July 12, 2023 • 41 mins
After spending 30 years in physical media production from cassette duplication to distribution Jeri is now the VP of Client Services and Front End Operations at United Record Pressing; one of the largest pressing plants in the United States. Jeri is part of the new United, a company that is looking forward to the next 60+ years; after all they did press the first Beatles 7” in North America, and historically housed many African American customers, executives, and musicians in a time of segregation in their historic Motown Suite. Join us for what URP looks like now, and how they see the industry moving forward, all while learning Jeri’s journey to vinyl along the way.
Check out: United Record Pressing: https://www.urpressing.com/
Huge thank you to German singer, songwriter, and producer, Esther Quade for the use of her song ‘Bat’ off her album of the same name. Find the limited edition vinyl release and more at: https://estherquade.bandcamp.com/album/bat-album-2021
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS! The ones that make your vinyl needs even more accessible with so many great codes and resources.
As always, join the conversation on Instagram or send us a note at: media@womeninvinyl.com
Check out www.womeninvinyl.com for past episodes, the store, job board, and the growing library of resources!
Don’t forget to like, subscribe and give us a review on your favorite podcast delivery method!
You can also contribute to furthering our mission at https://www.patreon.com/womeninvinyl Where you’ll find all of the B-Sides, Deep Cuts and amazing extras, including longer episodes and contribute to the creation of scholarships and educational opportunities to further the demystification and infiltration of more Women and Non-Binary identifying humans into the Vinyl Making Space!
Check out: United Record Pressing: https://www.urpressing.com/
Huge thank you to German singer, songwriter, and producer, Esther Quade for the use of her song ‘Bat’ off her album of the same name. Find the limited edition vinyl release and more at: https://estherquade.bandcamp.com/album/bat-album-2021
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS! The ones that make your vinyl needs even more accessible with so many great codes and resources.
- Other Record Labels - Who’ve gifted our listeners - you! - a 25% code in their store for the myriad of resources compiled there using the code WIVFRIENDS at checkout! https://www.otherrecordlabels.com/store
- Selektor Record Bags - Our new favorite record bag: https://www.theselektor.com/us/
- Koeppel Design (pronounced Kep-ul) - Sleek and sophisticated, handmade record collection organization! Get $10 off your first order of $75 using the code WOMENINVINYL at checkout! https://koeppeldesign.com/
- Eargasm - High fidelity ear plugs! keep your hearing protected in style! Eargasm has a great deal for you with 10% off your order using, you guessed it, discount code: WOMENINVINYL at checkout. www.eargasm.com/
- Glowtronics - Custom slip mats - you already love the WIV branded slipmat, but think, you can make your own! Get 15% off using the code: WOMENINVINYL15 at www.glowtronics-store.com/
- Nugen Audio - Innovative, intuitive, award-winning professional audio plugins and software for all your creative music producing and sound design needs! Use code WOMENINVINYL for 20% off at check out: https://nugenaudio.com/womeninvinyl/
- Vinyl Revolution Record Show - Attend one of the longest running record shows out there. 55 dealer tables filled with vendors from all over the east coast and tons of rare and collectible vinyl records! Find more at: https://www.instagram.com/vinylrevolutionrecordshow/
As always, join the conversation on Instagram or send us a note at: media@womeninvinyl.com
Check out www.womeninvinyl.com for past episodes, the store, job board, and the growing library of resources!
Don’t forget to like, subscribe and give us a review on your favorite podcast delivery method!
You can also contribute to furthering our mission at https://www.patreon.com/womeninvinyl Where you’ll find all of the B-Sides, Deep Cuts and amazing extras, including longer episodes and contribute to the creation of scholarships and educational opportunities to further the demystification and infiltration of more Women and Non-Binary identifying humans into the Vinyl Making Space!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to the Women in Vinyl Podcastwith Jen Dugenio, founder of Women in
Vinyl, and contributor Robin Raymond.This podcast facilitates conversations with those working from
the vinyl record industry to educate,demystify, and diversify the vinyl community.
(00:31):
Us on New yearsy but I Ididn't see a face coming. There was
a pic Joy without warning, FZthing can event in the room and no
(01:03):
Sizu pink elephant in the room.Thanks for joining us on episode forty two
of the Women in Vinyl Podcast.You just heard Bat by German singer,
songwriter and producer Esther Quaid of heralbum of the same name. Find the
(01:26):
limited edition vinyl release and more atEsther Quaid dot bandcamp dot com. Today
we're joined by Jerrymills, VP ofClient Services and front end Operations at United
Record Pressing. Learn Jerry's story ofspending thirty years in physical media production,
from cassette duplication to distribution and nowhelping run one of the largest pressing plants
(01:49):
in the United States. Jerry ispart of the New United, a company
that is looking forward to the nextsixty plus years. From pressing the first
beatles seven inch in North America tothe legendary Motown suite. United has been
a staple in manufacturing for decades.Enjoy. Thanks for joining us, Jerry,
Thanks for the invite. Yeah,we finally made it happen. It's
(02:12):
been a year since we were allin Nashville. Time flies, doesn't it.
It's crazy, but we're excited tohave you join. For those that
don't know you, could you telleveryone a little bit about yourself? Sure?
Jerry Mills work for United Record Pressingfor the last three years and thirty
years actually in July of this year, in music manufacturing and distribution. Started
(02:38):
my career as a cassette duplication operator. That's so awesome. Yeah, And
when we met you before, youmentioned that your family was in the business.
So did you always anticipate that youdo something in physical media? And
like, how did you find yourway here? You know, it's crazy.
I actually didn't. I was tryingto figure out what I was going
(03:02):
to do with my life at ayoung age, like most people do.
And my sister was actually working ata company called Syndram in Richmond, Indiana,
and she had worked there. Whenshe started working there, it was
PRC Phillips Recording Company, and Ikept telling her give me a job for
the summertime, and she kept tellingme no. So one day she walks
(03:27):
by the front office and there Isat, and so she when she stopped
and looked back and she asked mewhat I was doing. I said,
if you're not going to get mea job, I'm going to get a
job on my own. So Iinterviewed with a couple different people, and
again I was just supposed to workthere for the summertime until I figured out
what I wanted to do with mylife. And I always tell people thirty
(03:51):
years later, I guess I stilldon't know what I want to do with
my life. My sister worked thereat that time, but prior to my
working there, my older sister hadworked there as well. My mom,
who I call my other dad,who is my stepdad, he actually worked
(04:12):
there in high school before he leftfor the war in the late sixties.
My grandmother worked there, and Iactually recently found out that my great grandfather
worked there also. Back then itwas actually Decca Records. Yeah, so
my grandmother was actually a press operatorand my dad was a hopper feller in
(04:40):
high school. I love that it'ssuch a cool story. And then in
addition to all of those family members, my brother in law worked there,
my sister, brother in law,and I worked there until the facility closed
in two thousand and nine, butmy aunt and my uncle worked there.
(05:00):
In records, my cousin worked there. He was actually excuse me, a
maintenance guy on the presses, andhis wife eventually worked for the same company
when it was CDs. So prettymuch my entire family, other than my
biological dad, has worked in sometype of physical media. You guys could
(05:24):
have taken it over. Could Mysister and I actually joke about that often
and say, you know, wecould have started our own business. Yeah,
especially having like somebody in every singledifferent department. Yes, she was
a quality supervisor at one point.Uh, and then moved into customer service.
