Pressing tracks to vinyl.

Guitar techniques, music theory, recording and anything to do with actually playing your guitar

Moderated By: mods

kingoftherodeo
.
.
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:30 pm
Location: Barnsley

Pressing tracks to vinyl.

Post by kingoftherodeo »

Is this an expensive proccess? I am recording in september, but aswell as pressing the tracks to CD I would like to press a couple to vinyl too. Anyone got any sort of experience with this type of thing?
User avatar
Simon
.
.
Posts: 768
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:47 pm
Location: Newcastle, UK

Post by Simon »

Depends how many you want pressing really - if you literally only want a 'couple' pressed then it wouldn't really be worth your money. Infact I'm not even sure you can get them pressed in single quantities. Like anything I think it tends to start getting cheaper the more you have pressed...
Searching in Google seems to yield a fair few results so just have a scout around and I'm sure you can get a good deal from somewhere.

Vinyl Pressing
kingoftherodeo
.
.
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:30 pm
Location: Barnsley

Post by kingoftherodeo »

Thanks a million for that. I wouldn't want too many doing, due to the, somewhat, lack of interest in vinyl these days. But if I could get maybe 50 ish done, I think that would be a really cool thing to have! I have a pretty small but decent collection of vinyl myself so this would be great. Thanks again for the link!
User avatar
Simon
.
.
Posts: 768
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 3:47 pm
Location: Newcastle, UK

Post by Simon »

kingoftherodeo wrote:Thanks a million for that. I wouldn't want too many doing, due to the, somewhat, lack of interest in vinyl these days. But if I could get maybe 50 ish done, I think that would be a really cool thing to have! I have a pretty small but decent collection of vinyl myself so this would be great. Thanks again for the link!
You'd be surprised, loads of people still love vinyl! A lot of bands start out doing limited runs of 7" singles.

I guess the sensible approach would be to get as many pressed as you thought you could realistically sell. Don't go spending a fortune on a 1000 run pressing when really only 100 people may buy it. That's just common sense though, I'm sure you know that.
User avatar
stewart
Cunning Linguist
Posts: 17644
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:33 pm
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Contact:

Post by stewart »

I've looked into it before and it's expensive, especially in the uk as there's only a couple (maybe even one) pressing plants left. Some brokers will get them pressed in europe, as costs are often lower. If it's just for the sake of vanity i wouldn't bother.
Image
kingoftherodeo
.
.
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:30 pm
Location: Barnsley

Post by kingoftherodeo »

stewart wrote:I've looked into it before and it's expensive, especially in the uk as there's only a couple (maybe even one) pressing plants left. Some brokers will get them pressed in europe, as costs are often lower. If it's just for the sake of vanity i wouldn't bother.
It does seem a little pointless to get them pressed in Europe just to sell a small amount. Thanks.
User avatar
stewart
Cunning Linguist
Posts: 17644
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:33 pm
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Contact:

Post by stewart »

I meant the company you go to will sometimes get the pressing done in europe, which makes it cheaper for you, if you catch my drift. When you get vinyl pressed it's generally done through a 3rd party of some sort. If you approach a pressing plant yourself they'll likely tell you to beat it. Hope that makes sense... I'm essentially saying 'shop around'.
Image
kingoftherodeo
.
.
Posts: 69
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:30 pm
Location: Barnsley

Post by kingoftherodeo »

Ah right. I get you now. Took a while but I'm there!
User avatar
aen
Turdscreamer
Posts: 7694
Joined: Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:07 am
Location: ELECTRIC WARRIOR
Contact:

Post by aen »

I know next to nothing about it. But our record label probably does.

http://www.deadformat.net/
High quality, low popularity Ecstatic Fury
User avatar
serfx
ss.o bastard son
Posts: 6411
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:34 pm
Location: Edmonton Alberta
Contact:

Post by serfx »

the mixes for vinyl, and cd should be different as we hear both formats differently, unfortunatly i can not find my notes on mastering for vinyl vs mastering for CD, i suspect they are sitting at the jam studio.
User avatar
paul_
.
.
Posts: 10296
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:38 pm

