i am wondering if anyone had any hints tips on making a straight record cake no base just a record the center must be big enough to write in. any tips are welcome.

Have you checked the Galleries? There are lots of pages of them in there!

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&meta=search&type=full&search=record&album=-&search_user=

I did a really simple one a while back. Just tinted the IMBC with cocoa + black food colouring (a bit icky IMHO ), dragged a comb through the icing while I spun it around on the turntable to make the grooves and used a fondant circle in the middle to write on....

Thank you for posting this antonia74. I was also looking for something similar.

I used a ganache and airbrushed it black. I thought it would be tastier and worked for me. Just like the picture Antonia74 posted

thank you very much for posting antonia74
this will be very helpful