About Us

Welcome to Furnace Record Pressing
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Founded in 1996, Furnace has evolved with our customer’s needs. We still make CDs (yes, really) but today Furnace Record Pressing is known for high quality vinyl records. Our latest venture is our 50,000 square foot facility, opening in January 2018 with 16 presses.

Read on for what separates us from the rest.

Experience

We’ve been doing this for 20+ years and we’re pretty good at it – we’re excited to see how we can get better in the next 20 and we want you on board. We care about the industry, and we care about doing it right. Between all of us, we’ve touched pretty much every part of this industry from playing in bands, to recording bands, to distributing records and of course buying records.

Customer Service

Furnace Record Pressing is what you’ve been looking for- a legit pressing plant who gives a shit. Hi. We pick up the phones, we know what we’re doing and we care a lot. Everything we’ve built (online customer portals, obsessive knowledge of the industry, smart and fun team who can suggest things you never thought of) supports our customer-centric core value.

Capacity & Turn Time

We work hard to keep our teams small and scrappy, but Furnace’s pressing operation is anything but small- we’re capable of pressing close to 10m vinyl records a year. As if that wasn’t enough (it is) we offer pressing in Europe too. This translates to faster lead times and filling the world with happy customers.

One Stop Shop

Who has time for chasing down parts from 2 or 7 vendors for each project? Let Furnace handle all of the headaches. We offer a robust line of mastering, print, packaging and mailing services all under one roof. Jackets, Boxsets, Inserts, Download Cards and Hosting, Slipmats, Hedgehogs – we do it all.

Direct to the Source

At Furnace, pressing vinyl isn’t about cashing in or chasing a trend. Our owner has been pressing records since the 80’s and has been obsessed with machines, processes and controls all his life. This isn’t a hobby or a side project. This is vinyl manufacturing done right. We own and operate the machines so the buck stops with us.

Value

Furnace’s quick turns, responsive team and one-stop-shopping means you’ll spend less time and resources managing your vinyl production and more time on marketing, artist relations and eating / petting dogs / happy hours / hiking / knitting or whatever the hell the kids are doing these days. Time is money and we care about your time and your money.

The History of the Furnace Logo
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About Us

There’s one member of the team who has worked here longer than Eric. It’s Furny, the welding dude who you may recognize because he is also featured in our logo. He was created in 2001 but born many years before that. He was pressing records before you were even born.

His physical form was conceptualized by Shepard Fairey, who you know from designs like André the Giant Has A Posse (OBEY) sticker collection and the Barack Obama “HOPE” poster for the 2008 US Presidential election. Fairey’s non-Furnace works can been seen in similarly illustrious locales such the Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.

In addition to repping Furnace on all the official forms and publications, Furny has also appeared in costume as Johnny Cash, Santa Claus, and all four original members of KISS and most recently a 3-D bobblehead. He gets around

Furny himself does a lot more than represent Furnace. He’s a visionary in his own right. His side hustle is in the self help business. He wouldn’t call himself a guru, but his followers would. If the fire burns your feet, you’re doing it wrong. It’s not all work and no play though. Furny is semi-pro in night skateboarding. You’ve probably never heard of it. Maybe he’ll show you sometime.

You’re not first person who found themselves desperately asking: the where can I get a copy of Furny’s book? Where can I get some merch with this dude on the front? What’s night skateboarding? Join our newsletter and we’ll give you the scoop.

Our Collection Of Weirdos

Meet the only other people who wake up in the middle of the night thinking about your record

