Vinyl , getting some made

[lojo]

Any tips on getting a run of vinyl made for your band ? I've been tasked with arranging this for a project.

I have done a search for threads and can't find anything similar , but if there is already one I'm happy to have this closed if a link can be provided 

thanks in advance

 

 

[BigRedX]

Last time I looked Mobineko were doing the best deals for short runs of vinyl.

However there are a whole load of things you should be aware of when releasing your music on vinyl.

1. The lead times are getting stupidly long. CDs can be manufactured in less than a couple of weeks from receipt of master recordings and artwork. For vinyl unless you want to pay a premium your are generally looking at 8 weeks minimum (and that's on top of the time it takes to produce and approve test pressings). Luckily Record Store Day is just over, as the run up to that generally shuts out any small run releases as the majors book up all the pressing plants.

2. It's expensive. For the cost of pressing 500 copies of the Terrortones LP we could have had at least 2000 CDs. Although Mobineko will do runs of 100, to be able to sell you finished product at a sensible price you really need to be looking at 300 as a minimum and ideally 500 copies.

3. You will need to offer an alternative format alongside the vinyl. Either a free download code or include a CD copy in with the record. If you distribute your records through Bandcamp you can get free download codes at a rate of 100 a month. If you go for CD copies that's added expense. Burning and printing CDR copies yourself will spread the load of the additional cost, but will ultimately be more expensive that getting the CD versions properly manufactured in the first place.

4. You will need to get your music mastered specifically for vinyl. And if you are also doing downloads and/or CDs you will need a separate master for those formats too. Each delivery format has it's own specific requirements and IME they are not really interchangeable. There are lots of fancy production tricks that are fine for digital formats, but on vinyl at best will render it unplayable on many systems and at worst will prevent the music from being cut to disc in the first place.

5. GET A TEST PRESSING DONE. And listen to it on as many systems as you can before approving it. The cutting requirements for vinyl may require additional processing to your masters. It's best to find out about them at the test pressing stage when things can still be altered relatively cheaply and not once you have received 500 production copies. It will be an added expense and probably add 2 weeks onto the production time, but it is indispensable IMO.

6. For me, the main attraction of vinyl is increased size of the cover for the graphics. So make sure that your packaging design is stunning. Because the music won't sound as good as the CD or uncompressed download version, you need to presentation to look fantastic to make up for that. Unless one of your band (or one of your friends) is a graphic designer who knows about designing for print, pay someone to make the cover of your record look awesome. As a minimum for an LP I'd be looking at a full colour sleeve with either a double-sided insert or printed inner sleeve. Ideally I'd probably want to have a gatefold sleeve.

7. Once you've sold initial copies to your family and friends, 95% of your sales will be at gigs. Make sure that you have an attractive display to use at your merch stand and someone who is not a band member be there all the time at the gig. Also make sure that your records are properly protected for transportation to and from gigs. The cardboard shipping boxes that they come in from the pressing plant are completely inadequate for this job - intactIME they barely survive the journey from the pressing plant to initial delivery address.

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll think of more later on.

[BigRedX]

8. On top of all the other compromises you have to make when cutting to vinyl, there is a trade off between audio quality and running time. IIRC it's about 3 minutes per side of a 7" single running at 45RPM and 12-13 minutes a side for a 12" LP at 33RPM. Once you go over these running times the cutting engineer will have to reduce the level of the audio which in turn increases the noise to signal ratio of the delivery medium. The decreased cutting/playing speed of 33RPM will also reduce the audio bandwidth. For ideal reproduction quality an LP should be delivered as 2 x 12" 45RPM discs with a running time of under 10 minutes per side.

[PaulWarning]

we had 500 vinyl copies pressed of our album, can't remember the exact figures but it has worked out about £4 a record, we were originally going to do 250 but i was only around an extra £40 to got to 500, it was all handled by Media Hut in Nottingham (as well as the CD's), we're selling them for £10

[BigRedX]

IIRC The Terrortones LP cost about £5000 for everything:

That was 7 days in the studio - 3 for tracking, 4 for mixing.

