Virginia-based Furnace MFG pressed Tom Petty's new album 'Mojo.' Although vinyl is only 1% of all record sales, it is a growing niche market. According to Nielsen SoundScan, vinyl accounted for 2.8 million units in 2009, up from 1.9 million in 2008.

Music is sounding better than ever because we can hear it on vinyl again. Millions of music lovers all over the world are discovering and rediscovering why vinyl is the best sound reproduction format. Along with the growth of this historic sound medium is a renewed interest in record companies and manufacturers who produce the vinyl records.

Let’s explore a company dedicated to the quality of their vinyl products and most importantly, the sound of the music. I spoke with Eric Astor, CEO, and Manish Naik, COO, of Furnace MFG. Although the company offers a multitude of sound and promotional services, we will focus on vinyl records. The company has secured exclusive North American partnerships with two of the best audiophile-quality pressing plants in Europe.

Who are you and what does your company do?

“Furnace MFG is located in the Washington, DC metro area and we are a one-stop source for CD, DVD and vinyl manufacturing. Furnace MFG has been hard at work pressing CDs and DVDs for the independent music community since 1996. We have made exclusive agreements with two of the best pressing plants in the world to provide the best sounding records on the planet,” explained Eric.

Why is the vinyl record making a resurgence?

“We think there are two main reasons that vinyl is making a resurgence. The first is that consumers are re-discovering (or discovering for the first time) that listening to a vinyl record is completely different than listening to a CD or a downloaded song. The quality of sound is clearly better with richer tones since a vinyl record plays exactly how an artist recorded the song with no loss of translation to a digital format. There is also an entire experience of listening to a record which is missing from CDs and MP3’s. Selecting the record, taking it out of the sleeve, putting it on the turntable, looking over the jacket and liner notes; these actions combine to create an actual ‘experience’ of listening. Listening to a record is in and of itself, the activity. Listening to an MP3 is generally done while doing something else and is more often than not, a background activity,” said Manish.

“The second reason for the resurgence in vinyl records is that artists and labels are once again embracing the format. Artists love the sound of vinyl and feel it’s a truer representation of their music. Labels are realizing that although the raw sales of vinyl are low compared to CDs, the margins are much higher and are paying attention to this new revenue source in the face of decreasing CD sales and increasing digital downloads.”

“The combination of consumer interest and interest from the labels is what is fueling this growth. One couldn’t exist without the other and we feel that this trend will continue for years. Vinyl will never overtake CD sales but there will continue to be a core group of consumers interested in this format,” continued Manish.

“One thing that the music industry must take into consideration though is that vinyl will only grow and expand if the quality is there. If a buyer’s first experience with vinyl is a negative one, they will not be coming back to the format. There are a lot of poorly pressed records out there that do not enrich the listening experience. If this is what buyers come to expect, they will stop buying vinyl and go back to buying CDs or sharing files.”

Is the PVC made in America and then shipped to the pressing plants?

“Each plant that Furnace has a formed an exclusive partnership with source their own PVC. They are the experts in understanding which products work best with their pressing machines and which products produce the best sounds,” explained Manish. “Both Pallas (Germany) and Record Industry (The Netherlands) have their own PVC formula that is made specifically for their plant.”

“All vinyl is pressed in Europe and then shipped on pallets via airplane to our facility in northern Virginia (just outside Washington DC) where we assemble the final product and finish for retail distribution. Vinyl is usually from the plant to our dock in less than 24 hours which preserves the quality of the product and allows us to offer industry leading lead times.”

What are the costs associated with releasing a vinyl record?

“There are various costs associated with vinyl records. Some of these are mastering/cutting, test pressings, actual vinyl production, jacket & insert printing, assembly costs, and final finishing costs,” said Eric. “The costs varies greatly depending on the weight of the record (120 g, 140g, or 180g), the turnaround time desired (either 4 weeks or 8 weeks), and the complexity of the assembly and finishing.

You tell me the vinyl is pressed in different countries; can you elaborate, why ship the work overseas?

