Vinyl Grading-What Did You Expect, Accuracy?



Today, the Venator covers a small but very important aspect of the savage's quest for vinyl. This being the dreaded mail order. Whether it's the "old school" dealer mail order lists, or the newer trend that is eBay dealer's auctions, in either case, your gettin' them rekkids through the mail.

While the more sporting and less obsessive of us might consider this form of hunting much likened to shooting fish in a barrel, or perhaps hunting & trapping on a game reserve, I for one do not. After all if your after the "big game" like, lions, tigers & bears so to speak, unless your property butts up to your local zoo your not going to have much luck "back yard" hunting in New Jersey.

Often times once you have located that "trophy" the biggest element of dissatisfaction in terms of collecting your vinyl prey through the mail comes from poor grading. NOTHING sucks more than to have a record that you paid top dollar for arrive in notably less than it's described condition.

To me a record is accurately graded M- when it's been opened but appears "new". This being both in relation to the cover & the record itself. Some VERY experienced dealers seem to think this grading should be left up to their interpretation. Personally, I think that's BS. Please read the following relevant portion of an email that was in reply to a letter I sent expressing my dissatisfaction with this highly experienced seller's grading. This being after I purchased a tidy sum of records from him in the last month and a half.

From the desk of a highly respected long term experienced record dealer:

*The majority of Lp's I deal in are used and about 30 years old. Even Sealed Lp's have sleevelines , especially US major Labels like Bell, Atlantic, Capitol etc.. Does a barely played record with some faint sleeve lines or occasional angelhair with no affect on sound still qualify as M-. In my grading scale, yes.*

Gee, that's not what it says in Goldmine & I HAVE received quite a few records in my short career collecting them that appear "new" and don't have these "acceptable flaws". Most genuinely sealed records that I have encountered look new, don't have "angelhair", "sleevelines", scuffs or spindle marks. The ones that don't appear clean and shiny are normally the albums that have either (a) suffered obvious mishandling or weathering as evidenced by their covers, or (b) underwent a surface splotching or discoloration due to a long term chemically induced reaction. Many sellers are quick to note such conditions. What am I missing here?

*If I was just dealing in Reissues this might be a different story . You can pretty much take any record and if you hold it under a 100 Watt light bulb find something wrong with it. Maybe the M- grade should be left out completely and we should just use EX as the highest grade. Might solve a lot of arguments and complications.*

Screw incandescent lighting my friend, this is the 21st century. For the average person, florescent lighting provides the closest likeness to sunlight and you don't even need any heat to achieve it. Screw wattage. What is this seller really saying here anyway?

#1) I know I am too lax when it comes to grading, maybe I should just use the Ex grade and leave the M- to other sellers that grade more strictly????

#2) Because my records are generally older original copies that cost the buyer 3-15 times as much money as a reissue, the same standards for grading don't apply to them????

#3) When you buy a record from me, always employ the Dale Carnegie method in which we ease the pain of disappointment by expecting the worst.


Why do we make excuses for people that make the mojority of their living selling records? And they wonder why eBay is kicking their little asses as of late...

Last weekend, because of my musician activities, sub humus (under ground) audio remastering & vinyl venatio (hunting), I only managed to archive 2 LPs. In short, I had a lot going on. One must perform 3 separate tasks to achieve and maintain ongoing archival custodia as I regularily do.

I call this 3 part process, "ut excipio , transfero & rememdium".

1.ut excipio) The act of hunting obscure heavy vinyl with the intent to capture is simple. You merely go down to your favorite used record "keep" and capture as much as you feel merits your interest and whose weight is justified via the arduous trek back to your den, cave, or basement lair with said records in tow. Now, the act of semita (tracking) is where the hunt gets extremely challenging, but I will "go there" later.

2.transfero) This is the process of acclimation whereby the captured vinyl prey is physically cleaned, *proof listened & then transferred (recorded) via a high standard dedicated turntable to a computer's hard drive via an audiophile grade external soundcard or "dock".

3.rememdium)This term translates to "cure" and this in turn translates in this applicable case to an audio "ReMastered Rough Draft"(RMRD). This is to say that the Album's side long wave files are broken down into smaller song files. These segmented or indexed smaller files are then further ^"batch processed". These sequential multiple digital processes insure that the analog warmth and distinction of the original recording is preserved as best as is possible while removing surface noise and vinyl imperfections. The result is a rough but suitable digital audio rendering. This allows the smaller file material to be archived in a undiminished or "compressed" high quality audio format in one of 3 ways that I choose. Either, (a) on the hard drive of the computer, (b) on a CDR disc, or (c) on a DVDR disc.

The latter two options have four major advantages:

1. Physical Storage Portability

2. Conserves Storage Space On The Hard Drive In Place of Using The Hard Drive As A Storage Medium.

3. Multiple Application In Various Players (you can listen wherever you want)

4. Zero Loss of Quality via Compression as In The Case of MP3s, etc.

* Proof Listening is just that. Like "proof reading" the archivist is "proofing" audio material in terms of it's potential interest or sound quality.

^Batch Processing is a computer program feature that allows you to place numerous files in a queue or specific "holding" area so that each file can be effected via an identical sequential process consisting of various digital effects, filters or "treatments".

It seems to me that when we are all together, we are alone as just one person, or as a group of many. Either way, I choose now to be one here, just one nut's case for the exclusive purpose of conveying my lone soul road's undertaking. I am...

Ignotus Gravis Recordatio Venator


but you can call me Ven for short.