Is it time to add a fresh spin to your music collection? Whether you’re a seasoned collector or just dipping your toes into vinyl, we’re here to help you find the perfect sound. At Beatniks Records, we’ve got everything from the latest releases to rare treasures and must-have classics.
Why Buy Vinyl? There’s something magical about vinyl’s warm, full sound that digital just can’t match. Plus, flipping through records brings a tactile joy you won’t find in a playlist. And with the right equipment—whether a sleek turntable or upgraded speakers—the listening experience only gets better.
Explore New Releases and Beloved Classics From Taylor Swift’s latest hits to timeless albums by The Beatles, our catalog is stocked with fan favorites across genres. Browse online or come visit our Burleigh Heads store and find something that resonates with your taste.
Upgrade Your Sound System Ready for an audio upgrade? Explore our selection of turntables, amplifiers, and speakers. Whether you need a starter setup or an audiophile-quality boost, we’ve got you covered. Great sound makes every listening session feel like a private concert.
Grab a Gift for the Music Lover in Your Life From unique vinyl to essential accessories like cleaning kits, Beatniks has the perfect gifts for music lovers. Vinyl collecting is a passion meant to be shared, and we’re here to help you find something special.
Rediscover the joy of music with us, right here at Beatniks Records. Explore online or pop by the store to find your next favourite record!
Whether you’re shopping for a vinyl veteran or someone just discovering the magic of records, Beatniks Records has something unique for everyone. Check out our top picks that’ll make you the hero of the gift-giving season!
1. **Classic Rock Essentials**
You can’t go wrong with the classics. We’ve got everything from *AC/DC* to *Pink Floyd* Perfect for rock lovers and those who want to feel the golden age of music spin on their turntables!
2. **For the New Collectors**
If you know someone just getting into vinyl, consider starter albums by The Beatles or Taylor Swift. These albums are timeless, accessible, and are a great start to any collection.
3. **Audio Equipment**
Golden points for gifting high-quality audio gear. We offer everything from turntables to full audio setups to suit all budgets. It’s a treat for any vinyl lover who dreams of audiophile sound quality.
4. **Rare Finds for Serious Collectors**
Know someone who’s hard to impress? Browse our rare and high-value records to find the perfect treasure for the collector in your life. These gems come with a little bit of history, a lot of character, and instant bragging rights.
5. **Vinyl Cleaning Kits and Maintenance Services**
Vinyl records need love to stay pristine, so why not gift a cleaning kit or book a maintenance session? It’s practical, thoughtful, and ensures they’ll be spinning smoothly all year long.
6. **CDs & Cassettes for a Trip Down Memory Lane**
For those nostalgic souls or retro collectors, our selection of CDs and cassettes can be a great blast from the past. It’s a fun way to remember the days before streaming ruled the world and having a physical copy in your hot little hands.
7. **Music-Themed Artwork**
Vinyl lovers often have a soft spot for music-inspired art. Check out our selection of music-themed paintings to help your loved ones bring a little of that vinyl magic to their walls.
**Ask us for a recommendation**
Give us an idea of what type of music you’ve been listening to and we’ll give you a recommendation of something else we think you might like. It’s like a lucky dip you can already see!
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Whatever you choose, we’re here to help you make it memorable! Come visit us at our Burleigh Heads store, or shop online to find the perfect gift today.
Through the midst of Covid in 2020 (remember that?!…crazy times) came this epic 16 song album from New Zealand band City of Souls. As the exclusive Australian retailer, we absolutely thrashed this album through the pandemic and in our humble opinion it’s a masterpiece.
Beautiful lush choruses, heavy riffs and mad production, courtesy of Forrester Savell makes this album still one of our favourites.
If you’re a fan of Karnivool, Cog, Tesseract and missed this release, you got to check it out because this on is for you.
