vinyl singles?

[Norm]

Anybody released their own stuff on vinyl?
Could you recommend a supplier?
My band (Kohiba) are thinking of doing a 7inch single as well as a 5 track cd. Purely vanity but would be smart & a cool thing to do! Probably only a 100 run so not expecting it to be cheap.
Cheers,
Norm

[RandomBass]

Pure vanity? Nah defo not. Life is too short not to do these things. Enjoy.

[keeponehandloose]

there are a few places easily found on google,
we did 500 with a 2 colour label and original design in plain sleeve , plus test pressing.
worked out at £1.98 per record.

[Norm]

Thanks for replies but I was hoping for a "we used XXXXXX & they were brilliant" type of thing! ;-)
I've done the google thang & couldn't really decide between suppliers, much of a muchness.
Any personal recommendations gratefully received.
Cheers,
Norm

[BigRedX]

We put out our last single on 7" vinyl (see my sig) and couldn't find anyone prepared to do less than 250 copies.

It's not like CDs where if your run is under 500 they can do individual CDRs (although even with CDR the crossover point is around the 300 mark where it becomes cheaper to have 500 manufactured CDs) as you have to masters cut, stampers made etc. which is the expensive bit - the individual vinyl pressings are relatively cheap. Hence the minimum order.

Try [url="http://mediahutmusic.co.uk"]Media Hut[/url] or [url="http://www.breedmedia.co.uk"]Breed Media[/url]. Expect to pay around £600 with VAT for a 250-300 run.

Edited January 13, 2014 by BigRedX

[Norm]

Thanks BRX, will give those a look.
Have found one that will do 100 7" for about £450 delivered but no mention of test pressings, so will have to speak to them for details.
Cheers,
Norm

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Norm' timestamp='1389612484' post='2336018']
Thanks BRX, will give those a look.
Have found one that will do 100 7" for about £450 delivered but no mention of test pressings, so will have to speak to them for details.
Cheers,
Norm
[/quote]

With vinyl you absolutely have to get a test pressing, otherwise you could potentially be pissing all your money away.

What else do you get for your £450?
Printed labels - if so how many colours? Plain or printed sleeve?

[Cat Burrito]

I'd echo BigRedX's comments on the importance of test pressings. We usually get a track remastered for vinyl as well as there is no point having singles if they sound awful. Another tip is to offer a free download code with the single so the buyer can get MP3s too. You can set up something via sites like bandcamp.. It helps aid sales which you'll need as from experience we have suffered with excess stock of 12" and 7" on every vinyl release where as CD tends to go for re-pressings. As stated in the original post these things really are for vanity and because the band contains purists and never because it is a smart business decision.

[BigRedX]

As BurritoBass says mastering for Vinyl separately to CD is important (I would also do another master for lossy compressed downloads as they usually require a bit of extra bass and top end that can get lost in the conversion to MP3/AAC - you don't need it for lossless compression though, the CD master version will be fine for those).

I think whether CD or vinyl sells better depends very much on the genre you are in. Our latest single on vinyl is selling much faster than the previous single on CD only, our audience both young and old are very much more enthusiastic about vinyl. Plus I see little point in releasing CDs any more when they get ripped straight to the computer and then either get sold on or go into storage.

Finally on the subject of download codes when we brought out our last single on vinyl it was cheaper to include a CDR with the record than to buy download codes.

[Norm]

Thanks BRX & Burrito,
Thats what I was after, experience. Very grateful to you guys. I had the feeling that this was something that required quite a lot of thought. I feel a band meeting coming on!
Cheers, I will act on your advice.
Norm