getting a 7" vinyl record pressed?

[zombu]

I plan on getting my bands EP mastered at Aardvark, and now we're looking
for a pressing/plating plant. Can anyone recommend a plant that presses
quality records?
I've seen some heavily mixed reviews on all of the "major" pressing plants
(URP, Erika, etc...), and it's hard to tell what is fact or fiction.
We're not looking for audiophile quality, just something that sounds decent
and is preferably not too expensive. Shapes, colors & custom colors are a
plus, but not needed.
Thanks

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >, zombu > wrote:
>I plan on getting my bands EP mastered at Aardvark, and now we're looking
>for a pressing/plating plant. Can anyone recommend a plant that presses
>quality records?
>I've seen some heavily mixed reviews on all of the "major" pressing plants
>(URP, Erika, etc...), and it's hard to tell what is fact or fiction.
>We're not looking for audiophile quality, just something that sounds decent
>and is preferably not too expensive. Shapes, colors & custom colors are a
>plus, but not needed.

Hardly anybody does 7" any more. But I have recently seen some decent
stuff coming out of United. United used to be a pit and used to produce
some of the crappiest work ever, but I have been seeing some reasonable
stuff coming out of them recently. Nothing great, but decent.

Record Industries in Holland also has two presses devoted to 7" and
do nice work. Shipping might be a problem if you are in the US.
Is Mediadisc still around? They used to do some fine 7" pressings.

I think that Europadisk no longer has any 7" presses but you might ask
them. They are normally a DMM shop so you are going to have the added
expense of shipping the masters out to get plated elsewhere, but they
did some of the best 7" jobs I have heard, as promo discs for Telarc
in the early nineties.

Nobody can do styrenes, and as far as I know, nobody is set up to do
the large center holes either. This kind of kills the fun for 7"
pressings in my opinion.
--scott

Paul, when are you and the Brooklyn Phono guys going to get set up to
do 7" and 10" pressings?
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Don Cooper]

Scott Dorsey wrote:

> Nobody can do styrenes, and as far as I know, nobody is set up to do
> the large center holes either. This kind of kills the fun for 7"
> pressings in my opinion.


.... which would be a 45, right?

Would the small hole versions play at 33-1/3?


Don

[Scott Dorsey]

Don Cooper > wrote:
>Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
>> Nobody can do styrenes, and as far as I know, nobody is set up to do
>> the large center holes either. This kind of kills the fun for 7"
>> pressings in my opinion.
>
>... which would be a 45, right?
>
>Would the small hole versions play at 33-1/3?

Small holes will play at 45, 33-1/3, or whatever the mastering guy
sets the lathe to.

Running at 33 doesn't really buy you any time, because you have to
make the leadout so much larger unless you're willing to deal with
lots of tracking distortion in the center. With the higher speed
you can go closer into the center and get the same linear velocity.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Paul Gold]

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in message >...

> Paul, when are you and the Brooklyn Phono guys going to get set up to
> do 7" and 10" pressings?

Tom only wants an SMT single well 7" press. He might be up for
converting a dual well to a single well but probably not. He has had
enough trouble finding SMT 12" presses. So the answer is, not soon and
maybe never.

The reason you see varying reports of quality about the same plant is
that consistency is the main problem in pressing. All varialbles need
to be tightly controlled to get good records. A 10 - 20 degree
temperature shift in the weather will mean that you have to do major
tweaks to the presses. The only way to get consistency is through a
skilled operator and tight quality control. A 10% reject rate is
common even when the presses are running smoothly.

Universal in Gloversville is good for 7". Bill Smith Custom records in
CA is also good.

