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Putting Out Your Own Vinyl
by
Kristin Thomson and Jenny
Toomey
Simple Machines Records
This paper is an excerpt from Simple Machines' fine
publication, An Introductory Guide
to Putting Out Records, Cassettes and CDs.
More info about the Guide can be
found at the bottom of this paper.
Manufacturing the actual record is a five part process:
As with nearly anything, there are many ways to accomplish
these five steps; the smart label seeks the cheapest route to
her/his ideal record, as (hopefully) he or she clearly realizes
the distinct possibility of losing
her/his shirt on this and doesn't wish to jeopardize future
releases and current friendships with dumb business moves.
There are a good dozen pressing plants/services in the U.S.
(not to mention foreign companies), and a majority offer package
deals, i.e. you provide the tapes, cover art, label information
and cash, and they provide the you with sale-ready records. But
you pay a price for this convenience. When you opt for a
package deal, you are leaving the important choices about who is
going to master your records and how the packaging will finally
look in the hands of strangers. Unless you are willing to
compromise the quality of the record
and/or packaging, it is best to do it yourself and find the best
companies to individually handle the five steps for you. This
can delay your records significantly unless you become a pest,
calling the slowpokes (whoever they
are) every day until they come through for you, but an energetic
person can find this fun. Anyway, let's get to it!
Creating a Master
"Mastering" is creating an original record by cutting a
wobbling groove into a smooth lacquer disk - a delicate process which can be easily
screwed up. Although many record plants offer mastering service as part of a
package deal, there are a few places or people which specialize in
mastering, like Masterworks or The Cutting Room (Sadly, one of our favorites -
KDisc - went out of business Jan 1995). Leaving this step to the pros means
that you won't have to worry about the engineers sitting around, swilling
beers and mastering your record in their garage on equipment they picked up
at the Saturday swap meet. It also means that if they do screw up, they
will remaster your record free of charge.
Mastering prices vary wildly depending on your source tape,
the format and
length of your record, and the mastering method you choose.
Standard methods
are analog lacquer mastering from a 1/4", half-track reel of
magnetic tape
(1/4" is the width of the tape) or a DAT (digital audio tape).
For the usual
job from a 1/4" tape or a DAT source tape costs anywhere from
$75/side down
to $35/side for 7" mastering. There are other, more expensive
methods of
mastering, but we think the prices far exceed the perceptable
difference in
fidelity. When you send off your master tape, enclose a simple
letter for
the engineer, including the band name, song titles in the correct
order and
length of each song. You should also describe any parts on the
tape that
deserve special mastering attention, but be aware that there's
only so much a
mastering engineer can correct or improve. They can deal with
stuff like
"add more high end or mid-range", but they can't "turn up the
guitars". We
highly recommend that you send a tape that has been equalized and
mixed to your satisfaction, because only you and the band know what you
want it to sound like, and a mastering engineer may not have the same idea
as you about what "loud guitars" means.
You should also pick a catalog or matrix number for your
record, and let the
mastering and pressing plants know what it is. Certain pressing
plants require that the record side's "matrix number" be etched onto the
hub; this number consists of a combination of letters and numbers which
identifies your record label, the release number, and the side of the record.
For example, the 'B' side of Leopard Gecko Records' third release is LG003B.
This information also needs to appear on the labels so the pressing
plant people can correctly match the labels with their respective sides.
If the quality of your original tape is shaky, or you're
putting out a compilation record, where the different songs have been recorded
at varying levels, it's probably a good idea to pay for reference acetates.
The prices for these range from $110 (KDisc used to charge) to $60
(Masterworks). This will give you an exact replica of the mastering levels to listen
to before it's transferred onto the permanent metal plates. Getting
acetates assures that if there are any glitches, you'll catch them at the
beginning. But you can only play them about eight times before the quality begins to
deteriorate, and you shouldn't pick the needle up before each side is
completely finished. If in doubt, ask your mastering plant to send you
instructions about listening to them, or call us. If you or your band are
not picky about the sound quality, more power to you...rock on in your
youthful abandon and spend the $110 you save on Fireballs.
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The Processing Process
Once both sides of your record have been mastered, metal
"stamper plates"
must be formed from them. This is called "processing" or
"plating". These
stampers are reverse molds of the originals and are used to press
your
records. Generally, the pressing plant will send your master
lacquers to a
plating service once they receive them. It may be cheaper for
you to work
directly with the processing engineers, but it may also be more
of a hassle.
Two-step processing (versus one-step or full-who the hell knows
what the
differences are) costs about $50/side for a 7" or $70/side for a
12". We've
always let the record pressing plant take care of this
intermediate step and
have never been unsatisfied.
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Printing the Record Labels
At roughly the same time you are sending your tapes off to be
mastered, you
should be sending off artwork for your record labels. Most record
pressing
plants can have labels printed for you for a reasonable price,
but your
choices on inks and paper colors are fairly limited. If you want
to have
cooler-looking labels, your best bet is to ask every label
printer you can
find for a price sheet and a booklet of sample label designs.
We've had
labels done through Hamlett, which is just down the street from
United in
Nashville, TN. It's only slightly cheaper, but he does have a
larger
selection of stock papers and ink colors. Typesetting, layout
work, and
negatives tend to be expensive at the printers, so you're better
off doing
your own layouts. Most companies will accept a paper positive of
the artwork, and if it involves two colors, you can do a paper or
acetate overlay (more on these terms later). We'd suggest that you put the
band's name, song titles, your record company's name and address, copyright
information, RPM's and matrix number on at least one of the two labels, but it's
your record. Once your label artwork is ready, send the artwork along with a
description of the label design(s) and ink color(s) you wish, the name of
your pressing plant, your record's matrix number, and your cash to the label
printers. Most printing services will require 4-6 days to print your
labels, after which they send them to the pressing plant to meet up with your
records. One last consideration: if you EVER plan on repressing your record,
it'll save you a load of money if you order all your labels at once (the
cost of 2000 labels is only a couple of bucks more than 1000).
