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Vinyl - Record Spinning


Full Range

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4 minutes ago, oldtimer said:

If you like Basie, get this:

https://www.discogs.com/Count-Basie-And-Orchestra-On-The-Road/release/7119307

Live recording direct to disk.  It's extremely dynamic.

And who doesn't like the Count? Along with Ellington, Ella, and Goodman. Throw in a Jack (Teagarden?) and ya got a Royal Flush of swing.

 

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Afternoon spinning time while I'm home alone 

Put my feet up and enjoy 

 

Artist - Genesis 

Title - Three Times Live 1982

Edit - That should read " Three Sides Live " 

iD - GE2002

 

 

 

 

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17 minutes ago, Full Range said:

Afternoon spinning time while I'm home alone 

Put my feet up and enjoy 

 

Artist - Genesis 

Title - Three Times Live 1982

iD - GE2002

Nothing better than being home alone with your gear.  Oddly, without all of the 'noise' your system sounds better.  Plus, I can get on it with out being yelled at.  The neighbors aren't happy when this happens.  Oh well, let freedom ring, or resonate, which is what I prefer.

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I'm sure many members have heard of Jean Luc Ponty 

I use lots of his music as backing sounds on my holiday videos I make when we return 

 

As an example track 2 The Art Of Happiness reminds me of the bustling city of Melbourne Australia and was used as backing from a recent trip 

 

Artist - Jean Luc Ponty

Title - Cosmic Messenger 1978 

ID - SD 19189

 

Jazz Fussion  

Great SQ and a lovely album 

 

@ACV92 you will partially see one of the large art installations behind my system 

 

  

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Reinventing the record: New Burlington factory turns out vinyl albums

 
liz-braun
BY LIZ BRAUN, POSTMEDIA NETWORK

FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2017 02:49 PM EDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2017 02:56 PM EDT

vinyl Gerry McGhee is one of the people behind Precision Records in Burlington - a new vinyl record maker with new equipment on Thursday May 11, 2017. Michael Peake/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network
 
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Vinyl fanatics have a new champion in Gerry McGhee.

McGhee is the proud vice president of Precision Pressing, a state-of-the-art vinyl record manufacturing facility in Burlington. The 20,000-sq.-ft. plant celebrated its official opening on May 11.

It may be weird to describe a factory as beautiful, but that's exactly what Precision is -- a light-filled, high-ceilinged, scrupulously clean structure filled with handsome pressing machines and dozens of enthusiastic employees.

Precision Pressing is a labour of love for McGhee, 55.

He's a lifer in the music industry -- as both a musician and an executive -- and Precision Pressing represents years of hard work and perseverance on his part to serve the global vinyl resurgence. Not content to work with the 40-year-old pressers that are remnants of vinyl's heyday in the 1970s and '80s, McGhee searched the planet for new and innovative machines. He eventually found exactly what he wanted with Czech vinyl manufacturer GZ Media, the world leader in record pressing; GZ began investing in new presses in 2005, guided by head honcho and vinyl visionary Zdenek Pelc.

To McGhee's dismay, GZ would not sell him the machines he wanted.

But they would agree to talk about a joint venture.

"I was on a flight to Prague the next day," says McGhee, and the rest is history -- a deal was struck. We would wager quite a lot of money that McGhee's enthusiasm for vinyl and exuberance about life in general helped seal that deal.

Over the past 18 months, McGhee found a facility, figured out how to accommodate the factory's massive need for electricity (1,600 amps) and fitted the place out with the beautiful Czech-made record presses shipped to Canada.

"If I got the machines when I was looking for them, I'd be bankrupt now," McGhee says, only half-joking. "I had no idea of the infrastructure needed -- the boilers and the chillers and the engineers I would have needed. And the amount of government red tape I fought! Even though we'll create 200 jobs here."

Precision has the full backing of those running major Canadian record labels, who know the recent surge in vinyl interest means they can sell whatever McGhee's plant can press.

"New technology was key," McGhee says, "in order to be competitive. And to not have to deal with the issues most plants are dealing with: Bad quality pressings, machines breaking down all the time, inability to meet deadlines.

