Vinyl records now in crisis: Apollo Transco Mastering lacquer plant is a total loss*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by SoCalWJS, Feb 6, 2020.

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  1. SlevinKelevra

    SlevinKelevra Forum Resident

    Location:
    pennsylvania
    another day, another lack of progress on this front.
     
  2. TheVinylAddict

    TheVinylAddict Look what I found

    Location:
    AZ
    What are you expecting to happen, and how / who /when?
     
  3. SlevinKelevra

    SlevinKelevra Forum Resident

    Location:
    pennsylvania
    I wasn't expecting anything- in fact I expect it will hasten the death of the vinyl resurgence

    But upthread I was repeatedly told that this was a simple easy process, anyone could do it. Even with COVID, it should be solved by now if those people were right.
     
    Grant likes this.
  4. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA

    Yet specialty labels are still releasing as much vinyl as ever. I assume the supply of lacquers hasn't been depleted yet, or have Sundazed, VMP and the like switched to DMM?
     
    melstapler likes this.
  5. nosliw

    nosliw Delivering parcels throughout Teyvat! Meow~!

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON, Canada
    Ever since my last reply, there hasn't been any significant news with respect to the Apollo Masters fire. Don't forget the current COVID-19 epidemic has slowed things down significantly, which resulted in several pressing plants temporarily closing.

    This Pitchfork (say what you will about them but this is news nevertheless) How the Coronavirus Is Affecting America’s Vinyl Record Industry talks about how RTI, Memphis Record Pressing, Gotta Groove, and United Record Pressing forced them to temporarily laid off their employees or close their plants. Even Memphis Record Pressing had to secure a $1M USD federal relief loan to keep their plant opened.

    Add the fact that current pressing demands has dropped, which may have provided some relief to lacquer cutting engineers so they can try to scramble for cutting stylii and lacquer disks from MDC or whatever is left of stock made by Apollo Masters. As for alternative manufacturers of lacquer disks, I haven't heard anything new as of late since I'm betting COVID-19 has pretty much disrupted this too.
     
    Grant likes this.
  6. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY

    Yeah, Italy in particular was hit pretty hard by this thing. Wouldn’t be surprised if whatever plans that group had to re-start lacquer production there have been put on hold indefinitely.
     
    nosliw likes this.
  7. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    I don't know what mic they were recorded with back in the day, but here's a link to a spectrogram plot of a 24/96 vinyl rip of Bowie's "Width of a Circle". Notice the cymbals/hi-hat extending well above 20kHz and in some cases all the way up to the 48kHz cutoff. It was captured on tape somehow...

    Width_Of_A_Circle.jpg
    [​IMG]
     
  8. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    It will certainly hurt it. It doesn't help that we are in an economic recession.

    It was said when the fire happened that we wouldn't see the effects of the loss of the plant for about six months, and that time is just about up.
     
  9. john lennonist

    john lennonist There ONCE was a NOTE, PURE and EASY...


    Tracy Chapman's debut album is DMM and sounds fantastic!
    .
     
  10. Cat People

    Cat People Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Midlands
    Yeah I got Duran's Notorious remaster on DMM vinyl and it sounds pretty darn good to me.
     
  11. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    It sure does! One of the best vinyl records I’ve certainly ever heard. It’s like cd’s...generally I don’t like the sound, but there are excellent exceptions. As usual, it’s about the mastering and skill of everyone involved. I’m sure there are many DMM masters we all like, and we are unaware of them being DMM mastered.
     
    john lennonist likes this.
  12. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Tears For Fears' Seeds Of Love is another one. Another fantastic-sounding record.

    My favorite pressing of The Beatles' White Album is the 2nd German white vinyl pressing which is DMM as well.
     
    chaz and Jrr like this.
  13. petercw2

    petercw2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    tx
    you could please specify what version of SoL you're referring to? I have the MOFI version and it's as flat and dull as a sheet of paper.
     
  14. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Not the MFSL. Original pressings are DMM ; Canada, US, and UK.

    I prefer the UK. I find it more detailed and clearer. However, @ggergm prefers the US. He finds the differences slight (I agree) but finds it to sound warmer with deeper bass and with smoother top-end, though I personally think that could simply all be attributed to it being a touch warmer.

    MFSL famously did not have the original master tape when they cut this record which is why some are underwhelmed by it.
     
    Jrr likes this.
  15. jeffmissinne

    jeffmissinne Forum Resident

    Correct, it's the same material that was known in the movie industry as "nitrate base." 35mm theatrical prints were made of nitro cellulose until about 1950. Amateur film sizes like 16mm and 8mm have always been on "safety base" (cellulose acetate,) at least in the US. Nitro cellulose lacquers were (are??) widely used in the auto industry, and as the high-gloss finish on guitars!
     
    Aftermath, Echoes Myron and Tommyboy like this.
  16. Cat People

    Cat People Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Midlands
    Are there any further updates on whether the recent building lost has impacted on vinyl production? Will it become clearer at a later time?
     
  17. Markyp

    Markyp Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louth
    I’m sure they’re using old lacquers to reprint old titles on coloured vinyl. Lot of those around at the moment !
     
    Cat People likes this.
  18. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Taylor Swift’s new album is about four months from being released on vinyl, according to her web site that took pre-orders. Pretty good backlog it seems, but would love to hear how the closure is really effecting things as well.
     
  19. VictoryHighway

    VictoryHighway Use of goto is deprecated.

    Location:
    Hopedale, MA
    Well, they wouldn’t be using lacquers for that, rather the metal masters that are already available and usable.
     
  20. Markyp

    Markyp Forum Resident

    Location:
    Louth
    Yes sorry that was worded poorly. But yeah, they wouldn’t need a lacquer to reprint an old title.
     
  21. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    I’m willing to bet these will be GZ jobs, DMM mastered. Only indicative of the backlog at that particular plant, not indicative of a plant that relies heavily on lacquer-based jobs. And not indicative of a plant affected by closures in the US.

    My understanding is that GZ has been able to continue operations without interruption throughout the pandemic, but getting shipments cleared into the US has been another matter altogether with a lot of stuff getting held up at customs.
     
    nosliw, Jrr and Aftermath like this.
  22. steveharris

    steveharris Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    It would be cool to know exactly where we are now and possibly where we may be a year or two from now.Plenty of reissues with existing metal parts?All other future vinyl releases?
     
    Jrr likes this.
  23. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    I hope they produce good pressings. Until the album Lover, her albums, while cheap, were also very cheaply pressed and I had to return all of them multiple times and still never got decent copies. Lover was admittedly a marked improvement.
     
    Drew769 likes this.
  24. Drew769

    Drew769 Buyer of s*** I never knew I lacked

    Location:
    NJ
    Lover was such a disappointing album overall musically. Even my fourteen year old daughter, a true disciple of hers, started to lose interest. This new one, Folklore, is fantastic. Can't wait to hear it on vinyl.
     
  25. Fifth-Chord

    Fifth-Chord VG+

    Location:
    Columbus, OH
    I'm curious if there has been any evidence of "negative impacts" from this fire, considering the expected dwindling supplies of lacquers or cutter styli? Has there been a shift to using DMM? New record releases and reissues seem to still be pouring in.

    My local studio that also presses records has been able to secure a trickle of lacquers and the business has not been negatively impacted but this is a small 2 press operation. Who is doing the heavy lifting?

    Any insites?
     
    bluesfan and Echoes Myron like this.
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