True Colors: What You Should Know About Black vs. Color Vinyl | Discogs

Hold on to your butt, because someone in this sub is going to come into this thread and dispute most of that article. People are still convinced that black is the only way to go because they feel the vinyl pressing process hasn’t changed since the ‘50s, even though it absolutely has changed.

There's also some interesting info in the comments. For instance:

"I manufacture vinyl for a living. As has been mentioned here a few times, solid colours don’t much affect playback these days, at least not regarding a high noise floor. The notable exception is glow-in-the-dark plastic, which is dreadful stuff. A nice gimmick, for sure, but that material is not really for pressing and it’s ludicrously expensive. Where you will naturally find playback issues is on discs pressed with multiple colours, either in segments or as splatters, especially mixtures of opaque and transparent plastic."

Been saying this for years so I'm really grateful to just have this article to link to instead of wasting my breath the next time some idiot comes along saying that black vinyl is the only kind worth buying.

Since I buy used records, 99% of what I see is black vinyl but I prefer that because it's easier to see scratches vs. colored vinyl

Makes sense. I do have a couple colored vinyl records that definitely do not sound as good as a well-mastered black record. But I also have colored records that sound phenomenal--along with black ones that sound like trash.

All records--whether black or color--are pressed from a charge made from countless little pellets. There's just as much chance for surface irregularities in black than colored.

May I add that I also like non black vinyls even if the quality was lowered because...I like how they look? I don't listen to my records often and sometimes I just like looking at them. Sometimes I'll even buy cheap records by people I dont know just because they look cool. Like I know its shallow but I just like the art of it.

Funny, I've seen in a lot of places that Clear is supposed to sound best. Go figure.

Anyway, I still prefer to buy black because I'd rather save a few bucks than get a collector's item, but a disc that's colored won't stop me from buying. Except pictures discs.

Solid color records are mostly fine sonically, if a bit gimmicky. Splatter, clear, glow in the dark, and especially picture discs are all pretty bad if you have gear that can resolve records well, but most people don’t even have gear that can resolve music well so it doesn’t matter.

It’s all commercial bs anyway, they know most people don’t actually listen to their records often and it’s more like collecting baseball cards to some folks. Labels like Mondo certainly care more about collectability than getting music into the hands of every fan. It’s also used as a cheap tactic to increase demand on some otherwise unremarkable reissues. Looking at you mid 2000s Prince represses... wish they did you better.

I have colored vinyl and I like them and they sound good. I do have a splatter record that's not the best sounding but was thinking it was the bands fault cause they are small(?), not that popular. I do have 1 pic. disc. and I don't like it just because it makes me nauseous to see it spinning on the turntable.

So basically solid colors of any kind are good but all my fancy multicolored and splatter type ones probably sound very slightly worse than the solid color version. This is good to know.

Good read. Thanks for sharing. I love color vinyl but I do realize it is a bit of a cash grab in some cases.

I prefer colored records because they bring me happiness in their looks in addition to the music. Glad to hear I don't sacrifice too much with them (maybe on some of the splatter/clear records). Of course, my setup isn't good enough, nor are my ears good enough to hear the difference!

Honestly, I love colored vinyl more than anything.

If I have to sacrifice a slight bit of quality to have a beautifully colored/splattered record, I will do so. I feel like the colored record adds to the overall experience of the music and the artistic choice of the artist. It's just visually more appealing, and one of my favorite things is when the colored record matches with the album artwork, just makes it a tad bit more special and unique. I would like to add though, it definitely is a cash grab for some artists, but it's definitely working on many people, including myself.

I haven't noticed a huge different between most black/coloured/splatter/etc. but I have never heard an album pressed on white vinyl that didn't sound like absolute garbage.

So, this guy at my work was talking about buying vinyl so I was like "oh good something I can talk about" as I had recently got a new player and started buying again- I had a small collection because I would buy them randomly when I saw something at a goodwill or wherever- and I was showing this guy these crazy colored vinyls I got from record store day. He was like "you aren't supposed to play those!" and all this other nonsense. Turns out he wanted to buy vinyl to look cool and have something to talk about. Whenever I buy a new crazy vinyl I play it with more satisfaction knowing somebody hates me for it.

Anyway I have pretty good luck with my vinyls playing nicely besides 2 or 3 and only one of those is colored oddly so it is what it is. Seeing a clear or splattered vinyl spinning just looks pretty so I may be shallow but oooo pretty colors is a bonus in my book haha

Interesting article, i never knew how colored vinyl was made, so thanks for posting. Regarding the content, I hate the idea of treating records like an investment. Also, anyone who seeks out a cooler color, rather than a best sounding master and pressing, is a fool.