About Us
Eric Astor
President & CEO
Eric is the president and CEO. He’s our chief and if you hang out with him long enough (or for 20 minutes) you’ll hear how he started thinking about how to do things the BestFastestMostEfficient way when he was a kid collecting baseball cards. These days he leads the team here by example- working to constantly refine and improving what we can deliver. When he’s not at Furnace, he likes to surf, mountain bike and hang out with his two gigantic Bernese Mountain Dogs and his cool folklorist wife.
About Us
Ali Miller
Vice President
Ali is the Vice President and not the Production Manager. She interviewed and accepted this job in 2008 because she was bored at her corporate office job. She’s never been bored since and is excited to see what the next ten years brings. She handles a little bit of everything at Furnace if you have a problem, she can fix it. Though surrounded by music every day, Ali used iTunes for the very first time (for non work related purposes) in July 2013. She has not used it since.
About Us
Mark Reiter
Operations Manager
Mark is our Warehouse Manager. If our Lean Manufacturing program had a spokesmodel, it would be Mark. He can explain what it is, why it’s important and why you should care in 5 minutes or less. He runs a tight ship of an awesome team that has fun kicking ass and getting records out the door a little faster every time. Mark shares his non-Furnace home with wolves (ok, they're Siberian Huskies) and his awesome and slightly dangerous (MMA fighter) wife. Fun fact: Mark is the second drummer we hired (Eric is the first) and now we have five. Weird.
About Us
John LaPrade
Production Manager
John made a mix CD (CDs were still cool then) that he presented to us at his interview called ``Pleased to Meet Me.`` Obviously we hired him and we're glad we did. He loves vinyl, he loves hard work and he's naturally got that dedication bordering on obsessive that we celebrate here at Furnace. Our Production Manager, he works on estimating and project coordinating and whatever else we can con him into. His last name is weird to pronounce, so we just call him JLP and you should too.
About Us
Ryan Burke
Account Representative
Ryan is the guy who calls you to check on how your recording is going and really wants to know. Sales teams as a group aren't know for it, but he's as genuine as they come and super psyched that he gets to make a living working with bands and helping them make their vinyl dreams come true. Fun fact: Ryan hates left hand turns. Make sure to ask him about it. (p.s.: drummer)
About Us
Jenn D'Eugenio
Account Representative
A member of our sales team who also runs our social media, Jenn has been collecting records for over 15 years! With thousands of records, Jenn keeps an extra close eye out for every “Master of Reality” Black Sabbath record variant she can get her hands on. Coming from a design background, Jenn has done everything from designing kids clothes to working as a traveling rep for an art college, and is excited to pursue her passion for the art of vinyl every day here at Furnace.
About Us
Minh Phan
Duplication
Minh worked on our first ever vinyl assembly order with us. On day two of that job, the ceiling lights exploded (don't ask) and in the rain of tiny glass Minh put her sweatshirt hood up and kept working while everyone scattered. Don't try that at home but yeah, she's hardcore. She runs our in house CD/DVD/USB department now and she continues to nail it.
About Us
Michael Hsu
Mechanical Lead
Michael came on board in 2013 via his nephew who told us his name was Otis. We were confused about his nickname of ``Michael`` for about a year until we figured it out. Michael can fix anything. Literally anything that breaks, he'll put it back together and it'll probably work better than before. When he's not making machines out of spare parts and kicking ass on the finishing line, Michael is a super skilled photographer and a golfer.
About Us
Jill Miller
Project Coordinator
Jill is (at time of this writing) the newest team member at Furnace. The ``new guy`` title doesn't last as long as it used to around here (we're growing!) but for now she gets the smallest slice of ice cream cake. She manages day to day project coordinating and if she doesn't know what you need, she knows how to find it. Fun fact: Jill was in a band ( YES SHE IS A DRUMMER) with her sister and they broke up, but you can't really break up with your sister.
About Us
Nick Szumigala
Prepress
Nick is our in house graphic designer and pre-press tech. He's the only person you know who for real got a job through his alma mater. He shares one with our former designer, and when she left the area they connected! Go Luke the Laker! (what) Nick is clever and patient and is always showing us cool design stuff that we're happy to learn about. One thing though: a drummer
About Us
Chris Ricci
Inventory & Logistics Coordinator
Chris is our inventory and assembly coordinator. We love it that he's always coming up with clever ideas/improvements/hacks. As you might expect, he's super organized and maybe has a robot inside his head. As you might not expect, he's probably the funniest person who works here. He's one of those people who has perfect observations and perfect timing. Also: a drummer.
About Us
Aaron Keller
Warehouse Coordinator
