@Lincoln Hirschi actually it was cassettes not the CD that were threatening their extinction. Cassettes were portable and you could play them in your car and on a Walkman.
They offer tours of their pressing plant and mastering facility in Detroit for $10. If you're into music, vinyl, and find yourself in Detroit, I highly recommend doing the tour and checking out their location.
@@jacklawer6389 Even back in 2020, LPs went for about $20, and if it's a double LP, maybe $30, but now, like you said, a single record can cost you $40 and up. It's crazy.
I've always thought it was cool that they hand write information on the record in the area around the label. Sometimes they even put random messages there.
worth to say, they use an old way of pressing - with lacquer cut. In mid 80s DMM was invented - Direct Metal Mastering - without a lacquer cut step, so it makes a whole process cheaper and gives a better sound quality
I guess the thing is that vinyl lovers *like* doing things the old way. If they were looking for "cheaper and better sound quality" they wouldn't be buying vinyl in the first place.
I worked in a shop that cleaned and prepped the frames for the screens that were used in CD illustrations. It was one of the most fulfilling jobs I ever had.
@@GodWeenSatan The picture is imprinted on flat PVC and then a grooved film with the audio is stuck on top. That's why picture discs don't sound that great.
This is fantastic to see! We currently have a record being pressed at Third Man and should have our first test pressings in the coming weeks. eeek! Thanks for posting this
Vinyl is such a cool format. I'm super interested in all things analog and learning about how all this stuff is made and how they were is so interesting
@@1998Danielonwell when the US invaded Iraq, "WMD" (weapons of mass destruction) was a term everyone was throwing around a lot. Unfortunate that this guy has to share his initials with that acronym
I found my grandpa's old record player that i didn't know it existed and i have used it for some days now with some old disks. It has some problems with the speed that i am going to fix but i must say. Even in wrong speed, it felt so good listening to this. Exactly what they say at the end of the video
i have been collecting for about five years and just got into serious collecting. i bought an olivia rodrigo vinyl on record store day black friday this year and it was pressed here. it is so cool to see how my favorite record was made!
Seeing them make these and the process it takes to make a vinyl makes me appreciate them even more. The people making them and the vinyls. I’m so glad we still have these being made and people who still know how to make them properly. Makes me want to buy one lol
This a much more hands-on approach than record production used to be. The commercial machines of yore were almost fully automated, dropping the biscuit' into place, placing the lables, pressing, trimming the flash, popping out the new LP while the next biscuit drops in, a continuous process that could produce hundreds of LP's a shift. Pressing plants once ran 24 hours a day.
I feel like some artists must not put a lot of time into testing their vinyl pressings lately... some have been not up to snuff! (fascinating video btw love it!)
I just got a bad vinyl a couple days ago and I’m sad. It was on light yellow. I guess I now just have a pretty souvenir instead of a record I will love to dance to.
Lots of releases can be poor quality. I usually check discogs before purchasing to see if anyone has any comments on the pressing quality. The new NIN Pretty Hate Machine barely plays for me unless I change the weight on my tone arm.
What I can’t quite get my head around is how all those different instruments and vocals of a song are cut onto the lacquer. When you look at a vinyl record you can see the grooves, but how do you get the sound of the music on to it?
Kind of like a microphone that moves in reaction to sound waves and a speaker that mechanically reproduces the sound. The needle that cut the grooves is reproduced by the needle that plays it back
@@slipstreamvids7422 But what is the mechanism that allows individual tracks of an albums to be PLACED onto the vinyl? I don’t think that was made clear in the video.
I was hoping to learn HOWWW music gets transfered/etched into a vinyl? How do they make sure that all the sounds of an album somehow gets «installed» in a vinyl? Are you telling me that the initial etching phase is the process that installs the songs on the vinyl? How can you transfer a heavy metal song with unique vocals and instruments over to this medium? I don’t get iiiiiiit🤯
“I used to put my initials WMD and someone was like ‘that’s a little bit weird’ so now I just abbreviate my initials to WAR.” That is some top tier, grade A malicious compliance right there.
This was insane to watch, the details 💫 one can learn a lot working there I bet. That green colored vinyl 🖼️❤️🔥 I didn’t know that colored ones don’t sound as good as the traditional black vinyls
always glad to see vinyl records being pressed, in hopes that such information will finally kill off the ignorance that there is a mold release compound that needs to be cleaned off of a new record. Some say the secondary distortions and such, that are the same ones that human hearing evolved over centuries to process sound in nature , verses the very different distortion artifacts created by digital , is the reason some people prefer vinyl playback , even though it measures as inferior to digital playback , generally.
