"Pressing Vinyl"

I think the comment by the plant manager is really a reflection of the fact that it is a fairly old tech manufacturing business, and as the video suggested, lots of variables to keep all that stuff humming optimally. I don't care that he doesn't give a poop about the music, as long as the records are well made. We can leave the creative stuff to the artists, engineers and producers. I do find it fascinating that these old presses can be refurbished and returned to service. As to investment in new presses, I don't know, but imagine the tooling costs would be considerable, and it seems that a lot of people are concerned that once the 'fad' aspect of the vinyl bubble bursts, we'll be back to far lower volume, audiophile stuff, the odd release by a new band, etc. I don't buy many new records, and of the 'mass market' stuff I do buy, whether pressed in the US or EU, I've certainly had issues. (I'm not talking about the fancier pressings of the type you get from Chad or Mo-Fi, and even some of the big labels are using Chad now for some stuff, e.g. if memory serves, the Hendrix Legacy AYE was pressed at QRP).

Saki70
Query :
Why do you want "New" recordings on vinyl ?
If I am reading correctly , all of the new stuff is developed in the digital realm and then 'converted' to analog . This digitization & conversion affects the aspects that we love about the original analog/vinyl sound . It's about the processing , isn't it ?

Of course it has to start with a good quality digital master. It may come from the original analogue tapes or digital sources, but the record pressing process is giving us the vinyl sound (not quite the same as the vinyl we grew up with). It's never converted back to analogue; a hi-rez digital file is used to cut the record.
As long as there is a qualified operator cutting the record and virgin vinyl is being used, and the machine is up to spec it is possible to produce a good sounding LP these days.
And then once you put the LP into your home analogue chain, the colourations are what makes listening to vinyl special.

Although, there seems to be only a few record plants capable of succeeding. But some of these new pressings are very enjoyable to listen to.

Lowrider57 ;

"Of course it has to start with a good quality digital master. It may come from the original analogue tapes"

An analog-to-digital conversion ?

"(not quite the same as the vinyl we grew up with)."

I agree .

"It's never converted back to analogue, except for the fact that vinyl is an analogue medium; a hi-rez digital file is used to cut the record."

I was not aware of this fact , interesting .

I would like to see a video on Mofi's plant, I would hope the practices and passion of manufacturing "Original Master Recordings" are better than that of a plant manager, whom has zero interest in the product. Just my two cents! Cheers.

I don't think MoFi owns its own pressing plant. The original ones were done, as you no doubt know, by JVC in Japan. I think they owned a US plant briefly in the '90s, before they went bankrupt. Now that Music Direct owns them, and rebooted the brand, I suspect they use the usual suspects. Correct me if wrong. I have a few 'new' MoFi, and can look.