Mr. Dorsey mentioned..."Alpha Records in
Florida which does surprisingly decent work for cheap"

At some point I would like to get into turntable scratching/mixing and
would like to be able to press a very small run of my own tracks to
vinyl.

So if you sent a place a cd to convert it to vinyl, is it
cost-prohibitive?

wrote in message
oups.com...
Mr. Dorsey mentioned..."Alpha Records in
Florida which does surprisingly decent work for cheap"

At some point I would like to get into turntable scratching/mixing and
would like to be able to press a very small run of my own tracks to
vinyl.

So if you sent a place a cd to convert it to vinyl, is it
cost-prohibitive?


Its like any kind of print operation, the costliest portion is casting the
'molds'. Number of copies is almost irrelevant when dealing with
short-runs.

In article .com,
wrote:
Mr. Dorsey mentioned..."Alpha Records in
Florida which does surprisingly decent work for cheap"

At some point I would like to get into turntable scratching/mixing and
would like to be able to press a very small run of my own tracks to
vinyl.

So if you sent a place a cd to convert it to vinyl, is it
cost-prohibitive?

Let's see.
You want a 12" single, nothing too difficult to cut. Less than 15 minutes
per side so it can be cut constant-pitch with no margin control.

Figure around $150 a side for the lacquer. You can probably get this done
cheaper somewhere else, but that's what I'd charge for an easy constant pitch
job. So $300 for mastering.

Figure $240 for the stampers to be made (single generation) at Mastercraft
in New Jersey. Stampers go off to the pressing plant at Alpha.

You want generic white labels and white jackets. Figure $0.23 each for
white jackets, $0.90 each for the individual pressings.

My personal feeling is that it takes a run of about 100 discs before the
noise floor drops properly. So figure a run of 300 is about the minimum
that you'd want to do. You can get a quick run of ten test pressings from
a stamper, but they'll be noisier than if you did a big run.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article ,
Scott Dorsey wrote:

My personal feeling is that it takes a run of about 100 discs before the
noise floor drops properly. So figure a run of 300 is about the minimum
that you'd want to do. You can get a quick run of ten test pressings from
a stamper, but they'll be noisier than if you did a big run.

Thanks for relaying this information. The last vinyl thing I was
involved in was in Dallas in 1985. By far the largest single expense
then was the photographer's rate for the cover art, plus the printing.

It makes me wish I could turn out something worthwhile, because at these
prices, I'd love to make a proper record before I die :-)

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
In article .com,
wrote:
Mr. Dorsey mentioned..."Alpha Records in
Florida which does surprisingly decent work for cheap"

At some point I would like to get into turntable scratching/mixing and
would like to be able to press a very small run of my own tracks to
vinyl.

So if you sent a place a cd to convert it to vinyl, is it
cost-prohibitive?

[snip]

My personal feeling is that it takes a run of about 100 discs before the
noise floor drops properly. So figure a run of 300 is about the minimum
that you'd want to do. You can get a quick run of ten test pressings from
a stamper, but they'll be noisier than if you did a big run.

For this application -- scratching -- I'm not sure that matters.

However, do note that there are now CD players designed expressly for
scratching -- I'm told they handle very much like a turntable. It might be
cheaper to buy one of those than to have special vinyl pressed -- especially
if you're doing more than one.

Peace,
Paul

In article ,
Paul Stamler wrote:

For this application -- scratching -- I'm not sure that matters.

The adoption of this as a musical instrument precisely marks the turning
point where I became aware that I am old. No offense meant; I
understand the phenomenon, and I think I can relate to the generation
just before the electric guitar, in some way.

james wrote:

Paul Stamler wrote:

For this application -- scratching -- I'm not sure that matters.

The adoption of this as a musical instrument precisely marks the turning
point where I became aware that I am old. No offense meant; I
understand the phenomenon, and I think I can relate to the generation
just before the electric guitar, in some way.

Little different than playing a guiro in my so-called mind. Smaller
bumps and a littler stick, that's about it. g

--
ha

In article ,
hank alrich wrote:

Little different than playing a guiro in my so-called mind. Smaller
bumps and a littler stick, that's about it. g

That puts it in a perspective that somehow makes me not feel so old.
Thank you Hank.

Paul Stamler wrote:

However, do note that there are now CD players designed expressly
for
scratching -- I'm told they handle very much like a turntable. It
might be cheaper to buy one of those than to have special vinyl
pressed -- especially if you're doing more than one.

I've actually played with scratching CD players - anybody can do it at
places like Guitar Center and the like. IMO, they are if anything a
lot nicer to use than scratching real vinyl.

I think the price of admission is still about $1K, but Scott's price
estimates put this close to parity for producing just one LP, done
right.

Arny Krueger wrote:
Paul Stamler wrote:


However, do note that there are now CD players designed expressly

for

scratching -- I'm told they handle very much like a turntable. It
might be cheaper to buy one of those than to have special vinyl
pressed -- especially if you're doing more than one.


I've actually played with scratching CD players - anybody can do it at
places like Guitar Center and the like. IMO, they are if anything a
lot nicer to use than scratching real vinyl.

But have you ever tried to record one? I dunno, call me a snob, but the
sound? Ick.

Also, don't you scratch a guiro *across* the grooves?

Just my (pedantic) 2¢.

-joe.