Why is vinyl all the rage again? We ask this question and more at our National Record Store Day event happening this Saturday. Panelist Amy Dragon, manager at Cascade Record Pressing — Portland’s first vinyl plant — explains why below.
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Stacks of vinyl inside Cascade Record Pressing.
Why do you think vinyl is becoming popular again?
There’s always been a subculture of vinyl collectors and those subcultures have predominantly been in the electronic and hardcore punk realms. They have been keeping the industry alive as the major markets largely declined in interest and that format fell out of favor for a period of time. I think that people came back to it because it was a little bit of a novelty, but within that culture of novelty there were some true audio fans that emerged from that group. People are maybe a little burnt out with the digital format and folks might prefer audio quality of the vinyl format to the digital or CD format. Being able to have a record and participate in an artist’s vision in that way is really special. Being able to listen to a release not on shuffle and in the way an artist intends it to be sequenced, and to see the artwork and insert that might come with it — there’s a story that is told quite differently than how somebody might engage in an artist’s performance with a digital release or even a CD.
I think on the artists side of it, they get to expand their vision and their art. It’s exciting to have a tangible thing to offer their fan base. I also think there’s a profitability factor that was lost when music became so available and so free. You can’t really bootleg a record like you can digital music or CDs. I think it’s less about profitability and more about offering their fans a piece of physical artwork that feels more powerful in some ways than a digital release.
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One of six record pressing machines inside the Cascade vinyl manufacturing plant.
Why was Cascade Record Pressing started in the Pacific Northwest?
Our whole team largely resides in the Pacific Northwest and we’ve all been involved in the music community here in various ways. Our team was already up here and we were specifically looking at a plant in this region. Also, there wasn’t one already, which is kind of amazing given how strong of a music community exists in the Pacific Northwest and the history of that music community. It’s kind of crazy that one hasn’t opened already.
Who are some of your clientele that are producing vinyl with you?
Our clientele is really broad with the caveat that most of our customers are smaller to mid-size labels, and/or independent, self-releasing artists. We work with a few brokers, but most of our customers come to us on their own accord. One of our first customers that’s been really loyal is Mississippi Records and we’ve done a lot of stuff with them.
What is your favorite part of your job as assistant manager at Cascade and assistant audio engineer at Telegraph Audio Mastering?
My favorite part of my role here includes aspects of my job that allow me to put my engineering cap on as well as my plant manager cap. A lot of that has to do with quality control, I oversee that department. I enjoy the part where I get to use my engineering cap to solve any issues that we might come across. I also love working with artists, labels and managers, and it’s really fun to actualize their projects.