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Vinyl Record Production Gets a Much-Needed Tech Upgrade

posted by on Monday February 06 2017, @10:03AM   
from the you-spin-me-right-round,-baby dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Ever wondered why you sometimes have to wait months after an album's launch to get the music on vinyl? It's not necessarily because the label hates vinyl — in many cases, it's because the decades-old manufacturing process can't keep up with the format's resurgence. Relief may be in sight for turntable fans, though. Viryl Technologies is producing a pressing machine system, WarmTone, that should drag vinyl production into the modern era.

Much of WarmTone's improvement rests in its use of modern engineering. It's more reliable when producing the "pucks" that become records, makes it easier to switch out stampers (the negatives that press records) and sports a trimming/stacking system that can better handle large-scale production. Also, there's a raft of sensors -- the machine checks everything from pressure to temperature to timing, so companies will immediately know if something goes wrong.

Logically, the interface has been spruced up as well. Touchscreens help control the pressing machine on-site, and workers can check on the state of the machine from their computer or phone.

Source:

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/29/vinyl-record-production-tech-upgrade/

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Original Submission

• Pearls before swine. Pearls before swine. (Score: 3, Insightful) by RamiK on Monday February 06 2017, @12:58PM

  by RamiK (1813) on Monday February 06 2017, @12:58PM (#463392)

  Might as well use CNC machining to produce sledgehammers while you're at it.

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• Re:Pearls before swine. Re:Pearls before swine. (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday February 06 2017, @04:11PM

  by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Monday February 06 2017, @04:11PM (#463475) Homepage Journal

  As long as they're recording digitally, you're right. Digital has better dynamics (that are seldom if ever used) and no noise, but it's also hindered by rounding errors, as everything digital does. Any signal that goes through an A-D converter will have the disadvantages of both and the advantages of neither. Most people (including myself) can't afford good enough equipment for it to matter, anyway.

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  • Re:Pearls before swine. (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @04:05AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @04:05AM (#463885)

    Digital has better dynamics (that are seldom if ever used) and no noise, but it's also hindered by rounding errors, as everything digital does

    Except in all cases the rounding errors are removed and replaced with noise, a lot less noise than you would get on any analog medium.

    Any signal that goes through an A-D converter will have the disadvantages of both and the advantages of neither.

    There is no advantage of analog. Records and tape are inferior in every way to a CD. Aside from DJ's who's art is defined by physically manipulating records, LP's have only the advantage that the large cover is better suited for displaying artwork and rolling a fatty.

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• Re:Pearls before swine. (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 06 2017, @05:04PM

  by DannyB (5839) on Monday February 06 2017, @05:04PM (#463513) Journal

  Might as well use CNC machining to produce sledgehammers while you're at it.

  A high tech vinyl record production process is needed.

  Old records become ever more scarce. Yet demand continues for vinyl records that can be scratched up by nightclub artists / DJs.

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