Quality Record Pressings is a

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

pressing plant launched by music entrepreneur Chad Kassem in

Salina, Kansas Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889. In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1 ...

, United States in 2011. QRP sought to improve premier

audiophile An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...

pressings, introducing innovations never before tried in the

record press A record press is a machine for manufacturing vinyl records. It is essentially a hydraulic press fitted with thin nickel stampers which are negative impressions of a master disc. Labels and a pre-heated vinyl patty (or "biscuit") are placed in ...

ing industry.

Company history

Quality Record Pressings was born out of parent company Acoustic Sounds, Inc. Kassem started Acoustic Sounds in 1986 as a mail-order business specializing in the sale of audiophile vinyl LPs, SACDs,

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The sta ...

s, high-quality CDs and high-end stereo equipment. Acoustic Sounds sister business,

Analogue Productions Analogue Productions is a record label specializing in the manufacture and distribution of reissue LP record albums, CDs and SACDs that primarily include jazz, blues, rock, folk and classical styles of music. The company is a division of Acous ...

, reissues choice

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, classical and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

recordings. Analogue Productions now has more than 450 titles in print. By launching his own vinyl pressing plant, Kassem sought to end increasing delays in getting his records pressed, both reissues as well as those from authentic and legendary living blues artists recording on Kassem's APO (Analogue Productions Originals) record label. Kassem also sought to raise the quality of LP production by investing in innovative pressing technology.

Innovations, technology improve recordings

Located in a 20,000 square-foot former refrigerated warehouse in Salina, QRP operates three different kinds of record presses that include Toolex Alpha (made in Sweden), SMT (Southern Machine & Tool Corp. of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

) and Finebilt (of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

). The Toolex Alpha and SMT presses are automated, while the Finebilt presses are manual, but all feature important add-ons.

Greater operator control over pressings

Microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

s were added to cycle each press based on temperature rather than the more inaccurate cycling by time, enabling greater operator control over heat and other variables that can create inconsistencies from record to record. Operators inspect each record as it comes off the press. Other technology employed helps mitigate variations in other factors that can compromise a record's quality, such as pressure and vibration. Uneven contact between the surface of the press die, to which is attached the stamper (the mold that creates a vinyl record), results in temperature variations. These variations introduce variations in the width and depth of individual grooves on the record. Quality Record Pressings uses a

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or "void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often dis ...

system to ensure uniform die and stamper contact. As a result, the listener's

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

needle tracks more smoothly and provides the listener with a more faithful reproduction of the music. QRP also uses an innovative double steam valve system that reduces die temperature cycle time as well as a more finely tuned level of temperature control of the heating and cooling process. Both reduce inconsistencies from record to record in the manufacturing process. And just as ambient temperature, humidity and variations in steam and water pressure affect the quality of a vinyl record, so do the minute environmental vibrations from nearby equipment. Unwanted harmonic vibration transmitted to the die during the pressing process causes distortion of the record's grooves and other noise as well as other unwelcome changes in the physical structure of the grooves on a record. QRP uses custom-designed press isolation pads to mitigate the effect of these vibrations. As part of its record pressing operation, QRP also operates a plating department, setting it apart from other record pressing plants that do not have that capability. The plating department headed by Gary Salstrom is where

Lacquer Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity. Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...

master discs are given metal coatings to make the metal stamper that molds the records from heated vinyl. In 2010 the acquisition of Classic Records, of Los Angeles, California, by Acoustic Sounds, was announced by Kassem and Classic Records Mike Hobson. Acoustic Sounds acquisition of Classic Records included the “Quiex SV-P” vinyl formulation/process, “Clarity Vinyl”, the unique 200-gram “flat profile” tooling and all other aspects of Classic's proprietary vinyl pressing technology.Michael Fremer, ''Analog Corner: Quality Record Pressings' Quest to Press the Best'', Stereophile magazine, August 2011

First title released

The first title pressed at Quality Record Pressings was

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

's ''

Tea for the Tillerman ''Tea for the Tillerman'' is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released in November 1970. Overview Stevens' second album released during the year 1970, ''Tea for the Tillerman'' includes many of his best-known songs suc ...

'' from 1970. All of the Analogue Productions reissues and the APO Records titles are now pressed at QRP and the pressing plant also handles the jobs of several other record labels, both large and small.

References

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External links