vinyl pressing?

H

hungovermorning

Dr. Caveman.
Since we're recording analog, I was wondering if anyone knew any places that do vinyl pressings? Ideally we'd put the whole LP out on vinyl but realistically we'd like to release a single on a 45.
 
afaik there are only a few places left that do this..

I don't remember them off hand, there are about 4 in the US. Call up all 4 of them...they each have different lead times that can be as long as 2 months!! They also have very different prices based on the heaviness of the vinyl and if you want color vinyl, labels, packaging, etc.
 
United Record Pressing

urpressing.com

I have gone through them a few times. Always been happy. They will take your master on open reel format, so it never has to be put to cd, which is good for what I am doing.
 
Someday, us analog guys (and gals) should band together and put out our own compilation on vinyl.

-MD
 
www.piratespress.com

they are doing the pressing for my band's record that is coming out soon. I believe they outsource the actual pressing to some plant in the Czech Republic. Their reputation is a little spotty, but their prices aren't bad. there are other places out there too... pressing vinyl is expensive.
 
I would just like to expand on my experience with urp. My first time dealing with them I ordered a pressing of 300 7" records. They arrived on time but they put the labels on the wrong sides. Side A was on Side B and vice versa. They rushed out another corrected order to me at no cost and never asked for the original 300 back. I was impressed. Since then my other two orders have had no problems at all.

One other note about pressing vinyl. If you are sending them a cd, it will sound different on vinyl. From most my experiences it ends up sounding worse on vinyl. There is an art to getting a good vinyl record and it definitely starts at the recording/tracking process. There are good articles to read on the subject that I would suggest researching if you are serious about putting out a record. It's the main reason I went all analog on my recording gear. Well that and the fact that for me, nothing is worse than sitting in front of a computer waiting for wav. files to process.
 
funkytonk said:
I would just like to expand on my experience with urp. My first time dealing with them I ordered a pressing of 300 7" records. They arrived on time but they put the labels on the wrong sides. Side A was on Side B and vice versa. They rushed out another corrected order to me at no cost and never asked for the original 300 back. I was impressed. Since then my other two orders have had no problems at all.

One other note about pressing vinyl. If you are sending them a cd, it will sound different on vinyl. From most my experiences it ends up sounding worse on vinyl. There is an art to getting a good vinyl record and it definitely starts at the recording/tracking process. There are good articles to read on the subject that I would suggest researching if you are serious about putting out a record. It's the main reason I went all analog on my recording gear. Well that and the fact that for me, nothing is worse than sitting in front of a computer waiting for wav. files to process.
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That's great they fixed the problem and didnt charge for it.

Agree vinyl has its limitations and there is definitely an art to making a good vinyl record. But I dont agree that it normally starts at the recording/tracking process.You would normally track to get a good clean sound on each track. At this stage you are not thinking about the end medium.

Mastering used to involve a special stage which included adjusting the 2 track to compensate for the vinyl limitations. Things like checking for too much out of phase low end, too much dynamics, high end etc.(too much for the vinyl that is)

Because it was a separate mastering stage, I doubt there was much of a need for the studio recording guys to "think vinyl", unless maybe they were recording with a lot of out of phase bass.

Anybody expecting CD dynamics and quietness from a vinyl record, even properly mastered vinyl, is bound to be disappointed. And I doubt anybody does expect that. Even vinyl fans learn to live with background noise, weaker dynamics etc.

One should properly master for vinyl whatever format the material comes to you in. Remember, for many years, and still, analog tape was capable of dynamic range in excess of vinyl. So whatever format the music is recorded to, great care should be taken if mastering to vinyl. And yes, often the sound will be changed noticeably. But that means the mastering engineer has done his job of "fitting" the source onto the vinyl in the way that is most acceptable to our ears.

I doubt that going "all analog" is some sort of guarantee of vinyl quality. I think this misunderstands the process. A good mastering engineer will make any source material sound acceptable on vinyl (or on any other medium which has its limitations) but of course that means some trade offs.

Since the advent of CD some of these traditional mastering tasks have become less needed, CD being a stronger carrier of a wide dynamic recording than is vinyl.

Cheers Tim
 
Tim Gillett said:
I doubt that going "all analog" is some sort of guarantee of vinyl quality.
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Sorry, I wasn't trying to make such a generalized statement. What I meant by those statements is that it is what works for me. I wasn't meaning to say that "all analog" gear is the guarantee for vinyl quality. It is easier for me to use analog gear to make a 'good' vinyl record, but that may not apply to everyone. Keep in mind though that I'm sure I have different techniques of recording, different opinion of a good vinyl record, and I don't have the patience to sit in front of a computer and process every wav. file.

All of my recordings go to vinyl and aren't intended for cd. I know this before recording even begins. For that reason I start at the recording process in my effort to make a good vinyl record. This includes dealing with cymbals, vocal sibilance and dynamics. All of these should be taken into consideration when pressing to vinyl, because they may sound fine on tape or cd but can really sound bad on record. I just find it easier to start adjusting for this while recording than trying to deal with it in the mix. Fooling around with mic placement and eq are usually good starting points for me.

The main point I was trying to make is that pressing a record is alot different than pressing a cd, and oh yeah, URP is a good company to go through. Regardless of what master you are sending them, it will probably sound different on vinyl. The reason I make this statement is because I feel that 'alot' of people that are having vinyl pressed, aren't making their masters to maximize what you can get out of a vinyl record.