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Pressing the Vinyl
Now, the most important step: pressing the vinyl. As stated
previously,
there are many pressing plants in America, and even more
overseas, although
their numbers are beginning to decrease. Choose your plant based
upon its
location (shipping costs are killer, so the closer to you, the
less in
shipping costs), the amount of money you have to blow and what
your looking
for; if you've got the cash, you can find anything you want
SOMEWHERE
(picture discs, specially-shaped records, 5"s, 10"s, flexis,
78's, weirdo
vinyl colors...). Most plants will press in quantities anywhere
from 100 to
50,000, but quantities under 500 are noticeably more expensive.
Here's a
price breakdown based on an order of 1000 records:
- 7" on black vinyl -- $.28-$.45 each
(cheapest we've found is United in Nashville)
- 7" on color vinyl -- $.36-$.60 each
(United, Erika, Rainbo, Alberti and Bill Smith have good color selection)
- 10" on black vinyl -- $.90 each
- 12" on black vinyl -- $.75 each
- 12" on color vinyl -- $1.00 each
Here's how to deal with them: First, figure out what you need
them to do for
you. Note that not all record plants offer the same options, so
call them for
a price list and order form before sending your order. Enclose
a letter
with your order to let them know every detail of your project
including:
- who is making your masters (or stampers)
- who is printing the labels (if it's not the record plant
itself)
- the matrix ID for the project (e.g. LG003)
- large (50's 45-style) or small (LP-style) center hole
- format (7", 12", 33 1/3 or 45 rpm)
- color (if applicable)
- number of records you want.
You'll have to pay at least 50% of the total cost before the
job is done, so be prepared to send a certified check along with your letter.
They'll send you 3 or so test pressings of your record so you can listen for
mastering/processing defects before pressing the entire run.
Test pressings are nice because they let you listen to what your music will
sound like on their vinyl. But, if you find anything wrong you will probably
have to pay to have your record re-mastered and re-plated if the fuck up is
in the mastering or the plating stages and not just the pressing. If
you're satisfied with the TP's, phone the plant and (in theory) 10 days
later you'll receive your vinyl COD (have your payment ready!). The best
advice we can give you is to be patient and but keep calling and checking on
your order.....you'll eventually get what you paid for.
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Packaging For Sale
When you receive your records from the pressing plant, all
that's left is to
package them for sale. Obviously, there are a jillion different
packaging
schemes, (every one of the Teen Beat Sexual Milkshakes 7" comes
with 3D space
asteroid glasses, and Steve from Meat Records had his mother sew
20 special
edition covers out of the grossest blanket we've ever seen for
the
Slushpuppies double 7"). Don't be afraid to be creative, but
pick a design
which suits your budget; a carefully designed well
xeroxed/printed sleeve is
beautiful all on its own. In general, print 7" sleeves and
inserts at local
print shops but always ask for estimates! Barefoot Press in
Raleigh, NC does
amazing work on 7" sleeves and inserts, as well as cassette
covers and CD
booklets, and they like to use recycled paper. We've also
gotten good glued
sleeves from Erika and Ross Ellis, but Ross Ellis has a minimum
order of 3000. Yuck.
More often than not you have to have 12" jackets made through
a pressing plant or specialized printer. For 12" cardboard jackets, Ross
Ellis is the best in the business, but check out Erika and other less standard
companies listed in the back. Some labels have been more inventive, like
Guy Picciotto's snazzy label, Peterbilt sliding their 12" LP's into
manila envelopes and the CRASS folks wrapping records in enormous
posters, but that's pretty unusual. Most pressing plants will offer to stuff
your records into your jackets and shrink-wrap them. As rotten as it is to
add to this world's plastic fetish, 12" records travel more safely when
shrinkwrapped. But if you're doing a 7" record, save your money and put the
records and inserts inside your sleeves yourself. It's also a good idea to
enclose 7"s in plastic record protecting bags, which you can purchase for
about $27/1000 through Bags Unlimited.
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Storing Records
By the way, records need to be stored properly. Keep them
in a fairly cool and dry environment standing upright (as opposed
to stacked on top of each other). Shrinkwrap tends to stretch and tighten
with temperature changes, which can seriously warp LPs. Be very
careful!
Notes:
This paper is an excerpt from Simple Machines Records'
publication An
Introductory Mechanics Guide to Putting Out Records, Cassettes and CDs. Its
widely regarded by the Indie community as one of the most
valuable info sources around, and it receives a big huge thumbs up from Outer Sound.
You can find more info from the Guide in other Outer Sound University papers.
However, to get a real learnin',
we recommend that you check out the whole thing. You can do this in one of two ways:
- Outer Sound has posted a handy text-only version of the guide which you can
easily print up. Follow the link and hit print!
- Of course, a text-only version is pretty boring. To enjoy the
wonders of Simple Machines' desktop publishing skills, you can get
the print version by sending a check for $4 (what a bargain!) to:
Simple Machines / P.O. Box 10290 / Arlington, VA 22210-1290
Besides putting out great info for the indie community, Simple Machines also happens
to put out quite a few great records by bands like Tsunami, Sea Saw, The Raymond Brake
and Danielle Howle.
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