Endless Defective Brand New Vinyl

Rcm?

 

Record cleaning machine.

 

Just bought my first "lie" from Discogs.
Seller said it was new, near-mint, but it was clearly used, scuffed up and dirty, both the record and the sleeves, outer and inner.

But then, new records can be in this shape too!

 

Complain to the seller, ask if you can return the piece of turd or if you paid from Paypal, why don’t you claim from their buyer satisfaction policy.

 

Very little went back in 2018/19 (tho I think my standards slipped once I got used to what to expect, there's stuff I sent back in 2015 that I'd take in a flash now). The last year does seem to be increasingly bad tho. I've retreated to CDs now and more or less only buy "vinyl only" releases on vinyl, but they still suck far too often. Got a replacement for one the other day, was lucky that the shop were prepared to write off the first copy cos the second was even worse. I gave up at that point.

 

Not sure if this has been answered anywhere? This is a question specific to Optimal pressings. I’ve noticed they often have indentations on the lead in groove. Sometimes these are quite subtle and other times, there is a big dent that can cause rumble at the beginning of a record (before the music starts). Anyone knows what causes it? Most of the time it’s okay but sometimes it’s irritating. It must be done when the vinyl is not yet fully cooled... ie when it’s just removed from the press perhaps? Just wondered if anyone knows?

 

Don’t all answer at once

 

My experience of vinyl defects has got worse recently. I would say about 7 of my last 10 purchases have had some sort of issue. Occasionally, I can have a good run without issues and then something can come along like this.

One of the records had been badly trimmed at the side taking off a huge amount of the lead in groove so it looked like it had a chunk missing. It then a lot of markings on the first track so there was no way I was going to risk my stylus on it.

Then yesterday, I received the new Kings of convenience LP. Terrible pressing… a huge dent in the lead in groove and then constant…and I mean constant noise through the record.

The most consistently decent plant for me right now is Record industry…apart from when they use those scratchy paper sleeves. I would say GZ, MPO and Optimal are all putting out a lot of rubbish right now. I wonder if the pandemic has made things even worse?

 

This isnt a new issue; I have a German copy of The Beatles Hey Jude album which I bought in the mid seventies and for about an inch, the edge of the vinyl is uneven and indented. Coincidentally, I just received a 70's pressed Italian copy of Abbey Road with a similar issue. I don't work in a pressing plant so I don't know exactly what causes this but you've inspired me to want to look it up.

 

this echoes my experience. i do think the sheer volume of vinyl every single plant is churning out must have something to do with it. in addition to record industry, i'd submit that releases i'm getting that were pressed at Pallas and RTI (non-budget) are almost always excellent to flawless.

 

That would be my guess too. The presses are going non stop these days. Quantity over quality. There probably needs to be at least one more good plant out there running somewhere. I wish companies like Universal would seriously stop using GZ. Won't happen if they are one of the cheapest in town. Gotta maximize that profit! My experience has been the same lately as far as the better plants being: Optimal, Pallas and Record Industry, with RTI improving lately.

 

In the 70’s, who did really care about who was the cutting enginer and where the vinyl was pressed.

Nowadays, they have become determining quality factors and checkpoints before ordering.

I wish I can buy multi vinyl boxset such as King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, and others with confidence. Just the thought of having 1 defective album in the bunch and the ordeal of having it replaced is sufficient to abandon the idea of buying these multiset.

 

Another record with a scratch across it from optimal, split seam and extremely noisy pressing.

I will never give up buying records….I have plenty in my collection to keep me happy…however, I’m thinking of slowing down and not buying so much apart from really essential purchases. I will still buy a fair few things, but gone for now is the practice of ordering about 5 records in one go…instead I will just buy one or two here or there. I will do this at least the pandemic eases off, which I don’t think is helping many industries and may or may not be making things worse.

 

I slowed down my vinyl purchases 5Y ago. Too many quality issues at the time. As you, I am now only buying the essential ones.

 

Apparently there are now issues with the GZ pressed Super Furry Animals ‘Ring around the world’ reissue. Wonder if @GeorgeZ can shed any light on why GZ pressed vinyl has such a consistently high amount of noise in its pressings? Has numerous issues with GZ issues….John Lennon Plastic Ono in particular.

 

I will chime in with my experiences.I have continued buy new vinyl even through these difficult times. I agree that quality has been pretty poor but I think it has improved in the last few months.

Optimal which I held in high regard was putting out a lot of poor quality pressings. Blue Note classics like the Art Blakely and Jimmy Smith were just awful. The last few months the Blue Note pressings from optimal have looked really good.

