The Article
INNER SLEEVES – A GUIDE (YOUTUBE)
28th May 2023
Call them dust bags or plain old bags if you like but I prefer inner sleeves. This video is split into two parts
This is Part One of the Inner Sleeve guide. Part Two will follow, next week.
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Stop growing it Paul I can see it sneaking in!
Hehe. Do you mean the herbaceous border on my chin?
Hello Paul, A bit late in the day but yes and I see it’s now gone! With regards to inner sleeves and the actual album outer artwork sleeve etc.
Once I’ve read the cover etc this is put in an archival outer sleeve and put away and very rarely got out again. The vinyl is placed in a MOFI inner sleeve and then into a stiff plain cardboard sleeve and labelled up ready for playing hence all my outer
Covers and poster etc stay in as new condition.
In terms of nice to have, nice to handle, nice to touch, nice to the vinyl, nice structural integrity, my absolute favorite has been for years the Diskeeper Ultimate Audiophile Inner Sleeve from Sleevecity. Not exactely a bargain at $30.00 for a pack of 50, but they last, they don’t stick to the vinyl, they’re antistatic ‚Äì and they’re a LOT more anti-crumple than the MoFi. It’s just what you want to hold in your hand before and after listening to an LP.
(The other downside also has to do with cost. The inner sleeve with the long name comes from the US and thus has to be shipped to Europe first. And in case you haven’t noticed, shipping anything from the US across the pond has become insanely expensive in the last couple of years. I usually buy 1000 (20 packs) at a time, so i don’t have to worry about the next increase in shipping time. Just the one that comes after the next‚Ķ)
The Sleevecity inner is a sort of MoFi clone isn’t it? Looks like it from the images I’ve seen. Can you provide more details please? Your note is rather apt, actually because I’m planning a head-to-head comparison feature of MoFi sleeves and the clones. I’ve ordered inners from seven such companies to compare and contrast with MoFi and each other to see what differences there are. So keep a look out for that.
sleevecity has several inner sleeves, but my absolute favorite is the ultimate audiophile. imagine taking a solid, but not too stiff piece of paper (say, 220 g/m2), cut a hole in the size of an LP label and then enclose that paper on both sides with smooth but also wrinkle-resistant PP film (i think it is PP). weld all four sides shut. to make sure i haven’t lost you: we’re talking about a 3-layer (PP/paper/PP) “wall”. now repeat the same for the second “wall”. and then bond / weld the two sides together on three sides.
this inner sleeve is MUCH more solid than MoFi, also because the sleeve is constructed of six layers, with paper inlays on both sides. the paper serves as both, protection of the vinyl against mechanical damage and to stiffen the sleeve. and because both, the front and the rear have a cut-out for the label, you can look at both labels w/o taking the vinyl from the sleeve.
slipping an LP into one of these ultimate audiophile sleeves and then the inner sleeve into the LP cover is a vastly different haptical experience than with the one-layer front//double or triple layer back sleeves like MoFi. you can also not compare them to poly-lined paper sleeves, because these don’t slip easily into the cardboard cover. also, the plastic on the MoFi is so thin that you can actually leave a mark on the vinyl with your finger nail thru the sleeve. not so with the audiophile ultimate; having paper inlays on both sides really helps. you can of course crumple any sleeve by pushing it into a smaller-than-standard cover. but with normal sized covers, i have yet to crumple one of those sleeves. you really need to handle one of these to understand the difference in solidity, protection, smoothness. i have used MoFi-/VPI-style inner sleeves since the early 1990s and the sleevecity ultimates since 2010. i am now replacing old MoFi-sleeves with the ultimates because they feel so flimsy and cheap in comparison. whyn’t you ask sleeve city to send you samples? after all, you’re not the worst influencer‚Ķ 😉
Many thanks for the tip – I’ll certainly check them out.
Paul Рjust another angle to add to your excellent reviews of inner sleeves. Let’s not forget that a large number of releases come with picture inners. Sometimes they are printed paper, sometimes printed card inners with photos, lyrics, band info or even pretentious stabs at art! Whatever they are, it’s often best to buy inserts for these printed inners. It helps give a proper support for the vinyl and it’s a far neater solution than having 2 inners filling-out the outer sleeve. I can recommend inserts that are round bottomed for being easy to slip inside the printed inner. I usually get mine from Spincare.co.U.K. They are similar to the old Nagoaka inners which I’m sure you remember. Only cheaper. Anyway, hope that helps. And btw, I find the MoFi inners are too thin on their own and best used as inserts for another decent paper inner.
And…. Why on earth do all these YouTubers who post enthusiastic videos about their audiophile pressings keep the record in its MoFi inner sleeve outside of the outer sleeve in a polythene cover? It exposes the vinyl to scrapes and obscures the album cover’s rear!