The beauty of buying vinyl online is the fact that you can find just about every release from just about any artist you can imagine. It doesn’t matter the genre, the year, or the type. Whether it is Discogs, eBay, or any one of the many independent record shops with an online presence, you are sure to find what you are looking for.
Those of us who have been in the vinyl game for a while know that not every pressing was created equal. Quality of sound on vinyl varies from pressing to pressing. It also varies from mastering engineer to mastering engineer. However, if you are determined to acquire the best available vinyl pressing of your favorite albums and you are willing to put in the work, you can achieve your goal. The work comes in many forms and includes sifting through release after release to find the “one” that is deemed to be the best.
And this is where the run down the rabbit hole begins. What sounds the best varies from person to person. Music is a very personal experience. We all have a preference when it comes to what sounds good to our ear. Some people love a lot of bass. Some like higher highs. Some like the vocals up front. Some like vocal blended with the other instruments. Everyone has a sound they like and a sound they do not like. It is also true that one person can hear a record very differently from another. The goal is to find what satisfies your ear and your listening preferences.
This is important because a listening experience that is outside our preference can become fatiguing to our ear. For example, one person can listen to Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs One-Step Ultra Disc release of Van Halen’s self-titled debut and think it sounds too bright and overly EQ’d, while another will swear it is the best the album has ever sounded. Just read the Discogs reviews of this album and you'll see what we mean. Who’s right? I don’t know, but what I do know is that there are many factors that contribute to how a record sounds. But if you think it is too bright your ear will tire of the record quicky. Especially at high volume.
In the Van Halen example given above, one factor that could contribute to a bright sounding album is certainly how the record was mastered. However, it can also be the system on which it is being played. Some cartridges tend to play bright. Turn tables, phono amps, preamps, amps, and speakers also contribute to how a record sounds.
Back to the rabbit hole. You can spend hour upon hour online going from one forum to another and one online sales platform after another seeking opinions about the best sounding version of a specific album. The trouble is that by the time you’ve invested way too many hours to count you may find that you are not much further along than when you started. So, what is an unsuspecting collector to do?
We suggest that you get to know a little about what you like and don’t like. Then, use that knowledge to find albums that fit those preferences. Here are a few suggestions that might help streamline the process, save a little time, and quite possibly a lot of money.
Pressing Quality – Determine up front if you are looking for an audiophile quality release, an above average release, or a mainstream mass-produced release. If it is an audiophile release you are looking for, there are a few labels you’ll want to get to know. You can learn more by reading our blog The Value Versus the Cost of Premium Vinyl: Labels, Mastering, and Manufacturing.
Vinyl Weight – Does the weight of the vinyl matter to you? Some people want heavyweight vinyl. Others do not care. Does the weight of the vinyl really matter to the sound? It really doesn’t. However, the advantages of heavier weight vinyl is that it tends to be less likely to arrive to you warped. Heavy vinyl also tends to store better and subsequently lay flatter on the turntable after years of sitting on a shelf or in a crate. Outside of that, a well mastered and well manufactured 140-gram record can sound just as good as a 200-gram record. You can learn more about vinyl weight by reading our blog The Weight. Does heavier weight vinyl matter or does it merely place a load right on your wallet?
Pressing Plant – Pressing plant matters almost as much as the mastering engineer, which we will discuss next. There are pressing plants with great reputations and some that are not viewed as fondly. Plants that tend to pay better attention to quality are Record Technology Incorporated (RTI), Quality Records Pressing (QRP), and Pallas. There are others, however, these three tend to have consistent high-quality results. This does not mean that they do not have bad days. They do. But more times than not they will deliver a quality product. Third-Man Records, Optimal, and Record Industry have been coming on recently and seem to be focused more and more on quality.
Some that are not so great are the likes of GZ, MPO, Memphis Record Pressing, and United Record Pressing just to name a few. This is not to say that these pressing plants cannot put out a quality product, because they can. They simply seem to be the plants where we see the most complaints and have experienced firsthand lower quality (e.g., firty, pops and clicks, rough edges, non-fill, etc.). That said, these plants also seem to be the ones mass producing albums for some of the biggest names in the business. Those discussed above are plants that have come into the industry over the last 20 years or so.
Those producers of vinyl that had a good reputation for pressing quality records during the heyday of vinyl (50s – 60s) are the likes of Columbia, Capitol red label, RCA, A&M, etc. Keep in mind that the oil crisis of the 70s is said to have had an impact on vinyl quality. We haven't experienced that on 1st run records from the 70s. However, some reissues we've heard have been less than stellar. But what was happening then is no different than what we experience today with mass produced records.
Mastering – A poorly mastered album pressed at a plant that produces the highest quality records will still sound bad. Sibilance on high quality vinyl sounds horrible and almost worse than on low quality vinyl because the vinyl tends to be quieter. The quiet vinyl simply makes it stand out more. A well mastered album can stand a chance of sounding pretty good from an average quality pressing plant. However, a poorly mastered album stands no chance on any vinyl, high or low quality.