Nothing is better than the record stores and lp records of all your favorite artists.. tower records and licorice pizza record stores were the best ! Hated to see them go. Glad somebody's on it again. Everybody, I mean EVERYBODY including your grandma collected records.
It's played normally. The lathe is basically a reverse record player. The audio signal vibrates the cutting head, which cuts the audio waveforms into the lacquer.
I never really knew how long it takes to make one vinyl album but cool to see and cool to see that company keeping vinyl alive I’m trying to buy as much so I can keep it alive for decades maybe pass it onto my kids if I ever have any but I’m 19 almost 20 and I’ve been collecting for years and it’s fun to do even better going to a record store to look for things you weren’t looking for till you saw it but vinyl is great
I was asking myself the same question but i would guess that, by having a different colour of the same matterial its maleability changes and the vibrations are absorbed easier by the disk. I dont know for sure
Hello, Thanks for your video, I have a question To make the stampers you use lacquer, will the manufacturing of the stampers destroy the lacquer or after the manufacturing of the stampers the lacquer still exists? Thanks
Hi, thanks for the videos. I wanted to ask you about an LP released in 2024. On the record between the label and the music section, among other numbers there is 1B. Does this mean this is the first press in the production line?
Went to their store on Nashville.. Store was beautiful unfortunately didn't carry any of my genres of music. If you're into indie rock you will be in heaven.
I wanna know where the "make it defective" part comes into play since 4 out of every 10 LP's I buy "New" have to go back defective. Some multiple times. You know, some new stylus replacements are expensive
Still doesn't makes sense how anyone ever thought of this process to the point it makes a sound. This is amazing but the thought this works and makes sense is crazy
So freaking cool I just checked my Olivia Rodrigo the secret tracks, that was pressed at third man, to look at the matrix etching & there’s your abbreviated name “WAR” on the vinyl✨
So glad that people still want to hear music in this format. Hopefully it never becomes a lost art.
Yeah they're doing very well, I'm very young (basically shouldn't even know what records are) and I love collecting them!
i dont think it’ll die down soon… manufacturers in fact do need to keep up with the high demands though (which is easier said than done).
But the mastering is becoming a lost art sadly. So is quality control. So many records these days are warped or off center.
@@myopiczeal you love the obsolescent culture don’t you
@Lincoln Hirschi actually it was cassettes not the CD that were threatening their extinction. Cassettes were portable and you could play them in your car and on a Walkman.
They offer tours of their pressing plant and mastering facility in Detroit for $10. If you're into music, vinyl, and find yourself in Detroit, I highly recommend doing the tour and checking out their location.
Thanks for the info. 10 bucks is a bargain
Retro
I hope I don't find myself in Detroit, but good to know!
@@KaijuFan7000 Every place has it's problems.
@@DanielSchmidt94521 i'm aware, just kidding around
As a musician, once you stamp your own record of your own music, it must be the best feeling in the world.
Was my favourite moment ever unpacking and holding my first album on vinyl
@@murraymurray8111 agreed, my first picture disc was very important as well
Yeah hearing my first spotify song in 128kbps was the best feeling
the 'as a musician' was so not needed in this comment, no one cares.
@@ElleReekay what? I don’t think they're even talking about themselves, they’re just saying that it must be cool for people who ARE musicians
Makes me understand why they're so expensive, also makes me question how the first record/mass produced records were made
pretty much exactly the same way
They don't need to be expensive that's a marketing thing they could be half the price...
Back in the 70's 8 bucks for a record, now like 40
Rip off
@Jack Lawer 8 dollars in the 70's also has as much buying power as around $60 today lol
@@jacklawer6389 Even back in 2020, LPs went for about $20, and if it's a double LP, maybe $30, but now, like you said, a single record can cost you $40 and up. It's crazy.
I've always thought it was cool that they hand write information on the record in the area around the label. Sometimes they even put random messages there.
Yeah, i was gonna play one of my metallica records and i saw by the label it said "vinyl up your a*s" 💀
Often the mastering engineer. Prime example was George Peckham "a porky prime cut...."
I have Metallica master of puppets remastered. It has “obey your remaster” etched in.
@@joshuabaca6257 also says that on the plastic wrapper over the cover art if I’m not mistaken
On one of my vinyls the A side says Hi and the B side says Turn me over 😂
The vinyl record making process is really groovy.
please leave dad
Wait................ It's that why groovy means cool??????????? 😱👍
Jopo... go to your room.
Badum shhhh
So are the folks that make them.
