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| The Gotta Groove 350 gram Advanced Audiophile™ Pressing We are extremely excited to announce our newest advancement in our pursuit to produce the most perfect vinyl record ever made – the 350 gram Advanced Audiophile™ pressing. What makes this record so advanced is, in spite of its nearly double* the weight of a traditional 180 gram audiophile pressing, the thickness and profile of the record is unchanged – it is the mass that makes the difference. In other words – the record takes up the same amount of space as our 180 gram pressings do; but the weight of the record is nearly double, which deadens the microvibrations that occur at the point of the stylus during playback, and produces a sound that is the closest possible reproduction of the original recording with zero background noise on a properly calibrated turntable. (*Records vary in weight +/- 5 grams. Incidentally, we attempted to make it truly double the weight of a 180 gram record – our initial goal was to make a 360 gram record. But, the mass caps out at an average 350 grams +/- 5 no matter the press setting). How it came about: Going back to 2012, Gotta Groove has collaborated with NASA engineers in various facets of its record pressing operation. We could not have developed the Advanced Audiophile™ pressing without NASA’s assistance…and a little luck. As widely reported on March 17, 2026, a massive meteor explosion occurred over Northeast Ohio. Our Cleveland pressing plant happened to have a truckload of vinyl gaylords being delivered at the very moment that explosion occurred. After the truck left, upon inspection of the gaylords, many small holes could be seen in the tops of the bags – almost as if something had burned through the lining. We did not think much of it, until the next day, after many employees had heard/read/seen the news about the meteor explosion. We immediately reached out to NASA to describe the burnt holes in the gaylords, and the timing of the delivery in relation to the explosion. Within hours, several of their engineers were on site to conduct tests, and determine if somehow fragments of that meteor landed in our delivery of vinyl. The following week, the suspicions were confirmed from NASA’s testing – we in fact had a “meteoric mix” of vinyl on our hands. While we did agree to part with one of the gaylords so NASA could conduct further tests, we kept the others – just to see what might happen if we pressed records with it. The first results, to our surprise, were well-pressed good looking records. However, upon playback, it seemed like the music was slowed down. But, in actuality, this was because the weight of the record was actually slowing the turntable. Once we put the record on our house Technics SP-10 MKIII, it spun correctly, and the sound quality was absolutely mind blowing. (So, the Advanced Audiophile™ pressings will require playback on a turntable with sufficient torque to spin at the correct speed, in spite of the increased weight of the record). Since there is an extremely finite amount of raw material with the meteor fragments mixed in, we are offering Advanced Audiophile™ records solely as a one-time auction. There is approximately 30,000 records’ worth of material, and order quantities are being limited to 500 copies per title. We will begin auctioning the material for pressing orders in August 2026 on our company’s 18th anniversary. To be kept in the loop for how to sign up for the auction, please click here. |
Gotta Groove Records
The Artist's Preferred Pressing Plant.
The Gotta Groove 350 gram Advanced Audiophile™ Pressing
