Cascade Record Pressing Tour, Milwaukie, Oregon

Last year (April 8th 2019) while visiting contributing editor Malachi Lui in Portland, we paid a visit to Cascade Record Pressing in nearly Milwaukie, Oregon. For one reason or another the tour video never posted, until now.
Mr. Lui, now 14, has gruesome since last year and did not want to be seen or heard as he appeared and sounded last year so you will see and hear a few oddities in this video tour conducted for us by Jeff Truhn, Cascade Record Pressing's Maintenance Chief.
The pressing plant is located in a small industrial complex in what was formerly a Yellow Pages repository. The presses themselves are Hydramold, made by Tracy Valve in New Jersey and according to Mr. Truhn, are most often referred to as "Miller" presses, after the family that owns or owned the company. The presses, fitted with Hamilton automation, came from Hub-Servall in New Jersey, a pressing plant that became operational in 1970.
As you'll see, Cascade runs a clean, tidy operation that caters mostly to indie bands in need of small runs of fewer than 1000 records, though they've done some big jobs as well. Cascade has but one 180 gram press.
Enjoy the tour!
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[@aaronjohnmaughan]

The presses are running very smoothly. Nice to see machinery that doesn't require constant human intervention.

[@Onteo1]

Great tour. Thank you

[@nabdrumworks4719]

Michael, loved the tour, thanks!!

[@leyland9999]

As usual, great video! And what a nice guy giving you in depth and honest info on what is, in my opinion, the most annoying defect a record can show: off centered sides. However, if quality control starts as soon as the first record of a run comes from the press, and a defect of any kind is present, the press should be stopped and the problem should be dealth with. My experiences are that if one record from a run is off centered, probably all will be. I went back to the store to get a replacement only to find out that replacement is showing the very same defect. This is so frustrating, not only for the end user but also for the retailer. Thing is, once you heard the variation in pitch, your ears are trained, that’s how sensitive our hearing really is. I can tell if a record is off centered, even if I don’t see that record because your brain is trained by recognising the rythm, from the beginning to the end of that side. And the bad thing of all, when I take a new record out of its sleeve I more or less expect it to be not perfect. And, to conclude this useless begging for perfection, I simply know it can be done, it IS possible to provide a perfect record. There once existed Polygram, a joint venture between Polydor of Germany and Philips (Phonogram) of Holland. They set up pressing plants all over the world. Now I can only judge what the Dutch plant produced. Not one single record I own that came from Baarn (town where the plant was located) shows off centered sides, not one! Either their quality control was perfect or that ridge at the edge of the label area was responsible for this level of perfection, I don’t know. In short, I do not agree with what he says. Kind regards, Willem, Hekelingen, The Netherlands.

[@Tojazzer]

Informative video. Kudos, Michael, for your mentoring.

[@analoguecity3454]

Fantastic, love factories! Especially something like this!

[@leif8660]

Awesome video!!!

[@petehatzakos]

27:01 off center stamping issues.... FASCINATING! That's why I look forward your videos Michael... Thank you!

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

Pete Hatzakos badly off centre are the absolute worst, only good for the bin. I'd rather have a scratched old copy of a record than a new copy which is badly off centre

[@mattgeezy3002]

Very cool tour. Was interested to hear about different color vinyl sounding different. Wished he talked more about that ,would be interesting.

[@sauces_official]

you can find more about it in the other pressing plant tour videos, many different people working in the plants give opinions and observations during the tours.

[@Lillulu.]

I live right by this place and I always thought it would be cool to work there but I can never find anything on where to apply

[@MrSwedjen]

Just go to the front office and tell them you want to work there and you'll start by sweeping floors and cleaning up the boxes.

[@hi-fihaven2257]

Thanks for the tour!

[@robertyoung1777]

Great video Hearing protection

[@bareknuckles2u]

Man, what is going to happen to pressing plants after the Apollo Transco fire? I am already noticing some scarcity on the on-line vinyl market. Maybe that is due in part because of the pandemic, but I am very concerned, especially since I just got into this wonderful hobby a couple of years ago and was so looking forward to building a collection. I have to say, a lot of my excitement about it was due to this channel and Michael's enthusiasm.

[@PanAmStyle]

Great video and I love that a farm boy mechanical engineer is running this.

[@johnmorgan6724]

Did he say anything about the Apollo Masters fire? What's the break schedule?