“As we entered the business of vinyl manufacturing, we knew that there was really only one plant in the US that has the quality that the audiophile market craves,” explained Eric. “There are other domestic options but the quality produced in these plants was less than we were willing to put our name on. We signed exclusive relationships with two of Europe’s best vinyl plants (Pallas Group, and Record Industry). These plants have a long tradition in the vinyl business and the craftsmanship of their employees is amazing. To give you an example, the mother plate inspector at Pallas worked as an apprentice for 10 years before taking over that job. At Record Industry, they have produced some of the world’s best selling releases on vinyl including “Dark Side of the Moon” and various Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam and Beatles titles. Record Industry’s main cutting engineer has cut all of the aforementioned records during his 33 year career with a variety of labels and plants. We are confident that any record produced by our partners will be of very high quality and consistency – because that’s what our customers and record buyers demand.”

What is the difference between ‘regular’ vinyl and the ‘audiophile’ releases that are becoming more popular these days?

“It’s all about the sound quality. If you take two plants and give them lacquers cut from the finest cutting studio in the world and ask them to press up some records – you will often times get two completely different products. The PVC material used, the galvanics process and the pressing formulas at our two facilities are the secret weapon to creating some of the best records in the world. If a plant does not put the care and expense into creating superior metal parts, you will hear it in the vinyl. If a plant treats each record the same and doesn’t factor in the cut and the other 9,000 things you need to consider when pressing vinyl records, you can have problems there as well. You will get non-fill, poor tracking, etc when inexperienced people are running the equipment. Both of our plants have been around for decades and the experience on the floor is not something you can buy or learn overnight,” explained Manish.

“Most of the records that are marketed as Audiophile releases are pressed on heavyweight vinyl. 180 g records, for example, are less prone to warp or dish. When pressed correctly, you will get a superior and long lasting product from a heavyweight record.”

Tell me about the picture discs manufacturing process.

“These are really old-school in that they are all made on hand presses, unlike our regular vinyl products that are pressed on automatic presses. The actual playable surface is a laminate similar to the flexi records of yesteryear. These make for great collector items that sell well as novelties. Although they are great for business, they are extremely inefficient and difficult to make and the sound quality leaves much to be desired,” said Eric.

What attracts you to records?

“We are consumers of records much like all other consumers. For us, records enable us to connect with the music in ways that CDs and digital music just won’t allow. We all have MP3 players and love them for the storage capacity and flexibility but there are times when putting on a record is an unbeatable experience. Also, some records I have owned for 25 years plus and I remember the money I saved to buy them, the smell of the record when I opened it and the store I bought it from. Each time I put on one of those records it brings me back to a place and time of my life – most of the time it’s a positive memory.”

Discuss the clear vinyl vs. black vinyl debate, does it matter?

Eric explains: “There is a debate in the audiophile market on whether the carbon in black vinyl creates a magnetic resonance that can be heard in playback. Some labels have gone so far as to start pressing their releases on clear vinyl to sidestep this perceived issue. We have talked to many in the industry about this and feel that with anything audiophile, this is up to each person’s personal experience. From a pressing plant’s perspective, we know for a fact that the sound quality and consistency of pressing with black PVC is night and day difference over any colored vinyl including clear. Considering there is equipment that will help you rid yourself of such carbon created audio atrocities, we feel black vinyl will always be the best choice for the audiophile client.”

What is the best way to clean records, what do you use?

“There are many different ways to clean records from simple soap and water to super expensive cleaning machines and formulas,” said Naik. “At the end of the day, the important thing is to take care of your records, not store them in fluctuating temperatures and handle them with care. Simple things can make records last a lifetime! Internally, we use a VPI cleaning machine because we clean a lot of records, it does a great job and it’s FAST. If you can afford one, they are a huge convenience and do a fantastic job. For normal cleaning we just use a static free brush to get all of the dust off the surface prior to play. That one two combo works really well.”

Do you or can you do the cover art ‘in house’?

“Most of our major label clients (i.e. Warner, Universal) have art directors in house who will prepare all the artwork files and send us the final, print ready files. But for the thousands of other clients we have serviced over the last 13 years, we have a full, in-house creative and production design staff who create unique designs for anyone who asks. Our rates are competitive and we have worked within the entertainment industry for a long time so we’re known for our creative side as much as our mechanics.”