Get to know mastering engineers and identify the ones that tend to play to your ear. Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, Chris Bellman, Bernie Grundman, Ryan K. Smith, George Marino, Robert Ludwig, Randy Merrill, Collin Leonard, Chris Athens, Chris Gehringer, Dave Kutch, Emerson Mancini, Dale Becker, Joe LaPorta, and more. The list goes on and on. There are a lot of great ones. However, there are millions of records released every year. While this list seems long, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of mastering engineers working on records daily. Not all are at the level of those listed above. Get to know who you prefer and who tends to create the sound you like. If you know this and lean toward records mastered by your favorite engineers, the odds are you’ll be happier with the sound more often than not.
Finally, regarding mastering, decide up front if analog only matters to you. Are you okay with a digital source being used to produce the album? If not, seek only those that indicate “original tapes” were used in the mastering of the record. Some will use tape copies. Others a high-resolution digital file. We prefer all analog pressings. However, there are some great sounding records that incorporate a digital step or are completely digital. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs One-Step Ultra Disc release of Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly is a great example.
Condition – This may seem straight forward, but it is not. One person’s view on condition can vary greatly from another. We tend to only go for Mint (M or M-) or Near Mint (NM) when buying records online. This is not to say that you cannot find a very fine record that is rated Excellent (EX) or Very Good (VG+ or VG). However, more times than not we have found that even those who think their record is NM actually have a VG+ or VG record. Most people grade liberally. Possibly because they want as much money for their record as they can get. Possibly because they know you won't go through the hassle of returning a record. No matter the reason, it is more likely that they value their record higher because it is theirs. They’d also likely grade the same record from someone else in the same condition lower than theirs. This is a real thing. See The Endowment Effect to learn more about this phenomenon we are all subject.
So, what can you do to protect yourself? Before committing to buying an album online, message the owner and ask them to confirm the condition. Share your view about what makes up the condition they have the album listed as. For example, to us Near Mint means a nearly perfect record. The vinyl is like new and possibly never played. No scuffs or swipe marks from paper sleeves. A Near Mint cover would be near perfect as well. No dings, bumps, ring wear, discoloration, or perforations. Again, like new. If the owner shares something lower than your expectation, go on to another seller or if you really want it, negotiate a lower price that is more in line with the actual value of the record given the condition.
By taking this step before committing to a purchase you can save yourself a lot of frustration and headaches. It is very disappointing to receive a record that is not in the condition advertised. It is also a hassle to go through the process of trying to get a refund and send a record back to the buyer. I’ll share our experience with this in the next item. One final thought, do not forget to review condition upon receipt of the record. To learn more about grading records, check out our blog Making the Grade: Understanding the Used Vinyl Market.
Matrix Numbers – Confirming matrix numbers for a specific release you want with a seller is just as important as confirming condition. We cannot tell you how many times we regretted not doing this. We have purchased a record listed as a specific issue only to receive something totally different. This just happened recently with the purchase of Van Halen’s 1984 online. That particular record was sent from a seller in the U.S. It is an even more difficult situation when the record is shipped from across the ocean.
In anticipation of Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs One-Step Ultra Disc release of 1984, we wanted to acquire a few copies of other releases of the title that are known to be well mastered and pressed on high-quality vinyl. One such record is the 2010 release of 1984 mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed by RTI. This is the album we thought we were purchasing. However, what we received was a Specialty Records Corporation (SRC) pressing of 1984 from 1984. Strike one! Plus, we didn’t confirm condition. Strike two! When we contacted the seller he did not act surprised and he didn’t want to pay for return postage. Strike 3! We live and we learned to confirm matrix numbers and condition with seller before hitting the payment button. So, learn from our mistakes and be sure to review the matrix numbers for the album you purchased upon receipt of the record.
Sellers and Buyers – Not all sellers are created equal. Some are very service and quality oriented, while others are not. Some will not accept returns while others will not reimburse the cost to ship the record back, even if it was their fault (e.g., 1984). We recommend that you read seller reviews, look at their policies, and pay attention to how long they’ve been selling online. Reputation matters in this industry. If you are a buyer, we suggest using PayPal. PayPal has some great protection programs in place for honest buyers.
The same is true for buyers. We once had a buyer purchase a record and then ask for a refund because they changed their mind for financial reasons. We granted the return request and sent them a label to ship it back. Then, we come to find out that they returned a totally different record than the one that was purchased and sent to them. That took a while to resolve. Note, the resolution was not to our satisfaction.
Not every buyer or seller is like those described above. However, they are out there. Do your due diligence so that you do not make the mistakes we’ve made.
Acquiring vinyl records for your listening pleasure is a wonderful endeavor. It can be a very refreshing and magical experience to hear a favorite record in a way you’ve never heard it before. We recommend that you keep the above suggestions in mind as you search and discover. Music is meant to be an experience. Don't let the experience to become tainted by the buying and selling process.
Comments