(05:45):
And my brother in law was actuallythe maintenance technical manager over the molding
equipment for CDs and the printing equipmentin CDs as well. Wow, So
what made you How did you findyour way to United? Funny? Actually,
I got a text message from MarkMichaels that said, Hey, got
(06:10):
your name and phone number from oneof your music customers, and let's talk
so I ended up giving him acall and we were on the phone for
well over an hour, and whenI hung up the phone with him,
my husband actually said to me,Oh, it's nice to see you.
(06:30):
And I was kind of taken abackby that, and I said, what
do you mean, I've been here, and he said, no, it's
nice to see you. He said, hearing the excitement in your voice and
seeing the way that you are afterthis conversation, said it sounds like you
might need to go meet someone.So it was actually right at the beginning
(06:51):
of the pandemic. It was Marchof twenty twenty, and so Mark and
I traded phone calls and text messagesfor a couple of months, and then
actually May, it was actually thissame time, right now, that Mark
offered me a job at United.Wow. It's amazing, right, Wow.
(07:17):
So I started in the vinyl industry, well, vinyl manufacturing, because
prior to that I was doing distributionfor CDs and vinyl, and so moving
into manufacturing for vinyl in the peakof the pandemic and all of the craziness
(07:38):
with orders increasing for manufacturing for vinyl, I think I might have been thrown
to the wolves. But it wasa good thing and I've enjoyed every second
of it. Yeah, what atime to enter into all of this.
Yeah, when I started, Isaid, we have a backlog of how
big well, and I mean inthat saying something too, because RP is
(08:03):
not a small No, it isnot. And actually we've just in the
past three years we've grown so much. We've actually just finished up phase one
of our expansion. So we havea lot of new shiny Phoenix presses in
the facility now and have added staffingto support that. And you know,
(08:26):
that's been its own challenge in itself. Is everyone has had issues with staffing
over the last few years, butwe have really taken the time to hire
the right people in the right positionsand feel that we're definitely headed in the
right direction. Are you guys runningthree ships to We actually run four shifts.
(08:50):
It's so it's for twelve hour shifts. We do two twelve hour shifts
on the front end of the week, so Monday through Wednesday shift, and
then we do a Thursday through Saturdayshift. Right now, obviously, we're
always looking to make sure that weare staffed in the best way to be
able to support our customers. Demand. Yeah, how many presses do you
(09:11):
all have now? Right now,we have fifty six presses that are in
the building, So we have twentysix new Phoenix presses. When we went
through and just decided that we weregoing to expand and started to lay out
the facility, we went ahead andour engineer built the infrastructure to support forty
(09:37):
eight new presses. So we've broughton twenty six of those presses. But
if there is a demand for itand we need to, we can definitely
bring in additional presses and be preparedfor that. Wow, I mean that,
I think that would make you guyslike we're number one, right because
(10:00):
you're you're already just like just bya smidge like number two, biggest facility
and like in North America sure,but probably just behind Gez, I believe.
So, Yes, that's a lotof It is a lot of people,
and as we have discussed at nauseumon our podcast, it takes a
lot of people to make your records, friends, it does. So just
(10:22):
imagine how many people are in youur F making incredible records for you on
fifty six pense. It boggles themind. I just like, I mean,
I can see myself on some sortof a catwalk, just like overlooking
all of these things. Dude,is that a reality? Jerry? Is
(10:45):
that something? We don't have acat walk now, although that would be
fun, right. It is prettyimpressive to walk in and see everything,
and that is one thing that we'requite proud of just being there a short
three years, seeing all of thepositive changes that we've made in the facility.
(11:05):
So we're not obviously our workload dictatesthe number of presses that we run
each day or each week. We'renot currently running all fifty six presses,
but we have the demand for it. We can definitely do so, so
we in addition to the new Phoenixpresses, we have the lined presses and
(11:26):
we have smts also. And what'syour guys' minimum murder three hundred units now
for seven inch? Our minimum isone hundred. Oh okay, that's good
to see. That's the other question, because I feel like we need to
figure out like who's making seven inchrecords? Yeah, well, you know
seven seven inch is near and dearto our heart because that's u URP was
(11:48):
founded on seven inch. We pressedthe first Beatles seven inch in the US.
I was just gonna say that whatis the new United, Like we
were talking a little bit about thatwhen I was there, And because there's
new management, there aabilities like whatis the new URP? So we're I'm
(12:13):
plagiarizing this from one of my coworkers, but he described us as a seventy
four year old startup company and that'strue. Next year we celebrate our seventy
fifth anniversary. But we do havenew leadership in the facility trying to take
(12:35):
what we've done over the last seventyfour years and learn from that and understand
from the last seventy four years whathave we done well? But then also
it's not just about learning from whatwe've done well. It's about learning from
what we haven't done so well andbeing open minded and saying, all right,
(12:56):
where have we failed in the past, Because that's what we need to
focus on. We need to focuson understanding what our challenges have been and
build upon that and make us better. And that's exactly the direction that we're
heading, building the right culture forour employees, making it enjoyable for our
(13:18):
team to come into work. Actuallysaid to someone last week that I was
giving a tour to I said,do you honestly think that no offense to
the folks that work at Amazon,because we appreciate the folks that work at
Amazon, but do you think theyreally get excited about going into work and
picking an order to ship out?Not merely as exciting as someone that can
(13:41):
say I work for a record pressingplant. So just building, building a
factory, and a company that believesin teamwork, believes in each other and
each other up and understands that whatwe do at United is extremely important.
(14:09):
I've said to people before that whenthey asked what I do, I say,
we make magic and it's a formof art and hiring the right people
that have that same passion for thebusiness, and I truly think that that
matters. And we've seen that moreand more. I totally agree. Yeah,
(14:33):
absolutely, especially in a place likeNashville, because right, I mean,
you've got more record pressing plants inthat zip code, in that collection
of zip codes. It's so trueand probably anywhere on the earth. I
feel like the pride just walking throughthe door, even though the door has
(14:56):
moved, it's like walking through thatdoor, like I feel like I would
be like, hell, yeah,you know, there is something magical about
walking in, so we still ownthe facility on Chestnut, Yeah, And
walking in and going upstairs to themotown suite, there's there is something magical
(15:16):
about that. And walking through thereand sitting on the edge of the bed
in the bedroom and saying, youknow, I wonder who's slept in this
in this bed, or going intothe kitchen and thinking, who ate a
meal at this table? It's itis pretty amazing. Well, I mean,
we were talking about Nashville and itssaturation of record pressing plants. I
(15:41):
mean, what is your sort ofstance on the saturation of the market.
Is it a good thing? Doyou think everybody can sustain this? What's
your perspective. I think that's agreat question and a question that we ask
ourselves every day, right And Idon't think that this is a unique question
(16:03):
to United Record Pressing that we're theonly ones asking this question. I think
everyone that's pressing vinyl right now isasking the same question. Yeah, we
absolutely are. I think that Ithink some facilities will survive, and I
think that some facilities will not survive. It's understanding the industry and understanding what
(16:33):
the customer's needs are. You know, you go from a year and a
half ago where the labels were saying, we have so many orders that we
can't fill and you know, we'remissing out on all this revenue. So
that everyone goes and adds equipment orbuilds a new plant. It's I don't
(16:56):
know the right word for it.Sometimes concerning and other times it's, hey,
we've built a plant that can supportwhat our customers' needs are and that's
what we're going to focus on.Yeah. I mean I think maybe,
and this might be be reading intoit, but short sighted is maybe the
(17:18):
word you're looking for, because it'slike, let's do this thing immediately,
but not looking like down the roada little bit to when things might mellow
out. Perhaps, Yes, andyou nailed it right there, Rob,
And short sighted is definitely. Let'sface it, this industry is short sighted,
and we've built a facility that canaccommodate that short sightedness totally. Yeah.
