Rob Courtney quickly walked down the stairs into the basement of his Toledo residence and entered a room filled with instruments, sound equipment, and computers.
“This is it,” he said, motioning his hands toward Mark Metzger and Brian Gross-Bias, both standing around a small lathe machine sitting on a table.
Since 2011, the three friends have been recording in their living room live sessions of bands from throughout the United States and posting the videos on YouTube under the moniker Little Elephant. Now, after a year and a half of tightening loose ends, in October the three were able to find a lathe machine that can cut live sessions on vinyl in real time in their home.
As Courtney walked into the room, music from Chicago-based indie-rock band Into It. Over It. was playing on a turntable while the lathe machine was cutting the band’s live session onto a record.
“(It’s) so impressive and inspiring to see how Little Elephant have been championing DIY in their own way,” said Into It. Over it. vocalist/guitarist Evan Weiss in an email to The Blade. “Completely self-sufficient and working their hands to the bone bringing beautiful art to their audience with craft and care. Thankful for them existing and so happy to be a part of it.”
Since Little Elephant started selling its pressed-to-order live sessions on vinyl, Courtney said purchases have been coming not only from throughout the U.S. but from places like the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada.
According to statistics from the Recording Industry Association of America, vinyl shipments were down by 6 percent after the first half of 2016 from the same time in 2015. The data indicate there were about 8.4 million LP/EP units shipped during the first half of this year, a 9 percent decrease from 9.2 million the same time last year. Further, the revenue of LP/EPs amounted to about $207 million after the first half of 2016, which is about a 6 percent decline from the amount of revenue at the same time in 2015 at $221 million. Despite the small decrease, statistics show more people are buying vinyl records now than they were just a few years ago.
■ A protective film is peeled off on both sides of a blank record and wax is applied to make the cutting easier.
■ The record is placed and secured onto a cutting lathe.
■ A vacuum device and turntable are turned on to get the lathe up to the right speed before the cutting begins.
■ Once everything is up to speed, the lathe will go into “autocut mode” and the lathe head automatically moves toward the record and the stereo cutting head drops and begins to cut the record in real time, meaning however long the live session is, that’s how long it will take the lathe to cut. The cutter head was purchased from Switzerland and the blank records are purchased from France. The diamond cuts the surface of the record and the remains are sucked into a vacuum into a space behind the lathe machine.
■ The lead out groove will be cut once the record is finished, putting an end to the process.
■ After the record is finished being cut, the packaging process begins. The first step is screen-printed jackets for the records, which include Little Elephant’s logo on the front.
■ The band’s name is stamped onto the bottom half of the record’s jacket, as well as to the center label before it is applied to the record.
■ Each jacket is numbered consecutively as they are ordered, and are then shipped out to the customer.
Courtney said people love the physicality of Little Elephant’s vinyls, along with the novelty.
“Vinyl has become such a thing again, because physical music got so nonexistent and you had nothing to hold in your hand,” he observed. “I think people missed that.”
Pat O’Connor, owner of Culture Clash Records on Secor Road in Toledo, said the lathe cutter gives the record a unique sound quality because it’s being cut in real time, meaning if the original music was 3 minutes long, the duplication process would take exactly 3 minutes.
He said there is a heavy amount of science and sound engineering involved in the process.
Unlike commercially available CDs, Little Elephant presses just the songs recorded live, whether the session is 3 minutes or 30 minutes long.
“For someone to take this step in town is phenomenal, I love it,” O’Connor said. “I love the science of how it works and the whole production of it. It’s fascinating that they’re doing it.”
Courtney believes the Little Elephant house is perfectly situated to entice bands and musicians on tour, as they usually drive through Toledo when traveling to surrounding areas such as Detroit, Cleveland, and Columbus.
“Toledo is actually the best spot we could be because we’re the crossroads; there are so many bands that pass through here,” he said. “We do the session, and then they move on to the next thing.”
That’s one of the main reasons Laura Stevenson, a singer/songwriter from New York, recorded at the house in 2013 while touring for her album Wheel.
She said she was impressed with the recording’s sound quality, which validated her decision to have Little Elephant cut the session on vinyl.
“I am really excited that people want to buy music again,” Ms. Stevenson said through an email to The Blade. “CDs are just kind of garbage once you upload the tracks to your computer or device, and a vinyl record is not only a beautiful object but a whole experience. I hope people continue to support artists they love by buying their vinyl. It's very cool.”
Jeremy Wallach, acting chair and popular culture professor at Bowling Green State University, said a business like Little Elephant has a high chance of being successful because the value of vinyl will continue to remain relevant and “will not go out of style anytime soon.” Wallach said vinyl has a warmer sound and offers an element that isn’t found in CDs or mp3s.
“I think this is a brilliant idea; (Little Elephant) has become this destination,” he said. “Vinyl already has a magic to it, and these are performances of bands people already like. It's incredible they are able to do this.”
Little Elephant is selling each vinyl session recording for $15, and the proceeds are split 50/50 between the band or musician and the house. Each order includes the vinyl record and a digital mp3 download.
For more information, visit littleelephantlive.com.
Contact Geoff Burns at: gburns@theblade.com or 419-724-6110.
First Published December 4, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