Post by paul_ »

serfx wrote:the mixes for vinyl, and cd should be different as we hear both formats differently, unfortunatly i can not find my notes on mastering for vinyl vs mastering for CD, i suspect they are sitting at the jam studio.
This is from customrecords.com, a novelty one-offs dealie
► Show Spoiler
Aug wrote:which one of you bastards sent me an ebay question asking if you can get teh kurdtz with that 64 mustang? :x
robertOG wrote:fran & paul are some of the original gangstas of the JS days when you'd have to say "phuck"
User avatar
Mages
súper crujiente
Posts: 7454
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:34 pm
Location: MD
Contact:

Post by Mages »

mastering is different for every medium. CD, Cassette, Vinyl, Film, TV, Youtube, Myspace, etc. They're all going to have to be mastered differently to sound best in that medium.
User avatar
awfurby
.
.
Posts: 165
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:34 am
Location: Melbourne VIC

Post by awfurby »

I don't know how good these guys are - but they do the mastering for you as well: Mobineko
User avatar
UlricvonCatalyst
.
.
Posts: 767
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:19 am

Post by UlricvonCatalyst »

Unless you have money to burn, pressing up 50 vinyl copies is an expensive indulgence.
The biggest expense is in set-up costs, so the unit cost of vinyl gets cheaper the more you have pressed.
As a guideline, the set-up cost alone for a double-sided 7" single (from Portalspace Records) is just over £400, not including label set-up and printing charges.
User avatar
stewart
Cunning Linguist
Posts: 17644
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:33 pm
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Contact:

Post by stewart »

that's where white labels, rubber stamps and making your own covers becomes a good idea. but yeah, it's still pricey whichever way you slice it.
Image
User avatar
Mages
súper crujiente
Posts: 7454
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:34 pm
Location: MD
Contact:

Post by Mages »

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:Unless you have money to burn, pressing up 50 vinyl copies is an expensive indulgence.
The biggest expense is in set-up costs, so the unit cost of vinyl gets cheaper the more you have pressed.
As a guideline, the set-up cost alone for a double-sided 7" single (from Portalspace Records) is just over £400, not including label set-up and printing charges.
exactly. the expensive part of the process is making the master, negative, mother, etc. that takes experienced technicians to to do that and it's a pretty complex process. once they have that though, they can press a ton of copies and it doesn't cost very much. some videos on the process:
[youtube][/youtube]

the part that they skip over in that first video they explain a bit more here:

[youtube][/youtube]
User avatar
Doog
mid-century modem
Posts: 23024
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:49 pm
Location: London

Post by Doog »

kingoftherodeo wrote:Thanks a million for that. I wouldn't want too many doing, due to the, somewhat, lack of interest in vinyl these days.
You say that, but it's very much the done thing to do in underground punk/indie/metal circles. I guess those kinda genres inspire more High Fidelity-esque fanboyism and "snobbery" than your standard rock music though.
sunshiner wrote: You don't understand my kindness, drown in shit
User avatar
gaybear
Inventor of the Blues
Posts: 9690
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:52 pm
Location: hard corvallis, oregon
Contact:

Post by gaybear »

i find that vinyl pressings are only cost effective at 500+

cd's are dirt cheap.

it's a bummer, but true.

vinyl does offer ability to enhance packaging though.
plopswagon wrote: Drunk and disorderly conduct is the cradle of democracy.
User avatar
Al_
.
.
Posts: 513483
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:49 pm
Location: Vista, CA

Post by Al_ »

Yep, and you never hear of people doing "split CDs"; but loads of bands do split 7-inches. Vinyl is a good format for that kind of mini-release.
knpknpknp
.
.
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun May 02, 2010 3:20 am

Post by knpknpknp »

Ive run into a split 12 inch recently, which was nice. It would all depend on how long your release is.

If you were working on a longish e.p, then find another local band looking to do the same thing, and do a split, each album on one side.

At least with that, the cost would be split in half, and you would be (logically) selling double the quantities. That many more people will hear your music.