(17:44):
And the one benefit that we haveright now, you know, this
time last year we were quoting eightmonths ten months turn time, and now
we're test pressings out the door inseven days. Wow. Yeah, that's
incredible. And that's that's from receiptof audio. So we can receive the
(18:11):
audio, the lacquer's cut, silveredplates, ready stampers, on the press,
test, pressing, brand test,pressing, Q seed and out the
door in seven business days. Wow, because you all have the unique ability
to also do all of that there. Yeah, so there's Nashville Record Productions
(18:33):
is actually it has space inside ourfacility, so he can receive an audio
file and within twenty four hours wecan have a lacquer cut and we're now
silvery and house also, so we'reend to end for electroplating, so that
(18:56):
that is a benefit for our customers. And then once the test is approved
from workability, if we have labelsand house cut jackets, slaves, once
everything is workable. Right now,we're turning the orders in about three to
four weeks after workability. That's incredible. Yeah, So the longest thing right
(19:19):
now for us is basically waiting forthe packaging components to come in. I
feel like they're still playing catchup.Yes, I have I have a question
for you too, Jerry Sure.What are the positive changes that you've seen
now coming through the pandemic? Like, are people still excited to come to
(19:41):
work? Are like was there likehesitancy when when things are starting to reopen.
Is everybody like really like stoked andhappy and doing all the things now?
Yeah, I think. So it'snice to be able to come to
work and not wear a mask,because we went through that for quite sometime
and that was a challenge in itselfgetting people to follow the rules that you
(20:03):
have to wear a mask. Let'sface it, the majority of the people
did not like wearing a mask.I did not like wearing a mask,
but it was needed and that's whatwe had to do. So the day
that we announced that masks are nolonger required, you know, obviously,
if people want to wear masks,that's that's their choice, and I respect
(20:23):
that, and we still have somefolks that wear masks in the facility and
again on supportive of that. Butit was nice to be able to walk
by and smile at someone and say, hey, thanks for being at work
today, and you could see themsmile back at you. Yeah. Yeah,
(20:45):
that for granted for sure. Yes, yea. So people have definitely,
I think enjoyed getting back to thenew normal. Yeah. And it's
funny that I say getting back tothe new normal, but I mean I
feel like there was a lot oflike false starts and like, yes,
no, wait a minute, yeahno, so yes, I get that
(21:08):
because we did go through that.We went through we finally stopped the mask
mandate at work, and then wewent back and said, Okay, we're
going to require masks again for ashort period of time. And so it
was nice to be able to giveour employees the option of whether or not
they want to wear masks. That'sawesome. And I mean, obviously you're
(21:33):
on the Women in Vinyl podcast incase you didn't know, I am.
Is that what this says? Ithought I was supposed to say, I'm
a pist season I like long walkson the beach. Great. Great.
So I always like to ask,like, what is the what is the
(21:53):
percentages at URP? Are you seeinga lot more of the lady non binary
folk types in the plan? That'sa good question. I don't really know
what the percentage would be. Iwill say it is refreshing to see quite
a few women that are in thisindustry. And typically throughout my career i've
(22:19):
seen customer service is mainly female.But we're seeing more and more not just
customer service, but supervisors and management, you know, leadership roles. And
I appreciate that I started in thisindustry when it was pretty much a male
(22:45):
dominated industry, and I was extremelyfortunate even though that was the environment that
I started in to work with agroup of men that treated everyone the same.
I wasn't treated any different because Iwas a young female, and I
(23:10):
definitely appreciated that he yelled at mejust as much as he yelled at all
of the guys there. So whatwas it? But what was it like
pressing records? Then? Like?What is it similar? I mean,
obviously the process is the same,but like, how was it as far
as you know, labels, gettingquotes, putting orders through? Is it
(23:33):
a similar Is it similar as itis now? Like people wait long periods
of time and then finally decide topull the trigger. Are you talking about
years? Are you talking years ago? Jim? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. Well I didn't work onthe vinyl side. When I first
started working at syn Ram, vinylhad actually ceased, and it we were
(24:00):
in the height of cassettes and actuallythe very beginning of CD manufacturing. How
many tape machines could you operate atone time? Because tape duplication is a
beautiful art, might I add?So I was responsible. When I was
a duplication operator, I would runtypically two lines, so it was forty
(24:23):
duplicators. And I'll share a secretthat I very early on. I had
extremely long hair, and all ofthe pancakes were on shelves up above the
equipment, and I had reached upto grab a pancake to put on,
(24:49):
and it was still running, andmy hair got caught in the puffs and
ripped my hair out so much thatthere was yes, I was bleeding.
Oh, And I didn't tell anyonebecause I knew if I told that,
they wouldn't make us wear hairnuts atwork. And I thought, I'm not
(25:11):
going to be the one that everyonehates because we now have to wear hairnuts
to work. But I will letyou know that every day after that,
I wore a ponytail. How didyou get out of it? Though?
Like? Did you press the rewindbutton? Like? Oh, no,
(25:32):
so keep I don't know if you'veever seen a cassette manufacturing facility, but
you actually duplicate on a reel oftape. Yeah, and then that goes
to a loading machine that actually loadsthe tape into the cassette zero. So
this was actually while it was duplicatingon the reel. So I had to
(25:56):
wait. Yeah, I had towait for it to and then Yeah,
it was something that I've never forgotten. How that felt. I mean that
would be a special kind of pain. Yes, yes it was. Yeah,
I mean you learn real quick.I'm sure you're like, Okay,
(26:18):
porn tails forever exactly, that's neverhappening again, not just to hide your
shame, but like for functionality forsure. How do you personalize your turntable?
Maybe a slip mat of a favoriteband company, a woman in Vinyl
slip mat? Perhaps, Well,now you can create your own personalized slipmat
(26:41):
with your pet's face, a familyphoto, your logo, and more using
Glowtronics, a company taking your gearto the next level with full color print
on demand slip mats. And yes, you can order just one from Quark
to DJ quality. They have tonsof options. Use code women in Vinyl
(27:02):
fifteen at checkout to get fifteen percentoff www dot Glowtronics dash store dot com.
And now back to the episode.So vinyl customers you weren't dealing with,
But what was the landscape like withcassettes and CDs? I mean,
(27:25):
because you could turn them a lotfaster, So was there the same kind
of like I mean, you know, vinyl fans are very passionate people,
I think is a good way toput it. And so there's a lot
of commentary, there's a lot ofdiscussion over releases and delayed releases. Did
you see the same kind of thingthen or was everything a little smoother now?