Paul Gold
www.vinylmastering.net
brooklynphono

[tony]

"zombu" > wrote in message >...
> I plan on getting my bands EP mastered at Aardvark, and now we're looking
> for a pressing/plating plant. Can anyone recommend a plant that presses
> quality records?
> I've seen some heavily mixed reviews on all of the "major" pressing plants
> (URP, Erika, etc...), and it's hard to tell what is fact or fiction.
> We're not looking for audiophile quality, just something that sounds decent
> and is preferably not too expensive. Shapes, colors & custom colors are a
> plus, but not needed.
> Thanks


i was looking at a local (indianapolis) pressing plant's website
yesterday & saw that they did 12" & 7" vinyl....i know nothing of
their prices or quality, however.

http://www.worldmediagroup.com/LPRecords.htm

tony

[Scott Dorsey]

"zombu" > wrote in message >...
> I plan on getting my bands EP mastered at Aardvark, and now we're looking
> for a pressing/plating plant. Can anyone recommend a plant that presses
> quality records?

Actually, I got a phone call from Charlie at Kinura records at some ungodly
post-1AM time last night, and he says that the Alpha Records guys in Florida
are set up to do 7" discs and they even have the punch for big holes. They
do a lot of pressings for the Caribbean and Latin markets where jukeboxes
that take 45s are still in use.

I've been very happy with their pressings and they are cheap. Apparently
they now have only two 12" presses but they have added a 7" press. If you
want a sample, buy the RAP LP compilation which was pressed there.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Paul Gold]

(tony) wrote in message

> i was looking at a local (indianapolis) pressing plant's website
> yesterday & saw that they did 12" & 7" vinyl....i know nothing of
> their prices or quality, however.
>
> http://www.worldmediagroup.com/LPRecords.htm

Looks like a broker. They don't even have a lathe listed in the
mastering room equipment. You won't find pressing plants doing
everything under the sun.

[Paul Gold]

(tony) wrote in message
> i was looking at a local (indianapolis) pressing plant's website
> yesterday & saw that they did 12" & 7" vinyl....i know nothing of
> their prices or quality, however.
>
> http://www.worldmediagroup.com/LPRecords.htm


Looks like a broker. They don't even have a lathe listed in the
mastering room equipment. You won't find pressing plants doing
everything under the sun.

Paul Gold
www.vinylmastering.net
brooklynphono

[zombu]

Thanks to all who replied.
I can't get your posts through giganews for some reason, so I'm unable to
reply to the proper thread(s).
There are a few retails locally here who make it a point to carry all of the
7"s they can get thier hands on.
They carry many new pressings monthly, all 5" - 12" records, picture disks,
shapes, etc. The 7"s seem to be mostly indy punk or lo-fi, and some pop
stuff like the Strokes.

[unitron]

"zombu" > wrote in message >...
> Thanks to all who replied.
> I can't get your posts through giganews for some reason, so I'm unable to
> reply to the proper thread(s).

---snip---

Can you not use Google Groups for both reading and replying via
browser? That's how I do it.

[Aaron J. Grier]

Scott Dorsey > wrote:
> I've been very happy with their [Alpha Records] pressings and they are
> cheap. Apparently they now have only two 12" presses but they have
> added a 7" press. If you want a sample, buy the RAP LP compilation
> which was pressed there.

there's a 7" version of the RAP LP? (:
--
Aaron J. Grier | "Not your ordinary poofy goof." |
"someday the industry will have throbbing frontal lobes and will be able
to write provably correct software. also, I want a pony." -- Zach Brown

[Harvey Gerst]

(Aaron J. Grier) wrote:

>Scott Dorsey > wrote:
>> I've been very happy with their [Alpha Records] pressings and they are
>> cheap. Apparently they now have only two 12" presses but they have
>> added a 7" press. If you want a sample, buy the RAP LP compilation
>> which was pressed there.
>
>there's a 7" version of the RAP LP? (:

Yes, it's the "Dance Mix".

Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
http://www.ITRstudio.com/

[hank alrich]

Aaron J. Grier wrote:

> Scott Dorsey > wrote:

> > I've been very happy with their [Alpha Records] pressings and they are
> > cheap. Apparently they now have only two 12" presses but they have
> > added a 7" press. If you want a sample, buy the RAP LP compilation
> > which was pressed there.

> there's a 7" version of the RAP LP? (:

You can trim it down to that.

--
ha