[@tajarberlin]

Thanks for the Tour. What happens to Malachi? Is he now to shy to be seen in a Video? 🤷‍♂️

[@AnalogPlanet]

He has matured and doesn’t want to be seen as a little boy.

[@malachilui6146]

basically what michael said, i’m perfectly fine on my own channel now but i don’t want things i did last year just being posted now. so i demanded that he obscure me in the video.

[@Agamemnon2]

@@malachilui6146 It gives you an air of mystery, you can lean on that :)

[@gonolith]

Anyone know what that "more new records" intro is from?

[@AnalogPlanet]

It’s from a radio commercial I voiced mid 1970s for a Boston record store

[@njuham]

@@AnalogPlanet I thought it was a Jerry Lewis impersonation.

[@roberttroxell4006]

The capital outlay and the expertise to set up the whole process and maintain the machinery is amazing. I wonder how the owners got the financial backing to make such investment in an enterprise that still looks to have uncertain customer demand (only certain people are interested in new records today). I hope this guy has back-up personnel who know everything he knows - anyone can get ill or have an accident and become unable to perform their duties. You wouldn’t want to have all the expense of such a plant and then have it come grinding to a halt because the leaders are incapacitated. Very interesting video.

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

Robert Troxell vinyl is a rather big business nowadays again. Pressing plants actually can't keep up with demand.

[@aperla207]

when you want to relax and listen to music, what is your go to ????

[@joybrucebruce3377]

My Uncle Bubba was a production line designer for Ampex. He would looove this stuff. He last worked designing rear view mirror plant for car mfg in Carolinas. He's almost 90 but hates that "these kids have these new technologies we would have killed for."

[@untitledthe]

That double cavity SMT!

[@NickP333]

I immediately knew I’d like this vid, so I immediately pressed the button! More green machines! They’re everywhere! It’s so cool to see what looked like a vat of dirty rock salt turned into that beautiful smoke colored vinyl. I wonder if the band Team Dresch will see this vid. I think they were supposed to play The Regrind Room before all of this madness started. I’ll never get tired of record pressing plant vids. I hope you, Malachi, and your families are staying safe and are well. Thank you, Michael. Perfect timing for an Analog Planet vid! 🎶👍🔊🙂

[@ReferenceFidelityComponents]

No hearing protection on the factory floor....really? Those guys working there wont be hearing the records they make for long. They deserve better.

[@mikrophonie5633]

I hate to think how obnoxious that kid is going to be in a few years after his tutelage by Fremer.

[@dean6816]

When he's buying $100,000 audio cables that come in plutonium grade cases!

[@AnalogPlanet]

He will eventually be about 1/4 as obnoxious as you already are.

[@mikrophonie5633]

@@AnalogPlanet Or 1/1,000,000 as obnoxious as you are. Guess you're bored, responding to old comments huh? Why don't you go out and mingle, maybe you'll catch Covid-19, then your wife can sell all your records for $1 each at a yard sale, like you were laughing about when it happened to someone else. Cretin. Keep giving your own comments a "thumbs-up" too, loser. It's hilarious.

[@mikrophonie5633]

@Sergio Martelli Wow how original of you to play the "jealousy" card. Now you can go back to brown-nosing Fremer. Pathetic.

[@Edward135i]

Hey, I live in Milwaukie, Oregon!

[@LuxAudio389]

4:29 totally reminded me of Chris Farley's voice! Very impressed with Jeff's maluble skill set .

[@badbanano]

We used to have a pressing plant in dunmore pa by specialty records …aka WEA

[@RealHIFIHelp]

Where the magic happens.

[@1999zrx1100]

Always interesting, Cheers 😎

[@billsmith1545]

Ear protection required.

[@Tojazzer]

Was just about to post that comment.

[@billsmith1545]

DeMarcus Strange I was a production engineer looking after an assembly line for Cummins in the UK. We would have to have ear protection at those noise levels. Also taking a guard off a machine would be a sackable offence.

[@billsmith1545]

Yes you would. I worked in Huddersfield looking after some of the turbocharger lines.

[@PanAmStyle]

Nah - they hire profoundly deaf people :)

[@carlfuggiasco7495]

Since I live in a suburb of Milwaukee WI and this is in Milwaukie, Oregon I will share an unrelated to your video - - story. I once worked as the warehouse manager of a local food bank. One day an unscheduled delivery showed up at my dock. A semi driver from Seattle Washington had a delivery for a similarly named food bank in Milwaukie, OR. I told him you have the wrong Milwaukie and he said there’s two? I said actually there are three because there is one in Florida. You are in probably the most famous one ….well because of beer I guess. So, he now had to drive back half the distance of the country to the product destination that he could have delivered to in a day. Reminds me somehow of The Importance of Being Earnest, a play on words and this a play on a city name with different spelling.

