Vinyl News: 3D Printed Record, Turnplay Vinyl iPad App, Blue Note Reproductions
Simulations and reproductions are the order of the day for this vinyl news update. A 3D printed record exists and is sounds pretty bad. An iPad app that recreates the turntable experience may or may not appeal to vinyl enthusiasts. And Japanese collectors are going for contemporary reproductions of classic albums from the 50s and 60s.
3D Printed Record from Amanda Ghassaei
3d printing is a big deal but in that "it's right around the corner" way that mostly produces unconvincing results like the above horrid sounding 3d printed record. The effect may be underwhelming but the implications are huge assuming you can raise the quality and keep the price down.
Turnplay is an iOS app described as the "Most Ridiculously Detailed Vinyl Record Player App for iPad."
Here's the "premise":
"The app allows you to select a song from your music library and play it on a virtual record player. There's a tone arm with a virtual needle that you can drop anywhere within the track and a knob that turns the player on and off. There's even a speed adjustment that lets you slow down or speed up the track and a scratch feature."
Is this something that would appeal to hardcore vinyl enthusiasts?
Reproductions of Blue Note Vinyl (not illustrated above)
The Japanese jazz on vinyl collectors scene has taken to a Blue Note reissue series that relies on the original pressing methods and equipment from the 50s and 60s:
"The team opted to faithfully re-create the original details of each title, employing an essentially defunct production process to make the discs from the original mono master tape."
"To find the equipment necessary for such time travel, Mr. Hanawa tracked down and visited a record pressing company in the U.S. that had well-maintained machines actually used in the 1950s and 1960s."
"The team also asked a Japanese printing company to reproduce as faithfully as possible the distinctive sleeves used in the original pressings of these titles, some of which featured slightly arched edges to give the impression of a picture frame."
The "Blue Note Premium Vinyl Reissue Series" has published 36 titles to date in issues of 1000 from such artists as Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins.
More:
- Vinyl News: Sales Growth, Vinyl Kickstarters, Marshall Crenshaw's Vinyl Subscriptions
- Music Merch For Seasonal Gifts: Deluxe Editions, Random Gifting, Clothing & Downloads
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/App.net) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
3D printing is in its infancy stages, just like every tech product that gets introduced. I suspect as the technology evolves, more artists will leverage it. Record labels will have to bring more to the table than just offering publishing and promotion services. -makeitmindful
Somebody needs to come up with an MP3 player that looks like a Gold Tone record player for the computer where you can play Mp3s and WMA files on it.
Kodak cameras went out of business because they didn’t think digital cameras would fly so they refused to change and within a few years more then half the people of the US owned a digital camera. Where as before only a small handful of camera enthusiasts had them.
Goes to show how fast things change.
In 1997 DVD players were an arm and a leg and you’d be lucky to find one below 500$. Now you can find Blue Ray players for less then 100$ if you are not interested in fancy stuff.
Stores the last couple years have been getting the crappiest equipment *Radio Shack grade* in which you have to go online for anything decent.