Metallica’s heavy metal music has been heard all over the world for 43 years — and they recently got their first tour of the Alexandria, Virginia, record pressing plant they own.
Last year, when Metallica invested in Furnace Record Pressing, they gained a majority interest in the plant, which has been in business since 1996.
Recently, band members James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo were given a tour of Furnace, which is located on Bren Mar Drive, just off the Capital Beltway, near Interstate 395.
This week, the band posted a YouTube video of their tour of the factory, which was led by Mark Reiter, vice president of manufacturing operations for Furnace.
The band saw the process from start to finish — and heard that the term “vinyl” is a bit simplistic.
“It is a very elegant plastic compound,” said Reiter. “It has waxes, lubricants — a lot of those things get activated at certain temperature points. So, it’s a really sophisticated compound.”
Band members each pressed a “splatter vinyl” of their classic 1984 album “Ride the Lightning,” in which multicolored pellets are placed in a machine to produce the swirled vinyl.
“Cookies and cream,” joked Hammett.
“From pellets to a record, in one machine — pretty cool,” marveled Hetfield.
Handling a record that was literally hot off the press, Hetfield placed it in another machine to trim the excess vinyl.
Reiter showed the band how catalog numbers were inscribed in the vinyl, near the label. The band members said they often looked to see what inside jokes bands had etched in vinyl.
Recently-pressed records remain malleable for 24 hours, said Reiter. So, steps were taken to cool and weigh down vinyl, to ensure records didn’t cup or bend.
During the tour, Metallica met employees who were doing quality control at the plant.
“People say, ‘I want this job — they’re listening to music all day long,'” said Reiter. “No, they’re listening for surface defects, they’re making sure that we don’t make a Taylor Swift record that has ‘Ride the Lightning’ on the B-side.”
When Metallica made their initial investment last year, Furnace had already produced more than five million pieces of Metallica vinyl since 2014.
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