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posted by takyon on Thursday December 06 2018, @07:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the a-modern-classic dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Vinyl record production has finally joined the modern age

Viryl has developed a first-in-the-industry: A steamless system [for creating vinyl records] that will make massive boilers and piping systems a thing of the past. Not only does it obviate some of the costs and permits previously involved, but it also becomes a more environmentally friendly process. Vinyl record pressing has finally bootstrapped itself into the modern age on all counts and stands to encourage new pressing plants to support vinyl's resurgent popularity.

Traditionally, the molds used to stamp out vinyl discs are heated by steam which is delivered to the press from a boiler. Viryl's steamless module electrically heats water to the desired 285 degrees Fahrenheit so the molds can melt pucks of PVC into a record. This new method of heating, removes gas, the boiler and extensive plumbing from the equation.

This new setup is a closed system that can live right next to the press, allowing for a smaller footprint in your workspace. It also reduces water waste, although you'll still need cooling lines. One of the biggest factors here, though, is that no boiler means none of the treatment chemicals used to keep a boiler in working order, so the environment wins. A setup that requires less square footage could also make Viryl's new presses a more attractive solution when space is limited or at a premium. Existing customers luck out as well, since it's possible to retrofit presses with the new option.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by deimtee on Thursday December 06 2018, @10:21PM (7 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Thursday December 06 2018, @10:21PM (#770897) Journal

    You got a bunch of other smartarse replies, but really it is a combination. Being a Hipster is part of it, but the loudness wars are a major part. It really did fuck up a lot of music to compress the dynamic range and then record it all at the maximum amplitude. The vinyl producers didn't get into that as much, partly because they were old school and partly because vinyl just couldn't handle it.

    There are many albums that had different masters for CD and vinyl, and to many people the vinyl does sound better. It's not the medium, it's the content. I'm old enough I still have a bunch of vinyl records that I bought when CDs were just starting. Some of them I have re-acquired on CD, and the cheap 'just copy the same master to CD' versions are much better than vinyl, but the vinyl is often better than the 'remastered for CD' versions. It's because of the content, not the fidelity.

    The other major factor was the change in inter-component standards. Old systems had a standard 1 volt maximum signal between components, all the way up until the amplifier inputs. The CD manufacturers - supposedly for S/N ratio reasons - decided they wanted a 2 volt signal, and that drove many old systems into clipping. I think they changed the impedance from 50K ohms too. but I don't remember what to.

    --
    If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday December 06 2018, @11:35PM (4 children)

    by Immerman (3985) on Thursday December 06 2018, @11:35PM (#770937)

    Very much this. It's perhaps ironic, but it is a case of the technical inferiority of vinyl actually making it largely immune to the marketing machinations that crippled the quality of other formats.

    >If the proposed solution to a problem is a tax, then it is just an excuse to tax, not a real problem.
    May I offer an alternative?
    If the desired goal is to tax, then any problem, real or imagined, presents an opportunity to do so.

    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday December 07 2018, @12:53PM (3 children)

      by deimtee (3272) on Friday December 07 2018, @12:53PM (#771123) Journal

      "May I offer an alternative?
      If the desired goal is to tax, then any problem, real or imagined, presents an opportunity to do so."

      While I don't disagree, that has a slightly different focus. It refers to the desire to tax, mine is referring to whether or not a problem is real.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday December 07 2018, @02:51PM (2 children)

        by Immerman (3985) on Friday December 07 2018, @02:51PM (#771155)

        It's more than a slightly different focus, it's a logically incompatible statement.

        Yours says: if tax, then no problem.
        Mine says: if tax, then someone wants tax. (Nothing implied about problem.)

        Seems to me there's far too many taxes that have been implemented as (usually ineffective) "solutions" to real problems for your statement to be even passingly true.

        • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday December 07 2018, @04:10PM (1 child)

          by deimtee (3272) on Friday December 07 2018, @04:10PM (#771178) Journal

          I see what you mean. I have changed it slightly to emphasize more what I meant, as I was implying something about the problem, as well as the desire to tax. I think I could word it better, and will consider it further. :)

          --
          If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
          • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday December 07 2018, @09:19PM

            by Immerman (3985) on Friday December 07 2018, @09:19PM (#771308)

            I like it.

            It does feel like it's almost something really punchy, but no improvements spring to mind. Best of luck with it.

  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday December 07 2018, @08:38PM (1 child)

    by darkfeline (1030) on Friday December 07 2018, @08:38PM (#771296) Homepage

    The problem isn't the format, but the recording and mastering of modern pop music. There are good modern music, available in superior digital format.

    If these hipsters or audiophiles or whatever actually cared about the content, they would buy a vinyl, rip the audio into digital format, then sell the vinyl or keep it as a conversation piece, and possibly share the love on the Internet. Clearly that's not hipsters are using modern vinyls, so clearly hipsters don't care about the content, just the format.

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    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:57AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Saturday December 08 2018, @01:57AM (#771391) Journal

      Clearly there are different types of vinyl owners:

      I did in fact copy vinyl records to tape (and still use those tapes in one of my cars), and I am looking into digitising my old collection, just as soon as I have the time.
      I don't buy new vinyl records. If I don't like the way they master digital formats, I just don't buy it. Vote with your wallet.
      I very occasionally pick up a second hand one in a junk shop if it looks interesting or I recognize the artist as one I like.

      Some people are basically hobbyist vinyl players. They enjoy playing with the records. Their choice and personally I think it's a better hobby than stamp collecting.

      Some like to support the artists, so they don't digitize and put it on the net or take it from the net. Or they buy records because they like the cover art.

      The problems with interconnect standards mostly no longer apply, but they did establish an early bias in many users. And for some of those people, "Never forget, never forgive".

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.