Hey Tim, I do have one question for you though. What did you mean by this statement?
Tim Gillett said:
Even vinyl fans learn to live with background noise
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Flash!

These days vinyl LP's are considered "lofi" for the most part.:eek:;)

Who needs a needle in a groove? This is the 21st Century! We have lasers! CD technology killed vinyl LPs! I have my share, believe me, but vinyl records are more of a nostalgia thing.
 
A Reel Person said:
These days vinyl LP's are considered "lofi" for the most part.:eek:;)

Who needs a needle in a groove? This is the 21st Century! We have lasers! CD technology killed vinyl LPs! I have my share, believe me, but vinyl records are more of a nostalgia thing.
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There is still a market for them though. I wouldn't continue getting them pressed if they weren't selling. I'm sure it will always remain just a niche market for freaks like myself. :)
 
Yeah,...

the last 12" LP I bought was about 6 years ago, or so,... Iggy Pop Live!

It was an impulse buy, (a good one), but you'll still find those rare gems pressed to vinyl.

I'm not saying I dislike vinyl, either. I have well over 400 records & a Technics SL-6 (straight line tracking) TT, for which I just bought an AT 92E replacement stylus/cartridge,... for way down the road!:eek::rolleyes: It originally had a 95E in it, and I might pick one of those up for posterity, too.:eek:;)

I don't listen to old fashioned records much any more, just occasionally.

Have you heard people can record CDs at home now???:eek:;):eek:;)
 
hey dave,
didn't expect the 'we now have cd's' comment from you. We also have mp3, but it doesn't mean it's better if it's new. I grew up on cassettes and later cd's but I still prefer the sound of vinyl. Actually a lot of people still like vinyl over here! Maybe it's old fashioned, but I think they got it right with vinyl. The sure didn't get it right with mp3 and even worse things yet to come...Lot's of pressing plants in europe too btw.:cool:
 
i record digitally out of financial necessity.

but, there isnt a lot that can beat the sound of a well recorded and mastered LP, played on a quality turntable, amp (with real transformers!), and speakers. at 44.1k, a sine wave is reproduced more like a saw wave at very high frequencies. an 11KHz wave will only get sampled 4 times over its duration. even folks with marked hearing loss can hear 11KHz. digital treble sounds like it does for a reason, man.

a
 
A Reel Person said:
These days vinyl LP's are considered "lofi" for the most part.:eek:;)

Who needs a needle in a groove? This is the 21st Century! We have lasers! CD technology killed vinyl LPs! I have my share, believe me, but vinyl records are more of a nostalgia thing.
Click to expand...



False Digital Dave! :rolleyes:
 
toobalicious said:
i record digitally out of financial necessity.

at 44.1k, a sine wave is reproduced more like a saw wave at very high frequencies. an 11KHz wave will only get sampled 4 times over its duration. even folks with marked hearing loss can hear 11KHz. digital treble sounds like it does for a reason, man.

a
Click to expand...
Yes, an 11khz wave gets sampled only 4 times. And that's enough. A 20khz wave gets sampled only twice. And that's enough too. You are right about the number of samples but wrong about the result.

Actually a 11khz saw wave will mostly be rendered as a sine wave, just as it is in any audio chain that is bandwidth limited to say 20khz, whether it's a digital chain or an analog chain. And a 20khz saw wave will only come out as a sine wave, again, because that's the bandwidth limitation. Even if it came into the CD recorder's input as a saw wave! A saw wave has harmonics in it well above its fundamental, as does a square wave.

CD audio, like any system with an upper limit of 20khz, simply cannot render a high frequency as a saw or square wave. If it did it would be reproducing supersonics. What you say is the opposite of what happens.

The "digital treble" you speak of is a fallacy. Even the supposedly humble CD is very good at reproducing audio right up to about 20khz. Better than vinyl certainly. Other higher sample rates can indeed reproduce higher frequencies, but only if they are there in the first place.

Cheers Tim
 
hungovermorning said:
Since we're recording analog, I was wondering if anyone knew any places that do vinyl pressings? Ideally we'd put the whole LP out on vinyl but realistically we'd like to release a single on a 45.
Click to expand...

I hope you find something that works out for you. I still kinda miss Mobile Fidelity half speed mastered pressings. They were always made on really good vinyl, as flat as western Kansas, a minimal amount of surface noise and typically made only for really well-recorded albums to begin with, like Dark Side of the Moon or I Robot. Crappy Atlantic pressings of Yes, ELP and so on, I can gladly live without. :)

Cheers,

Otto
 
funkytonk said:
One other note about pressing vinyl. If you are sending them a cd, it will sound different on vinyl. From most my experiences it ends up sounding worse on vinyl. There is an art to getting a good vinyl record and it definitely starts at the recording/tracking process. There are good articles to read on the subject that I would suggest researching if you are serious about putting out a record. It's the main reason I went all analog on my recording gear. Well that and the fact that for me, nothing is worse than sitting in front of a computer waiting for wav. files to process.
Click to expand...

I agree… there isn’t much point in going from digital to vinyl if one’s goal is to preserve analog qualities from beginning to end.

I love LPs. My turntable is nothing special, but one of my best friends has a huge system at home with high quality everything. He used to work at a Hi-Fi store and spent a small fortune on his listening room. We A/B stuff all the time between LP and CD. Wow, what I wouldn’t give to go back and buy more LPs. I still pick things up now and then at used record stores, but my personal collection is a bit skinny.

:)
 
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