Sounds in Vinyl

It’s rare to get from the seed of an idea to its realisation in just a few short steps. Typically, it’s a carefully thought-out and meticulously planned process that turns a long-standing dream into reality. What we’re referring to here is the genesis of Sounds In Vinyl GmbH, a brand-new vinyl pressing plant that will commence operations in Reken, in Germany’s Münster region, on 1 January 2023. The company’s stakeholders include experienced music agent Bernd Wilbert, businessman Amir Glasche and the Dutch booking agency, Doomstar Booking (Luuk van Gestel & Luc Favié). Wilbert has been the owner of Munich’s booking agency, WE – Live Agency, for many years, Glasche has worked with his Gothic fashion shop ‚Dark Ages‘ in retail and e-commerce since 1998.

All four founding members have their roots in audiophile sounds, sharing a special enthusiasm for the unrivalled warmth of analogue vinyl productions. Following the arrival of digital CDs towards the end of the 1980s, however, vinyl LPs practically disappeared from the market, accounting for a mere 0.3% of total sales in 2006, with the erstwhile market leader turning into a niche product. But for Wilbert, Glasche, van Gestel and Favié, all of whom had made their hobby their profession, the passion for vinyl never dwindled in all those years.

Which is why these four music business pros had been watching with intense interest the comeback the sonic qualities of vinyl. They also noted that the steady rise in demand for LPs, which now account for almost 20% of total sales, has repeatedly led to dramatic supply bottlenecks at the few vinyl pressing plants still in operation. All of which inspired them to create Sounds In Vinyl, investing in several brand-new Pheenix Alpha AD12 presses, considered by experts to be the state of the art in record production, and thereby laying the foundations for a first-rate new pressing plant in Reken.