It’s been about three years since the vinyl bug hit me. Since then, I’ve undergone two turntable system evolutions (many of you will be pleased to know I have a proper separates vinyl system now), and bought a lot of vinyl records.
The varying quality of vinyl pressing has been the most surprising element to me. I’ve been buying records from pretty much everywhere you can find them: HMV, Amazon, second-hand fairs, online at Rough Trade and other indie record stores, and even specialist pressings imported from the US. And while most have sounded perfectly fine (and some rather exceptional), I have been disappointed by a fair few of my vinyl purchases.
I don’t regret any of my purchases, but I can’t help but feel a drop in excitement when I put on a record – new or old – and it simply doesn’t have the depth of detail and dynamic range that I know I can usually hear from the vinyl format.
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Some of the newer album releases I’ve listened to on repeat on streaming, for instance, haven’t really translated well over to the official vinyl pressing – such as a rather poor pressing of Wet Leg’s Wet Leg, and even Waxahatchee’s Tiger’s Blood, while second-hand crate-digging has left me with wildly different qualities too.
The one type of genre that hasn’t failed me at all is video game soundtracks, as well as film and TV soundtracks.
Video game soundtracks have been an unexpected genre with high reward when released as a vinyl pressing. This is an immersive genre where the animation and artwork are the priority, but music can be just as integral to the gameplay. It lends itself brilliantly to the vinyl format and its packaging.
The result is that plenty of these video game soundtrack vinyl releases have absolutely stunning artwork, which brings back much of the joy of owning vinyl records with beautifully designed gatefold sleeves that you can pore over – or display as artwork – while the album is spinning on your record player.
Admittedly, most video game music perhaps isn’t as complex to reproduce compared with real instruments, but the ones I’ve bought so far have never failed to entertain. Games where the music is part and parcel of the game, like Florence and Sayonara Wildhearts, sound fantastic through the sonic lens of a great turntable system. My copy of Florence, with its beautiful cello and piano compositions, sounds lush, clean and open – full of insight and subtle dynamics.
There are plenty of games – such as Stardew Valley, Undertale, Hollow Knight, The Last of Us – where the soundtrack immediately is entangled with hours of gameplay. Played on vinyl, video game soundtracks can be mesmerising – you can be immediately transported back into the environs of the game, truly appreciate the music on its own (sometimes even for the first time), and they often prove to be lovely music to relax to.
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Moreover, you also end up with some clever artwork. A Little To The Left (pictured above) is a beautifully designed indie cosy game about patterns and organisation, and the vinyl cover has two modes: a disorganised version and an organised one, and you simply put the cut-out cover on the one you wish to display. Clever.
It definitely helps when there is an organisation or record label who puts a lot of effort into the vinyl pressing to ensure it’s of a high quality. Merchandising company and artist collective iam8bit is the gold standard for these premium, collectible vinyl soundtracks – meaning you’ll get a high standard of vinyl pressing and gorgeous artwork that makes it worth the price. Many of these special issues drop for a limited run, too, so they aren’t always easy to get ahold of.
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Mondo is another company where they take very good care with their record pressings, and they have some great film, game and animation soundtracks available on gorgeous vinyl.
My most prized vinyl album is the limited edition (and long sold out) Mondo release of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Once More With Feeling musical episode soundtrack – you’ll probably have seen the red vinyl splashed across most of our turntable reviews, as it’s such a good quality pressing that we regularly use it for testing.
My Buffy vinyl came with exclusive gatefold artwork and a ‘Slaybill’ of liner notes; most of the Mondo releases similarly have exclusive artwork that creatively captures the mood and essence of the film. The excellent Home Alone soundtrack vinyl by Mondo, for instance, has the McCallister house and some of Kevin’s booby traps drawn on the gatefold.
The RSD 2026 vinyl release of the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack includes new original artwork, a poster, stickers and collectable cards – which is why it’s my RSD wish list. I love the soundtrack too, of course, but the additional artwork and goodies are a great incentive, and why I’m more likely to try to get the RSD version rather than the standard vinyl.
For me, it’s what makes collecting vinyl a lot more fun, and it makes justifying the higher prices more amenable as I get some lovely pieces of art alongside the music I love. As I already own my favourite 90s/00s albums on CD, I end up having more fun finding albums that either originally came out during vinyl’s pre-CD peak, or searching for a fun, collectable soundtrack with great artwork and goodies. It’s why I find myself checking iam8bit and Mondo more regularly than I ever do Rough Trade or Discogs.
There are exceptions, of course. My copy of Clint Mansell’s Moon soundtrack doesn’t come with any goodies, but it sounds lovely on vinyl. Some of my best music vinyl purchases have come from the brilliantly named “interesting but just a little bit tatty” section in my local second-hand music shop (The Sound Machine in Reading), and these ones – Tom Waits’ Small Change and Son House’s Death Letter Blues – are some of the best-sounding records I own, with astonishing detail, dynamism and soul. It’s the kind of quality I keep chasing with every purchase.
Buying and collecting vinyl can feel a little like a lottery these days, especially if you care about the pressing and sound quality; most of the time, I do try to get past it and simply enjoy the album on my system. But it’s hard to ignore when you’re confronted with a disappointing, low-quality pressing with squashed dynamics.
So when I do find myself setting time and money aside for some new vinyl purchases, it’s the beautifully put-together video game and film/TV soundtracks I’ll search through first and put high on my wish list. So far, they’ve never let me down.
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