The Coloured Vinyl vs Black Vinyl... The debate

There are many in the vinyl and HIFI community who think that coloured vinyl adversely affects the sound quality of records and that the use of coloured, splatter, or picture disc vinyl is just a marketing ploy to sell to us collectors and fans.

So is coloured vinyl worse in terms of sound quality compared to black? Here at Runout we felt that this question required a little deeper research to get an answer, and luckily we aren’t the only ones who have thought about or been asked this question by others.

Firstly we looked around the internet (our infinite source of information) and we saw an interview with Matt Earley of Gotta Groove Records who had some interesting things to say on the subject…

“with our black vinyl, carbon is used as the colorant. As far as I understand, this can reduce static electricity, but the biggest contributor to black vinyl performance is more down to the fact it’s the most prevalent color, it’s the most often run, and therefore it’s the most consistent. When we switch from black to colored vinyl on any of our pressings, there’s a lot of finesse involved in changing over as all materials run dramatically different. Whereas with black vinyl, you can run that on any press on any day, and while every record runs a little differently, you know the vinyl itself is going to be pretty consistent.”

So was Matt leaning towards the side of the argument that says black is best?

“We’ve certainly found exceptions to the ‘black is best’ rule. There are some records we’ve run that seem to run much better on a transparent color. For whatever reason, just the way the grooves form seems to work better in some instances.”

What came from this interview left RRC with a thirst to understand the process a little better, so we looked at how vinyl records are made, and luckily this was a much simpler answer (hahahaha).

Vinyl records are made from PVC (poly-vinyl chloride) which is white/translucent in its basic form and it is mixed with a colourant to create the look of a vinyl record.

These colourants then create the look the PVC record will form, in the case of black records this is carbon but for coloured variants, it's a dye which is then added to the PVC, solid colour titanium dioxide, and other additives which make up the record.

So we now have a clearer understanding of the make-up of a record, but there is another factor to take into account: the pressing plant. So let's walk through that process with a little help from our friends at Norman Records

“the music itself has been written, recorded and mastered, it’s time to call up the pressing plant. The people at the plant will then literally slice the audio into a lacquer plate with the help of a lathe. Lacquer is used because it is soft enough to cut but hard enough that it will hold its shape once it has been cut. The lacquer is subsequently put in an electroplating bath, where an electrical charge slowly builds up metal on the lacquer plate. This creates a negative of the plate with enough strength to survive a full record pressing.”

Ok so we now know that vinyl records are made from PVC and that they are then pressed at a pressing plant, but how does PVC turn into a record?

“It… (is) turned from small pellets into a “biscuit” the size of a hockey puck. If they are producing straightforward coloured vinyl they will add the colourants when they make the biscuit. For more out-there designs - a splatter for instance - they will spread some coloured pellets over the biscuit just before the record is pressed.

Let's do a quick recap then, PVC makes up a vinyl record and it is mixed with colourants to create either a black or coloured vinyl, it is then turned into a ‘biscuit’ which is then placed in the press where under heat and pressure the record is made, the label is then applied and the record is left to cool and the edges of the record trimmed before it is put into its sleeve and cover.

So after some demystification of the record creation process and the materials used in the process we needed to come back to our initial question, is coloured vinyl worse than black vinyl?

We went back to our research and what we found helped us to further quantify the answer to our question. The progression in the making and cutting of records since vinyl records were first introduced has been the same as in all manufactured products, advancement in the techniques and materials used since they were first made, these advances lead to better ways of pressing records and also lead to changes in the types of records made. All collectors of vinyl records know about these advances from the humble and classic black vinyl to the creation of coloured vinyl and picture discs.

These advancements can and have led to issues with vinyl records, be it in the quality of the PVC materials, or through the sound quality of the music pressed onto those materials. It appears that these advancements could be the reason why the coloured vinyl has been seen as inferior to its black counterpart.

Despite problems with the materials in the early days of coloured vinyl, there is evidence that coloured vinyl has improved dramatically, however, there is another culprit for poor quality and that is the manufacturing process itself. A record can suffer due to a number of factors which include, the initial recording and mastering of the music itself, or the electroplating or manufacturing of the records.

So after asking what we thought might be a slightly contentious question which would have a simple yes or no answer, and completing a lot more research than we initially thought, here are our conclusions.

Coloured vinyl could be said to have a slight difference from black vinyl, but this difference has become negligible due to the advancements in production techniques and the quality of material used. Coloured vinyl could be said to be harder to quality check, but this thought is only based on the fact that the quality checking of black vinyl compared to coloured is easier.

Here at RRC we appreciate that the proof is in the pudding and that is why we use our ears to test the quality of every coloured vinyl we use in our subscription, but coloured vinyl is a personal choice when looking to buy records for yourself, especially second-hand vinyl. We advise that collectors use the tools available to you, most record stores will have a listening post to check the vinyl you are purchasing so use it.

Finally let's look to answer the question we posed initially: does coloured vinyl adversely affect the sound quality compared to black? Yes, it could, if you are a sound quality aficionado then black vinyl is perhaps a safer option, but coloured vinyl isn’t worse than black it's just different and could be better than black in some instances.

We found that the choice of coloured over black boils down to a personal one, but we also want to foster the next generation of vinyl enthusiasts so if a coloured vinyl pressing gets a new listener to a new artist, album, or into buying records we are all for it.