Ryan's Gig Guide - May 2019

Is vinyl still on the rise? The production of vinyl is still becoming more popular with our customers, across a range of de- mographics. Now, vinyl is so pop- ular this increase is beginning to level off. But we are seeing now a very rapid increase in the pop- ularity of Audio Cassettes, which we continue to produce on origi- nal equipment at ourTelford Plant. Initially, the vinyl resurgence was led by two groups: young, un- signed artists in niche genres such as Thrash or Black metal and older, more nostalgic unsigned groups such as swing bands and classical releases. It was, as is always the case, un- signed, niche artists leading the way until the vinyl resurgence was seized by the more established signed artists and, quite suddenly, vinyl was back in the mainstream! Today vinyl cannot be tied to a specific genre of type of artist, everyone wants vinyl! Manufacturing It is easiest to break the manu- facturing process into two steps: Producing the Stamper and Pro- ducing the vinyl.Today the stamp- er may be made via two methods: Direct to Metal or Lacquer cut. The Lacquer cut approach is the more traditional – and some ar- gue produce a cleaner sound and deeper grooves, resulting in a more durable record.The master audio is etched into the lacquer via a stylus. The lacquer is the coated in metal to produce a met- al master with ridges rather than grooves.This is then used to cre- ate a metal record. Finally, from this the metal stampers actually used in production can be creat- ed. By comparison, Direct to Met- al mastering etches the master audio directly into a metal plate, simplifying and shortening the mastering process. At it’s most basic, this method of creating a physical master (etching into a rotating disc) is common to most media types – from Thomas Edi- son’s Phonograph to the CD! Producing music forVinyl vs CD The three big things to consider are: 1. This is an analogue format! A bad habit over the past decade of CD releases has been master au- dio to be as loud as possible. But if you try to do this when master- ing a vinyl record, you are likely to distort the audio.All vinyl man- ufacturers provide recommended guidelines for the audio – follow them to the letter as analogue formats are not forgiving! 2. Time! Currently, demand is outstripping supply for vinyl.This, along with a slower manufactur- ing process than other formats, means you should anticipate a turn around of at least 6 weeks. Turn around may also be more volatile, so plan ahead and order early – take your time with the order, get test pressing – listen to them all the way through… twice. Having your own vinyl record made can be a fun and enjoyable process, only if you order with plenty of time! 3.Vinyl is currently the most ex- pensive physical format you can release your music on. If you are going to do it – do it properly. The best thing about a physical format over streaming is artistic expression. Music doesn’t end with the sound. A vinyl release is a huge opportunity to express yourself as an artist and really stand out from the crowd. With the recent resurgence in vinyl sales, we asked Golding to give us an insight into the process of getting your music onto vinyl... Thanks to Carl Ratcliffe from Golding for show- ing RGG around their facility. Tel: 01952 607 505 Carl.Ratcliffe@goldingproducts.com www.ryansgigguide.com rgg May 2019 13