Pressing LP's

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nakatira
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Nakatira

Nakatira

That Norwegian Bastard
whats the maximum length of a side, on a standard 33, 12" LP

the longest I've seen is Jethro Tulls Thick as a Brick wich is 22.40 minutes on side two.

I've heard they can handle up to 25, but I need to be sure:(:D
 
There are quite a few albums that clock in over 25 minutes a side.

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
XTC - Skylarking
Todd Rundgren - Wizard a True Star and Initiation
to name a few.

The more you time/music that try to fit on one side the more the sound quality will diminish as you reach the inner groove.

Contact Paul Gold at:http://www.saltmastering.com/
He'll be able to answer any technical questions and advise.
 
Waltz Mastering said:
There are quite a few albums that clock in over 25 minutes a side.

Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
XTC - Skylarking
Todd Rundgren - Wizard a True Star and Initiation
to name a few.

The more you time/music that try to fit on one side the more the sound quality will diminish as you reach the inner groove.

Contact Paul Gold at:http://www.saltmastering.com/
He'll be able to answer any technical questions and advise.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for that info.

I went to his site and he had it all explained.

I should have know about tubular bells though:o:D


btw If I may ask.

when you guys master an album is it cheaper to have both cd an LP mastering done at the same time or is it to massivly different jobs?
 
Nakatira said:
when you guys master an album is it cheaper to have both cd an LP mastering done at the same time or is it to massivly different jobs?
Click to expand...

One master can suffice for both.

http://www.sonicscoop.com/2010/07/07/vinyl-revival-paul-golds-salt-mastering/

Is your role any different when you’re mastering for a digital format as opposed to mastering for vinyl?

No. Whenever I quote a job, I say the mastering is good for both. If they’re unsure of whether they want to do vinyl, it doesn’t matter. The master is always good for both, unless there’s something very strange like a weird stereo bass that will not cut well. In those cases I might do two versions, but it’s very rare.
 
Todd Rundgren's "Initiation" LP was one of the longest single albums ever pressed back in the 70's. Side One was 33:00 Side 2 was 36:00. the mastering engineer not only had to cut alot of the low end, but for Side 2 he also had to speed the tape up half a step. Since Side 2 was nothing but instrumental music, the change in speed really wasn't noticeable. When the album was released for CD in the late 80's the second side never was slowed to it's original speed but the CD sounded awesome having it's full dynamic range.
 
Not trying to hijack, but is it any cheaper to press LP's than CD's? I would guess not but was just curious.
 
leaningpine said:
Todd Rundgren's "Initiation" LP was one of the longest single albums ever pressed back in the 70's. Side One was 33:00 Side 2 was 36:00. the mastering engineer not only had to cut alot of the low end, but for Side 2 he also had to speed the tape up half a step. Since Side 2 was nothing but instrumental music, the change in speed really wasn't noticeable. When the album was released for CD in the late 80's the second side never was slowed to it's original speed but the CD sounded awesome having it's full dynamic range.
Click to expand...

Wow that was long.

I'll try getting mine under 25:o:D
 
IndustrialOkie said:
Not trying to hijack, but is it any cheaper to press LP's than CD's? I would guess not but was just curious.
Click to expand...

No probs mate, from what info I have collected so far, Cd's seems cheaper, specially if you dont plan on ordering 1000's:)
 
So, I'm kind of curious why you are thinking of pressing vinyl. For the sake of nostalgia?? Perhaps your target audience are Jethro Tull listeners and they still use turntables. The die-hard audiophiles.

Nothing wrong with it, just wondering why. :)

peace,
 
Chili said:
So, I'm kind of curious why you are thinking of pressing vinyl. For the sake of nostalgia?? Perhaps your target audience are Jethro Tull listeners and they still use turntables. The die-hard audiophiles.

Nothing wrong with it, just wondering why. :)

peace,
Click to expand...

all of the above really:D
 
Elvis Costello & the Attractions LP Get Happy actually came with a statement from the producer Nick Lowe that they hadn't compromised on quality whilst jamming on the extras tracks & reassuring purchasers that the total of 20 tracks did not involve groove cramming.
44mins & 52 seconds is the total track time with a few seconds added on for gaps it's really 45 minutes.
The concern was that grooves would be crammed close to the spindle but, it appears, this stopped happening with the microgroove process and proper EQing.
Just asking - if the same master job is fine for both then why was it such an issue to remaster vinyl era recordings for CD? Doesn't the vinyl master have to take RIAA EQ into consideration - that is to reduce specific fequencies ( in the bass zone) for the cut n press and boost it on the replay with the phono preamp. That was to deal with the need for wider grooves to accommodate bass signals or simialr wasn't it. Following that logic a CD burnt from the same info as a vinyl master would need to either be played back with an RIAA pre or have the compensation added before burning wouldn't it?
THis is probably a case of too much misinformation on my part I'm sure.
"
 
I had an artist recently that wanted their CD to be as loud as possible. Since all they would have done when cutting the vinyl is turn it down (to prevent skips, etc.) I convinced them to create a separate master for vinyl with more of the dynamics intact.

The amount of music that can fit on a side is dependent on a couple of variables, the more bass the less that can be fit on a side since the grooves need to be wider along with volume. I believe that the panning may also affect this, for example if bass is panned to a side.
 
intresting thread. I like this. keep it going.

Am thinking of making a limited run of vinyl on the thing im working on now.
 
There was a techincal note on TR's "Initiation" album. It suggested re-recording the album onto tape since it was such a low volume, as well as making sure you played the album with a good needle, as a bad one would ruin the album immediately.

I think the reason why some bands really pressed the timing on LP's in the 70's was because of the oil shortage, Some albums that may have been meant to be double albums were pressed to a single disc.
 
If there are any Johnny Winter fans you might remember the "Second Winter" double album. It had 3 sides only (one side was blank). The logic that was given was that they had too much good music to fit on one, but didn't want to just add filler tracks.

His best album IMHO.
 
Does this mean that RIAA EQing is no longer used?
Does it have no impact on the mastering process for vinyl?
 
rayc said:
Does this mean that RIAA EQing is no longer used?
Does it have no impact on the mastering process for vinyl?
Click to expand...

No, it's just a vinyl-specific task, like PQ for a CD.
 
rayc said:
Does this mean that RIAA EQing is no longer used?
Does it have no impact on the mastering process for vinyl?
Click to expand...

Think of the RIAA eq as an encoding process to fit more on the media. The eq is then decoded on playback. Kinda like FLAC when you think about it.
 
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