|
Good grief. That is way too expensive. I thought by
now they would have some nifty machine that would just crank them out like
Shrinky Dinks.
Maybe we should rebel against vinyl and go back to,
was it wax? :) You know, we can record with one of those machines with the
horn on it that transfers the sound waves to a wax album.
Kris
----- Original Message -----
Well, sort of. Here's a story:
Back in the mid-90's, I worked at a indie record store.
There were literally a half-dozen micro labels being run out of the back
room by the various buyers and clerks. Most of them were putting out
some percentage of vinyl--45's, EP's and LP's. One guy decided that it
would be better to buy his own equipment and press his own vinyl, and then
offer that service to others (he was thinking of a co-op style arrangment).
In the days before eBay, or even widespread net access he managed to
hunt down the smallest vinyl pressing setup he could find, several states
away. As I recall, it cost $20K to get it bought and delivered. It
was industrial grade machinery--big heavy things that get moved by several
guys, put down and bolted to the concrete floor. He had had some money
(despite working in a record store...) and a few investors.
Then he found he needed another $20K in permits, licensing, electrical
upgrades, plumbing upgrades, fire alarms, toxic waste disposal, etc.
Before he could even switch the thing on. More investors are
found. The necessary work is done. Then he had to learn how to
press vinyl. It's not like running a Xerox machine, it's more akin to
running an off-set printing press, and takes a lot of instruction and
practice. He went through hundreds of bad pressings--warped, off-center,
cracked, and so on. All of which was costly in terms of time--you had to
set aside a day to do this, and monetarily. Raw vinyl is not free,
electricity, etc. After six months, he gave up and sold it all off to
someone else at a tremendous loss.
So, I'd say unless you're going to go into it whole hog and run it as a
business full time for the next five years, I suspect it's not an viable
option. Maybe things have changed in the last decade or so.
TH
On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 9:02 AM, Krispen Hartung <info@krispenhartung.com>
wrote:
Also,
is it possible to make your own vinyl? Is there equipment you can buy to
press your
own?
Kris
|
