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Clear vinyl vs. regular black vinyl

I just got my second clear vinyl record yesterday, the Stones Hot Rocks on 180g, not from any special manufacturer like MFSL or Analogue Productions and the like. The first one was Donald Fagen Sunken Condos. These albums sound particularly good for not being pressed by a "special" audiophile label.

Is this just a coincidence or is it better, and if so, why aren't more records produced this way? I heard that eliminating the dye in the vinyl could improve the sound, but I was wondering if there is a consensus out there. 

I'm not talking about other dye colors or ones with pictures on them, just plain clear vinyl.

Thanks.
sokogear
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,497 posts
 
No idea but I would think the materials used by the pressing companies would be the cheapest material that got the job done correctly (i.e. black vinyl). On the other hand I'm sure there are better materials out there but they might be cost prohibitive for high output production.  
petg60
1,486 posts
 
Natural pvc has no colour, pure, additives and black carbon strengthen the lp. That means in the long run black ones would last longer.
All that matters is the quality control at mastering and production.
snratio
40 posts
 
Never followed up to find out if it was an old wives tale, but remember reading that the carbon black in the vinyl cut down static electricity.
sokogear OP
1,095 posts
 
Donald Fagen was a fanatic about the recording and production process and I seem to remember them saying there was some advantage to them producing Sunken Condos on clear vinyl. It is also a unique record in that it only has music on 3 sides, which is of course better as the music doesn't go as far into the center of each disc where the distortion is maximal from the angle change of the arm to the record. They could have squeezed it onto one record (barely) I belleve or cut a minute somewhere.

I doubt he made this record this way to cut costs. Any music/pressing people out there?
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cleeds
5,943 posts
 
"Carbon has conductive properties, so adding it to the PVC increases the overall conductivity of the material, lessening the accumulation of static, and therefore, dust, on a record."

See: Furnace Record Pressing.
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