Do They Make Vinyl Like They Used To?
grandblk@grove.ufl.edu
Thu, 8 Aug 1996 05:18:53 -0400 (EDT)
I've been having this debate with friends for about the last week or so
over the quality of new records vs. old records. It seems that vinyl
today sounds worse and is less durable than wax pressed back in the day
(up to, say, 1985). Maybe I'm just having bad luck, but I feel like I can
hardly touch new vinyl without it scratching up; I have played my copy
of _Headz_ maybe 4 times and always taken good care of it (kept it in the
covers, no fingerprints, etc.), but when we tried to mix with it, it kept
skipping. I know people who have bought 12-inches that were skipping as
soon as they took it out of the wrapper! By comparison, I can pull out
records that weere in thrift store condition when I got them (no cover,
visible wear-and-tear, etc) and still play them without any problems.
When my friends and I were making mix tapes recently, they had to keep
stopping beause their (hip-hop) records would skip while I was able to
make a tape of old funk using the oldest records in the house without one
problem. It's not a needle problem either, because I'vve played the same
records on everything from those old-school
stereo-systems-with-a-turntable to some 1200s and gotten the same result:
new vinyl skips, old wax doesn't. I've gotten to the point where I would
rather have new releases on cd rather than wax, because (among other
factors) I feel I have to be extra-sensitive with new wax to keep it
playing. [I don't want to start another wax-vs-cd thread]
Has anyone else encountered this? Are today's records made more shoddily
(cheaper quality vinyl, bad preessing plants) than in the past?
Anthony