WHERE RECORDS COME FROM And how on earth are they made?
Every record you buy was probably made in a monolithic Czechoslavakian factory just outside Prague. EMI shut down its' last UK pressing plant two years ago, leaving a hanful of small factories capable of making records. Facing a backlog of 12 million 12"s, record companies switched production to GZ Media's enormous plant in the Czech town of Lodenice and most have stayed here ever since. Here's how it makes records:
1. Granules of vinyl arrive at the pressing plant to be melted into a thick paste, which is then poured into a mould to form a 'biscuit' - an uncut record.
2. The biscuit is then stamped by a master using 110 tonnes of pressure, before being trimmed by a machine and then colled in water.
3. The grooves (or groove, as trivia fans delight in pointing out are the width of a human hair.
4. Vinyl is often recycled, so unsold records get melted down and made into new ones.
Gerard
Langley A Collector Calls
1 Records.
CDs. Repositories both of arcane wisdom and the most up-to-the- minute
twattishness. Along with paintings, the only art form you can use a
thousand times or more. They hold their value more than books, cigarettes
or restaurant meals. And, unlike sex, their life-changing effects are
usually beneficial. Even a bad record can lead you to a good one, or
to the kind of embarrassing self knowledge that is useful In a bad
and complicated world.
2
Remember: when buying music, you must have a reason to buy. Listening
to It In the shop Is helpful, but most of the music you will love
you might not like the first time you hear it. Buy an album by all
means to replicate the background sound that runs through all your
friends' lives, but you're swimming in the shallow end. If you want
to push yourself into the deeper waters, you have to explore.
3
Records and CD's are not mobile phones, T-shirts, Tomb Raider or
Hollywood movies. If you want to buy good records, go to a good record
shop. If you're buying, always keep the receipt. If you're buying
vinyl, always check It in the shop,secondhand or new. If
you're selling, remember that smaller shops give you a better price for the
good stuff but won't take the crap. Other places will take anything but they'll
give you a shit price for the good stuff and then boast about the humungous
mark-up they've made on it. (You know who you are).
4
Never sell records for money unless you're desperate or need the
space. Only exchange music for more music and then when you miss
the album you flogged for 50p in a desperate hour and find it's now
worth £40, at least you got some new experience, some new road
to follow, some discovery in return.
5
Every good movie has a soundtrack. Your record collection is your
soundtrack. Make sure people haven't left before the credits.
Gerad Langley is a founder member of the Blue Aeroplanes