Guide: How To Press Vinyl Records

So, you want to press vinyl records and have a ton of questions? How much does it cost? How are vinyl records pressed? All the answers are in this article.

How Do Vinyl Records Work?

The sound waves are first transformed into electricity. The changes in electricity are transformed into movement by a coil connected to a needle. The needle’s movement engraves a spinning lacquer disc underneath it, creating a physical representation of the sound.

By putting the tonearm on the disc, the process can be reversed: the needle reads the movements from the spinning record, transforming the movement back into electricity and back to sound through a loudspeaker.

How Does Vinyl Pressing Work?

The process starts with engraving the music onto a lacquer disc, using a lathe cutter such as this:

Once the lacquer disc has been engraved, it then gets covered in metal particles (through electrolysis), which produces a negative stamper of the record, a process commonly known as “metal work”:

The stamper is then pressed against molten vinyl, which produces a positive vinyl record.

What Is A Test Press?

A test press is a short run of 4 or 5 vinyl records for you to check the quality of the sound. If you’re unhappy with the way it came out, you may have to ask for the lacquer disc to be cut again and for a new metal stamper to be produced.

Should I Mix Or Master Differently For Vinyl?

There is no substantial difference, except you have to remember that vinyl records don’t like stereo bass, so you should make sure to make your very low end mono in the mix. Also, heavily compressed masters don’t go well with vinyl.

You may want to read this article regarding this subject.

How Much Does It Cost To Press Vinyl Records?

It depends on a few factors: the size and weight of the record, type of sleeve, and the amount of artwork colors.

Vinyl records come in 3 sizes: 12-inch, 10-inch, and 7-inch:

The type of sleeve also impacts the final price of the vinyl. The cheapest choice is a simple disco bag, which has a large hole in the middle to reveal the record label artwork:

Remember that a substantial part of the cost is for the lacquer and metal work; therefore, pressing more copies reduces the cost per copy dramatically.

Prices may vary depending on the manufacturer, country, currency, and additional services offered.

How To Create Vinyl Record Artwork?

There are several places for artwork on a vinyl record. The simplest solution is to just produce art for the label itself.

This is the cheapest solution, and all you need is a program like Photoshop or Illustrator to create the artwork itself. If you don’t know how to do it, you can hire somebody on Fiverr.com for a very reasonable amount of money.

If you have a bigger budget, you may want to consider full sleeve artwork:

It is possible to fit even more artwork on a record if you choose the gatefold sleeve:

Most vinyl record pressing plants have Photoshop templates available for you to ensure the size and margins of your artwork are correct.

How Much Music Can Fit On A Vinyl Record?

This depends on a few factors: the size of the record (12-inch, 10-inch, or 7-inch), the playback speed of the record (33 or 45 rpm), and how loud you want your record to sound.

Here’s a table of suggested maximum playback times for each vinyl size and rpm:

For club and dance music, I recommend 12-inch at 45 rpm as it offers the best quality and the most amount of bass. 33 rpm is generally for 12-inch albums, where you want many songs on the same record. 7-inch records at 45 rpm are great for non-house music; they are the cheapest, and they make great pieces of merchandise for artists.

Difference Between 140 & 180 Grams?

Vinyl records can be thinner or thicker. There is no difference in quality; however, heavier records last longer and feel better to the touch.

Can I Press Colored Vinyl Instead of Black?

Yes, records don’t have to be black. Most vinyl pressing plants will offer all kinds of possible colors, including transparent and picture discs:

How Long Does It Take To Press Vinyl Records?

Once you have the music and the artwork prepared, it can take anything between 6 to 12 weeks, depending on how busy your manufacturer is. For example, the months before Record Store Day in the UK (April 18) tend to be the busiest for record manufacturers, so you may want to keep that in mind.

How Do I Sell Vinyl Records?

Vinyl records are great to sell at gigs! They are nice objects that the audience can take home after the concert. But you can also sell them directly on your website, which means you’ll have to manually post them. There are also distributors available online; they will take your records into their warehouse (for a fee) and distribute them to shops and individual customers for you.