Thank you to Jack White and the whole Third Man crew of experts for keeping this beautiful craft alive!
Lol it's not a losing art
@@ahsenserhat9270 it has its audience but it's still niche, like the guy in the video said too there's only one company making the lacquer they need
since 2022, Vinyl has surpassed CDs in Popularity. The Format is in fact making an all-time comeback.
worth to say, they use an old way of pressing - with lacquer cut. In mid 80s DMM was invented - Direct Metal Mastering - without a lacquer cut step, so it makes a whole process cheaper and gives a better sound quality
I guess the thing is that vinyl lovers *like* doing things the old way. If they were looking for "cheaper and better sound quality" they wouldn't be buying vinyl in the first place.
@@frankviggiano5090I’m a vinyl lover and I would like to get my records for cheaper and with better sound quality so speak for yourself brahbrah
DMM makes the sound worse. Lacquer cut has always been superior.
@@SuperBROKEN81 “new bad, old good”
Jack is THE MAN for keeping this medium alive!!! Shout out to this very skilled crew as well… 🏆 🏆
Uh no, he is not. But he helps.
vinyl rules not just the sound but the amazing artwork and additional information they can put in it can be so interesting ...
This process is pure magic. I just wish there was better quality control these days
One of my records has two B sides, looking at the process I have no idea how that's even possible but they managed it.
This video is why you should keep your records with love and care. This thing has soul in it ❤
I worked in a shop that cleaned and prepped the frames for the screens that were used in CD illustrations. It was one of the most fulfilling jobs I ever had.
Never knew how Vinyl Records are actually made, until now.
The different colors are also a nice addition they can give to the vinyl records.
It's like eating a beautiful sandwich.
And then you have picture discs and even odd shaped ones.
@@KayoMichiels i would like to see how they make the pictured ones
@@GodWeenSatan Probably quite uninteresting. Picture discs are just prints of an image pressed between two transparent plastic discs
@@GodWeenSatan The picture is imprinted on flat PVC and then a grooved film with the audio is stuck on top. That's why picture discs don't sound that great.
And to think that as of the 1st of March 2023 - Dark Side of The Moon has been continually pressed for 50 years. And still going strong.
This is fantastic to see! We currently have a record being pressed at Third Man and should have our first test pressings in the coming weeks. eeek! Thanks for posting this
Vinyl is such a cool format. I'm super interested in all things analog and learning about how all this stuff is made and how they were is so interesting
I like how instead of writing WMD, which could be interpreted as weapons of mass destruction, he writes WAR instead
hahahaha I didn´t think of it potentially meaning 'weapons of mass destruction'! :D But it's cool to see another point of view on it.
@@1998Danielonwell when the US invaded Iraq, "WMD" (weapons of mass destruction) was a term everyone was throwing around a lot. Unfortunate that this guy has to share his initials with that acronym
That’s exactly what I took WMD to mean, I love how he didn’t give in.
that outro explanation on what vinyl music really is awesome.
I like to display my records and see what kind of music I prefer!
Thank you to all the staff.
This was amazing to watch. What a meticulous process all the way through. Vinyl is the best sounding medium and this video shows us why
I found my grandpa's old record player that i didn't know it existed and i have used it for some days now with some old disks. It has some problems with the speed that i am going to fix but i must say. Even in wrong speed, it felt so good listening to this. Exactly what they say at the end of the video
i have been collecting for about five years and just got into serious collecting. i bought an olivia rodrigo vinyl on record store day black friday this year and it was pressed here. it is so cool to see how my favorite record was made!
So glad to have 3rd Man around, they saved records. Hope we get more production so lead times cut down some. Cheers
The sound when stylus lands on records is one of the best feeling
Third man records owned by the one and only Jack White
Yes, that is the very first thing in the description
Is he famous?
Cool
Also exclusive recording and pressing of Adam Savage!
And Eddie Gillis, around 6:00, is his brother.
The making of a vinyl makes me love the vinyl even more.
Listening to an old vinyl on some modern , powered speakers... man, it sounds so dang good
This is wrong, I still think they're made by magic
Same
Lol.
bros in denial
Seeing them make these and the process it takes to make a vinyl makes me appreciate them even more. The people making them and the vinyls. I’m so glad we still have these being made and people who still know how to make them properly. Makes me want to buy one lol
This a much more hands-on approach than record production used to be. The commercial machines of yore were almost fully automated, dropping the biscuit' into place, placing the lables, pressing, trimming the flash, popping out the new LP while the next biscuit drops in, a continuous process that could produce hundreds of LP's a shift. Pressing plants once ran 24 hours a day.
