Getting Your Music On Vinyl

[crowbgood1]

Has anyone here done this? Where? What? Why? How?

I would love to, but I have a feeling I would need to press too many copies, and end up with a big pile of unsold records!

I reckon I could sell 100 over the next couple of years...... maybe.

[robnobcorncob]

A few friends have released their bands music on vinyl. None of them made any money, one might have broken even perhaps?

There are no Vinyl pressing plants in NZ so you have to go overseas and you'll need 500+ LPs pressed to get a decent price per unit but then you have to factor in shipping + GST/Duty to get them back here, plus artwork etc.

There is a guy down south doing acetates and dubplates on homemade equipment (he's been doing it for 30+ years) and whilst the 'Cool factor' is definitely there, the reality is that you couldn't really sell them as the quality isn't super high.

[godgrinder]

For properly pressed records, you can generally press as little as you want nowadays through smaller plants like Mobineko, but the cutting/setup fees are not worthwhile until you press at least 150-200 copies.

If you just want to do a handful of copies, lathe cut/acetate is the only economical way to do it. Inferior sound (improved a lot now compared to a few years back though) and short life span, but the minimum run is only 20. Hit up Peter King from Ashburton:
http://www.peterkinglathecutrecords.co.nz/

[rickenbackerkid]

he seems like a fascinating bloke. I'm keen to get some done with my next EP

[crowbgood1]

I was reading about Peter and his lathe cut records. They do sound interesting. Very low-fi. Could be cool to record some blues on the porch have a few done like this.

[godgrinder]

The few cuts I did at Peter King's a few years ago were almost unlistenable. They had grimes/residues from the cutting process deep in the groove all over them which really affected the sound.

He bought a record cleaning machine and now cleans every record before sending them out. The 2 cuts I did this year were a lot more "respectable" sounding, although still nowhere as good as properly pressed records.

Note that he cuts lots of stuff for noise artists where the degradation in audio quality is almost desirable.

[moliere]

One of the projects I'm involved in is about to get a 12 inch lathe cut from Peter., but we do harsh noise so no problems there. Would suit blues I reckon, but certainly not anything hifi.

[Kris]

worth mentioning they are also mono-unless he's upgraded that as well?

[calling card]

I read somewhere they shoved the EMI? press into wellington harbour...oh it's ancient don't need this old thing.

[rickenbackerkid]

I think that's a myth and it was actually sold to some crowd in aussie

[calling card]

Ah good work mulder: "The studio eventually closed its doors in 1987, with EMI shutting their pressing plant and studio facilities and relocating head office to Auckland. They shipped their vinyl pressing and cassette duplicating equipment to Australia. EMI did NOT dump this equipment in Wellington Harbour, as urban legend may have it."

http://www.audioculture.co.nz/scenes/tr ... sing-plant


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[crowbgood1]

Well..... should have just googled!!! Fun to discuss here though.

I have found a Aussy outfit that will do 150 records with color printed sleeves, plastic slips etc, at $2300 NZD. That's a little over $15 a LP.

Not bad!!!!! ....... Product out-weighing demand by a factor of "warp 5".

[WellyBlues]

You could do what Darren Watson (otis redding on here) has done for his last CD's, use PledgeMe. One of the rewards would be 'pledge $30 and get the album' or something. Worked for him the last time and he's doing it again. Midge Marsden did it for an album as well.

[otisredding]

Well..... should have just googled!!! Fun to discuss here though.

I have found a Aussy outfit that will do 150 records with color printed sleeves, plastic slips etc, at $2300 NZD. That's a little over $15 a LP.

Not bad!!!!! ....... Product out-weighing demand by a factor of "warp 5".

Are you talking about Zenith in Melbourne bro? If so don't forget to add NZ GST. NZD$345 right there. Does their price include shipping? If not get ready for a shock. Oh, and expect about 10% breakage - industry standard. Also often overlooked is the extra cost of having album properly mixed and mastered for vinyl. It's REALLY important to get this right. Bad mixes with phase issues, overly loud or too bassy and trebly can literally render the discs unplayable at worst, or shitty sounding at best. There are very few people in NZ with experience of mastering properly for vinyl.

[crowbgood1]

My missus just put this into pescetive..... " so what will we do with the 140 we don't sell"?

Yeh, yeh...... Was a nice dream.