Tell us about some of your clients.

“We have a wide variety of clients from major music labels like Warner Music and Universal to independent labels as well. We also work with licensed reissue labels that focus on high quality vinyl such as Mobile Fidelity, Acoustic Sounds and Original Recordings Group. These guys produce ultra high quality records and packaging that are amongst the leaders in the field – going as far as flying out the original tapes to the cutting studio or going through 3 and 4 sets of lacquers until they have the perfect cut.”

“We also work with a wealth of independent labels and bands. This is where we are put to the test. Everyone is looking to do something different and unique and everyone is on a budget. We have enough experience to work with people to collect their wants and desires, talk budget and then match them up with a package that most closely meets their needs. Since most of our customers are either new to vinyl or new to getting back to vinyl, we act as a consultant sometimes as much as we do a pressing plant.”

Where do you see the record industry in 5 years, is this just a fad or will vinyl continue to be in demand?

“We expect the record industry to continue its growth for the next few years eventually flattening out in about 5 years,” explained Eric. “We do not think the resurgence in vinyl is a fad but rather a new/old format that more and more people will continue to discover. As long as labels are willing to put out a high quality record for their bands, fans will be there to buy them. Vinyl never died. The customer never rejected the format. The labels, seeing higher profit margins, inflated MSRPs for the Compact Disc and shoved vinyl aside and told record stores to make way for CDs and liquidate their vinyl. Indie stores and mail-order houses/websites always sold vinyl and they always will. Let’s hope the labels and bands keep running with it and keep the customer base happy.”

Robert Benson writes about rock/pop music and vinyl record collecting. He runs CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook, “The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting.”

The American jazz pianist Bill Evans is widely considered among the most influential in jazz history. Although he died in 1980, his recordings continue to inspire new generations of musicians.

Bill Evans has always been my favorite jazz musician. Despite the fact that I play guitar, there has always been something about Bill Evans the man and the artist that fascinates me. His harmonic sense was legendary. His ability to swing – unparalleled. But the depth of this jazz artist and how he thought was, to me, his most distinguishing and valuable attribute.

Here are some of my favorite Bill Evans quotes. I find them realistic and inspiring. They have been a source of comfort to me throughout the development of my career.

“In the long run, we must consider that what we do is an art.”

“I hope, through my music, to contribute to creating a better world.”

“Everybody talks about my harmonic conception. I worked very hard at that because I don’t have very good ears.”

“Now in retrospect, I think it was a good thing I didn’t have a great aptitude for mimicry though it made it very difficult for me at the time because I had to work very hard to take things apart. I had to build my whole music style. I’d abstract principles from people I dug, and I’d take their feeling or technique to apply to things the way I’d built them. But because I had to build them so meticulously, I think, worked out better in the end, because it gave me a complete understanding of everything I was doing.” 

“I think some young people want a deeper experience. Some people just wanna be hit over the head and, you know, if then they [get] hit hard enough maybe they’ll feel something. You know? But some people want to get inside of something and discover, maybe, more richness. And I think it will always be the same; they’re not going to be the great percentage of the people. A great percentage of the people don’t want a challenge. They want something to be done to them — they don’t want to participate. But there’ll always be maybe 15% maybe, 15%, that desire something more, and they’ll search it out — and maybe that’s where art is, I think.”

“To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.”

“Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine that despite the fact that I am a professional performer, it is true that I have always preferred playing without an audience.”

“My creed for art in general is that it should enrich the soul; it should teach spirituality by showing a person a portion of himself that he would not discover otherwise…a part of yourself you never knew existed.”

“I believe in things that are developed through hard work. I always like people who have developed long and hard, especially through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think what they arrive at is usually a much deeper and more beautiful thing than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning. I say this because it’s a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to.”

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Today, July 7, 2010, at noon, Ringo Starr asks us all to stop what we're doing and say: "Peace and love; peace and love" in honor of his 70th birthday. Image: "Choose Love" CD cover.

