In today's video, I'm going to try and play a record
that's made out of chocolate.
Now a bit of backstory on this.
I won't take too long out of your day though, but going back perhaps five
years or so ago, I read an article about a lady who was based in Tasmania,
a French artist who was making records out of chocolate that you could play.
I looked into getting hold of one.
But it didn't seem possible as a kind of mail-order type thing.
I think you have to actually go there and go in a workshop and
make your own that kind of stuff.
But it was an idea I kept in the back of my head thinking one day, maybe I'll
be able to play a chocolate record.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I was looking for something on Etsy
and it just popped into my mind.
I thought, well, there's loads of people on there that make stuff like that.
Did a search.
Yeah, sure enough.
There's a lady in the UK, a chocolatier who makes all sorts of weird and
fanciful things out of chocolate.
One of which was a playable chocolate record.
So of course I ordered one.
and here it is.
Now, the thing with this is once it arrived, I then thought, hold on a
minut, how am I going to play this?
Obviously on a record player, but my decent record player?
Well, I don't really want to damage the stylus on that or the cartridge.
I mean, it costs a few hundred quid, I think, I looked around the house,
trying to find a suitable record player and my eye came across this one.
You might remember this record player made a few years ago, a kind of
cardboard box, basic type of thing.
Don't mind if this one gets ruined.
So I put my chocolate record on this record player, and this is what happened.
Whoops.
Yeah.
So that was a bit of a shame, but it's entirely my fault.
I was just using the wrong kind of record player.
These kinda things, you know, like the suitcase ones, the Crosleys, all that
kind of stuff, with their sapphire stylus.
It's just too much downward force.
So rather than following the groove, that's in the chocolate, it just drew
its own spiral into it after all is quite soft, but that means it's now
unplayable on anything, which is.
unfortunate because this cost 26 pound, it's 20 pounds plus six pound
delivery they're made to order.
They take about two to three weeks to be delivered handmade.
You get your own information printed on the middle here on some
sort of edible paper type stuff.
You got a choice of two tracks you can have on these.
It plays I believe, a short snippet.
If I could get it to play, out of, We Wish You a Merry Christmas or Happy Birthday,
depending upon which one you choose.
And they're played by the Tewksbury Town Band.
So if I could play it, I'll be able to play to you and we wouldn't hit a
content match on a chocolate record.
So all a bit disappointing, really.
Uh, so, so I thought I can't leave it there.
I ordered another one and here it is.
Take two.
So this one I'm going to play it properly or at least try to, rather than play on
something that's just going to ruin it.
I'm going to use a turntable that has a much lighter tracking force and I'm also
going to adjust it back a little bit.
So it's got an even lighter tracking force than normal.
So let me show you which one I'm going to use.
I'm going to use this floating record player.
Now this is something I reviewed quite a few years ago.
I'm not sure they even make these anymore, but the reason I'm using this one is,
its sat unused since I made that video.
And yet it's got a pretty decent cartridge on here.
An Audio-Technica AT95, and I've also put a little bit of a white tack stuff on the
end of the tone arm here, just to take a bit of weight off, a counterbalance.
So I'm hoping that this is going to work.
If it doesn't well, let's just give it up as a bad job after this one.
So this is really my last attempt.
So I've actually put this record in the fridge for a little bit this morning,
just to make it a little bit harder.
You can see they're quite thick these as well.
So that meant I couldn't use it in some of the turntables that have like
a linear tracking thing with a lid on them because it wouldn't fit inside.
So this is about the best one I've got.
I'm hoping it'll fit on there.
There we go.
And not fall off.
Okay.
Are you ready?
Let's uh, Oh, plays at 45 RPM by the way.
So let's have a go.
They do say on the back of the box, there's no promises
that you be able to hear it.
It is just a bit of fun, but the audio is on there.
So let's see if we can hear it.
So I'm not going to put it down right at the beginning in case it
does its own thing again, let's put it down in the middle somewhere.
So here we go, fingers crossed.
I've got my volume turned up.
Yeah, I think I'm going to need to clean that stylus off,
but, wow that worked didn't it?
I'm sure you could hear that quite clearly like I could.
It didn't too dissimilar to some old cylinders that I've got.
Really quite impressed how the stylus was able to follow the
groove on the disc as well, because I can't feel it with my finger.
So it must be very fine, which is why you need a, a tonearm
with a very light tracking force.
Otherwise it's just going to ignore it and carve its own groove into it.
But yeah, if you want to buy one of these, I'll put links in the video description.
Might be a bit too late for a Christmas gift for somebody, but
they do a birthday one as well.
But bear in mind, if you're buying it for someone, they're going to
have to have a record player with a light tracking force that they really
don't mind damaging the stylus on, although I'm sure this one's okay.
Now this is a bit unusual.
So just on the off chance, if anyone out there wants to share this video
with anyone to say, Hey, look here's a chocolate record being played.
I'm quite sure they're not interested in all the preamble at the beginning.
So I'll do a specially edited version of this, that just
goes straight into the record.
So they don't have to sit through all that mumbo-jumbo.
But I think, we should just play this one out with the Tewksbury Town Band
and We Wish you a Merry Christmas.
And I suppose I wish you a Merry Christmas as well, after all it is
now December when I'm recording this.
I was just tidying up and I realized there's one thing that I should
have done at the end of the video, which never came into my mind.
And that's to eat the record, after all it is made out of chocolate.
The reason that I didn't think of it, is because I'm a Type 1 diabetic,
so I don't really eat chocolate and I don't have a sense of taste so
I can't tell you how good it is, but, um, we'll, uh, we'll try a bit
seems fine.
I mean, I'm sure it's very good chocolate, it's that kind of Belgian type chocolate.
And that's the, uh, that's the label that's made out of, uh,
like rice paper or something.
So yeah, there you go.
Edible record.
You've heard it.
I've ate a bit, now I'd best go and find my insulin.
Anyway, that is definitely it for this one.
Thanks for watching.