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| United Record Pressing in Nashville - photo by Jessica Blankenship |
Upon
pulling up into a parking space at United Record Pressing in Nashville, you are
transformed back in time. The modest
building is buzzing with activity both inside and outside. Behind the building is the shipping
department and across the lot is a printing company that provides services of
printing labels, sleeves, and jackets.
Inside
United Record Pressing, I was greeted by a young man, David. He would be our tour guide to a group of
about 20. In order to be on the tour,
you have to go to their website and send an email. They only do tours on Fridays and space is
limited - so be sure to get your request in early!
In
the lounge area, there are offices located to the right. There are records pretty much everywhere -
from desks to the walls and then some.
Hanging prominently in the center of the wall was a record player with a
clear record. It would be one of Third
Man Records specialty products. Inside
was blue liquid, so that when you played the record, it looked like a lava
lamp. Very few were even made of this
style record.
Before
I forget - if you have difficulty walking steps, then this tour may not be for
you. There is no handicap access to the
upstairs area or to the front of the building.
David
led our group upstairs to a rather large room.
Inside was original furniture from the 1960s. In fact, all of the furniture throughout the
top floor was original with the exception of a couple of modern
appliances.
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| Upstairs at United Record Pressing - Photo by Jessica Blankenship |
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| Hank Williams, Jr. signed his record contract on that table - Photo by Jessica Blankenship |
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| Upstairs at United Record Pressing - Photo by Jessica Blankenship |
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| David detailing the history at United Record Pressing - Photo by Jessica Blankenship |
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| Pick a color, any color, or perhaps blend them together to make your vinyl record. - Photo by Jessica Blankenship |
In the large room, many have
hosted record release parties. Hank Williams, Jr. had his 16th birthday
party and signed a recording contract. Wanda Jackson filmed a music video for "Thunder on the Mountain." You can watch the video below:
A
lot of historical facts and production facts were noted. United Record Pressing use to be called
Southern Plastics. They have been making
vinyl since 1949 and moved to their current location in 1962. The company uses 5 tons of black vinyl a
day. They press 40,000 records a
day. The machines that they use are
original. There are 6 people in the world that know how to work on the
machines, with 3 of them being employed at United Record Pressing. The plant works 24 hours a day, 6 days a
week. The company has purchased
additional property, as well as more machines, to expand production. Currently they are only working with existing
customers as they are so backed up on orders.
Motown
Records would possibly not be in existence without United Record Pressing. They provided the financing, as well as built
a suite with bedroom and living quarters so that African Americans could record
and stay at the studios in the 1960s.
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| Motown Suite - Photo by Jessica Blankenship |
So
how do they make a vinyl record? Our
group was lead back downstairs into the plant area. The vinyl record making process is a
scientific process of multiple steps. The
company takes your music and transfers it onto a lacquer plate. This is used to create metal parts that
become the stampers. The stampers have
ridges that put grooves into the vinyl to make the record. In the machine, small pellets of vinyl are
melted to form what looks like a hockey puck.
Labels for the A and B side of the record are placed on each side. A heavy pressure plate pushes the vinyl puck,
as well as melts it down to flatten out the record. The press will also put the grooves into the
vinyl. Access vinyl is trimmed and
placed into a garbage can. This access
vinyl is recycled to form more records.
Once a record is made, it falls onto a needle.
A
record will have a pressing and two employees will listen to the album for any
errors. They mark precisely on computers
where any pops, cracks, or errors are noted.
They can go from listening to rap to rock to country. If any errors occur, they look back at the
lacquer plates, mother plates, and stampers to see where it occurred. Once they complete their process, several
copies of a test pressing will be sent to the musician/band for them to review.
Once the band approves, then the final
product is made.
During
the tour, we got to see several unreleased items. However, prior to our tour, we signed a confidentiality
agreement that we could not discuss what records we saw. Interestingly enough, one of the records was
one that I had pre-ordered. It was
pretty exciting to see something that you bought being made in front of your
eyes. On book carts like at a library,
there were hundreds of record jackets on display. They would be carted off to be shipped. There were multiple colored records, as well
as all black albums being made. All of
the workers were smiling and seemed to enjoy their work there.
Before
I knew it, we came to the end of our tour that lasted 2 hours. After seeing the entire process and learning
the history, you truly understand the value of price that goes into a
record. There is a lot of time and
effort to seek perfection in the quality from the moment the plant receives
your music file to the final product. In
a day and age where many manufacturing plants move away from the United States,
this one has remained for multiple generations.
By the looks of it, it will continue to grow and expand for many more
generations for a true American product.
Below is a video from the making of Jamey Johnson's "Guitar Song" on vinyl to give you a good look of the machines and the entire process.
Many thanks to the staff for their kindness and to my tour guide, David, who provided such valuable historic information that I would have not gotten otherwise!
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