(27:48):
It was the same? I've prettymuch said it doesn't matter if it's
a cassette, a CD or vinyl. The planning, the length of time
that it takes to get something workable, all of that is pretty much the
same. I found that in thisindustry it's let's hurry up and then wait,
(28:12):
and the same can be said forcassette manufacturing and CD manufacturing. But
as soon as it becomes workable,oh we need that tomorrow. M Yes,
I feel that so much. Iwill say one thing that I that
I find that's different is it wasn'tanything to plan. You know, a
(28:40):
quarter of a million units to toto press in a day, and going
through the planning and the scheduling ofa quarter of a million CDs is completely
different than going through the planning andscheduling of vinyl. Yeah, right,
(29:00):
I thought to myself when I firststarted working at United. Oh, it
can't be. It can't be thatdifficult playing thirty thousand units. I can
do that in my sleep. Sure. And I mean, what do you
think is the biggest difference between thosethings? Because I mean, yeah,
like you look at it, andI mean for the general the general record
(29:22):
hoping public, because not everybody understandsall of it, But like, what
do you think the disconnect is betweenbecause arguably it's kind of I mean,
there still needs to be a CDmaster and there's you know, there's still
a physical like not cutting process,but like a you know, lasering process
some times. So would you whatdo you think is the is the major
(29:45):
difference between CDs and vinyl when itcomes to this is probably going to sound
say about having two sides to worryabout versus one side. Yeah, that's
totally fair. Yeah, if ifyou have an issue with that's you know,
SIDEB stamper and then you identify thatyou need a recut, let's face
(30:06):
it, you can't do anything withside A. And you know we didn't
have those challenges with CDs. Ifeel like sound, too, is another
thing that we fight a lot becauseeveryone's so used to hearing everything digitally and
on Spotify, yes, and sohearing that on vinyl. That there's a
huge disconnect on expectations a lot oftimes, and it's it's hard to explain
(30:27):
it to people because you're kind oflike you're wrong, but you can't say
that you're wrong. I mean youcan, like it's a different format and
that's like the like check your expectexpectations. That's like it's the dumbest thing.
It's like asking an apple to tastelike an orange, you know what
(30:49):
I mean. Like, it's likeit's two different things. Like it's not
going to be the same. Ever, just because you receive the information through
the same organ doesn't mean that it'sgonna be the same. On that,
I mean, that makes me crazyconstantly. And I will say that was
a learning curve for me coming fromOptical disc and then understanding I work with
(31:17):
a fantastic group of people that havebeen with the company for quite some time
and was able to help educate meon quite a bit of things. And
I'm still learning every single day,but understanding there is a huge difference.
Yeah, Yeah, if there's ifthere's one thing that you could change in
(31:37):
the like in the chain of makingrecords to make it either faster or more
sustainable. What do you think thatthat would be for you? I think
getting labels to understand the timeline thatit takes, that you don't just snap
your fingers and things happen, pressa button and the record comes out.
(32:02):
Yes, right, I think that'sthat's probably one of the biggest challenges is
getting some customers to understand the timethat it actually takes for each process.
Even when you explain cycle times,it doesn't. No. No, I
(32:25):
once said to a customer prior toVinyl, but still in the industry.
It was for distribution, and itwas five o'clock in the afternoon and they
wanted and sixty one orders to goto Target stores that same day in the
FedEx truck left at six o'clock.And I was trying to explain your shipping
(32:49):
cart and for FedEx takes two labels, and you haven't dropped your orders to
us yet, So if we don'thave the orders in our system, we
can't physically print the shipping labels forit. And he said, Jerry,
doesn't matter. You have to makethis happen. And I finally said to
him Listen, there are some thingsthat just aren't physically possible, like me
(33:15):
being twenty six years old again.I would love to be twenty six years
old again, but it's not physicallypossible. So I've just had to accept
that. He at least had agreat sense of humor. He said,
Okay, I get it. Iget it. But just getting some people
(33:35):
to understand what the capabilities are andaren't and being realistic with those Yeah.
Yeah, And don't get me wrong, we want to go above and beyond.
We want to be able to providethe best service and the best quality
record to our customers. But todo that, we need that partnership with
(34:00):
each of our customers and they understandhow they can contribute to that timeliness that
their order getting out. Absolutely,I feel like more and more when people
want to rush like that, Itell them that I've never had a smooth
job rush. Ever, there's alwayssomething that happens whenever. Yeah, do
you think we're all going to staythis busy forever? Jared? Well,
(34:24):
you know, I've been in thepeak of cassettes and then obviously the decline
and the closure of cassette manufacturing atthe facility I worked at I saw the
rise and the peak of compact deskand then the decline of compact desk.
(34:49):
You've been on the matter horn ofphysical production. Yes, so I I
say third times of charm. Right, So, I've been through cassettes,
I've been through CDs. I'm onvinyl now, so third time's a charm
and I'm writing this out until I'mold and gray. I do think there's
(35:16):
going to continue to be a demandfor vinyl. Will it be as big
as it was, you know,the past forty eight months. I'm I'm
not sure, but I'm hopeful anddefinitely optimistic, and extremely proud of the
fact that United Record Pressing has builta facility that can accommodate the needs of
(35:40):
our customers. Yeah. Well,since we're getting close to our time,
I want to be your respectil ofyour evening Robin. Do you want to
ask our question? Yes? Sosure. Being the seven inch record efficionado
and enthusiast that you are and thatI am, we have a question that
(36:00):
we asked that is more than moreimpossible, generally than the Desert Island question.
But if you could make your ownseven inch record with any song from
any genre, from any year onthe side and the same on the B
side. What would your your customJerry seven inch record be? A side
(36:22):
is easy against the one by BobSeeger. Yes, absolutely, all time
favorite. I've told my husband thatsong that we played at my funeral.
I listen to it every day.B side. That's a good question because
(36:42):
I flip depending on my mood.B side would probably have to be the
staple singers. I'll take you there. Oh nice, great choices, great
choice. I love it, fantastic. Well, that just seemed like we
got started five minutes ago. AndI thank you so much. Yeah,
(37:05):
it was so fun to talk toyou. I know again, yes,
a while to Yeah, connect,thank you so much for making time for
us. You're really super appreciate it. Yeah, well, thank you both
for reaching out. I greatly appreciateit. This hour was definitely flown by
so I love it. Yeah.Yeah, So, Jen, I actually
(37:27):
have to tell you that I waslistening to a previous podcast and you talked
about ordering vinyl from Amazon. Yeah, and when I worked at my previous
job, we actually I was therewhen we installed the equipment that packaged vinyl
(37:55):
individually for Amazon stores. Oh really, so yeah, yes, so that
was pretty interesting to be able tosee how that worked and how it read
the barcode and it basically wrapped thecart and around the vinyl and sealed it.
It was a pretty cool process.But when I when I heard you
(38:17):
say, you know, talk aboutorder ordering vinyl off of Amazon and not
knowing the condition it's going to bewhen you get it, that that is
a huge concern. But I willsay that is a pretty impressive piece of
equipment that they were able to comeup with for that that is really cool.
It also makes sense why because there'slike this one horror story that circulates
(38:37):
around the internet about how one howa record got shipped with just the shipping
label on it and no packaging whatsoever, and it's probably, you know,
since it's machinery, a box gotmissed, record got labeled out. It
went yes. So yeah, foryears we actually did that the company that
(39:00):
I worked for then. That wasall manual process, and so there was
actually someone there that was taking thevinyl and putting in a carton and folding
the carton around it and peeling offthe adhesive strip and sealing it. And
it would take fifteen of those boxesand put it in a master parton and
(39:22):
then they were able to create amachine that actually did that for them.
