[rollei_list] Re: OT: Vinyl was: Large Format film availability

Here's a good link for what is happening with the EMI pressing hardware and the 
niche market business.

http://www.musicangle.com/feat.php?id=131&page=0

I first heard of this a few years ago with few details at the time.  I believe 
he acquired the pressing hardware and located himself somewhere in the Greater 
London area but his dream was to relocate in Hayes, Middlesex where EMI is 
(still) located.  He was running a small custom business but had dreams of 
building up to something more so.  I just got on Google and found the address: 
Apollo House, 120 Blyth Road, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1SY .  So, he made his move.

This is of particular interest to me because I worked for EMI starting in 1989 
and we (the company) left EMI in a MBO in 1995 (I left the company in 1998).  
Our address on the EMI campus was Vulcan House, 248 Blyth Road, which makes it 
just down the road from Apollo house (interesting names, Apollo, Vulcan).  No, 
we did not do records or music, rather defense electronics.  There was a 
security post in the Vulcan House lobby dedicated to Madame Tetrazzini who laid 
the cornerstone of Vulcan House in 1911.  Vulcan House became the cabinet 
factory for the EMI gramophone business.  During the war it was turned over to 
radar production.  I have a copy of a Luftwaffe bombing map of Hayes titled 
Hayes Funkgerate  "Marconi Ltd.".  I don't know of a Luftwaffe bombing but 
there was a tragedy there in 1944:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/36/a4452536.shtml
There was an elderly lady working with me who knew some of the people killed, 
particularly a young girl who was to get married in a couple of months.  They 
buried her in her wedding dress.
 
If anyone visits Hayes, there are two nice pubs near to EMI.  The Hambro Arms 
and the Blue Anchor.  The Shepherd's Pie at the Hambro Arms is especially good.
 
In any case, I think I will fire up my turntable later tonight, turn on the 
tube/valve amplifiers and listen to some sweet vinyl.
 
John



----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Knoppow <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 2:19:43 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Large Format film availability


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Jensen" <jwjensen356@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 1:10 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Large Format film availability


> Premium pricing for vinyl, I suppose so but in a way, not 
> so bad.  I saw a new pressing of Gaite Parisienne (Boston 
> Pops, Arthur Fiedler) at $27 for vinyl.  I have the same 
> mono disc purchased for about $5 in the mid 50s . 
> Considering inflation, 1958 to 2008, that's quite OK. 
> Which really means to me that the $5 then was a big bite 
> into the pocketbook.  Interestingly, the new pressing is 
> on thick vinyl which should be less prone to warping.  In 
> an internet record website I saw the equivalent in CD 
> format for $9.95. (Amazon has it for $11.98).
>
> John
>
  The higher cost of the record may be due to several 
factors. For one thing vinyl is now a specialty item for 
which a high price can be demanded. Secondly, the production 
facilities for vinyl records must certainly be of very low 
volume compared to what was available before the advent of 
digital discs. At the time I was involved with the custom 
recording business there were many alternatives for getting 
records made in the Los Angeles area, I have been away from 
this business for a very long time now so I am not current 
on what is available but suspect its pretty limited. At the 
time I was active the cost of producing an LP excepting the 
cost of mastering it was about $1.00 each in quantities of 
around 200. At higher quantities the prices dropped. My 
memory is that at around 1000 the price per disc was no more 
than fifty cents. This would have included plain labels but 
not packaging. The cost of packaging could easily exceed the 
cost of the record depending on the nature of the printing. 
A plain white envelope was about fifty cents but a 
four-color printed envelope or foldable album could cost 
several times the record cost.
  There were a number of local production houses who would 
press anything from maybe 25 discs up to a few thousand. For 
greater quantities one could use the custom record 
production offered by major labels, for very large 
quantities they were very cheap.
  I suspect the price of having a custom record produced 
from an original source is considerably more now simply 
because it has become such a limited market. LP production 
has never stopped because they are needed for disco use and 
because of specialty audiofile production but facilities for 
production of multi-millions of pressings must certainly be 
a thing of the past.
  BTW, the production methods for LP's remained mostly hand 
work although there was some automated pressing equipment. 
EP's (45's to you) were originally designed for injection 
molding and automatic production was much more common than 
for Lp's.

Yours for a hot biscuit at midnight...

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

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