Track Listing
A1 Lifeblood 4:37 A2 Ferryman 4:35 A3 Whispers 3:47 A4 Cruelty 3:56 B1 Shimmer 4:47 B2 Wolf 3:47 B3 White Ghost 4:36 B4 Sleep 4:13 C1 Water 4:18 C2 Long Gone 4:26 C3 Tying Tongues 4:31 C4 Brush Strokes 4:01 D1 L W T U A Written By – Joy Division 4:02 D2 Mountain 4:48 D3 Iron Heart 3:28 D4 Synæsthesia
Ever wondered how a vinyl record is made? It’s more of an in-depth process than you may think.
It all begins with a master recording, the best representation of the music to be pressed onto vinyl. This master can come from various sources, including analog tape recordings or high-resolution digital files. Regardless of the source, the goal is the same – to capture the essence and fidelity of the music in its purest form.
The next step is the cutting of the master disc, a process preformed by skilled engineers using a lathe. The master disc is typically made of aluminum coated with soft lacquer. The audio signal from the master recording is fed into the cutting head of the lathe, which etches a spiral groove onto the lacquer-coated surface. This groove contains the analog waveform of the music with variations in depth and width corresponding to the audio signal’s amplitude and frequency.
Once the master disc is ready, it serves as a template for creating the stampers – the metal plates used to press the vinyl records first. First, the lacquer-coated master disc undergoes a series of electroplating baths, where it is coated with layers of metal, typically nickel. The resulting metal disc, known as the “mother,” is then peeled away from the lacquer, leaving a negative impression of the groove pattern.
This negative impression is used to create a positive metal stamper through additional electroplating. The stamper, with its raised groove pattern, is a precise replica of the original master disc and serves as the mold for pressing vinyl records.
Have we lost you yet???? Because here comes the fun part…
With stampers in hand, the pressing stage begins. Vinyl pellets are heated and compressed. The excess vinyl is trimmed away, leaving behind a raw, untrimmed slab known as a “biscuit.”
Labels are put between the two stampers, then squished causing the grooves to be imprinted onto the vinyl disc.
The records are trimmed to size. Quality control checks ensure that each record meets the highest standards of fidelity and durability.
Once the vinyl records are pressed and inspected, they are ready for packaging. This often involves placing them in cardboard jackets or sleeves adorned with artwork and information about the album and artist. From there, the records are distributed to retailers or directly to consumers, ready to be enjoyed on turntables around the world.
In an era dominated by digital convenience, vinyl records offer a tangible connection to the music. Theres lots to love about vinyl records, not just the quality of the sound but the creative process it has taken to end up on your turntable.
Those with a passion for collecting pre-owned records will know that condition (both the vinyl itself and the cover) play an important role when it comes to your purchase decision. It’s all well and good to finally get your hands on that bucket list gem you’ve been chasing forever, but if it looks like someone has used it to sand their bench tops then your search is likely to continue.
Grading records according to their condition is far from an exact science, but if you’re aware of how records are graded you’ll be able to make an informed decision when it comes to whether to buy it or not. This is particularly relevant when purchasing records online, as you are unable to inspect the condition of the record with your own eyes or get the store to play it for you, to determine how it sounds.
The Goldmine Grading Guide is one of the most reputable and respected systems for establishing the condition of a record and valuing it accordingly, with many auction sites and record stores and record collectors using it as their grading bible. Records are generally listed with two gradings, one for the record and one for the cover. Gradings are as follows:
Mint (M)
As close to perfect as possible, the record and cover should play and look like a new and sealed copy. This grading is rarely used.
Near Mint (NM or M-)
Although unsealed, a record that is listed as NM should look and play like it has barely ever been used, with no visible defects such as scratches or spindle marks. The cover should also be pristine, with no creases, seam splits, pen marks or ring wear.
Very Good Plus (VG+) or Excellent (E)
VG+ or E records should only display light signs of wear, such as minor scuffs or very light and infrequent scratches which do not impact the listening experience. The cover should also only display very minor wear, or maybe a cut out marking.
