Seven things to consider when shopping recording studios
This post will help you with the task of shopping recording studios and avoiding the “studio car wash” syndrome where artists get the same artistic whitewash. Read More.
LP record
Why indie musicians make CDs [Infographic]
Independent artists rely on the tangible media that is the music CD. As a physical representation of their hard work, a means of increasing revenue, and to establish their brand, independent musicians use CDs in ways major label artists don’t. Read More.
Disc Makers is celebrating its 70th anniversary
When I tell people I’ve been at Disc Makers for 20 years, they often assume that’s when the company was founded. When I say, “No, no, no – Disc Makers has been around for 70 years,” it’s usually followed by a strange silence. I put them out of their misery and follow that up with, “Disc Makers predates the CD by many years. Read more.
Music news: Happy Birthday’s disputed rights, vinyl vs. streaming, and the last CD-R for Taiyo Yuden
“Happy Birthday To Me:” a complicated history – and future – for the world’s simplest song; vinyl sales continue to make headlines, with sales generating more revenue than free Spotify, YouTube, and VEVO combined; JVC and Taiyo Yuden to stop producing optical media – FalconMedia remains a reliable option. Read more.
Global album release days: New Music Fridays and Vinyl Tuesdays
Many retailers have expressed concerns over the choice of Friday as the global record release date. The inability to re-stock a popular title over the weekend, as well as limiting the reporting of first-week sales to a mere three days (reports track through Sunday in a given week) are cited among the chief objections. Read more.
Record Store Day 2015 Releases: The Spotify Playlist
Record Store Day is almost upon us! The full list of releases has been published, and there are three categories: Record Store Day Exclusive Release, Record Store Day Limited Run, and “Record Store Day First” Release. We’ve created a Spotify playlist to get you in the mood for some crate digging. Read more.
9 groovy facts about vinyl records
Perhaps the most famous records in the universe are the two copies of the Golden Record aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts. The records feature musical selections and spoken greetings in fifty-five languages. Read more.
Why we love independent record stores and Record Store Day
Record Store Day 2017 is on April 22nd, and we’re joining in to help celebrate the enduring importance and coolness of the independent record store. Five Disc Makers employees share favorite albums and why vinyl records have a particular place in their hearts when it comes to their love of and relationship to music.
Audio mastering for vinyl
If the music program is sibilant overall, the audio can be cut at a lower amplitude, which can help with the distortion caused by the high frequency information. The result, though, is a vinyl record that’s at a lower level, and the surface noise will be more prominent – not to mention, it’s not going to be comparable to other vinyl albums. Read more.
VNYL: the Netflix of vinyl albums?
Focused on providing a curated listening experience and an easy rental process, VNYL strives to be as intimate as possible. Each record is shipped with a paper sleeve insert and borrowers are encouraged to write comments and thoughts about the music directly on the sleeve, so that the vinyl albums’ travels can be documented. Read more.
Wax is back – and the vinyl record revival is good news for indie artists
Vinyl record sales are 26% from last year, and this vinyl record revival can be a sales driver for independent artists. According to Dan Faughnder of Sledding With Tigers, “Once we announced that our first vinyl record was in the pipeline, we received enough pre-orders to break even on the pressing cost before we got them from the plant.” Read more.
Designing your vinyl album cover to make it pop
Even though CDs and vinyl records both make use of similarly-proportioned circles and rectangles in their design templates, each format presents unique opportunities to create graphics that your fans will love. Here are some tips from experienced designers and album manufacturing product managers to help you craft an album design worthy of the music enclosed therein. Read more.
Why do you love vinyl records?
Here at Disc Makers, we’re all excited to see vinyl records come back onto the scene. As we’ve said before, it’s one of the more improbable stories in the music industry from the last decade, and while we sure do love CDs, there’s something almost magical about the return of vinyl. Do you feel the same way? Share your stories with us. Read More.
Back in the vinyl records business after 15 years!
There’s a unique pleasure in seeing a vinyl record getting pressed. The glob of vinyl between the stampers, the press closing and squishing the vinyl out the sides, pulling out a beautiful shiny disc. Legendary artists like DJ Jazzy Jeff, Celia Cruz, Big Black, Salt-N-Pepa, and Wu Tang Clan came off our Hamilton presses. Read More.
Happy Birthday to the 33 1/3 Microgroove LP!
Wired.com posted a little bit of music history today. On this day in 1948, "Columbia Records puts the needle down on history’s first successful microgroove plastic, 12-inch, 33-1/3 LP in New York, sparking a music-industry standard so strong that the digital age has yet to kill it." According to the post, there were several attempts to bring the microgroove plastic albums to market dating back to the early 30s, but technical difficulties, the Great Depression, and World War II forced its delay. Read more.