I feel like some artists must not put a lot of time into testing their vinyl pressings lately... some have been not up to snuff! (fascinating video btw love it!)
Really gives more appreciation to the final product amazing talent! Thank You
I just got a bad vinyl a couple days ago and I’m sad. It was on light yellow. I guess I now just have a pretty souvenir instead of a record I will love to dance to.
Lots of releases can be poor quality. I usually check discogs before purchasing to see if anyone has any comments on the pressing quality. The new NIN Pretty Hate Machine barely plays for me unless I change the weight on my tone arm.
As a long time Jack White fan and a Detroit native myself, I am very excited to see the empire that Jack's built for himself.
What I can’t quite get my head around is how all those different instruments and vocals of a song are cut onto the lacquer.
When you look at a vinyl record you can see the grooves, but how do you get the sound of the music on to it?
Exactly what I thought
My exact question. I thought they’d explain that crucial part.
Kind of like a microphone that moves in reaction to sound waves and a speaker that mechanically reproduces the sound. The needle that cut the grooves is reproduced by the needle that plays it back
@@slipstreamvids7422 But what is the mechanism that allows individual tracks of an albums to be PLACED onto the vinyl? I don’t think that was made clear in the video.
Man this is exactly what's mind boggling to me. I just can't wrap my head around it
I’m glad they uploaded this video yesterday I had a conversation about how these are made, funny coincidence
Imagine the person or persons that invented this complicated process! Brilliant!!!
Imagine Thomas Edison, Emile Berliner and Peter Goldmark.
I was hoping to learn HOWWW music gets transfered/etched into a vinyl? How do they make sure that all the sounds of an album somehow gets «installed» in a vinyl?
Are you telling me that the initial etching phase is the process that installs the songs on the vinyl? How can you transfer a heavy metal song with unique vocals and instruments over to this medium? I don’t get iiiiiiit🤯
Amazing. The needle moves left and right, also up and down. That gives you the sound and separation.
You seem like you're really struggling..
@@michaelwoods9005 yep, I still don’t understand this
Having Warren Defever (His Name is Alive) as the mastering guru is the best career decision Jack has ever made.
Wired- You need to check out Hand Drawn Records vinyl pressing machines in Addison, Texas. Some of the coolest machines.
Their workwear attire is fire! Would love to cop a button down like that
6:00 OMG i can't imagine myself working on audio quality check because I'd hate SO many songs just by hearing it over and over again..
I would like to see how they transfer the studio onto the record or CD and then make millions of copies of the same thing
... You just did.
Almost a lost art. Thank god for these artists. Got my records out of closet & Pioneer 518 & Technics 1600 mk2 . They sound like yesterday,lol😊
“I used to put my initials WMD and someone was like ‘that’s a little bit weird’ so now I just abbreviate my initials to WAR.”
That is some top tier, grade A malicious compliance right there.
This was insane to watch, the details 💫 one can learn a lot working there I bet. That green colored vinyl 🖼️❤️🔥 I didn’t know that colored ones don’t sound as good as the traditional black vinyls
It's not true. If there was a superior sounding color, it would be clear (transparent vinyl) anyways.
@@j.taylor8615 May I ask why?
It was a joke, the color makes 0 difference except for maybe heat absorption which would make 0 noticeable difference.
First time I ever saw the process it is so cool. Thank you for making a video.
Love the workers at 7:11 just using their bare hands😬
always glad to see vinyl records being pressed, in hopes that such information will finally kill off the ignorance that there is a mold release compound that needs to be cleaned off of a new record.
Some say the secondary distortions and such, that are the same ones that human hearing evolved over centuries to process sound in nature , verses the very different distortion artifacts created by digital , is the reason some people prefer vinyl playback , even though it measures as inferior to digital playback , generally.
Its so interesting on how vinyls are made. I love vinyls so much. The sound is just incredible and I love it. I'm glad to be able to get them :)
dad and step mom are in this!!! ❤
Just got my first record player today and 3 Perry Como vinyls, in love with this new hobby
Nothing is better than the record stores and lp records of all your favorite artists.. tower records and licorice pizza record stores were the best ! Hated to see them go. Glad somebody's on it again.
Everybody, I mean EVERYBODY including your grandma collected records.
@1:32 for 19min per side lpi must be around 180 and not 300-400
Thanks Jack White for keeping this tradition alive!
How does the cutting machine know what grooves to make for the lacquer? Is there a track played into it backwards or something?
It's played normally. The lathe is basically a reverse record player. The audio signal vibrates the cutting head, which cuts the audio waveforms into the lacquer.