Very Good (VG)
Many of the minor imperfections of a VG+ record will be more pronounced on a VG graded record. It may have groove wear and any scratches may result in slight surface noise between tracks or in quiet passages – but not enough to impact the listening experience or overpower the music. There may be a slight warp present, but it shouldn’t cause the record to skip. The cover may have minor marks, tears or rips (eg. from previous price stickers) or may have pen marks or writing from the previous owner.
Good (G), Good Plus (G+) or Very Good Minus (VG-)
Good does not necessarily mean bad! This record will contain a greater degree of the type of blemishes previously mentioned, but it should still play through without skipping or encountering a locked groove (when the needle gets stuck and you have to lift it and drop it forward to continue playing the record). It may however have more significant surface noise, such as pops, crackles and hissing.The cover may have noticeable blemishes, such as large writing, heavy ring wear, seam splits and rips, or instances where the cover has become unglued.
Fair (F) or Poor (P)
This will be one rough listening experience – heavy, overpowering crackle, skipping or warps that bounce your tone arm up off the record are all giveaway symptoms that the record is in poor shape. The cover may be trashed, ripped or defaced. Best to stay away from these records if you want to preserve your stylus and record collecting reputation!
Vinyl collectors would no doubt have seen these grading codes when browsing. At Beatniks we largely grade our records visually, as we have far too much second hand stock to be able to play each and every record before they hit the racks. An exception to this is when we come across any rare records that might be at the upper end of the price scale. In this instance we may look to see how they play, particularly if they have any visual blemishes. So you will sometimes see them on the price stickers of records in our rare and collectable section.
And we definitely use this grading system when it comes to pricing our pre-owned records before they hit the shelves. To provide an example, we’ll generally price an Australian issue first pressing of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon (an album which we’ll usually get through the door every few months) at around the market value $60 to $80 mark – provided it is in a VG++ condition or greater. But if it’s only in a VG- or lower condition (with the record containing scratches, scuffs and/or the cover having major flaws) then the price we put it out for will be significantly less. And if it’s too beat-up then it won’t even make it out to the racks at all.
So the next time you’re in the store and are curious to find out more about record gradings and how we apply them, feel free to ask us. We can also usually play the record for you in-store if you want to clarify just how it will sound when you get it home.
There are many different opinions about the correct way to store your vinyl record collection with most personal preferences outweighing the ‘right’ way. Here are some all round tips that we like to implement at home and in store to care for our wax:
STORAGE
Keep your records upright! Laying them on top of each other can create warping over time or what we call ‘dishing’. Store them like this and you might as well use them as bowls for your dinner. Keeping them upright in a cool environment with no direct sunlight will make sure your LPs stand the test of time.
CLEANING
A simple vinyl record cleaning solution will suffice to keep your new records dirt and dust free before you drop the needle but if you purchase a lot of preowned vinyl then a more dedicated cleaner might be the best option. Manual cleaners like the Pro-Ject Spin-Clean are an excellent option for the budget conscious or for those with the mammoth task of cleaning hundreds or thousands of records, there are automatic cleaners like the Pro-Ject VC series that have an inbuilt vacuum to clean the solution off the disc. Of course, once cleaned, they should be placed into new sleeves…
SLEEVES
This is the personal preference part. Sleeves for the jackets or not? Almost everyone would agree you need to store the vinyl record itself in a sleeve inside the jacket but do you use poly sleeves or paper or poly with paper?! The options are out there but it’s your decision. For us, we use the poly half moon inner sleeves as they are relatively inexpensive. Anti-static sleeves are an option too but are generally more expensive.
Outer sleeves are the most divisive of all the sleeves. They are used to protect the record jacket of a vinyl record. Do you need em? If so, which ones? We recommend a soft plastic sleeve or our ultra clear outer sleeves. The thick PVC sleeves That are available and were common in the 70’s and 80’s have been proven to have a rection with the vinyl record itself and can cause irreversible damage. The soft plastic sleeves are affordable a protect the cover from dust or dirt getting into the LP itself. The ultra clear sleeves make that artwork pop!
Where to Find Us
Shop 7, Big B Arcade, 6 West Street Burleigh Heads QLD 4220.
