One audio junkie may have found the solution to the
ever-dwindling number of studios that still release LPs. Amanda Ghassaei is an
assistant tech editor for +Instructables and has developed a method
for printing actual records (LPs) using a 3-D printer and resin.
To be fair, the method still needs a little “cleaning up,”
as there is still significant white noise in the background. Ghassaei herself
admits that the current quality of the LPs is low, but the idea is still
incredibly innovative and stands to grow and improve in the coming years.
To create physical LPs out of her digital music, Ghassaei
wrote a program to help. The program has three basic functions:
1.
Import raw audio data from the Mp3 file
2.
Perform calculations to generate the geometry of
a 12-inch LP record
3.
Export geometric findings in a 3-D printable
file format
When it’s time to print her records, Ghassaei uses an Objet
Connex500 resin printer, which is able to create 33 RPM records. A regular
turntable can play the records, which is good news for any music junkies who’ve
held onto theirs through the years.
The quality will need improving before printing our own LPs
really takes off, but if it is able to eventually match that of the original
file, music lovers everywhere will finally be able to create their own mixed
records, an ability we’ve only previously enjoyed with cassette tapes and CDs
(we’ll leave iPods out because that’s fairly equivalent to plain old digital
music files on a computer).
It seems like today, more than ever, people want a mix of
vintage and modern. Printing our own LPs, then, sounds like a match made in
heaven.
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