The Future Is Vinyl

May 12th, 2016

Crafers recording studio Roundabout Records is set to make its mark on the music industry as it opens its doors to a new pressing facility.

With only around 50 pressing plants across the world and 22 in Australia, Roundabout Records will be the first of its kind in Adelaide and the second in the state.

Operating as a small boutique studio, Roundabout Records will encompass both a full service pressing plant and recording studio.

With plans to make 100-1,000 discs per order, the studio is already turning heads and catching the eye of up and coming artists throughout the state.

This small but impressive record studio is currently the home to some very special hardware including an EMI mixing desk graced by music favourites John Farnham, Slim Dusty and Sherbet.

Owner Colin Forster is very excited for the expansion and said it has been a long but worthwhile journey.

Hunting down all of the equipment has been a mission in itself for Colin, taking him to Germany, the UK, France and Auckland.

“It has been a long but rushed process, there are a lot of musicians and music lovers out there trying to get their hands on the equipment so as soon as I hear of an item available I jump on a plane and make my way over there,” he said.

Most recently Colin travelled to Auckland to purchase a 1950s Neumann AM-32 cutting lathe – the last surviving device of its kind.

With several other eager musicians making the trip to New Zealand Colin was lucky to get his hands on the much loved item.

As an eager musician himself Colin is passionate about sharing his knowledge, experience and love for the industry with the local community.

“I have always thought that vinyl sounds better than CD or streaming and I think the love for records is starting to come back,” he said.

“Around a million records were sold throughout Australia last year and this number continues to rise by around 31 per cent each year – mostly amongst the younger generations.

“It seems that youth is going back to vinyl – it is a new technology to them.

“My seven year old niece has grown up with ipods so if she could listen to Katy Perry on a record she would love that.”

Colin believes the pressing studio will be great for the whole community in terms of employment, tourism and of course to help out those up and coming artists.

“We really want to advertise South Australia as this is the only pressing studio in the area,” he said.
“We are hoping to do tours of the studio for both schools and tourists – here they can see and learn how a record is made.

“This is a great opportunity for local artists to get involved in the music industry.

“Making vinyls is a bit of a lost art so I am excited to bring it back to South Australia and the Hills.”

Roundabout records will begin cutting smaller vinyl’s towards the end of winter with 120g, 180g and 220g classic black vinyl.

For more information on the studio visit their Facebook page at Roundabout Records.


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