"Right now, we're creating records in eight weeks. Some people are waiting six months."

McGhee has high praise for his Czech colleagues, noting their creativity, expertise and exacting standards in every aspect of record pressing and production, packaging included. During a quick visit to a quality control area, McGhee explains what one employee is doing: "When we start pressing, he'll grab the record, listen to the whole album -- for pops, cracks, anything out of the ordinary -- and when we get to 1,000 records, he starts all over again."

Isn't that rather labour intensive?

"We are living up to GZ's standards," he says. "And we hope to surpass them."

In another incarnation, McGhee was lead vocalist for the band Brighton Rock. The group had three albums with Warner Bros. and a big following, but he decided to come off the road in the '90s for family reasons.

"My kids were getting to school age and I had to make a decision -- stay in Los Angeles or come home and be a dad. I chose to be a dad."

He started Isotope Music Inc, initially to help Canadian artists with no distribution outside the country. It grew to become Canada's largest music distributor.

Long before that, however, McGhee was already developing his passion for music. Originally from Scotland, he grew up in Hamilton, the youngest of five kids -- including two older brothers who had introduced him to the music of the Beatles and Elvis by the time he was three.

"I'd stay with my older brothers on the weekends. They'd put on Black Sabbath, or Bob Dylan or King Crimson -- I knew all these bands when most people were just listening to CKOC! I got tuned into new music early, just being the youngest in a family that was music orientated. The big brothers kind of passed that on to me. It's always been a big passion."

Running Precision, says McGhee, allows him to stay connected to the music business "which is something I've loved my whole life.

"For me, to still be able to do the music thing -- it doesn't feel like a job. My wife complains that I'm working 14-hour days," he says. "But I love this! It doesn't feel like work."

lbraun@postmedia.com

***

Precision Pressing welcomes independents. Says McGhee: “Most plants shy away from any order under 300. We won’t! We’ll do runs of 100. We need the major labels, but we wanted to take care of the indie guys, too.”

- Precision Pressing is currently in phase one, but already working to capacity.

“We can press 3.6 million albums a year in phase one, with our five double presses — that’s 10 stampers — running three shifts. When we add the automated machines, hopefully in the next six months, we’ll go to 6 million, which will make us the second largest in North America.

- How much have vinyl sales increased lately? Forbes.com says sales began to climb around 2008 and in 2015, vinyl sales had increased by 32%. In the U.S. sales of vinyl LPs went past the $400 million mark that year, which happens to be the highest dollar figure since 1988, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

And 52% of all sales are to people ages 18 to 35.

Says McGhee: “Vinyl albums are great. You can read the lyrics and really see the artwork as it was intended. And there’s just something different about listening to vinyl. There’s a warmth there that’s like listening inside a studio. You don’t get that anywhere else.”

- Vinyl is here to stay.

“You see people upgrading their turntables,” McGhee says. “They’ve gone from the $100 turntable to the $400. They’re not leaving the format anytime soon.”

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On Saturday, May 20, 2017 at 4:01 AM, Full Range said:

Now spinning some Uriah Heep

This is the only album from this band in my collection and in my opinion it's the best release

 

Artist - Uriah Heep

Title - Look At Yourself 1971

 

 

 

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I like that one, but my favorite is a toss up between Demons and Wizards...and Sweet Freedom.....AND their LIVE album "Uriah Heep Live"...a double disc album....surprisingly good for a live recording in those days!  I have always really loved "Stealin" from Sweet Freedom...it reminds me of my old Paratrooper days...young, single and CAREFULLY playing the field...LOL!

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1 hour ago, HDBRbuilder said:

like that one, but my favorite is a toss up between Demons and Wizards...and Sweet Freedom.....AND their LIVE album "Uriah Heep Live"...a double disc album....surprisingly good for a live recording in those days!  I have always really loved "Stealin" from Sweet Freedom...it reminds me of my old Paratrooper days...young, single and CAREFULLY playing the field...LOL!

Yes sir, Stealin' is a rocker sure enough...Got the live double and yes, pretty decent recordings!

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