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Well, assuming that you like the band, the 12” is really the format we had in mind while making decisions about the record. Part of the reason that it’s taken so long to put the thing out is that we’ve been paying attention to a lot of details that go into delivering a really good sounding version of the release. We think the vinyl does the best job of this.
Why does it sound so good, then?
Mostly because we got John Golden to do the vinyl mastering, had the plating done by Mastercraft and then worked closely with the pressing plant to deal with manufacturing issues. John mastered it as faithfully as possible from our ½” master tape. Between his significant experience and the fact that it’s about 10 minutes per side cut into 45rpm vinyl, the sound quality of the finished product is a great reproduction of our analog mixdown tape.
Why’s it only available on black vinyl?
No one’s been able to point out the definite science on this, but we’ve heard enough stuff about colored vinyl not sounding as good and/or not lasting as long. Enough that we’d feel we’d be offering a lower quality product in the colored vinyl and we don’t want to do that. Black vinyl should be the best medium for the reasons that matter (sound, durability, reliability from the pressing plant) if not for the reasons that don’t matter (how pretty it looks on your turntable, your ability to resell it).
Oh, that’s also why we kept a plain white inner sleeve. Printed or special sleeves can get dirty and a dirty inner sleeve should be replaced. That’s a lot easier to do with a plain white one than with something that is an aesthetically integral part of the final product. Maybe you’re hyper and want to get one of those paper/plastic hybrid ones that are supposed to scratch the record less. Have at it.
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| Thad Calabrese's lower body, Justin Foley's hand. |
Is there cool stuff other than the record?
Of course. There’s a download card so that you can get a digital copy of the songs at no additional cost. There’s a nice insert with some liner notes. And there’s one or two other things.
Why’s it limited to 500?
Because it’s a record with a limited appeal and so we all had to figure out how many to make. Some people care about the size of a limited edition so, since it’s limited due to demand, there’s no harm in letting people know how limited. Of course, if there’s enough demand to warrant pressing more, we’ll do that. We’ve got zero interest in an artificial ‘specialness’ that comes from trying to make something deliberately collectible.
Why are you releasing the vinyl 1/2 a year after the CD? Are you trying to get people to buy this twice or something? That's gross.
Ha ha ha. No. In the past 25 years, vinyl has moved from the standard for music releases to a niche industry. This means the standards and scale of record production has moved from plants producing massive volume to smaller operators working on a job-order basis. If something goes wrong, you can either rush to overlook it or take the time and work to fix it. For this record, we did the latter. We appreciate the patience of anyone who's held off on buying the release for the 12" version and we hope they feel it was worth the wait.
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