Friday, January 13, 2012

Gotta Groove Record Manufacturers - Cleveland Ohio

Hell yeah, go ahead Cleveland! A new record manufacturing plant is always good news. That makes two great vinyl companies in Ohio alone. Musicol is fantastic to work with and we are definitely looking forward to trying out Gotta Groove Records here sometime soon in the future. Dive into this great video about them and see what it takes to make the perfect vinyl record.



More info on Gotta Groove Records 

Gotta Groove Records started in early 2009 with Vince Slusarz's visit to the long-established record pressing plant in New Jersey, Sun Plastics (aka Dynamic Sun).  The owner of Sun was seeking to exit the business, and Vince was seeking to enter it.  Vince brought his friend and former co-worker, Dan Greathouse, on board almost immediately after purchasing all of Sun's equipment.  After a combination of old-fashioned sleuthing and  being at the right place at the right time, Matt Earley was able to hook up with Vince shortly thereafter to head up GGR's sales & marketing efforts.  Tyler Kremberg also joined to handle all website and other IT architecture and maintenance.

In mid-August 2009, the very first records began coming off the GGR lines -- coincidentally, right around the August 12th anniversary of Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph (August 12, 1877).  The first order (for 100 records) took almost two weeks to complete.  Now, GGR produces 10,000 to 15,000 records on a weekly basis.


At the time, Vince and Dan had 30+ years experience in plastics manufacturing and operations management; Tyler had 8 years of web agency experience and Matt had 9 years experience in music distribution.  Along with the other folks who have since joined GGR, the combined "Gotta Groovies" are able to mesh some diverse backgrounds to get some truly innovative results.

Gotta Groove is a “one-stop-shop”— in addition to pressing high-quality vinyl records, the company offers full service graphic design for printed jackets, sleeves, labels, booklets, download hosting, and other custom packaging; along with warehousing and fulfillment of vinyl record orders.

GGR has implemented some technology and processes which (quite possibly, although we can’t verify) have never been used on record pressing equipment anywhere in the world. From engineering components such as PLC's and temperature-controlled dies, to the several human quality control measures in place; the level of detail applied to record orders small and large is unsurpassed at any other U.S. pressing plant.  From day one, Gotta Groove's mission has been to produce the highest quality vinyl records from both a sonic and aesthetic perspective at a fair price; and strive to provide industry-best customer service.


The plant is located in Tyler Village, a former elevator factory in Downtown Cleveland-- the Rock & Roll capital of the world. The space is great; and any bands, customers, or just folks curious about vinyl are welcome to come by for a tour (we just ask that you call us first, please). There are also some great local recording studios -- both in Cleveland and around Ohio -- some of which have equipment to record entirely in analog (in addition to the latest recording technology, of course). So, theoretically, a band could record in complete analog here in Ohio, and then listen to test pressings & watch their records being made from the Gotta Groove listening room in downtown Cleveland! (leaving a few weeks between for mastering and plating, of course…but there’s a lot to do in Cleveland, and a lot of venues to play in Ohio in the mean time!)

We can't mention the words Ohio or Cleveland without thinking of our favorite hardcore band hailing from the Buckeye state, the mighty Integrity!

Integrity - Septic Death [Victory] split vinyl

RedScroll Records in Connecticut Integrity vinyl collection