CLEAR VINYL, COLORED VINYL

There's been some chit chat about vinyl over at Savage Distortion (not a surprise) and we've been discussing whether colored vinyl and picture disks sound inferior to good old fashioned black vinyl.

Picture disks are different from other records (and colored vinyl) - they are simply two pieces of clear vinyl with a printed sheet in between.

Here's an interesting post by Richard Feirstein I found on SH Forums:

"One job I had in the mid to late 60's, during vacation breaks, was working in a quality control lab at a Brooklyn, NY firm that made vinyl products. They invented grass tex (artificial turf for sports), and coated vinyl used in shades!

I learned that one essential additive in vinyl for disks is carbon black. Others are anti-UV compounds, lubricants for production under heat, filles and plasticisers. A great compromise has to be made, or far more expensive additives have to be selected, if a clear enough product is desired by the customer. Can you make a good sound quality vinyl disk clear enough for a picture; sure - but it would cost you since you leave out the carbon black and many additives, and use more vinyl and less filler."

In many cases these extra costs were too great, so the quality of the vinyl was compromised for the sake of the picture - many of these, after all, were meant more as promotional items. In picture disks, the vinyl itself is also thinner, so the grooves aren't as deep - once again, lower quality sound. Indeed, picture disks released by Capitol Records often had a disclaimer which explained that the sound quality of these records was not up to the usual standards.

I expect that my copy of Luna's "The Days of Our Nights" on white vinyl sounds bad because there is less (or no) carbon black. It's also not very heavy vinyl, which doesn't help.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that colored vinyl also doesn't sound as good, and many people flat out claim that colored vinyl is compromised. One explanation I've seen several times is that the coloring process - which means putting additives (and impurities) in the vinylite - tends to harden it, degrading its response and shortening its life.

The consensus seems to be that the blacker the record, the better it will sound. So save your picture disks and colored vinyl for collecting, and get that heavyweight, jet black virgin shit for the serious listening.

And don't forget - a well cut piece of vinyl can reproduce more bass than a CD.