Vinyl Snob

The Metallica Report is coming! Keep up with all things Metallica by going straight to the source for your news. This weekly report is hosted by Steffan Chirazi, long-time rock scribe and editor of the band’s online mag, So What!, and Renée Richardson, a well-known Bay Area radio personality who now oversees the band’s foundation, All Within My Hands.   Steffan and Renée will keep you in the loop...

American Prankster is a deep dive with the iconic Wavy Gravy, unfolding his fascinating,historic and hilarious lifestory as an original Beatnik, comedy pioneer, hippie icon and pioneering activist who uses humor as a weapon.   Sharing stories that even he’d forgotten with producer/host, Rainbow Valentine, of Disorganized Crime: Smuggler’s Daughter, Wavy gets down to the very nit of the grit and re...

In Episode 16 we hear from Carrie Colliton with Record Store Day about how events of 2020 have changed this popular event and when the much anticipated special releases will be available. And in the quest to complete his ultimate stereo system, Dave returns to North Coast Audio and demos speakers with Chris Larsen. Dave also invites Vinyl Snob studio chief engineer and speaker skeptic, his brother...

In our third segment of Confessions of a Vinyl Addict, producer Dana Berry speaks with Tom Lynch, longtime record buyer at Amoeba Music in San Francisco. Tom has some great stories about growing up in the music hotbed of Detroit, continuing his vinyl odyssey to the West Coast and landing at the mecca of used records. Continuing our Vinyl News discussion of the tragic Apollo Masters fire, Dave spea...

A good stereo store is hard to find these days, but in Dave Whitaker's interview with Chris Larson at Northcoast Audio in Eureka, CA., you'll see why it's worth it to seek out your nearest brick and mortar store. In Vinyl News we have a double whammy of not-so-great news for the vinyl industry. Dave catches up with Steve Sheldon of the recently closed Rainbo Records pressing plant and gets more in...

Producer Dana Berry continues his vinyl odyssey with part 2 of The Vinyl Dream. After approving the Night Herons test pressings, Dana ventures down to Los Angeles to witness the actual pressing of the record at Rainbo Records. Returning with a carload of fresh vinyl, Dana visits buyers at Open Mind Music, Econo Jam Records and Amoeba San Francisco to find out how one goes about selling their recor...

Producer Dana Berry has always dreamed of putting out a vinyl LP. Well, the time has come. Join him as his band, Night Herons, goes through the process of making a vinyl record including mixing, mastering, artwork, finding the right pressing plant, lacquer cutting and test pressing. Listen in on the studio sessions and hear interviews with everyone involved. It’s part “how-to” guide but it’s mainl...

In our 11th episode, Dave digs deep into the macabre, interviewing Jason Leach of Andvinyly, a company that will take ashes from your dearly departed and press them into vinyl records. It gives a whole new meaning to “deep cuts”. We also hit three Bay Area stores on Record Store Day 2019, coming back with some great interviews and a few records of course. And in our indie record store segment, we...

We are happy to celebrate our 10th episode by celebrating women in vinyl and their perspective and experiences. Producer Dana Berry sits down with three San Francisco Bay Area women who not only are avid vinyl collectors but own or have owned record stores - Tracy Parker of VAMP Art and Music, Hannah Lew of Contact Records and Windy Chien of Aquarius Records. Host Dave Whitaker follows up with epi...

In episode 9 we continue our Confessions of a Vinyl Addict series. Producer Dana Berry interviews Mike LaVella, a life-long record collector who also worked within the music industry as a writer for Maximum Rock n Roll and Thrasher, published the garage punk/hot rod magazine Gearhead and ran Gearhead Records. Mike now runs a ‘Now Playing’ vinyl spinning night in the Bay Area. Take a journey with M...

In episode 8 of Vinyl Snob, we speak with Paul Rigby, a journalist and hi-fi audio reviewer from the UK who writes for such magazines as Long Live Vinyl. He also maintains a very impressive and comprehensive website. Dave talked with Paul about how he ended up as a writer specializing in music and hi-fi, entry level turntables, what makes one turntable better than the other, how to upgrade a turnt...

In episode 7, 'Theater of the Buy' we speak with two record store buyers and find out what they look for when they price records for trade or cash. In our first segment we speak with Ken Kubala from Amoeba Records. He is a buyer for both their Berkeley and San Francisco stores. His insight into the “theater of the buy” is gleaned from thirty years in the retail record business. In our second segme...

In episode 6 we introduce a new segment called "Confessions of a Vinyl Addict". In it we talk with "advanced" vinyl collectors and find out what drives them and why, how and where they hunt and how they ended up as vinyl addicts. In this first installment, Vinyl Snob producer Dana Berry speaks with Gavin O'Neill, a collector that curates his own specialized selection of albums from a certain era i...

In episode 5 we finish our conversation with Ron McMaster at Capitol Records. We dig into what mastering really is and Ron talks us through the “you got one shot at it” process of cutting a lacquer. The next step is pressing a record and Vinyl Snob wastes no time in driving from Hollywood to the Valley to speak with Steve Sheldon, the General Manager of Rainbo Records. Steve takes us on a tour of...

In Episode 4, we talk vinyl maintenance and gear. Dave speaks with Bes Nievera Jr, the brand ambassador for Music Direct in Chicago, about how to care for your records and stylus. Then we travel to Boston to speak with Peter Maltzan and Bob Hertig of U-Turn Audio. A modern start-up with an old school mission. U-Turn manufactures high quality turntables for a reasonable price  Episode credits:David...

In our third episode, we journey to three Bay Area used record stores. Vinyl Snob producer Dana Berry chats with Steve Maag of Collins Music in Suisun City, Dave Kloski of Dave's Record Store in Berkeley and Tom O'Shaughnessy of Econo Jam Records in Oakland. Host Dave Whitaker then takes a trip out of his record store comfort zone and visits Not Another Record Swap, a buy, sell and trade gathering...

In this episode we head to Berkeley California on Record Store Day and visit two of the biggest record stores in the Bay Area, Rasputin’s and Amoeba. At Rasputin’s we speak with long time manager Tom Chandler and customers about visiting the local record store instead of buying online. At Amoeba we sit down with manager Dina Ruedel and co-founder Dave Prinz about the culture of the local record st...

Welcome David Whitaker and Vinyl Snob to the RNRAP family of podcasts! In our first episode we are joined by Vinyl Mastering Engineer Ron McMaster at Capitol Records in Hollywood. We talk with Ron about the days before digital and he takes us through the resurgence of vinyl in recent years. Episode credits:David Whitaker - Host & ProducerDana Berry - Executive ProducerCameron Robbins - Theme Music...