So amazing. The machines are comingfor our job. Yeah all right,
well, we have taken more ofyour time than we anticipated, so go
so you can be with your family. Family. Yes, thank you so
(39:42):
much. You're awesome. We superappreciate and love you, and we will
catch up with you soon, I'msure. Yes, that sounds fantastic.
Thank you again, both so much. I really enjoyed this. Thank you
both, Bye bye. Thanks forjoining us on the Women in Vinyl podcast.
You can in our ever growing listof sponsors other record labels Selector,
(40:06):
Copple Design, Eargasm, Groove Washer, Glowtronics, New Gen Audio, and
Pepel Vinyl Revolution Record Show and thanksfor sponsoring the show. Hey. As
always, you can join our conversationon Instagram or send us a note at
media at Women Invinyl dot com.Clock us send us info if you have
(40:27):
a question, Yo, we gotthe answer or we'll find it. We
won't lie to you, and checkout Women in Vinyl dot com for past
episodes, the store, the jobboard, and the library of resources.
Don't forget to like and subscribe andgive us a review on your favorite podcast
delivery method. You can also contributeto furthering our mission at patreon dot com
(40:50):
slash Women in Vinyl. Hey guesswhat this episode forty five minutes? You
know there was more? You wantmore? You get more. Go to
Patreon and you can get more andyou'll find all the b sides, the
deep cuts, and the amazing extras, including longer episodes, and contribute to
the creation of scholarships and educational opportunitiesto further the demystification the infiltration of more
(41:15):
women and non binary identifying humans intothe vinyl making space. Decrease in those
turnaround times every week. Yeah,we love your records. We want you
to love them too, Women inVinyl dot com. This episode has been
brought to you by Women in Vinyland Red Spade Records. Thank you for
listening. Please remember to subscribe andyou can always contact us directly by visiting
(41:39):
www dot com. Women in Vinyldot com
Welcome to the Women in Vinyl Podcastwith Jen Dugenio, founder of Women in
Vinyl, and contributor Robin Raymond.This podcast facilitates conversations with those working from
the vinyl record industry to educate,demystify, and diversify the vinyl community.
(00:31):
Us on New yearsy but I Ididn't see a face coming. There was
a pic Joy without warning, FZthing can event in the room and no
(01:03):
Sizu pink elephant in the room.Thanks for joining us on episode forty two
of the Women in Vinyl Podcast.You just heard Bat by German singer,
songwriter and producer Esther Quaid of heralbum of the same name. Find the
(01:26):
limited edition vinyl release and more atEsther Quaid dot bandcamp dot com. Today
we're joined by Jerrymills, VP ofClient Services and front end Operations at United
Record Pressing. Learn Jerry's story ofspending thirty years in physical media production,
from cassette duplication to distribution and nowhelping run one of the largest pressing plants
(01:49):
in the United States. Jerry ispart of the New United, a company
that is looking forward to the nextsixty plus years. From pressing the first
beatles seven inch in North America tothe legendary Motown suite. United has been
a staple in manufacturing for decades.Enjoy. Thanks for joining us, Jerry,
Thanks for the invite. Yeah,we finally made it happen. It's
(02:12):
been a year since we were allin Nashville. Time flies, doesn't it.
It's crazy, but we're excited tohave you join. For those that
don't know you, could you telleveryone a little bit about yourself? Sure?
Jerry Mills work for United Record Pressingfor the last three years and thirty
years actually in July of this year, in music manufacturing and distribution. Started
(02:38):
my career as a cassette duplication operator. That's so awesome. Yeah, And
when we met you before, youmentioned that your family was in the business.
So did you always anticipate that youdo something in physical media? And
like, how did you find yourway here? You know, it's crazy.
I actually didn't. I was tryingto figure out what I was going
(03:02):
to do with my life at ayoung age, like most people do.
And my sister was actually working ata company called Syndram in Richmond, Indiana,
and she had worked there. Whenshe started working there, it was
PRC Phillips Recording Company, and Ikept telling her give me a job for
the summertime, and she kept tellingme no. So one day she walks
(03:27):
by the front office and there Isat, and so she when she stopped
and looked back and she asked mewhat I was doing. I said,
if you're not going to get mea job, I'm going to get a
job on my own. So Iinterviewed with a couple different people, and
again I was just supposed to workthere for the summertime until I figured out
what I wanted to do with mylife. And I always tell people thirty
(03:51):
years later, I guess I stilldon't know what I want to do with
my life. My sister worked thereat that time, but prior to my
working there, my older sister hadworked there as well. My mom,
who I call my other dad,who is my stepdad, he actually worked
(04:12):
there in high school before he leftfor the war in the late sixties.
My grandmother worked there, and Iactually recently found out that my great grandfather
worked there also. Back then itwas actually Decca Records. Yeah, so
my grandmother was actually a press operatorand my dad was a hopper feller in
(04:40):
high school. I love that it'ssuch a cool story. And then in
addition to all of those family members, my brother in law worked there,
my sister, brother in law,and I worked there until the facility closed
in two thousand and nine, butmy aunt and my uncle worked there.
(05:00):
In records, my cousin worked there. He was actually excuse me, a
maintenance guy on the presses, andhis wife eventually worked for the same company
when it was CDs. So prettymuch my entire family, other than my
biological dad, has worked in sometype of physical media. You guys could
(05:24):
have taken it over. Could Mysister and I actually joke about that often
and say, you know, wecould have started our own business. Yeah,
especially having like somebody in every singledifferent department. Yes, she was
a quality supervisor at one point.Uh, and then moved into customer service.
(05:45):
And my brother in law was actuallythe maintenance technical manager over the molding
equipment for CDs and the printing equipmentin CDs as well. Wow, So
what made you How did you findyour way to United? Funny? Actually,
I got a text message from MarkMichaels that said, Hey, got
(06:10):
your name and phone number from oneof your music customers, and let's talk
so I ended up giving him acall and we were on the phone for
well over an hour, and whenI hung up the phone with him,
my husband actually said to me,Oh, it's nice to see you.
(06:30):
And I was kind of taken abackby that, and I said, what
do you mean, I've been here, and he said, no, it's
nice to see you. He said, hearing the excitement in your voice and
seeing the way that you are afterthis conversation, said it sounds like you
might need to go meet someone.So it was actually right at the beginning
(06:51):
of the pandemic. It was Marchof twenty twenty, and so Mark and
I traded phone calls and text messagesfor a couple of months, and then
actually May, it was actually thissame time, right now, that Mark
offered me a job at United.Wow. It's amazing, right, Wow.
(07:17):
So I started in the vinyl industry, well, vinyl manufacturing, because
prior to that I was doing distributionfor CDs and vinyl, and so moving
into manufacturing for vinyl in the peakof the pandemic and all of the craziness
(07:38):
with orders increasing for manufacturing for vinyl, I think I might have been thrown
to the wolves. But it wasa good thing and I've enjoyed every second
of it. Yeah, what atime to enter into all of this.
Yeah, when I started, Isaid, we have a backlog of how
big well, and I mean inthat saying something too, because RP is
(08:03):
not a small No, it isnot. And actually we've just in the
past three years we've grown so much. We've actually just finished up phase one
of our expansion. So we havea lot of new shiny Phoenix presses in
the facility now and have added staffingto support that. And you know,
(08:26):
that's been its own challenge in itself. Is everyone has had issues with staffing
over the last few years, butwe have really taken the time to hire
the right people in the right positionsand feel that we're definitely headed in the
right direction. Are you guys runningthree ships to We actually run four shifts.
