Woodglue records

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kugelblitz
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Woodglue records

Post: # 61552Unread post kugelblitz
Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:03 pm

Here’s a writeup of a project i’ve been working on the last few months.

The basic premise of this project is: can i make a record in the same way i make zines.
That is to say diy, cheap and dirty.
I’ve been making zines (about music and other things) since my teenage years and when i was a kid i really got a kick out of a zines like Larsen or Multiball, that would come with a ‘45.

So i really wanted to do that too for my zine, and sent an e-mail to the guys from Larsen, who politely but promptly helped me out of the dream: pressing records is expensive, and no way my 16 year pockets were deep enough for it.

Anyway i kept making zines, went to art school, made more zines and played in bands, became a professional artist (to quote the great bob log III “I’m a professional g*ddammit, I live in a CAR”), made zines and booklets and more music.

In the last three years i finally managed to finance the release of three (pressed) records.
All though making the records was fun, and i could still have my diy way with the covers, it was also expensive and increasingly tedious (9 months overturn for the last 10” i did!)

So I wanted to get more DIY with making records, off course lathe cutting is somewhat of an answer to this, and i bought a simple lathe in the process, but it is also HARD (as documented in my post Fun with Failure), and doesn’t really fit with the quick and dirty style that defines zines…

The idea i came up with is to have one record cut and then cast copies off it in woodglue.
Send the record round to all my friends and my friends friends friends, everybody casts their copy at home, like a do it yourself record.

I knew woodglue would play, cause i used the woodglue cleaning trick every once in a while and had played the residue on dj turntable that went backwards.
So first i figured i would have a record cut inside out with the audio going backwards, a woodglue cast of that would theoretically hold a positive image of the music, albeit still an upside down groove (but experimentation with woodglue casts of regular records showed this was apparently not such a problem (??))

However, after watching some video’s of Don Wilson and talking with local expert Peter F. i decided it was better to mould a regular record in silicone and then cast of that.
So that’s what i did.

With a label made from a cheapo scratch art-set it actually looks pretty great
gluerec.jpg
Casts were a bit hit and miss at first, but by now i have developed a technique that basically yields playable results at every cast.
I think it’s not in the spirit of the project to use fancy stuff like degassing chambers, so air pockets in the glue are the biggest enemy of these cast-records.

Blowing on the glue with a straw to burst air pockets helps some, but the best way i found is to simply drop the glue filled mould from about a meter in the air down on to my workbench a bunch of times (Don Wilson also demonstrates this technique somewhere on Youtube)

The records are very noisy off course.
They play best on players that have heavy tracking force, a dual with a crappy mmc head ( 5 grams of tracking) that i use for playing 78’s at home play ‘em great. But my technics with ortofone head will also accept properly cast records.
Here's one of my prototypes playing on said technics:
dcwk_1_constante_macabre_en_attendant_le_barrage.mp3

Anyway after a successful prototype cast i invited some friends and associates to contribute a recording, had 6 sides cut by Duophone, poured silicone all over them, stuck em in a box and baptized the whole thing:
“The Demonstration Collection of Woodstone Kugelblitz”
after a collection of old old cylinder recordings from the berliner phonogram institut – that project was also involved copying recordings with dubious (yet beautiful) sonic results…
5a.png
The crowds seem to like it so far.
Off course no great revolution in record making, but another proof that there are 100.000 ways to achieve your goals when you are doing it yourself :)
Expo_Slash_Gallery_02 (copie).JPG
I will post some pictures of moulding and copying below. More on the project @ https://www.woodstonekugelblitz.org/dcwk.html
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kugelblitz
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Re: Woodglue records

Post: # 61553Unread post kugelblitz
Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:15 pm

Moulding:
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kugelblitz
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Re: Woodglue records

Post: # 61554Unread post kugelblitz
Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:22 pm

Copying:
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copy-2.JPG
copy-3.JPG
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copy-5.JPG
copy-6.JPG
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tragwag
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Re: Woodglue records

Post: # 61557Unread post tragwag
Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:41 pm

oh this rules, love the DIY ethic. great work!
making lathe cuts on a Presto 6N, HIFI stereo cuts on vinylrecorder
at Audio Geography Studios, Providence, RI USA
http://www.audiogeography.com

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farmersplow
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Location: Austria - Vienna

Re: Woodglue records

Post: # 61558Unread post farmersplow
Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:50 pm

Very innovative. It doesn't always have to be HQ! I like what you're doing - I think it's even expandable with experimenting with materials and a vacuum tank (air bubble removal).
Keep it up!

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PLD
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Re: Woodglue records

Post: # 61577Unread post PLD
Wed Oct 05, 2022 12:48 pm

Neat! I often use PVA glue to clean records with too, and have managed to play a couple of the peeled off dry sheets with.... er... interesting results.

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kugelblitz
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Re: Woodglue records

Post: # 61586Unread post kugelblitz
Thu Oct 06, 2022 1:25 pm

36 hours later it is time for the last step... unmoulding
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