As part of the Soundscapes: A Week of Songwriting and Recording in-town Project Week, a group of 14 students and two teachers visited Smashed Plastic, a vinyl record-making place on West Diversey Avenue. It shares its location with other art-focused businesses.

The founder of Smashed Plastic, Andy Weber, explained to us how the records are made. He showed how he and his team use three machines to create vinyls for local and non-local artists. Weber showed us the plate/mold—made from another factory—that went into all three machines to create the vinyl.
“Smashed Plastic showed the hard work and dedication people have for music,” freshman Laila Maajid said. “It was intriguing to see the detail[s] on the [different] machinery.”

A large orange plastic Home Depot bucket holds pellets that are reused and recycled from old vinyl leftovers and excesses. These pellets are melted into the “pucks,” which are flattened and molded into the correct size and shape for the vinyl. The vinyls are imprinted with the grooves of the music from the plates created at the factory and saved by Smashed Plastic for later use.

Weber showed us how the records are packed and where his three-man packing team carefully listens and perfects the records to be shipped in mass to stores. Each shipping box holds around 35 vinyls—each carefully listened to to catch potential mistakes.
Overall, it was an interesting experience and answered a lot of questions about how vinyl records are made. The project taught us the value of teamwork (especially with a small team) and persistence (through mistakes and broken records). I recommend visiting the spot if you are interested in music, vinyls, creation, or machinery. The doors are open to anyone.