clicks. I received a copy of `Sigur Ros `takk and that had a scratch on it that was inaudible, but then general noise all over the place. The side 3 had constant noise like sandpaper. Incredibly frustrating! I would say the worst pressing plant for me right now is Optimal. They just don’t seem to care all that much at the moment. GZ still also need to work on lowering the noise floor on their records aswell.
Record Industry generally aren’t too bad. They also QC their own Music in Vinyl records better than other general pressings they manufacture. Also a lot of MOV pressings come in lined sleeves which further helps them putting out at least well pressed records.
So I got a replacement for Sigur Ros Takk today. The replacement has the label pressed well off centre right into the dead wax and nearly into the playing area. It looks like it pressed two labels onto the record. I give up for this title. Both copies were significantly noisy aswell, this was Optimals work.
Honestly, it’s pathetic. This record is just under 40 quid...others are reporting that it’s very noisy aswell.
I have a record that has a scraping noise, similar to no-fill but quite noticeable and louder. It is only for a couple of rotations and then the rest of the pressing is normal. Help me decide...would you guys return?
If it’s a bargain bin purchase then keep, if it’s a full price purchase then I would try to exchange it.
I played the Death Row Records Christmas album, or at least tried to. Both records badly warped, needle runs halfway across the disc and back. Unfortunately, I bought it a Christmas or two ago and just got around to unsealing this week.
A few years back, I have significantly lowered down my vinyl purchase due to the poor quality of vinyl manufacturing and QC. I would only buy after reading positive reviews from forums. I have recently made more impulsive vinyl purchases. I can attest that for the most part these vinyl are of excellent quality and pressing. Reading from the other posts, I must have been lucky. Did something happened with QC in the last 5 years?
Got on Amazon Sturgell Simpson "Metamodern sounds...". It was a remarkable combination of non-fill, off-center and severe warp, never seen this before... returned.
I've gone through three brand new copies of Eagles greatest hits- and each one has non-fill on the first track-Take it Easy. For such a huge selling album you would except this to be fixed
Honestly disillusioned with the defect rates now. Just got another record today...LCD Soundystem Sound of Silver pressed by Optimal with a huge scratch on it. And yes, it’s audible so click, click, click. It’s across a whole 5 minute track....
Yes I have gone from ordering maybe 2 pieces per week to 2 in the last 6 months. I got tired of the return to Amazon chore. I was working with Rhino direct for a bunch of defective stuff and I got the email from Dr Rhino to replace all of them. One was a Kate Bush box set and a Depeche Mode 12 inch singles box, but they sent me one batch which were perfect with the promise of more to come, and I never heard from them again, so I still have about 7/8 pieces that were brand new that are badly defective just sitting on my shelf.
Man, box sets are a pain if the quality isn’t there! I was tempted to get the John Lennon boxset, but it’s pressed by GZ and I’ve heard some mixed reports of poor pressings and torn inner sleeves so I decided against it.
Have contacted Dr. Rhino once to get an RSD replacement for Neil Young-Decade that had as many pops as an Orville Ridenbacher popcorn bag. Out of stock, they’ve sent me the movie soundtrack of the Grateful Dead movie. Received warped with off-center duplicate labels. I’ve just gave up and not really into RSD since then.
I hear you on boxed sets. I bought a 6 LP jazz box set in perfect condition (or so I thought) from the early 70's. It was originally put out by the Book of The Month Club, The Smithsonian or something like that. I bought it while traveling away from home. I looked a the first 3 LP's and the discs looked to be in perfect condition. I should have checked all of the disks. Two months later when I had the time on a lazy Sunday to listen to the entire set of 6, I found I had two Disk 5's and no Disk 6. Too late to return it and I certainly was not going to be able to get it replaced. I also don't like RSD releases for similar reasons. If you get a defective disk it may not be able to be replaced. This RSD Black Friday I could't get the Fountains of Wayne double LP on Saturday and hours drive away. I got home, ran it through my UCM only to find I may have gotten two Disc 2's. I was worried about returning it to the store and not being able to replace it. Turns out that things weren't as bad as I first thought. I found I had both Disk 1 and 2, but the labels for Disk 1 were the labels for Sides 3 & 4. I didn't mind this and it could be worth extra some day as a collectable. But again I had that awful feeling of buying a defective record and not being able to get a replacement. I hold my breath every time I put an RSD release on the turntable for the first and hope it is a decent pressing.
No, quality has been dropping for 20 years now. I bought two LPs at Tower on Sunset around 1999 - 2000, both imports and after that, I reduced my purchases of standard releases to almost nothing. Now it's specialty releases on colored vinyl, or a new Dylan Bootleg Series set, etc. I am just not into it anymore and the drop in quality is what did it. Used on ebay or Discogs is better bet. Ok, so Apple Venus by XTC XTC - Apple Venus Volume 1 Minor ticks, nothing really bad, but it runs through the entire side one. Side two slightly better. Just sounds like a VG+ used LP, not a new import. Is Cooking Vinyl known for poor quality? It was a higher priced 180gm import. Then this reissue of a very rare Stax / Enterprise obscure Funk masterwork. The 24-Carat Black – Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth The 24-Carat Black* - Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth Quiet sounding in general with some pops and ticks during a few quist passages. Like the mastering was good, vinyl was nice and weighty, and yet they could not quite pull off a high-quality reissue. It never really got better. Some nice pressings here and there, but not as good as the best stuff in the 80s which you could get US pressing that were nice and the imports were even better.
You bolster my feelings and decisions over that timeframe to have chosen carefully and very sparingly when it came to newly pressed vinyl.
Last year I got two unplayable abominations due to surface noise of a level that topped anything I have purchased in the last 50 years. Firstly, R&L Thompson, Pour Down like Silver (GZ) also a bad mastering. Secondly the latest Nick Cave 'Idiot Prayer'. Just got a refund as did not expect better with a replacement given these can't be one off issues. Quite often recently I have been getting albums that are just passable but have the occasional crackle but most often a loud crackle for the first few grooves of each side, usually right channel. Sometimes a clean helps, sometimes not. GZ are the worst offender here but other plants have issues. Maybe trying to catch up on the Covid backlog has affected standards. Majority of LPs (at least two thirds) tend to be pretty flawless but for the odd click. Had a few that were clean apart from pops at the fade of last track on one side. I also had more warped LPS than ever in 2020, a couple of which were absolutely unplayable even with clamping. Many LPS have dishes which can be dealt with by screw down clamp (Michell) or combo of Oyaide (dished) mat and stabiliser/weight (Technics). Pressing dead flat records appears to be a challenge these days. Having to return around one in 4 or 5 LPs still isn't a thumbs up for current vinyl production. I've even let minor flaws go that I didn't in the past when overall quality was better. Certainly an RCM has become an essential tool where a Discwasher brush sufficed 30+ years ago.
