Very principally
(Other sites call this page About Us or so. Never mind.)
1. Who, please, is Swingin’ Gate Records?
Swingin’ Gates is me, Robert Merker. And who am I? A question that my shrink still cannot answer – after 23 years with 3 sessions per week, 3312 in total. I did the math, counting 52 weeks per year minus 4 for vacations and whatnot. Anyway, I am what common folks would call an audiophile. I think this is a misnomer. I definitely prefer being labeled as a vinylophile music lover. (That also sounds a bit less nerdy than audiophile.)
Anyway, it was never my intention to produce a record. (All I wanted was sit, watch and listen at a recording session.)
Then, I didn’t want to have the recording mastered.
Then I only wanted a lacquer to play on my turntable.
Then, I did not want my own record label—I just wanted to get rid of the 1000 LPs that were pressed of Soulful Journey.
Then I definitely did not want to produce a second LP; the first one was plenty enough. And I certainly did not want a website where I have to present myself and explain my idea.
But as Forrest Gump said so wisely: Life is like a box of chocolate. You never know what your going to get. So be prepared for everything. It could be your own record label.
2. Why don’t you call your label Swinging Gates—what’s with the apostroph?
A/ Because …ginggat… is very difficult to pronounce, B/ because any word with two consecutive Gs looks weird, and C/ because the designer liked the apostroph as our logo shows.
3. And how did you come up with that weird name?
Some time ago I stumbled across a book with the very promising title American Slang – Thousands of Definitions, first edition, 1960, i.e. barely sixty years old. And in this book I stumbled across the musical term Swinging Gate with the following definition An adroitly playing swing musician involved and in rapport with the piece being played and the rest of the performers.
I liked that idea. Because it’s pretty much my definition of how jazz musicians should play together. (I interpreted swing in the sense of Duke Ellington’s It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).
But what I really loved is the wonderful expression adroitly. Honestly, have you ever used this really old school term? (Or did you even had to look it up in the dictionary—like me?)
Now you know exactely who Swingin’ Gate Records is, where the funny name comes from and why it is written with an apostroph. There’s just one thing you don’t know yet…
4. What’s so…uhm…special about Swingin’ Gates?
For us, LPs and their production are not a business (at least not one we founded to make money), but a passion. And like everything I (and you hopefully too) do passionately, I also want to do it properly. And to do it properly, it helps if I have a set of orientation marks that I never ever want to lose out of sight and that are absolutely positively not negotiable—because they are the foundation that allows me to do things I like also as good as possible.
(I admit, that was a bit wordy and complicated to understand. But the most basic principles often are surprisingly complex.)
So here is our credo. We call it:
Our seven principles
#1 Only real, really good music
We produce our records primarily for ourselves. The music has to be so good that we would buy the LP even if it wasn’t published on Swingin’ Gates. And that translates into: On our label you won’t find any jazz that is so free that it causes headache. And also no any old world music or british boy groups or … You understand.
You will however find real music played by real musicians on real instruments. Sometimes with drama, sometimes with strings, sometimes with rhythm, sometimes with blues, sometimes with vocals and sometimes not—but always soulful and never without groove.
We promise.
#2 Live to two track
There was a time without 48-tracks overkill and fix-it-in-the-mix-sloppyness. Because there was just no alternative back in the day, certain things were mandatory. For instance:
the band had to play live and in corpore in the studio.
the mic feed had to be mixed in real time,
also the stereo mix had to happen in real time…
…and saved on a tape recorder.
This workd surprisingly well back then. Because, believe it or not: in the good old days, the bands were able to play a whole song in one take withoug hiccups or blunders—and because people like Rudy van Gelder knew their trade. That’s why the best Blue Notes or Verves or Riversides were all recorded live to 2-track.
Not despite, but just because of the rudymentary technology. And that’s the simple reason why we produce our records like they record in the golden age of the LP: live directly to 2 track ¼” tape. And we will continue to do so.
We promise.
#3 Completely, absolutely 100 percent pure analog
The signal path for our recordings is one hundred percent purely analog, from the microphone capsule to the cutting stylus. The sounds on our LPs don’t even know there is such a thing as bits and bytes.
(The good thing about it: We don’t have to decide between two limiter or plate reverb plugins. Because our limiter is the real deal. And the reverb comes from an EMT-plate in the basement.)
For the record: We have absolutely nothing against digital technology. We just think, that if we go analog, then the whole nine yards. For us, digital sounds just don’t belong on an analog medium, period
We promise
#4 Avoid all unneccessary duplicates
There is no free lunch or copies in analog recordings. Because each tape copy, each galvanic duplication have their price: a little less details and a little more noise. But we want the exact opposite: A little more details and a little less noise.
So we do without any copy, any duplicate that is not absolutely neccessary. This means e.g.
The lacquers are mastered with the original session tapes, not with the usual safety copy of the mastertape (which by definition is a copy because it is the re-recorded down-mix to stereo from the multitrack tapes.)
Stamper directly from the laquer (one step pressing) instead of the usual three steps in plating (lacquer > father > mother > stamper).
What did you just think — nobody will ever hear this? Ha! Bruahaha! (Even you will hear this!).
We promise
#5 Small and limited editions
t has nothing to do with clever marketing nor are we creating an artificial shortage (to benefit from the subsequent rise in value) or with clever marketing if we produce our records in small, limited editions.
It is pure self protection.
Because with small and limited edtions we will never be tempted to compromise on our principles or cut corners in terms of quality like we would inevitably have to with bigger production runs.
We promise
#6 LPs with the ideal weight
Sometimes a lot helps a lot, but often, less is more. For instance when it comes to the weight of vinyl LPs. The audiophile labels boast with their heavy weights of 200 grams and more per LP—as if heavier equals better was a logic consequence. Which it is not. Because when tracking an LP with a stylus, the latter will create resonances in the vinyl. These resonances should be drained as fast as possible to the platter. As the heavier LP has more mass, more mass will be excited – and resonate for a longer time. By the way: this insight is not ours, but comes from Helmut Brinkmann of Brinkmann Audio fame, whose turntables are considered to be among the world’s best. He considers 140 grams as ideal for vinyl LPs: still thick enough to prevent flex, but not heavy enough to store vibrations longer than absolutely neccessary.
(Let us highlight another aspect of mass: the thicker the LP, the more vinyl has to be heated. This means that it will take longer until the LP is pressed. And it will take longer for the vinyl to cool down completely and lose its plasticity after pressing. In this phase (that can take up to 72 hours!), the records are susceptible to deformation. That’s why heavier LPs actually warp more easily than lightweights. That’s why we’ll stick to 140 grams, the ideal weight for LPs.
We promise
#7 Proudly made with TLC
We don’t have to explain to an english native what TLC means (contrary to our german customers). But we pride ourselves of our slogan also in English: Records made with Tender Loving Care. TLC describes precisely how we produce our LPs. TLC has nothing to do with marketing and such. But with the insight, that the effort is the same whether we do something right or sloppy. So why not do it right in the first time?
Now you also know why we put so much passion, committment, zest, time and energy (and money, too) into optimizing of smallest, seemingly unimportant details: because you can (and will) hear it. It’s as simple as that. And thus we will put even more TLC into each coming LP.
For the seventh and last time: we promise.
