Anyone else tired of new LP's arriving like this (pics) ...?

Vinyl has always been bad, certainly in my experience. I assume the people who are surprised by the poor quality are in the main younger buyers who are new to buying it. They should've been around in the 70's when record companies started using re-cycled vinyl - a real low point. As I said earlier, I try and avoid buying vinyl but occasionally I succumb. The most recent was the Bryan Ferry deluxe edition of Avonmore, a CD/White vinyl LP set. Foolishly I waited a few months before playing the vinyl and it sounded atrocious - by then though to late to return it.
I think it's also fair to say, the greater the quantity being produced will lead to an inevitable drop in quality.

 

I listed the previous threads without comment or editorializing, but just as an FYI. Clearly there are QC issues with some new vinyl. When it happens to you, it’s big deal and extremely disheartening.

The thing I can’t quite get a handle on is whether it’s valid to make the leap from loud, unhappy, very public complaining to a generalization that unacceptably poor pressings are becoming more common and that the problem is getting worse. I love browsing the mellow and positive Listening to on Vinyl Thread and my impression from that pretty large ongoing sample population is that poor pressings do happen but that a large majority of people are very happy with the new vinyl they’re buying and playing. On the other hand the volume of anger/disillusionment in threads like this one might be exagerrating how awful things really are.

I've been very lucky myself but I rarely buy without trying to find positive online comments about vinyl SQ and QC for the pressing I’m considering, and when a new album arrives I clean it and play-grade it right away so I can deal immediately with the rare lemons that have landed. With some noisy pressings (like Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool) I’ve given up trying to find a mint pressing and end up making a 24/96 vinyl rip processed with ClickRepair and using that needledrop as my go-to version. Sounds much better than the CD IMO.

 

In 25 plus years of collecting Ive maybe had a couple of handfulls of truely defective records. Not sure why some have it badly on this.


Sorry that happens so often to you.

 

Not to sounds like a jerk but for me i will not buy new vinyl unless I know the mastering and who pressed it. Anything rainbo is automatic no buy for me.

I recently bought an MC5 reissue blind which I never do and it was junk and it was pressed at rainbo!

 

Nasty. I must say all my Sword LP's are nearly flawless - no scuffs, skips, or warps at all.

 

I'm not sure how this is a bad thing.

 

I'm not saying they are universally quiet and am referring to new vinyl. I also have had mint looking used vinyl that is a crackle fest.

 

I have read, but have not quite confirmed yet, that if an LP is warped and you pack it vertically / tightly on a shelf, that it will actually flatten out over time.

If this is accurate, then it's possible that your metrics may be lying to you. Get back to me in about six months as I have a test going on right now.

 

Oh dear!!! That looks baaaaaaaaaad!!!

 

Which sword lp is that ? Is it a single or something? I have all the sword albums (no singles except the one off high country which is 7" 45) and none of them were pressed at rainblow ...

 

You're playing the record upside down!!!!

 

I tend not to use Amazon. There is no Amazon.AU for any physical products. Last I heard Amazon AU was doing digital books ONLY.
Having said that I have read good reports from other Aussies that once they ring Amazon and discuss it with a real person and explain what sort of highprice Rorting Aussie Post will charge for return then Amazon has taken care of them well.

 

But isn't that part of the charm? You know, vinyl is supposed to be scuffed up like it was slid across a gritty floor, label all wonked off center and crackly between nice crisp pops and warped just enough to provide a nice, big 'whoosh' as the stylus struggles to stay on course through it, and a nice white industrial process dust with fingerprints in it.

I'd pay $30 for that. $35 for a crushed, folded corners cover and paper inner sleeve. Good times analog warmth.

 

There are plenty of wonderful pressing plants - most in Europe.

However the crappy pressing plants take the coverage.

Is it that hard to pay an additional 2 cents and put all pressed vinyl in poly inner sleeves? This alone would resolve all paper/scuff issues in an instant.

 

Would you be able to provide the link?

 

i have a stones reissue that's like that ….. clear vinyl with weird black mixed into it ….. played fine though …..

 

Yeah you just get your account closed eventually for excessive returns, which isn't difficult if you buy a lot of new vinyl these days...

 

Rarely have an issues buying from Amazon although recently a boxset was sent without any outer packaging just a mailing sticker on the shrinkwrap (!) needless to say the box was quite damaged but Amazon(UK) footed the bill for the $80Au return postage costs and sent me a new well packaged replacement.

 

I have similar experience with dirty vinyl surfaces with all sorts of marks and also with pressing defects which make the record skipping/looping - latter one with MOV re-issues - DM Ultra - exchanged several time and even got a copy from MOV itself and it's looped as well. My new copy of Leonard Cohen is also looped on one side, of course cleaned etc. did not help.

All sorts of marks on the vinyl are not alway when inner sleeve is paper, but also polylined. Have few releases, even from APO which have such marks, but not sure if they affect the sound - cleaning in this case also not helps at all to remove them.

 

We are at a breaking point. I have numerous LPs purchased 5 and 6 years ago which had virtually no quality control issues. As retail prices for new vinyl continues to increase, these pressing plants need to be paying close attention to their final products and the record companies need to hold them accountable.

 

There have been increased QC issues for at least the last 7 or 8 years. I actually think it is now better than a few years ago. From late 80's to early 00's there was excess capacity and low volume. Probably when you got least faulty pressings. The majors closed plants or sold them off just prior to the revival so now the remaining independent plants are hard pushed. Having said that for much of the 70's there were similar quality issues, the peak of production (and cost cutting).

Modern vinyl is actually much quieter on the whole. Most faults I get are one off or limited to a particular batch. Unfortunately it's the two biggest US plants that appear to screw up most. I recon 10% or more discs have serious flaws, which is unacceptable, even though record pressing is a bit of a hit and miss process. I can remember a similar level of returns throughout the last 40 years or so.

 

I covered this issue recently on my blog. It's a sorry state! Vinyl Revival: Do Record Labels Actually Care about Quality? »

A friend of mine has been doing this on an Iron Maiden LP for 5 years. It's still warped!

Exactly. We made this change between our first 12" EP and 12" LP, the LP looks pristine.

 

I played the first copy, which looks very similar. Not only is it quite badly warped but there was just constant noise throughout. I haven't played this 2nd copy yet but the damn thing is so dished I don't think I even want to subject my stylus to it.

 

It's Warp Riders. I believe it's a repress but using the same sterling stampers.

 

I have owned thousands of LPs in my life. Many, many I have bought used. 90% of them had paper inner sleeves. NONE of them had scuffs. They remained pristine in my possession for decades (I no longer own vinyl). I find that CDs that are in paper or cardboard sleeves rather than in jewel cases, scratch much easier than LPs ever did. I have tried to clean CDs using fluid and cloth made to clean eye glasses with plastic lenses (and do with great success) and even that scratches the heck out of my CDs. So now I never clean my CDs anymore.