[@borohhh]

why is the kid hiding his identity now

[@prowlermadmax2]

Evetime i get vinyl records in the mail, I have to make sure my mom does not seem me or she will have a cow.

[@geovannilucianomartinezban3518]

a qui estoy amigos

[@kurtzcol]

its this guys opinion that the sound is different from opaque and not ,black and white anyone one else concur with this

[@AnalogPlanet]

Absolutely true!

[@sauces_official]

Yes, and glow-in-the-dark vinyl practically has a crackle tax on it for the novelty of the effect.

[@AnalogPlanet]

Each vinyl formulation produces slightly different sound. Not difficult to hear BTW

[@fabfourforeverrecords8670]

I am 14 and I love your channel, i think you might like my channel. I post a lot of videos showing new finds, I have been collecting since I was 3 and a half years old, I have purchased more than 25,000 records, and have been watching you ever since you said that playing records on a crosley 5 times will chew up the grooves, I hate these Reproduction Record players, i am a huge fan, what is your favorite Beatles album? How old were you when you started collecting? Do you live in the US? I see you around the world in these videos a lot, what ortofon styli is best for the money? Is Audio Technica a good brand? The 12 year old kid reminds me of myself, except I don’t care for “ modern “ music and I think Dion And Ricky Nelson are better than Justin Bieber And Justin Timberlake? Where can I send you some records? Do you have a PO Box?, also me and a friend are opening a record store next month, it’s gonna be so awesome

[@WindomRettes]

Off camera Michael had to backhand the kid to get him in line.

[@AnalogPlanet]

He’s well behaved

[@jonathanvillalobos7994]

Hey michael,is it true after 100 plays.the record loses 25% of its fidelity?because the stylus carves the grooves?so If that's true,400 plays then the record would be all worn out and useless?some dork was saying,vinyl lovers are imbeciles because of that reason.i beg to differ!please, give me feedback on this subject.thanks michael!btw, nice vídeo!

[@gonolith]

He talks about this in the start of this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/d2fSnnmto9eApJI

[@malachilui6146]

records don’t wear out...

[@sauces_official]

the records' grooves are stable when a stylus designed to play them is used, and the arm is set up correctly. perhaps the figures you have reflect a situation in which a primitive stylus with an unbalanced arm was used.

[@MrSwedjen]

If they were on a multiple stacked player, like most were, in one of those Spanish furniture Zenith consoles with a cheap tone arm and permanent cartridge , then yeah.

[@russredfern167]

Noisy place

[@malachilui6146]

Russ Redfern#16 it’s a record pressing plant lol

[@driesanalog4187]

The record pressing cowboys.

[@BeingMe23]

#PDX #portlandoregon #Records #vinylrecords

[@joybrucebruce3377]

I just accused the audio business in the NY Times as the reason Americans don't believe in science. The article was about why were Americans so gullible as to refuse vaccines and believe in the movie Plandemic: My words "The Audio Business is responsible for all of it. The engineers at the audio engineering society say all amplifiers sound the same. Mr. Winer says all wires sound the same. How much audio equipment contrary to these ideas exist? More dollars of it is sold every year than burgers that McDonalds has sold during its existence". Just if anyone blames you for all this trouble you can point to me. Well my wife has nothing to do with it. Bruce

[@scottgates601]

Show us more of Grace!!!

[@QoraxAudio]

I know what you got behind your back! Rackets! More new rackets! At least, that's how he sounds and looks like, like he's running a racket!

[@malachilui6146]

yes.

[@thegrimyeaper]

yup.

[@fabfourforeverrecords8670]

Are you the kid that hangs out with him? See the comment I left above, you remind me a lot of myself, I run a channel and I’m 14 and I’m a vinyl collector since I was 3 and a half

[@fabfourforeverrecords8670]

How much do you like The Beatles?

[@AnalogPlanet]

FabFourForever Record's why the apostrophe in Record’s?

[@fabfourforeverrecords8670]

You know man, I don’t know myself, I am changing my name to FabFoureverRecords anyway

[@fabfourforeverrecords8670]

Wonder who the one jerk is that disliked your video?

[@AnalogPlanet]

We have a few regular trolls

[@fabfourforeverrecords8670]

Did you see my other comment?