GZ pressings are a big reason I quit VMP. About 1/3 of my GZ pressed albums had issues. They were noisy your head more serious defects. The problems at GZ precede the pandemic, and I am not sure why. I saw Michael Fremers video tour of GZ and they look like a state of the art operation.

Earlier this year I had a Sam Records pressing that was scuffed and scratched. I think it was Pallas pressed. Sam Records apologized and sent me a replacement all the way from France. Talk about service.

Overall, I think quality is slowly improving at these pressing plants.

 

I Agree. The chance of buying a multi-LP set with no issues these days is just about nil. I needed two sets of the Sade box (Optimal) to make one "good" one (it still has a couple of issues...) and these were around $30 per record. My wife marvels that I continue this madness...

And the all-to-frequent poor, flat, lifeless mastering is another issue for another thread...

 

I’ve had a good run with GZ as of late. The Peter Murphy reissues were actually really well done until I got to Cascade which did require a replacement as the first set had both records off center and dirty.

That said, I have a question. In the past, it’s been said that if a record in a pressing run is pressed off center or with some defect, odds are all the records in that run will have defect.

While I was resigned to just living with Cascade on CD, I read some other reviews on Discogs where others said their copies were flawless. So I took a chance and ordered another. Sure enough, the new copy was indeed perfectly clean and both records on center. Knowing that these Murphy reissues were limited, should previous logic dictate that all pressings should have been defective? The same thing happened with John Mayer’s Sob Rock which was pressed by RTI. First one I purchase was off center on side 1 and extremely filthy. The second was pressed on center, but still filthy.

On the other hand, the latest reissue of Franz Ferdinand’s “You Could Have It So Much Better,” both copies I ordered were off centered on side 1. Side 2 was fine on both. I returned one and had to slightly enlarge the hole on the other to fix it to reduce the pitch wobble. It’s not perfect, but it works. But then again, I shouldn’t have to fix a new record out of the box. Those were pressed by Precision in Canada.

 

Honestly, the vinyl I've been buying this past year (all new releases, a few re-issues) have all been of fantastic quality.

My only issue has been damage in shipping, where I'll take the album out of it's packaging and the corners are all dinged up. Sometime pretty badly.

 

I was interested in the new Imagine 50th on white vinyl, until I realized it could be GZ doing the pressing of them. I believe they've done all the recent John Lennon vinyl. I have had pretty bad luck with GZ now going on 5 years or maybe more.

 

I bought the Target exclusive of Halsey's latest album upon release a couple of weeks ago and when I got home and opened it the record was completely raised in one spot. It seriously looked like a dog sank its teeth into it, it was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. The packaging was totally fine and obviously I didn't even attempt to play it, I just wish I had thought to take a picture before exchanging it.

Side note - when I did the exchange, the girl at the counter just did the exchange with no real questions. I've been collecting vinyl for about 7 years now and have never had to exchange a defective vinyl in-store, but I seem to remember exchanging defective CDs or DVDs back in the day and always being required to open the replacement in store at the counter. Maybe practices have changed or the rules are different because it's vinyl, but the girl just sent me on my way with my brand new, factory sealed copy. I thought it was odd.

 

Yeah, big-box store (like Target or Wal-Mart) employees don't give a toss, and just do what they're told - they couldn't care less (nor do they even check) if a vinyl is damaged or not. I just returned the new Iron Maiden that was damaged in shipping, and they didn't even look at it before or after they put the charge back on my card.

 

Wilco - Ghost is born

Received today and initially thought vinyl looked flawless when I immediately transferred to poly sleeves earlier. On playing, I’ve now noticed some clusters of tiny scratches..no doubt caused by the card sleeves which I’ve noticed sometimes happens. Another one going back…

 

I got 4 new records today from Amazon, 3 of which had non-fill. I’ll return/exchange, play the game, but it gets a bit tiring after a while. I also bought a used record in a record shop in the afternoon for £7, 1980s release, plays perfectly.

 

Got the new James Bond Best Of, three albums. Real nice cover and the mastering was good overall. As I listened I realized I didn’t note what label put it out, but hearing all the noise in the vinyl I guessed UMG. Bingo. Really, that’s what a label wants to be known for? It sounds like garbage and you can guess what label it’s on? Of six sides, two were really good so like the poster said above, I’ll play the return game and I’m confident I’ll end up with six decent sides.

I will never understand the decision makers logic behind this. It’s well known at this point what plants press good vinyl and who the budget presses are, so UMG absolutely knows their product will be crap. I get it that most people buying Taylor Swift albums won’t care, but on this kind of release it ain’t teens playing a Bond compilation on a Crossley. Most of us would be willing to pay an extra $10 or more for an RTI level pressing, and I would think a lot of these are going to get returned. What’s the point?