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Pressing 45s

ZEN2ZEN2 1,540 Posts
edited March 2007 in Strut Central
I'd like to do a few small runs (probably 200 or so).Any strutters have personal experience? Have a good connect? I know I have to be especially wary of bass levels and track length, but other than this..?

  Comments

  • BamboucheBambouche 1,484 Posts
    You don't have to be too wary of bass levels. Panning of low frequencies is more problematic, as it is difficult for the cutting needle to track when the lacquer is being cut. A bass-heavy signal just means the cutting needle will dig deeper into the lacquer. Obviously, you can't put a 10 minute Miami bass track on a 45 with any success, but if you're under 4 minutes you should be fine. You could always press on a heavier 45, 160 gram.

    The other difficulty is abrupt changes in amplitude. If you have quick spikes ("P" sounds from a microphone or ill drama stabs) in volume the cutting will likely distort.



    For plants:

    Bill Smith Custom Records in El Segundo if you want quality, knowledge and customer service.

    RTI (Record Technology Incorporated) in Nashville handles most of the 45s coming out today. Drag City, Touch and Go, Hi-Ball and Sonic Youth use them. More expensive, though.

    If you want more choice, United in Nashville. (Universal Records, the major label, quit pressing vinyl altogether and a large chunk of all that work has been funnelled to United. This has affected their turnaround, quality control, etc. But they are cheap.)


    For lacquer:

    I'd recommend getting the lacquer yourself rather than having the pressing plant cut it, or farm it out to someone else to cut. That way you can attend the cutting session and work with the engineer to get exactly what you want. After that, you have the cutting engineer send the lacquer to the pressing plant or the pressing plant's plating company for the plating process.


    For lacquer cutting, I'd recommend Paul Gold in Brooklyn or John Golden Mastering in Ventura or Abbey Road in the UK. All of these facilities have lathes onsite and have engineers who understand them.

    You leave the studio with an acetate of the session, assuring yourself you got what you want, and then after the lacquer is plated and the test presses are sent, you can compare the tests to the lacquer to insure the pressing plant processes didn't introduce any noise. You have more control and oversight in the process this way.




    I just finished a lacquer.
  • butterybiscuitsbutterybiscuits 300 Posts
    be weary of United in TN with uncleared samples if that is the case...they are reportedly notorious with shutting down your project and holding deposits...



    also Archer Pressing in Detroit does a fairly inexpensive 7"
  • bass_feverbass_fever 974 Posts
    how expensive is it to press? & for the lacquer? thanx for bringing this topic up, definetely something I've been wondering about lately...
  • BamboucheBambouche 1,484 Posts
    how expensive is it to press? & for the lacquer?

    The cost of pressing depends on the quantity. ~$.80 - 1.00/piece if you're in the 500 range, and cheaper when you get into thousands.

    Lacquers are usually ~$75 per side (dubplates are usually $20 or $30/side). Either you pay this price to the mastering engineer yourself, or it is included in the "package" of a pressing plant cost.

    This excludes mastering costs (EQ, track sequencing, etc.), obviously.


    There's a great book, The Audio Hi-Fi Handbook, which explains everything about anything related to sound, that should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in such things.
  • doughboydoughboy 190 Posts

    Bill Smith Custom Records in El Segundo if you want quality, knowledge and customer service.

    Had really good results from these guys - but you do need to chase on the vinyl weight. We've had our stuff mastered by Dave Cooley , who has worked with Stones Throw et al, and he has a good thing going with Bill Smith... we've been doing this remotely over the net and we've only had one or two dodgy 7s out of the 4/5 press runs we've done

    Made the mistake of releasing a 45 with 3 colour cardboard sleeve.... vinyl pressing is cheap as chips compared to that end of the process so stay way from that - basically an ego stroke for some of our crew I think. 2 colour labels and white paper sleeves from now on only...
  • ZEN2ZEN2 1,540 Posts
    we've only had one or two dodgy 7s out of the 4/5 press runs we've done


    1 or 2 dodgy runs? or 1-2 dodgy single 45s? I would assume the latter but want to make sure.
  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts

    Bill Smith Custom Records in El Segundo if you want quality, knowledge and customer service.

    Had really good results from these guys - but you do need to chase on the vinyl weight. We've had our stuff mastered by Dave Cooley , who has worked with Stones Throw et al, and he has a good thing going with Bill Smith... we've been doing this remotely over the net and we've only had one or two dodgy 7s out of the 4/5 press runs we've done

    Made the mistake of releasing a 45 with 3 colour cardboard sleeve.... vinyl pressing is cheap as chips compared to that end of the process so stay way from that - basically an ego stroke for some of our crew I think. 2 colour labels and white paper sleeves from now on only...
    I have a couple of your guys 45s & they are real nice, great stuff.
  • doughboydoughboy 190 Posts
    [one or two dodgy 7s

    Just a few warped units.... overall the runs have been really consitent...
  • pppppppp 261 Posts
    Hey - I own SAMO media and we do 7"s (and everything else).
    If you'd like to email [email]info@samomedia.com[/email] with what you're looking for we can send you a quote that day.

    thx
    paul
  • LuminLumin 807 Posts
    a 45 pressing will be in my near future. good looks on the info
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