(08:50):
It's so it's for twelve hour shifts. We do two twelve hour shifts
on the front end of the week, so Monday through Wednesday shift, and
then we do a Thursday through Saturdayshift. Right now, obviously, we're
always looking to make sure that weare staffed in the best way to be
able to support our customers. Demand. Yeah, how many presses do you
(09:11):
all have now? Right now,we have fifty six presses that are in
the building, So we have twentysix new Phoenix presses. When we went
through and just decided that we weregoing to expand and started to lay out
the facility, we went ahead andour engineer built the infrastructure to support forty
(09:37):
eight new presses. So we've broughton twenty six of those presses. But
if there is a demand for itand we need to, we can definitely
bring in additional presses and be preparedfor that. Wow, I mean that,
I think that would make you guyslike we're number one, right because
(10:00):
you're you're already just like just bya smidge like number two, biggest facility
and like in North America sure,but probably just behind Gez, I believe.
So, Yes, that's a lotof It is a lot of people,
and as we have discussed at nauseumon our podcast, it takes a
lot of people to make your records, friends, it does. So just
(10:22):
imagine how many people are in youur F making incredible records for you on
fifty six pense. It boggles themind. I just like, I mean,
I can see myself on some sortof a catwalk, just like overlooking
all of these things. Dude,is that a reality? Jerry? Is
(10:45):
that something? We don't have acat walk now, although that would be
fun, right. It is prettyimpressive to walk in and see everything,
and that is one thing that we'requite proud of just being there a short
three years, seeing all of thepositive changes that we've made in the facility.
(11:05):
So we're not obviously our workload dictatesthe number of presses that we run
each day or each week. We'renot currently running all fifty six presses,
but we have the demand for it. We can definitely do so, so
we in addition to the new Phoenixpresses, we have the lined presses and
(11:26):
we have smts also. And what'syour guys' minimum murder three hundred units now
for seven inch? Our minimum isone hundred. Oh okay, that's good
to see. That's the other question, because I feel like we need to
figure out like who's making seven inchrecords? Yeah, well, you know
seven seven inch is near and dearto our heart because that's u URP was
(11:48):
founded on seven inch. We pressedthe first Beatles seven inch in the US.
I was just gonna say that whatis the new United, Like we
were talking a little bit about thatwhen I was there, And because there's
new management, there aabilities like whatis the new URP? So we're I'm
(12:13):
plagiarizing this from one of my coworkers, but he described us as a seventy
four year old startup company and that'strue. Next year we celebrate our seventy
fifth anniversary. But we do havenew leadership in the facility trying to take
(12:35):
what we've done over the last seventyfour years and learn from that and understand
from the last seventy four years whathave we done well? But then also
it's not just about learning from whatwe've done well. It's about learning from
what we haven't done so well andbeing open minded and saying, all right,
(12:56):
where have we failed in the past, Because that's what we need to
focus on. We need to focuson understanding what our challenges have been and
build upon that and make us better. And that's exactly the direction that we're
heading, building the right culture forour employees, making it enjoyable for our
(13:18):
team to come into work. Actuallysaid to someone last week that I was
giving a tour to I said,do you honestly think that no offense to
the folks that work at Amazon,because we appreciate the folks that work at
Amazon, but do you think theyreally get excited about going into work and
picking an order to ship out?Not merely as exciting as someone that can
(13:41):
say I work for a record pressingplant. So just building, building a
factory, and a company that believesin teamwork, believes in each other and
each other up and understands that whatwe do at United is extremely important.
(14:09):
I've said to people before that whenthey asked what I do, I say,
we make magic and it's a formof art and hiring the right people
that have that same passion for thebusiness, and I truly think that that
matters. And we've seen that moreand more. I totally agree. Yeah,
(14:33):
absolutely, especially in a place likeNashville, because right, I mean,
you've got more record pressing plants inthat zip code, in that collection
of zip codes. It's so trueand probably anywhere on the earth. I
feel like the pride just walking throughthe door, even though the door has
(14:56):
moved, it's like walking through thatdoor, like I feel like I would
be like, hell, yeah,you know, there is something magical about
walking in, so we still ownthe facility on Chestnut, Yeah, And
walking in and going upstairs to themotown suite, there's there is something magical
(15:16):
about that. And walking through thereand sitting on the edge of the bed
in the bedroom and saying, youknow, I wonder who's slept in this
in this bed, or going intothe kitchen and thinking, who ate a
meal at this table? It's itis pretty amazing. Well, I mean,
we were talking about Nashville and itssaturation of record pressing plants. I
(15:41):
mean, what is your sort ofstance on the saturation of the market.
Is it a good thing? Doyou think everybody can sustain this? What's
your perspective. I think that's agreat question and a question that we ask
ourselves every day, right And Idon't think that this is a unique question
(16:03):
to United Record Pressing that we're theonly ones asking this question. I think
everyone that's pressing vinyl right now isasking the same question. Yeah, we
absolutely are. I think that Ithink some facilities will survive, and I
think that some facilities will not survive. It's understanding the industry and understanding what
(16:33):
the customer's needs are. You know, you go from a year and a
half ago where the labels were saying, we have so many orders that we
can't fill and you know, we'remissing out on all this revenue. So
that everyone goes and adds equipment orbuilds a new plant. It's I don't
(16:56):
know the right word for it.Sometimes concerning and other times it's, hey,
we've built a plant that can supportwhat our customers' needs are and that's
what we're going to focus on.Yeah. I mean I think maybe,
and this might be be reading intoit, but short sighted is maybe the
(17:18):
word you're looking for, because it'slike, let's do this thing immediately,
but not looking like down the roada little bit to when things might mellow
out. Perhaps, Yes, andyou nailed it right there, Rob,
And short sighted is definitely. Let'sface it, this industry is short sighted,
and we've built a facility that canaccommodate that short sightedness totally. Yeah.
(17:44):
And the one benefit that we haveright now, you know, this
time last year we were quoting eightmonths ten months turn time, and now
we're test pressings out the door inseven days. Wow. Yeah, that's
incredible. And that's that's from receiptof audio. So we can receive the
(18:11):
audio, the lacquer's cut, silveredplates, ready stampers, on the press,
test, pressing, brand test,pressing, Q seed and out the
door in seven business days. Wow, because you all have the unique ability
to also do all of that there. Yeah, so there's Nashville Record Productions
(18:33):
is actually it has space inside ourfacility, so he can receive an audio
file and within twenty four hours wecan have a lacquer cut and we're now
silvery and house also, so we'reend to end for electroplating, so that
(18:56):
that is a benefit for our customers. And then once the test is approved
from workability, if we have labelsand house cut jackets, slaves, once
everything is workable. Right now,we're turning the orders in about three to
four weeks after workability. That's incredible. Yeah, So the longest thing right
(19:19):
now for us is basically waiting forthe packaging components to come in. I
feel like they're still playing catchup.Yes, I have I have a question
for you too, Jerry Sure.What are the positive changes that you've seen
now coming through the pandemic? Like, are people still excited to come to
(19:41):
work? Are like was there likehesitancy when when things are starting to reopen.
Is everybody like really like stoked andhappy and doing all the things now?