Ringo Starr turns 70 today. The former Beatle is asking people to do him this favor – at noon:

“If you’re on a bus, if you’re on a boat, at noon, where ever you are, just go, ‘Peace and love, peace and love.’ That’s your birthday gift to me. How great is that?” asks Starr in a video message on his website.

A writer named Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times talked to Ringo Starr about his milestone birthday. See an excerpt of the interview below and the full interview here. Some of the questions were silly, ‘gotcha’ types of questions; not one was about Ringo’s music - past or present. Although it would have been nice to see a question or two about Ringo’s current U.S. tour or his latest album “Y Not,” it was not meant to be. Oh well. Peace and love! Here’s the excerpt:

NYTimes: What would you like to get this year?

Ringo Starr: You know what I’m asking for: peace and love.

NYT: How are you feeling about the number 70?

Ringo: As far as I’m concerned, in my head, I’m 24. That’s just how it is. The number, yeah, it’s high. But I just felt I’ve got to celebrate it. I’m on my feet and I’m doing what I love to do, and I’m in a profession, as a musician, where we can go on for as long as we can go on. I’m not hiding from it, you know.

NYT: When you were 24 what did you think you’d be doing at age 70?

Ringo: I don’t know, but when I was 22, actually, I remember this so well, and I was playing, and there was another band, and these people in that other band were 40, and I was saying, “My God, you’re still doing it?” [laughs] Which doesn’t look funny in black and white, but it was incredible, and now I’m waaaaay past 40. My new hero is B. B. King. I have a great line: B. B. is still playing, even though he is sitting down now. But hey, I’m sitting down already. You’ve just got to get on with it. I’d like to be out there pretending I’m only 55, but I’m not.

NYT: You’ve had a few interesting things happen to you over the last year. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is taking one of your drums.

Ringo: They’re taking a whole snare drum. I’m lending it to them because, it’s well-documented, in 1964 that old Bill Ludwig, he presented it to me. I bought these Ludwig drums, and in the shop in England, the guy wanted to take the sign out, but I love everything American, the music and the instruments. So I made him leave the sign on. So I was a running commercial — on Sullivan, and all that touring of America, it said Ludwig drums. And so to thank me for that, they gave me this gold drum, and that’s the one that’s going into the Metropolitan for a year.

NYT: How does that make you feel, to have one of your possessions on display at the Met?

Ringo: Well, yeah, cool.

NYT: That’s it?

Ringo: I mean it. I’ve had a couple of pieces of clothing in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

NYT: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn’t too shabby, but come on, this is the Met.

Ringo: It’s cool. That’s all I can say. It’s very cool.

NYT: A few weeks ago the Vatican finally gave its approval to the Beatles. How did you feel about that?

Ringo: It didn’t affect me in any way, but I do believe that the Vatican have better things to deal with than forgiving the Beatles. I don’t remember what it actually said — it had some weird piece in it, too. That they’ve forgiven us for being, what, satanic? Whoever wrote it was thinking about the Stones.

NYT: Are you ever surprised by the unpredictable ways in which the Beatles continue to resonate in the popular culture? There’s a novel out now called “Paul Is Undead,” which imagines that you’re a ninja and your band mates are zombies.

Ringo: I only ever see the covers and the titles. I don’t read it all. But it’s always on. There’s nothing we can do about that. What’s more interesting to me is that our records are still coming out. And they’re the same records and the new generation gets to hear them, and as far as that’s concerned, that’s the most important thing to me. The music we make, it’s still going on.

NYT: Do you get much chance to listen to all the Beatles covers that continue be produced?

Ringo: You have to talk to Sony about that. They have the publishing and they’ll give it to anyone.

NYT: You’re using the occasion of your birthday to give a message back to your fans.

Ringo: Yes, I want to spread the word that at noon, wherever you are — in New York, in L.A., in Paris, in London — I just pray that you’ll put your fingers up and say, “Peace and love.” I did it two years ago, it was the first time, and I did it out of Chicago because I was on tour. This year, we’re playing Radio City, so we’re doing it in New York. In Japan there were little get-togethers and it went worldwide, so that was great.

NYT: Do you think we’ve got a good chance at getting peace and love this year?

Ringo: I think the more we promote it, the more chance we have of getting it.