Aaron is our assembly foreman. When he started he drove 65 miles (each way) to work and was never late and never complained. He also started at one of the worst weeks in Furnace history and is one of the few who 1. remembers the bad times 2. still loves us and his job. Aaron is a keeper.
About Us
Thao Nguyen
Office Manager
Thao is our Office Manager and handles our H.R. Thao referred to Furny in her cover letter and told us she had a dog named “Ken” in her interview so you already know she’s sharp and funny and does her research. She handles everything (which is a lot of things) thrown at her and keeps us all in line.
About Us
Jessica Chinlasith
Front Desk
Your first point of contact here at Furnace, Jessica is ready to answer any and all questions you might have. While she’d rather be at the beach all year round, working here is the next best thing! A lover of all kinds of music, this is Jessica’s first exposure to the vinyl industry, and she can’t wait to learn more. Outside of work, Jessica likes spending time with her Yorkshire Terrier, Milo, and working on crafts.
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Willem Ytsma
Staff Engineer
A mechanical engineering graduate and self-proclaimed record manufacturing nerd whom we fondly refer to as Tesla, Willem moved here recently and says he’s still trying to figure out how to be an adult. While he’s working that out, he continuously finds new ways to keep things fresh and interesting here at Furnace through his work on automation, engineering, and mechatronics. In his off time, he enjoys pursuing a passion for photography.
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Ray Blevins
Assembly Runner
A passionate vinyl DJ, music-lover, and record collector, Ray joined Furnace in January 2018 as our assembly runner, coordinating the assembly of all the records coming off the presses and from our overseas partners. A huge movie buff who likes to cook, Ray has been spending some time recently learning Vietnamese from the other warehouse employees.
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Mark Waxler
Facilities Maintenance Supervisor
Mark joined the Furnace team in 2018 for an exciting change of pace after supervising maintenance at Reagan National Airport. Lifting the spirits of everyone around him with his infectious personality, Mark has been instrumental in getting our new plant up and running and keeping everything in tip-top shape. When he’s not at Furnace, you can likely find Mark taking his motorcycle out on the open road.
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Hiep Nguyen
Having lived in Virginia for five years, Hiep joined our team as an assembly specialist and general warehouse ace in 2017. The oldest child in a family with two younger sisters, Hiep loves to watch soccer in his free time. After a recent trip to Canada to learn more about pressing vinyl from our friends at Viryl Technologies, Hiep is excited to continue his work here at Furnace.
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Tai Ly
After learning how to operate an industrial wrapping machine at a previous job, Tai was very excited to come use his skills at Furnace to press records. With four siblings, Tai’s favorite thing is spending time with his family, but working alongside his co-workers here at Furnace is a close second!
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Nghia Nguyen
Nghia has worked at Furnace since 2015, mostly handling packaging, but doing a little bit of everything around the warehouse. Having lived in Virginia with his three kids for six years now, Nghia looks forward to continuing to watch the vinyl industry grow from his vantage point here at Furnace.
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Quan Le
Like most of the team here at Furnace, Ms. Lee is a huge music lover. Unlike most of the team, she loves getting up on stage for Karaoke on the weekends to prove it! Working on the assembly line in our warehouse, Quan also loves cooking for friends and family and relaxing at the beach.
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Hoa Nguyen
With 12 siblings and four kids, Hoa knows a thing or two about family. Now, after immigrating here from Vietnam with her kids, she’s ready to bring that family-first attitude to the Furnace team. A member of our assembly crew, she thinks it’s strange that Americans keep their trash cans in the house and leave their valuable cars out on the street.
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Du Cao
A long-time D.C. resident, Du moved to Virginia 12 years ago and hasn’t looked back. Since starting at Furnace in 2016, Du has handled a little bit of everything, but spends most of her time in the vinyl assembly line. In true Furnace spirit, Du says she can’t wait to come in to work every day– rain or shine!
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Su Tran
One of the quietest members of our warehouse team, sometimes we don’t even notice he’s here until we see all the work he’s gotten done! Focusing mostly on wrapping items to prepare them for shipping, Su is a huge help in getting things out on time. Having lived here in Virginia for around seven years now with his two kids, we are certainly happy to have Su on our team!
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