Vinyl Junkies …

I had to give up real record shops a long time ago. Basically built one in my room to keep me busy!

Discogs delivery is a big debate at the moment because it's tied up with PayPal and Discogs have insisted that customers should always be able to see an upfront price. They are also insisting that Paypal is the payment method of choice and a lot of people are happy with bank transfer.

I didn't find it that difficult to update my shipping policies but I understand some sellers have different stock and some are used to selling direct without PayPal.

I expect you know the background of KoB and the discovery that side 1 had been released at the wrong speed so everyone had been listening to it for 50 years 1.25% faster than the original pitch.

Collected a 1.5kva 100v to 240v transformer today for my sl1200. Tad if overkill and it is quite heafy too.

Not sure it I want to know if the deck works or not...

Yeh long gone now I’m afraid.

I expect you know the background of KoB and the discovery that side 1 had been released at the wrong speed so everyone had been listening to it for 50 years 1.25% faster than the original pitch.

Yea I read about that, never heard it though (my first copy of the album was a remastered CD version where the pitch was corrected already).

Current blue version sounds and looks great!

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There's so much nice coloured vinyl around at the moment. I must have around 30 new colours this year. Very likely to be a massive blip in terms of production or I suppose colours might be the future.

Quality seems fine this days but it's not helping the surface noise and it's tricky to see if they're clean.

Feels that you get more VFM if the record is coloured.

I've never liked coloured vinyl, have always felt it compromised sound quality...

The industry has been working very hard to convince people otherwise. I think a lot of the colour pressings are coming from GZ Media, they've improved their quality control over the last few years. I have one or 2 that come close to a decent pressing on black but nothing that comes anyway near the best of the black stuff. Certainly in the past it was a novelty that was frowned on but people don't need to play the records as much these days.

From the resale point of view they are a better bet at the moment.

Value For Money?

I've had a similar conversation in my local shop. Coloured records apparently sell better but we don't think they sound as good. I used to be ok with that because they used to be 'limited' but now every third album is coming out with some fancy colour.

I now identify with grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud.

If I get a choice when I preorder a new release I always go for black vinyl... When I do that in the back of my mind I'm also thinking "everyone else has gone for the snot green, the black will be much rarer!!"... 🤷🏻‍♂️

Do all coloured ones sound inferior compared to black?
Or is it more those translucent-kind of colours that are really bad?
What about solid white?

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Feels like you are getting more for your money as the coloured discs were special editions and scarcity valve.

Modern materials must have improved for record pressings.

I've probably heard 30 this year and none of them are as good as something from Speakers Corner. They often have tiny quantities of black in them which can be noisy for some reason. Generally pressing is not from the 'higher quality' places like Optimal although they can be.

Taylor Swift - Lover is probably one of the best in Pink and Blue.

As a comparison maybe 20% of black disks seem to have noticeably noisy pressings and 80% of coloured ones. Most 12" are cut too loud for it to be a problem anyway. Coloured albums are a problem because the material has to be cut quieter and the noise floor becomes a factor.

Realised I should have added that black records are bad enough for noise and quality problems. I have received £100 one-step jazz pressings with a chunk of something stuck to it. The most consistent label I've been buying has been Speakers Corner.

Each to their own as my gran would say. They are becoming less of a novelty. Often it will be an indie special and the band will sell some signed through Bandcamp, must be part of the different deals artists get these days.

I would be very happy if they stopped putting disks straight in glossy printed inners before the glue on the seam dries.

pressings with a chunk of something stuck to it

It took me ages to get a copy of Dj Krush Strictly Turntablized on vinyl. The copy I eventually got had this on the one track I really wanted clean, Kemuri. I didn't spot it before buying at a record fair. Still annoyed.

Black vinyl btw.

I bought these four mint unplayed Kalevala 7"s today from the Techno act The Black Dog. Original packaging sent by Bill Drummond also

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There's so much nice coloured vinyl around at the moment. I must have around 30 new colours this year. Very likely to be a massive blip in terms of production or I suppose colours might be the future.

Quality seems fine this days but it's not helping the surface noise and it's tricky to see if they're clean.

Yeah, my feelings too. I've got the blue marbled Kind of Blue and whilst the mastering is excellent, my copy has got a lot of surface noise, even after cleaning.
I've also got the cream Thundercat It Is What It Is, less noisy than KoB, but a bugger to see if the record is clean or not.

Coloured albums are a problem because the material has to be cut quieter

..interesting!
Can you recommend some further reading on this?
I googled around a bit but haven't found some serious info on the subject.
Ta!

I mean any album had to be cut quieter than an EP which generally contains less material.

However there are lots of exceptions. So my comparison was coloured EP's (12" records) especially dance genres are cut loud enough to overwhelm any surface noise where albums pressed in the amp or similar coloured vinyl are possibly trying to squeeze a bit more onto the disc because they are longer.

Caveat is that EP's can be nearly as long each side as the ideal maximum length per side which I think is around 24 minutes. You could cut very quiet passages longer than this because the grooves need less space.

Also bear in mind that 45rpm reduces surface noise vs 33rpm

I see, thank you.
However i was actually wondering about the difference between black vinyl and non-black vinyl, not about EP's and LP's / 45 and 33.
To put it another way: why can't you press the same way in coloured stuff as you can in black stuff?

Yet, regarding loud or less loud cuts I just got Nils Frahm's All Melody. It's beautiful.
He really geeked out at the Funkhaus in Berlin recording this album, and in the accompanying booklet he says To preserve its essence, this album has been carefully mixed and mastered at lower volume in order to keep all of its original dynamics - and indeed this is different from all the other albums I have, it also looks as if the groves are quite shallow.
Plus there is like a "step" or overlap on one of the tracks, haven't seen something like this before. You can't hear it though but it made me wonder what that is about..

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A friend has recently come into possession of a bunch of 78s she wants to play. I’m aware that most turntables won’t do that speed and you’ll fuck up there stylus. Is the only solution to buy an old turntable from around the 1950s?

Cheap 3 speed record players with built in speakers are available,

https://www.gumtree.com/p/record-players-turntables/record-player-1byone-belt-drive-3-speed-stereo-turntable-with-built-in-speakers/1388165950 is an example of one I was thinking of buying as I quite like the records that come with it.