VINYL ETCHING

This 12” etching was individually made by hand using metal blades, grinding tools, and a turntable. It is playable at any speed, but may require an investment of creative energy from the listener for best results. Adjusting your deck’s counterweight and anti-skate will be necessary if applicable. Simpler turntables may require a resistant body to hold the tone arm in place. Some turntables will require no adjustment at all. This etching will behave differently on every turntable it touches every time it plays. Play may wear on the needle, but 100s of other etchings have been tested extensively on the same turntable and needle in my studio without incident. Do not fear the challenge this record presents to you! You are both listener and performer. Play with it. It will reward time spent with it.

The disc is home to a nonlinear recording--an archive of performed labor and musical improvisation represented cyclically. During etching, the instrument (a saw blade) drags across the surface of the spinning disc. The resistance of the vinyl material makes the blade resonate. The frequency of the vibrations cut into the material are represented faithfully in playback. It is you the listener that controls the temporal duration of the recording. You may notice some locked grooves where the needle is stuck in a repeating loop. Let these play until you are ready to explore another part of the record. There are potentially hundreds of these loops in each etching.