Yeah, I think. So it'snice to be able to come to
work and not wear a mask,because we went through that for quite sometime
and that was a challenge in itselfgetting people to follow the rules that you
(20:03):
have to wear a mask. Let'sface it, the majority of the people
did not like wearing a mask.I did not like wearing a mask,
but it was needed and that's whatwe had to do. So the day
that we announced that masks are nolonger required, you know, obviously,
if people want to wear masks,that's that's their choice, and I respect
(20:23):
that, and we still have somefolks that wear masks in the facility and
again on supportive of that. Butit was nice to be able to walk
by and smile at someone and say, hey, thanks for being at work
today, and you could see themsmile back at you. Yeah. Yeah,
(20:45):
that for granted for sure. Yes, yea. So people have definitely,
I think enjoyed getting back to thenew normal. Yeah. And it's
funny that I say getting back tothe new normal, but I mean I
feel like there was a lot oflike false starts and like, yes,
no, wait a minute, yeahno, so yes, I get that
(21:08):
because we did go through that.We went through we finally stopped the mask
mandate at work, and then wewent back and said, Okay, we're
going to require masks again for ashort period of time. And so it
was nice to be able to giveour employees the option of whether or not
they want to wear masks. That'sawesome. And I mean, obviously you're
(21:33):
on the Women in Vinyl podcast incase you didn't know, I am.
Is that what this says? Ithought I was supposed to say, I'm
a pist season I like long walkson the beach. Great. Great.
So I always like to ask,like, what is the what is the
(21:53):
percentages at URP? Are you seeinga lot more of the lady non binary
folk types in the plan? That'sa good question. I don't really know
what the percentage would be. Iwill say it is refreshing to see quite
a few women that are in thisindustry. And typically throughout my career i've
(22:19):
seen customer service is mainly female.But we're seeing more and more not just
customer service, but supervisors and management, you know, leadership roles. And
I appreciate that I started in thisindustry when it was pretty much a male
(22:45):
dominated industry, and I was extremelyfortunate even though that was the environment that
I started in to work with agroup of men that treated everyone the same.
I wasn't treated any different because Iwas a young female, and I
(23:10):
definitely appreciated that he yelled at mejust as much as he yelled at all
of the guys there. So whatwas it? But what was it like
pressing records? Then? Like?What is it similar? I mean,
obviously the process is the same,but like, how was it as far
as you know, labels, gettingquotes, putting orders through? Is it
(23:33):
a similar Is it similar as itis now? Like people wait long periods
of time and then finally decide topull the trigger. Are you talking about
years? Are you talking years ago? Jim? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. Well I didn't work onthe vinyl side. When I first
started working at syn Ram, vinylhad actually ceased, and it we were
(24:00):
in the height of cassettes and actuallythe very beginning of CD manufacturing. How
many tape machines could you operate atone time? Because tape duplication is a
beautiful art, might I add?So I was responsible. When I was
a duplication operator, I would runtypically two lines, so it was forty
(24:23):
duplicators. And I'll share a secretthat I very early on. I had
extremely long hair, and all ofthe pancakes were on shelves up above the
equipment, and I had reached upto grab a pancake to put on,
(24:49):
and it was still running, andmy hair got caught in the puffs and
ripped my hair out so much thatthere was yes, I was bleeding.
Oh, And I didn't tell anyonebecause I knew if I told that,
they wouldn't make us wear hairnuts atwork. And I thought, I'm not
(25:11):
going to be the one that everyonehates because we now have to wear hairnuts
to work. But I will letyou know that every day after that,
I wore a ponytail. How didyou get out of it? Though?
Like? Did you press the rewindbutton? Like? Oh, no,
(25:32):
so keep I don't know if you'veever seen a cassette manufacturing facility, but
you actually duplicate on a reel oftape. Yeah, and then that goes
to a loading machine that actually loadsthe tape into the cassette zero. So
this was actually while it was duplicatingon the reel. So I had to
(25:56):
wait. Yeah, I had towait for it to and then Yeah,
it was something that I've never forgotten. How that felt. I mean that
would be a special kind of pain. Yes, yes it was. Yeah,
I mean you learn real quick.I'm sure you're like, Okay,
(26:18):
porn tails forever exactly, that's neverhappening again, not just to hide your
shame, but like for functionality forsure. How do you personalize your turntable?
Maybe a slip mat of a favoriteband company, a woman in Vinyl
slip mat? Perhaps, Well,now you can create your own personalized slipmat
(26:41):
with your pet's face, a familyphoto, your logo, and more using
Glowtronics, a company taking your gearto the next level with full color print
on demand slip mats. And yes, you can order just one from Quark
to DJ quality. They have tonsof options. Use code women in Vinyl
(27:02):
fifteen at checkout to get fifteen percentoff www dot Glowtronics dash store dot com.
And now back to the episode.So vinyl customers you weren't dealing with,
But what was the landscape like withcassettes and CDs? I mean,
(27:25):
because you could turn them a lotfaster, So was there the same kind
of like I mean, you know, vinyl fans are very passionate people,
I think is a good way toput it. And so there's a lot
of commentary, there's a lot ofdiscussion over releases and delayed releases. Did
you see the same kind of thingthen or was everything a little smoother now?
(27:48):
It was the same? I've prettymuch said it doesn't matter if it's
a cassette, a CD or vinyl. The planning, the length of time
that it takes to get something workable, all of that is pretty much the
same. I found that in thisindustry it's let's hurry up and then wait,
(28:12):
and the same can be said forcassette manufacturing and CD manufacturing. But
as soon as it becomes workable,oh we need that tomorrow. M Yes,
I feel that so much. Iwill say one thing that I that
I find that's different is it wasn'tanything to plan. You know, a
(28:40):
quarter of a million units to toto press in a day, and going
through the planning and the scheduling ofa quarter of a million CDs is completely
different than going through the planning andscheduling of vinyl. Yeah, right,
(29:00):
I thought to myself when I firststarted working at United. Oh, it
can't be. It can't be thatdifficult playing thirty thousand units. I can
do that in my sleep. Sure. And I mean, what do you
think is the biggest difference between thosethings? Because I mean, yeah,
like you look at it, andI mean for the general the general record
(29:22):
hoping public, because not everybody understandsall of it, But like, what
do you think the disconnect is betweenbecause arguably it's kind of I mean,
there still needs to be a CDmaster and there's you know, there's still
a physical like not cutting process,but like a you know, lasering process
some times. So would you whatdo you think is the is the major
(29:45):
difference between CDs and vinyl when itcomes to this is probably going to sound
say about having two sides to worryabout versus one side. Yeah, that's
totally fair. Yeah, if ifyou have an issue with that's you know,
SIDEB stamper and then you identify thatyou need a recut, let's face
(30:06):
it, you can't do anything withside A. And you know we didn't
have those challenges with CDs. Ifeel like sound, too, is another
thing that we fight a lot becauseeveryone's so used to hearing everything digitally and
on Spotify, yes, and sohearing that on vinyl. That there's a
huge disconnect on expectations a lot oftimes, and it's it's hard to explain
(30:27):
it to people because you're kind oflike you're wrong, but you can't say
that you're wrong. I mean youcan, like it's a different format and
that's like the like check your expectexpectations. That's like it's the dumbest thing.
