Furnace Record Pressing Tour
Ғылым және технология
Eric Astor, Furnace Record Pressing President and CEO invited me to tour the plant for the second time. The first time was a few years ago when the company was just setting up shop in the Alexandria, Virginia building that formerly housed The Washington Post's printing presses. During that first visit, Furnace was still shaking out the vintage Toolex Alpha presses it had purchased in Mexico plus it had added a few new WarmTone presses.
This new tour shows Furnace-now owned by the band Metallica- to be a mature, smoothly running facility with a dozen all new Phoenix Alpha presses and an impressive infrastructure as well as a team of dedicated employees.
VP of Manufacturing Mark Reiter conducted the tour. The video concludes with a short interview with Eric Astor who'd just returned from a short tour with his band and ends with Mr. Reiter explaining the company's new non-crude oil based "green" PVC records that he and Astor claim sound identical to crude oil based PVC. For now the cost is about $1 higher per record. Hopefully over time the cost will reach parity with crude oil based PVC.
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Пікірлер: 53
So refreshing to see a company embrace cutting edge tech and DIY along with recognizing how invaluable their human resources are. What a great business model. I wish them much success. Thanks, Michael.
super cool and informative
I live less than 10 miles from this plant never knew it was there. I love records and your enjoy your content. Also great to see an American based product manufactured by a company that takes care of and respects their employees.
Wow, great pressing company! Shows hard work and determination pays off!
Fremer, whoo hoo! Right up front, the location. I love it. Thank you. 😉 Thanks for the tour. ☮️
Absolutely fascinating!
Enjoyed it, thanks. Love seeing the passion.
This was a good one thanks.
I predict the Bio•Vinyl will take off and be very successful. ♻️
That was an amazing tour of the plant… thanks…
Very impressive operation! Best of all: the owners and management seem like really nice people and good to work for and with.
Admirable ,bravo..
What a fascinating tour Michael! I love the redundancy/backup they have and what a tight ship they run with relatively few people. I've never seen exactly how this type of work is done and it was a great tour with some very smart people who know their jobs. I like that they cross train their employees too. Thanks! Brian in Fort Worth 🎶
Nice video, enjoyed that 👍
This video only plays if i download it 😮 weird! Great video though, your factory tours are legend, and i remember the last two on "furnace"!
@trackingangle929
10 ай бұрын
That is weird. I uploaded it in The Netherlands not sure if that’s involved
Michael, Thanks for doing this. It was very infomrative Mr. Pete-----------> aging hippie
I remember the first time. Yes, it's been a long time looks good.😊👍👍👍👍✌️🙏
Trabajé en una fábrica de vinilos en Uruguay (Fimasa) desde 1976 a 1993 (cuando cerró) ....nunca creí que vería otra vez funcionar una fábrica de vinilos. La vida te da sorpresas, nunca digas nunca...teníamos una de esas prensas suecas Toolex alpha ...son una belleza técnica! Dicen que nuevamente están fabricando repuestos.
@trackingangle929
10 ай бұрын
These are all new machines!
@guayaboxuruguay3287
10 ай бұрын
@@trackingangle929Por suerte la fábrica abrió nuevamente. Recuerdo que Toolex aparte de fabricar máquinas también tenía fábrica de vinilos en Suecia.
32:32 I've been thinking the same lately...
Aside from my "dream" job working in quality control at a mattress factory, this would be the next on my list.
8:58 "Rob, meet Michael" - - - if I were there: "oh, btw Rob, Michael's the reason you're still pressing records in 2023" - - - sorry Mike, couldn't resist - - just my personal opinion, I owe getting my hobby back to you. Actually, thinking about it, you should be receiving a kick back for every record being made these days. Hard to look back and see that many if not most of the old record pressing plants were being scrapped. imo, you're the key guy that's resurrected an entire industry. 🙏
@trackingangle929
10 ай бұрын
I'm one of many people who helped keep the ball in the air during the "dark days", but thank you...
Nice company it seems
First bio-vinyl title to be released: Plantasia.
