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Colour me crazy

Colour me crazy

Posted by Rockaway Records on 6th Sep 2021

Everyone seems to have a different opinion on coloured Vinyl.
Here are some facts to help you make decisions in-store.

Long has it been that man sat befuddled around a roaring fire discussing the limitations of coloured vinyl.

In the earlier years its true that coloured vinyl was considered, well, a little off colour actually.
It was deemed a stitch up by record companies to make more money all while compromising sound quality.
It was certainly the norm that coloured vinyl would have a huge increase in hiss and crackle compared to its black vinyl counterpart.

Luckily for us, there have been massive improvements in coloured vinyl to date. Vinyl pressing has come a long way in the last 20 years and most coloured vinyl is very much on par with black vinyl.

HOW ITS MADE
All vinyl records are made of PVC which is naturally colourless. Various additives are thrown into the mix to turn this into a solid colour.
To make the standard black, black carbon is added which increases the strength and durability of the PVC mix.

Now, with coloured vinyl, dyes are used instead of black carbon. The dyes do not strengthen the vinyl in the same way that black carbon does, but these days unless mistakes are made in the process you can rarely tell the difference.

Clear vinyl is an exception to this rule, as very few additives can be included without jeopardizing the opacity meaning the potential for sound issues increases.

Glow in the dark vinyl can also present issues.
According to Pirate Press, “Glow-In-The-Dark pigments unfortunately deteriorate the acoustic properties of the recording and do often cause increased surface noise.”

More to come....