You love music and so do we!
Everyone has that favorite song, album or artist and owning something by them that you can hold in your hands that not only looks great but sounds amazing too is just the surface of reasons why people are so drawn to the vinyl record format, and its only getting more and more popular- vinyl is back for good baby!
You’re new to the world of wax, welcome! Were glad ya here.
Whether you’re a brewing Audiophile (someone who obsesses over sound quality often seeking out the best equipment and the earliest pressings possible-why? Read on! Or a weekend create digger seeking out the classic albums from your childhood or maybe you don’t care as long as its Taylor swift on vinyl! Theres a slot in game for everyone!
It can get overwhelming the deeper you get down the rabbit hole…
where do I buy good records from?
are older records better than newer records?
What’s a good brand of turntable?
Wtf is a matrix number!?
This ones from the UK..
this ones from the U.S..
1st press, 2nd press, re press??
this one’s green
this one’s candy floss sunflower yellow.
this ones like 300bucks wtf!
12inch? 7inch? 10 inch 45, 33- huh??
Test pressing? Your testing my patience…
At the end of the day regardless of your knowledge you’re here because you love a vibe!
So, use this quick guide to get you started-take from it what ya may.
How vinyl records are made
Vinyl records are made like this. music is recorded. the recording is transferred from sound to micro vibrations that are send to a cutter that cut grooves into a lacquer disc from that the MASTER DISC is made- these come up for sale now and then and are super valuable- it’s the mummy of the vinyl that will be made from it.
Then they literally press melted wax into a plate made from the master disc (this is where the word ‘’pressing’’ comes from- look at us learning together!
From there they make TEST PRESSINGS to check the quality of the sound for defects etc- they might make 10-20 30 of these.. as many as they need to be happy with the sound, they are often sent off to the producers of the album or the band themselves! To get the final tick of approvable, these come up for sale all the time too and are highly desirable with audiophiles and collectors- 10,000 records might be made from one master disc, and you have one of the first! See the allure?... Yeah, ya do.
So.. masters kinda wear down overtime with all that pressing into hot wax and what not, sooo what do they do? Make another master and do another press run! Welcome to the world of pressings, ya welcome! How to tell what pressing you have? Read on!
RE PRESSES
Now that vinyl is coming back record labels are re pressing old albums for sale again, now often these are made with NEW masters from digital recordings- not as good as the original
Or if you see ORGINAL MASTERING that means they dug up an original master from the shed and did another pressing with the same disc as back in the day- ya following?
Different record labels have multiple pressing plants worldwide to save on shipping, taxes and imports so often you’ll see 1st Australian press or 1st U.K press or 2ND U.S press and the value depends on the origin of the band/record label
1st pressings are commonly worth more unless other pressings have a rare thing about them like a limited press run or a defect etc. For example, a Beatles record that’s “made in great Britain” would be worth more than an Australian press because the UK version would have been released first in the UK, whereas a “men at work” 1st Australian press is worth more than any other country because it was 1st release in Australia—both for sale at www.craterrecords.com no big deal, moving on.
Colour variants are just marketing gimmicks for collectors, they are rad Tho, no shame in the colour game!- some nerds will say that coloured wax doesn’t sound as good as black wax due to the different materials and temperatures used to heat the wax, but who knows? Find out for ya self!
MATRIX NUMBERS
Hey bro is that the -1 or -2 matrix oh its an XEX rad bro…huh?
A matrix number is a tiny hard to see number that is in the RUN OUT GROOVE or DEAD WAX( you’ll be able to sound like a tool in any record store now with all this crazy slang, the run out groove is the smooth black part in Centre of the vinyl- when the person who makes the master disc ( called the mastering engineer) they scratch what is called a matrix number on it- go grab a record and hold it up to the light you’ll see it. This number holds information such as weather its MONO or STEREO hang on ill get there… where the vinyl was mastered and what pressing it is. this is told from a -1 at the end of the number.
for example.
The Beatles revolver – for sale at crater records.com shameless plug no big deal. Has the matrix XEX-605-2… the xex tells you the format (mono) the -2 says it’s a second pressing!
Mono was how sound was recorded before stereo came about- so without complicating it too much. mono records are older than stereo records and usually more sort after.
lastly! almost there, calm down... records come in different sizes, and types heres a quick summary
LP-stands for "long play"- its a standard album thats all
EP- stands for- extended play- its and extended version of a single song-usually just a record with 4 or 5 songs on it
45s/7inch-(small records) 45 refers to 45rmp (the speed needed on your turntable to play it) 7inch is the size of the vinyl
12 inch/33rpm- a normal sized record- needs 33 REVOLATIONS PER MINUTE record players have a switch that allows you change speeds.
10inch- a medium sized record- usually for EPs
Now I’ve either put you off records for good or hopefully just poured petrol on that spark of yours!
Take what you can from this info and use it as a rough guide to understand what your buying!
You now know about. mastering, pressings, colour variants, country of origin, format, matrix numbers-
Keep and eye out for the next post about types of turntables and vinyl accessories.
Or not, I’m not ya boss.
Thanks!