I never really knew how long it takes to make one vinyl album but cool to see and cool to see that company keeping vinyl alive I’m trying to buy as much so I can keep it alive for decades maybe pass it onto my kids if I ever have any but I’m 19 almost 20 and I’ve been collecting for years and it’s fun to do even better going to a record store to look for things you weren’t looking for till you saw it but vinyl is great
I may romanticize it but i love how it is still an handmade craft which in my experience is so much more personal when i put a record on.
That was fascinating. I've always wondered how this was done. Now I know. Thanks!
Love this kind of content
Like an analogue photography often the imperfectness are the new perfectness. Old record with not smooth sound often made it awesome
I love that bit. “I used to put my initials, WMD, but a that was a bit weird. So now I just put WAR”. Hilarious
5:35 How can the colour of the record change the sound of it?! How can black vinyl always sound best?
I was asking myself the same question but i would guess that, by having a different colour of the same matterial its maleability changes and the vibrations are absorbed easier by the disk. I dont know for sure
Can we all appreciate how nice quality wired is
The cutting head appears to be a linear tracking setup..the room air is scrubbed to clean room standards?
Great Video!!! I always wanted to see how records are made. Thank You for sharing this!!!
What song is in 0:13
Turtleneck - Martin Landström
I just shazam-ed it.
Hello,
Thanks for your video, I have a question
To make the stampers you use lacquer, will the manufacturing of the stampers destroy the lacquer or after the manufacturing of the stampers the lacquer still exists?
Thanks
So maybe someone can explain how brand new (180 gram) records arrive "warped" and why many records are electronically charged when first opened.
Now if bands could only get their records pressed in less than 12 months, that would be killer
0:14 hole punched off centre. Common issue with new records. Great advertisement for new vinyl enthusiasts!!!
Nobody's mentioned yet that Warren Defever is a great music in his own right. His Name Is Alive!
The vinyl record-making process is really Amazing - Techrewinds
Hi, thanks for the videos. I wanted to ask you about an LP released in 2024. On the record between the label and the music section, among other numbers there is 1B. Does this mean this is the first press in the production line?
What happened to the DMM process, where the lacquer is copper?
Brb, just gonna check every single disk in my collection for "WMD" or "WAR" etchings...
Vinyl is the real deal. Thank you for this. And It's W.O.W. !!!
How about the thing before being coated in lacquer?
This is just like an old school episode of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He used to have the cool featurettes at factories and show how things were made.
Does anyone have a complete list of Third Man Records releases that feature hidden tracks?
Been collecting for over 40 years … will never stop! It’s not called black crack for no reason.
how much do the audio quality guys get paid. sounds like a dream job
It might be part of another job!
what was the song at 4:30?
The Neumann 😍
Only ever seen one in person. You're so lucky!!!!!!
Vinyl records make music sound warm. The snaps pops cracks all add to the experience!
snaps and pops means your vinyl needs cleaning. It's not a good thing
I love the crackles and stuff, makes me think that im sitting by a fire
Depend on your sound system
I'm gonna look for an in-depth video on this. I got the gist of it, but there were so many words I didn't know!
Went to their store on Nashville.. Store was beautiful unfortunately didn't carry any of my genres of music. If you're into indie rock you will be in heaven.
I wanna know where the "make it defective" part comes into play since 4 out of every 10 LP's I buy "New" have to go back defective. Some multiple times. You know, some new stylus replacements are expensive
Why cleaning with nitrogen? Can you close the cutting method on vacuum?
Nitrogen is neitral for the most part
Records are waffles that play music, amazing
I don't miss all the popping and noise on recordings - nothing beats the vinyl look and feel though
So cool!! Gotta love Jack White and Third Man Records! 🤘🥃
Still doesn't makes sense how anyone ever thought of this process to the point it makes a sound. This is amazing but the thought this works and makes sense is crazy
Very cool. Thanks for posting.
So they clean the silver nitrate disc with WD40and a cloth ?
Cheers
So freaking cool I just checked my Olivia Rodrigo the secret tracks, that was pressed at third man, to look at the matrix etching & there’s your abbreviated name “WAR” on the vinyl✨
*_Would it have been hard to explain the different speeds, what a half-speed-master is etc, etc?_*
Is there a release agent on the press?
Since each color has a different melting point, how are splattered and split colored records done?
5:30 Different colors sound differently? Black sounds the best? Hmm.
No
No, that doesn't make sense. The sound is made by the stylus going around the grooves
@@Ganner84but many of my friends told me that classic 12 inch is better than splatters. There's something about it 🤷♂️