Judy Rodman

I have many sweet and amazing young clients, and I adore them. But I was moved, deeply, watching the Carol King and James Taylor concert “Live at the Troubador” on PBS recently. I’ve never heard either one of them sing better, or even as well, as they did on that show.

And check out Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, Ralph Stanley for goodness sake! Singing their derrieres off!

I get older clients all the time who have been told they are past their vocal prime. What we discover together is that the limits are due to poor vocal technique. If you wonder if you are too old to sing, take heart. Here are two things I believe that are important:

• Take care of your body – your voice needs that, after all (this will be covered in a future post)
• Train strain out of your voice…and you can sing better than ever, well into your twilight years.

The course I created (“Power, Path, and Performance Vocal Training”) deals with the issue of ’strain.’ The kernel of the method began to form when I tried to figure out a system where I could put everything I knew that was important about the voice into a system that I could use as a template to work from with every student.

My one benchmark was that whatever I taught vocalists had to work, in practical settings like small-large-indoor-outdoor performance stages and recording studios of all types, for every genre of contemporary songs as well as speaking.

I drew from my own 40-plus years of vocal experience and from sources like doctors, chiropractors, alternative health practitioners, other vocal training methods, and of course, my own professional coach Gerald Arthur.

I happened upon a book called “Secrets of Singing” by vocal teacher Jeffrey Allen. To date, it has been the most influential source I’ve found for my own teaching method. There was a shape of “voice path” he had in his book that set lightbulbs off in my brain, because I recognized that voice path muscle memory in my own best singing through the years.

With that voice path imagery inspiring me, I gradually condensed all that I knew about voice into three primary cornerstones of vocal technique. They were:

• The power of breath
• The voice path through an open throat
• The physical and psychological aspects of communication.

It was some time after that when I noticed that not only was this a logical sorting of information…there was a synergy involved between the three cornerstones. What that means is that if you get something right or wrong in one area, it will affect the other two.

So if your breath support or control is off, you will not be able to keep your throat open. This creates a subtle block to being able to connect with your audience without being distracted by the way your throat feels. Tight throats cause tight breath, with compromised performance. Breath issues create tight throats and hinders communication. It’s all connected!

But the good news was that if I could help a student improve in their weakest cornerstone, the other two would benefit. When I teach a vocalist to integrate all three, the whole voice is available…without strain…to powerfully move an audience.

Judy Rodman is a singer, songwriter, producer and vocal instructor in Nashville, Tennessee. In the 1980s, she topped the country music charts with the number one single “Until I Met You” and won the Academy of Country Music’s “Top New Female Vocalist” award in 1985. Her recorded songs include LeAnn Rimes’s number-one hit “One Way Ticket (Because I Can)” (co-written with Keith Hinton). Judy has developed “Power, Path & Performance,” a vocal technique she teaches and sells.

Prof. Carol

I sold off most of my goat herd yesterday. Ostensibly it’s because things are so busy, but in reality it was retribution! A whole mess of teenaged-goats (last spring’s kids) broke out of the fencing and devoured the landscaping around our house. Imagine sticks where blossom-laidened crape myrtles used to be. There goes that photo-shoot for Better Homes and Gardens.

Goats like shrubbery.

Then the renegades discovered the garage. Don’t ask. Our fierce guard dogs apparently found the whole thing amusing. I love my goats, their pea-brain expressions, their goofy curiosity, and especially the noises they make. In our noisy world, we forget just how loud the bleating of animals is. Or used to be.  

In Mozart’s day, not much was louder than the sounds made by animals, especially when in labor! The clip-clop of hooves, the snorts, yaps, and squeals—all of it formed a soundscape for daily life. In that much quieter world, music sounded with far more authority. A trumpet commanded attention. A single fiddle-player was sufficient for a dance.

The caption on this 1850 lithograph by Currier & Ives reads: First Appearence of Jenny Lind in America.

I was shaking my head in wonder the other day, looking at the Currier & Ives graphic depicting Swedish soprano Jenny Lind as she sang her American debut in 1850 in New York’s huge Castle Garden. How did her voice fill such a hall? Today, massive speakers would be stacked ceiling-high.  But audiences had a different concept of “loud” back then. Plus, the lady really could sing!

