What are Your Favorite and Most hated Record Manufacturers


I have had great luck with Analog Productions and Friday Music.
I will not buy another Rycodisc pressing.
At the end of this thread I will make a list of the most loved and hated record companies. Hopefully this will make life easier for us vinyl lovers and we can send a message to the bad companies by not purchasing their products and just maybe they will increase their quality. 

Mike
128x128mijostyn

Showing 1 response by snackeyp

When you say manufacturer it can be confusing.  Most record labels do not press their own vinyl.  Analogue Productions controls their pressings through QRP, as they are under the same ownership.  This is important because most record labels cannot control the production side of their products, and have to outsource to various pressing plants.  With the rise in popularity of vinyl, production schedules are full.  This means that those labels who do not control their pressing operations might have to use which ever pressing plant(s) are available to them.  
Vinyl Me Please is one to add to the list of good ones.  I think most of their releases are pressed at QRP.  I have not had a bad record from them.
I've heard that MoFi presses most of their stuff at RTI.  I've never had a bad pressing from MoFi. 
Rhino usually presses at RTI.  It's obvious because of the RTI stickers they put on the covers of the LPs.  
New West Records are mostly crap.  I do not know where they get their records pressed but it's obvious that they don't really care about QC.
Deutsch Grammaphone is surprisingly bad.  I have so many of their releases that skip like crazy.  It's probably because they have to squezze too much music onto a side as they primarily do classical.  Either way it's pretty bad.  
Parlaphone is a very good label.  I think they get theirs mostly pressed at Pallas in Germany.  Their quality overall is very good IME.
I really wish there were standards for record releases, which would require that all records be labeled with important info such as, the recording source (analog, digital, or combination), where the vinyl was pressed, vinyl weight, etc.  It would hold the companies involved accountable for their work.  I get a lot of new records that are noisy, warped, have uncentered holes, etc.  If I knew which pressing plants these were being pressed at I would be able to avoid purchasing their inferior goods.  The best labels do provide details on these things.