I heard something about quick cooling when it comes straight out of the press at 0° Celsius, it's supposed to make for a better detailed lower noise record but can't really find any information about it. I would say one thing the company could do is put light pipes in the ceilings this is better working environment and saves on literacy not expensive to install
Hi Michael, how is your take on Green Vinyl (injection moulded PET LP’s) instead of pressing?
@kirmussaudio7578
7 ай бұрын
The Company that pioneered this in the Netherlands sold two machines so I am told, and are no longer selling these machines. We di prove where there is also a release agent that comes out of the record at the Making Vinyl event in Hollywood in 2019.
Always important to remember the failure rate is quite high (this so many 'dead records'), it's always been that way - however it's far better now than it was before the vinyl resurgence. We've come a long way quality wise ! Helps to explain the retail cost we pay.
@Audiorevue
10 ай бұрын
Does it explain the cost?, I mean how is it that the company sterlite can make a 100 gallon plastic tub,with 15 times as much plastic in it as a record, And by the way they're making these in the USA, and sell it at Walmart for $7.99? Granted a vinyl record has a bit more labor involved in terms of the metal stamper and so on, but still it's quite mysterious.
@marktubeie07
10 ай бұрын
@@Audiorevue I absolutely agree - I was just being balanced about there fact that it's a high cost industry now (compared to the turnover in vinyls heyday). Costs are getting pretty outrageous granted.
@dalelynn3886
10 ай бұрын
@@Audiorevue You have electric, gas, steam, water, compressed air, vacuum, stampers, PVC, labels, sleeves, jackets, stickers, QC, assembly of the records, shrink wrap, pallets, distro, and most importantly the people.. just to name a few
@Audiorevue
10 ай бұрын
@@dalelynn3886 you know the problem with KZread comment sections, it's the fact of how hard it is to tell when somebody is being overly facetious.
Dual microphones would have made for better audio, given the amount of background noise
Any opinions on the difference in pressing quality between domestic Furnace pressings and Pallas pressings? (Through their partnership with Pallas as Pallas USA.)
@MWO486
10 ай бұрын
Inquiring minds want to know…
Didn't Metallica purchase this pressing plant a couple of months ago?
No idea why you would censor/delete my post Michael. It wasn't a personal attack, that's for sure.
42:47 Wearing gloves, I like that!😉
Hi Michael we never hear anyone mention records pressed at Furnace Records, it’s always QRP or RTI or Palace why is that?
@avocadochoe
10 ай бұрын
Metallica just acquired Furnace Records, they’ve been doing a lot of runs for them. Just different targets and genre biases.
@maracalp2900
10 ай бұрын
@@avocadochoethis is the Pallas Usa plant
@trackingangle929
10 ай бұрын
@@maracalp2900 No longer associated.
@ModusVivendiMedia
10 ай бұрын
@@trackingangle929 Do they no longer offer the Pallas option at all? (For a while they were pressing records domestically, but for a higher price also offering Pallas pressings.)
Is it just me or is it that people that seem to work in the most frivolous industries seem to be the most serious when it comes to their job. I mean it,you go in a coffee shop and everybody's all smiles, but you go into a bicycle shop and the guy behind the counter looks like he's thinking real hard about the implications of him designing the successor to the V2 rocket.
@trackingangle929
10 ай бұрын
This is not a frivolous industry, though of course unlike farming it's not essential.
@Audiorevue
10 ай бұрын
@@trackingangle929 I didn't really mean it that way Mr framer, at least not in a negative sense. I was more commenting on the seriousness of individuals who work in " non-essential " industries.
Well....at least now we all know if Michael gets fired from Absolute Sound he can fall back on factories likes these for employment...lol.
Bio Vinyl...LOL How much fossil fuels and repurposed Foodland does it take to make your "bio oil"? Bio oil doesn't just happen magically without fossil fuels....LOL Great marketing though, you probably think an EV is environmentally friendly as well...LOL 🙂
@heinzb8219
9 ай бұрын
When they do state it is not a greenwashing stunt and have it certified, I guess it will be an improvement. Call it progress.