“Lindomania.” That’s what the press called the transatlantic fervor over Jenny Lind. Nicknamed the “Swedish Nightingale,” Lind was brought to the United States by that legendary impresario P.T. Barnum, and paid $187,000 in advance.  

Why was a circus impresario promoting an opera singer? Well, think about it. The astonishing techniques required to sing the fancy operatic passages we call bel canto (beautiful singing) were positively unearthly to folks who’d never heard such “goings-on.” In fact, most people today go into shock, the first time they stand next to (not in front of, please!) a professional opera singer. The shattering power cannot be described.  

Everything real opera singers do, from inordinate breath control to acoustic force, comes from talent, yes, but from specific techniques of vocal production that require years of training. A regular person, no matter how attractive or facile his or her voice, cannot do such things, any more than a regular person can fly across the trapeze “with the greatest of ease.” The superhuman abilities of acrobats and opera singers fit nicely together in the world of 19th-century American entertainment.

Jenny Lind triumphed in America also because Mr. Barnum interwove her image with two irresistible claims: first, he promoted her virtue. This makes perfect sense when we recall that women of the theater have been seen as “questionable” throughout most of Western history. Secondly, P.T. Barnum gave concrete proof of her virtue by linking certain performances to that most irresistible calling: the charity benefit.

Ah, if only we could have been there! To hear her fabulous virtuosity flying through the air. Still, by all accounts, the crowds were even more moved by her rendering of soft, sentimental songs such as “Home, Sweet Home,” a mega-hit of the 19th century.

Because ultimately, in music, it is the soft sounds that draw us in. The delicate, the intricate, the multi-faceted colors that our ears taste within a softer frame. The purr of the cat, the gentle whinny of our favorite horse, and the contented “baaahh” of a well-fed goat. . .

Yikes, don’t remind me. We will fix the fence. And despite their crimes, those particular wayward goats went not to the meat locker, but to a lady who will harness their energies to produce the next generation of trouble-makers.

Carol Reynolds, aka Professor Carol, a retired music history professor from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, has launched Silver Age Music. Her latest product is a multimedia course: “Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Art, History, & Culture.” Prof. Carol now lives on a ranch, raises goats, and writes and lectures on classical music (to humans).

Judy Rodman

I work with a lot of songwriters, and I love helping them deliver their songs through their voices authentically. To do that, you have to know the difference between your songwriter and your performer voices – which are not the same thing.

Here’s the short answer: Songwriter voice is internal. Performance voice is external. What do I mean by that? The longer answer…

Songwriter voice is a communion internally with yourself. You do it while in the act of writing or rehearsing the song. Performing that communion is an action for the benefit of someone else!

There is a great deal of difference between the two as far as your vocal technique goes…in the use of your body – in your “body language,” which changes your breath and your throat configurations.

If the lyrics you’re singing are most authentic when directed to yourself…you have to be a bit schizophrenic. Try the following exercise:

Stand or sit in one chair and have another chair across from you. Imagine you are in that opposing chair. Sing to the person sitting in that other chair, and make that person feel the appropriate emotion.

Even if we were doing a “Power, Path & Performance” phone lesson with me, I could tell if you were doing this properly. I could tell where your breath was coming from, where your hands are in space, if your eyes and face were engaged, and how open your throat is. Your audience can, too… even though they won’t make those specific assessments, they can tell if you’re really “with them” or just keeping it to yourself.

To get the songwriter voice – “out there” – even if just on a worktape – you have to turn it into performance voice! Have you experienced these voices? Your comments are always welcome.

Judy Rodman is a singer, songwriter, producer and vocal instructor in Nashville, Tennessee. In the 1980s, she topped the country music charts with the number one single “Until I Met You” and won the Academy of Country Music’s “Top New Female Vocalist” award in 1985. Her recorded songs include LeAnn Rimes’s number-one hit “One Way Ticket (Because I Can)” (co-written with Keith Hinton). Judy has developed “Power, Path & Performance,” a vocal technique she teaches and sells.