Visit to Stereodisk
 

I was fortunate to attend an event Sunday at Stereodisk, a small but growing record pressing plant in NJ. Founder Leandro Gonzalez is very knowledgeable and shared a lot of information about the process - from restoring old machines to shipping the finished product - and everything in between. Along the way, he shattered a few audiophile myths. This is a schematic of one of the machines he rebuilt.

Stereodisk cuts its own masters from digital or tape.

Of course, he has some signal processing equipment.

Yes, he has his own lathe.

I'm always careful not to touch other people's equipment without permission, even if there are no warning labels.

Obviously, he buys blank lacquers by the box.

Leandro currently has two presses in operation. His 12-inch press in manually operated.

The 7-inch press is automated.

Here's some raw material.

Some of the wiring may not fully comply with Ivan's Audio Cabling Specification Standard.

Here is some finished product. And yes, that wacky herringbone design disc is playable, Leandro says. And while they do a lot of special designs and odd colors, he says black vinyl sounds best.

Because it's a small facility, Stereodisk doesn't get work from the major labels. But that lets the company offer small press runs for musicians, and that helps keep vinyl alive.

If I mention any of the audiophile myths Leandro dispelled, we'd drift OT. So I'll save that for another day!

Curtis.......Very interesting. Thanks for taking us along.

Lots of interesting pics. Did you get to listen to any of the records? Perhaps he comp'd you one or two? :scratch2:

Thank you!
Nope, we didn't get to listen to any records ... he couldn't comp us any because they are the property of his clients. But I'll probably try to buy a few just for fun, even though I think a lot of his clients probably don't make the kind of music I tend to prefer.

Well Curtis, you should be able to duplicate that.

Wow, that Ampeg had me rushing for a razor blade. Spent hours editing tape on them back in the day.

:lmao:

What nationality is Leandro btw

The wiring in most pro-audio facilities will leave most audiophiles baffled and confused. Then again - imagine what it would cost to wire up a studio or other pro-audio set-up that uses miles of cable with the stuff we audiophiles use!!! And visa-versa the wiring in most audiophile systems would leave most pro-audio guys baffled and confused. There are some mastering operations that use really good cable (like Gateway - Bob Ludwig's operation), but for the most part these places use pedantic wiring from Belden, Mogami and Canare.

I think he is American.