Ep546: One-Step Audiophile Vinyl w Tom Grover Biery

From funding the first Record Store Day to producing limited one-step pressings of Pet Sounds, Prince, and Dr. Dre, Tom "Grover" Biery is one of the most influential figures in modern vinyl culture - Hear all about his next adventures with the vinyl artform.
Topics Include:
Tom "Grover" Biery spent 20 years at Warner Bros. Records
He pushed vinyl internally around 2004 when nobody believed in it
His boss Tom Wally gave him the green light to proceed
First pressings were Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman catalog titles
Warner's vinyl billing exploded from $300K to $5M in 18 months
Failure's Fantastic Planet was among the earliest titles he championed
Neil Young gave an impassioned in-office speech about the importance of sound
That speech directly inspired the "Because Sound Matters" brand name
BSM is Warner's audiophile imprint; DSS covers Interscope and Capitol
Tom now operates as a consultant to both major label groups
His own label, Slow Down Sounds, has been running nearly a decade
One-step pressings go lacquer to stamper, skipping generational quality loss
Each stamper yields only 500–750 pressings, requiring multiple lacquer cuts
Neotech's D2 vinyl compound produces exceptionally quiet, revealing pressings
Mastering costs alone run nine times higher on one-step projects
Sources are vetted exhaustively — flat masters, tape, or high-res files
Artists and managers approve every test pressing throughout the process
A newly discovered 1972 Pet Sounds master changed everything for the reissue
Chris Bellman confirmed the tape matched a 1972 white label perfectly
Only 6,000 copies of the Pet Sounds DSS one-step will ever exist
Tom has been transparent about sourcing since 2005, long before the MoFi controversy
Quality now ranks second or third in why fans buy vinyl
Beck's Morning Phase and Tom Petty's Wildflowers one-steps surprised even skeptics
Soul Coughing's Ruby Vroom reissue came from original tapes at Warner
Nate lobbies for Frusciante, Jellyfish, Beck's Sea Change, and Marilyn Manson reissues
Dr. Dre's The Chronic from tape is among the first hip-hop one-steps
Neil Young has still never done a one-step, despite inspiring the whole program
Tom was one of the original funders who got Record Store Day off the ground
Record stores are reporting their biggest-ever RSD sales figures this year
His label Slow Down Sounds is releasing Terry Callier's Occasional Rain this June
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