It's like asking an apple to tastelike an orange, you know what
(30:49):
I mean. Like, it's likeit's two different things. Like it's not
going to be the same. Ever, just because you receive the information through
the same organ doesn't mean that it'sgonna be the same. On that,
I mean, that makes me crazyconstantly. And I will say that was
a learning curve for me coming fromOptical disc and then understanding I work with
(31:17):
a fantastic group of people that havebeen with the company for quite some time
and was able to help educate meon quite a bit of things. And
I'm still learning every single day,but understanding there is a huge difference.
Yeah, Yeah, if there's ifthere's one thing that you could change in
(31:37):
the like in the chain of makingrecords to make it either faster or more
sustainable. What do you think thatthat would be for you? I think
getting labels to understand the timeline thatit takes, that you don't just snap
your fingers and things happen, pressa button and the record comes out.
(32:02):
Yes, right, I think that'sthat's probably one of the biggest challenges is
getting some customers to understand the timethat it actually takes for each process.
Even when you explain cycle times,it doesn't. No. No, I
(32:25):
once said to a customer prior toVinyl, but still in the industry.
It was for distribution, and itwas five o'clock in the afternoon and they
wanted and sixty one orders to goto Target stores that same day in the
FedEx truck left at six o'clock.And I was trying to explain your shipping
(32:49):
cart and for FedEx takes two labels, and you haven't dropped your orders to
us yet, So if we don'thave the orders in our system, we
can't physically print the shipping labels forit. And he said, Jerry,
doesn't matter. You have to makethis happen. And I finally said to
him Listen, there are some thingsthat just aren't physically possible, like me
(33:15):
being twenty six years old again.I would love to be twenty six years
old again, but it's not physicallypossible. So I've just had to accept
that. He at least had agreat sense of humor. He said,
Okay, I get it. Iget it. But just getting some people
(33:35):
to understand what the capabilities are andaren't and being realistic with those Yeah.
Yeah, And don't get me wrong, we want to go above and beyond.
We want to be able to providethe best service and the best quality
record to our customers. But todo that, we need that partnership with
(34:00):
each of our customers and they understandhow they can contribute to that timeliness that
their order getting out. Absolutely,I feel like more and more when people
want to rush like that, Itell them that I've never had a smooth
job rush. Ever, there's alwayssomething that happens whenever. Yeah, do
you think we're all going to staythis busy forever? Jared? Well,
(34:24):
you know, I've been in thepeak of cassettes and then obviously the decline
and the closure of cassette manufacturing atthe facility I worked at I saw the
rise and the peak of compact deskand then the decline of compact desk.
(34:49):
You've been on the matter horn ofphysical production. Yes, so I I
say third times of charm. Right, So, I've been through cassettes,
I've been through CDs. I'm onvinyl now, so third time's a charm
and I'm writing this out until I'mold and gray. I do think there's
(35:16):
going to continue to be a demandfor vinyl. Will it be as big
as it was, you know,the past forty eight months. I'm I'm
not sure, but I'm hopeful anddefinitely optimistic, and extremely proud of the
fact that United Record Pressing has builta facility that can accommodate the needs of
(35:40):
our customers. Yeah. Well,since we're getting close to our time,
I want to be your respectil ofyour evening Robin. Do you want to
ask our question? Yes? Sosure. Being the seven inch record efficionado
and enthusiast that you are and thatI am, we have a question that
(36:00):
we asked that is more than moreimpossible, generally than the Desert Island question.
But if you could make your ownseven inch record with any song from
any genre, from any year onthe side and the same on the B
side. What would your your customJerry seven inch record be? A side
(36:22):
is easy against the one by BobSeeger. Yes, absolutely, all time
favorite. I've told my husband thatsong that we played at my funeral.
I listen to it every day.B side. That's a good question because
(36:42):
I flip depending on my mood.B side would probably have to be the
staple singers. I'll take you there. Oh nice, great choices, great
choice. I love it, fantastic. Well, that just seemed like we
got started five minutes ago. AndI thank you so much. Yeah,
(37:05):
it was so fun to talk toyou. I know again, yes,
a while to Yeah, connect,thank you so much for making time for
us. You're really super appreciate it. Yeah, well, thank you both
for reaching out. I greatly appreciateit. This hour was definitely flown by
so I love it. Yeah.Yeah, So, Jen, I actually
(37:27):
have to tell you that I waslistening to a previous podcast and you talked
about ordering vinyl from Amazon. Yeah, and when I worked at my previous
job, we actually I was therewhen we installed the equipment that packaged vinyl
(37:55):
individually for Amazon stores. Oh really, so yeah, yes, so that
was pretty interesting to be able tosee how that worked and how it read
the barcode and it basically wrapped thecart and around the vinyl and sealed it.
It was a pretty cool process.But when I when I heard you
(38:17):
say, you know, talk aboutorder ordering vinyl off of Amazon and not
knowing the condition it's going to bewhen you get it, that that is
a huge concern. But I willsay that is a pretty impressive piece of
equipment that they were able to comeup with for that that is really cool.
It also makes sense why because there'slike this one horror story that circulates
(38:37):
around the internet about how one howa record got shipped with just the shipping
label on it and no packaging whatsoever, and it's probably, you know,
since it's machinery, a box gotmissed, record got labeled out. It
went yes. So yeah, foryears we actually did that the company that
(39:00):
I worked for then. That wasall manual process, and so there was
actually someone there that was taking thevinyl and putting in a carton and folding
the carton around it and peeling offthe adhesive strip and sealing it. And
it would take fifteen of those boxesand put it in a master parton and
(39:22):
then they were able to create amachine that actually did that for them.
So amazing. The machines are comingfor our job. Yeah all right,
well, we have taken more ofyour time than we anticipated, so go
so you can be with your family. Family. Yes, thank you so
(39:42):
much. You're awesome. We superappreciate and love you, and we will
catch up with you soon, I'msure. Yes, that sounds fantastic.
Thank you again, both so much. I really enjoyed this. Thank you
both, Bye bye. Thanks forjoining us on the Women in Vinyl podcast.
You can in our ever growing listof sponsors other record labels Selector,
(40:06):
Copple Design, Eargasm, Groove Washer, Glowtronics, New Gen Audio, and
Pepel Vinyl Revolution Record Show and thanksfor sponsoring the show. Hey. As
always, you can join our conversationon Instagram or send us a note at
media at Women Invinyl dot com.Clock us send us info if you have
(40:27):
a question, Yo, we gotthe answer or we'll find it. We
won't lie to you, and checkout Women in Vinyl dot com for past
episodes, the store, the jobboard, and the library of resources.
Don't forget to like and subscribe andgive us a review on your favorite podcast
delivery method. You can also contributeto furthering our mission at patreon dot com
(40:50):
slash Women in Vinyl. Hey guesswhat this episode forty five minutes? You
know there was more? You wantmore? You get more. Go to
Patreon and you can get more andyou'll find all the b sides, the
deep cuts, and the amazing extras, including longer episodes, and contribute to
the creation of scholarships and educational opportunitiesto further the demystification the infiltration of more
(41:15):
women and non binary identifying humans intothe vinyl making space. Decrease in those
turnaround times every week. Yeah,we love your records. We want you
to love them too, Women inVinyl dot com. This episode has been
brought to you by Women in Vinyland Red Spade Records. Thank you for
listening. Please remember to subscribe andyou can always contact us directly by visiting
(41:39):
www dot com. Women in Vinyldot com
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.