Separate mastering for vinyl, CD and downloads.

10 x Illustrations and a title "logo" for the packaging.

Test pressings.

500 copies on standard weight 12" vinyl with full colour labels in black paper sleeves.

500 copies of packaging - clear plastic sleeves with the name of the band and the title of the album printed on it in a single colour. Five x 305mm square sheets printed full colour both sides which are arranged as 7 alternative front covers, a back cover and a double-sided lyric sheet.

We saved quite a bit of money because we got a deal on the studio time, and because graphic design for print is my day job, I did all technical aspects of the design for free, and I was able to get a better price for the printing through my contacts that the bundle price the vinyl production brokers could offer. Also we did all the assembly of the various component items - records packaging, download code stickers/CDR versions ourselves.

If we'd had to pay for all of that it would probably have added another £1000 to the overall price. On the other hand we could have saved money by having simpler packaging, but IMO that defeats a lot of the point of getting your music put on vinyl rather than just releasing it on CD or as a download.

[BigRedX]

9. IMO there is very little point of going for anything other than standard weight vinyl for your pressing. These days the quality of the vinyl used and the pressings themselves are excellent compared with the terrible pressings evident in the late 70s and early 80s. Heavy weight vinyl only impresses the vinyl snobs and does next to nothing to audio quality of the music on it.

10. When deciding on production quantities and final sales price, don't forget to factor in the cost of review copies, designing and printing your press release material, and the packaging and postage to send them out. You can send a CD in a Jiffy bag for under £2. To get a 12" album safely to its destination expect to pay at least £6 a copy for packaging and postage. If you are releasing you music on vinyl, reviewers and broadcasters are going to expect you to send them a copy on vinyl (as well as a copy on CD so they can actually listen to it!)

The Terrortones were a fairly niche band and we did a highly targeted campaign of review copies (sending mostly to people who had given us favourable reviews in the past), and it was still getting on for 100 copies. For a band playing more mainstream music you might need to consider even more.

[lojo]

Fantastic response thanks so much everyone , I'm going to print off so I can digest properly 

 

[PaulWarning]

10 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

If you are releasing you music on vinyl, reviewers and broadcasters are going to expect you to send them a copy on vinyl (as well as a copy on CD so they can actually listen to it!)

 

we found the opposite, reviewers mostly wanted just a download,they weren't even interested in CD's through the post, we used dropbox

[BigRedX]

4 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

we found the opposite, reviewers mostly wanted just a download,they weren't even interested in CD's through the post, we used dropbox

Maybe because the Terrortones were a very visual band and we had a reputation for our packaging and promotional items. When we put out The MonsterPussy Sessions mini album on cassette we produced a special CD promo version for reviewers and then got a lot of complaints (including one in an actual print review) that we hadn't sent them a copy of the cassette to review. After that we made sure that the promotional copy was the same as the actual product.

[lojo]

Again thanks really helpful

So far we are looking at £1600 studio costs to record and master 6 tracks , still a few questions about the mastering for different formats based on BigReds figures above I would guess this is in the right ball park ?

I am speaking to a small European record company tomorrow who are interested in us but I'm not sure if this will wrk or indeed be better for us than doing it ourselves , although they will have more experience 

We have interest from fans here and in Europe for the release , not sure if it's enough to make our money back but if we get close I think we will be happy to have done it and had the experience 

Thanks again please keep the comments going , I've played in bands for years but I am a complete amateur with this side of things (as is my whole band) 

Lojo 

 

[BigRedX]

It's difficult to tell with recording costs because every studio has a different hourly rate and bands record in different ways. I think our total cost for recording mixing and mastering were somewhere in the region of £1200 for 16 tracks (of which 13 made it onto the album) but that was a couple of years ago, as I said we got a special rate on the studio time and recorded most of it live. We did all the instruments and guide vocals in a weekend, and then spent another day recording vocals plus some guitar, theremin and percussion overdubs.

Regarding getting a record label involved, it will depend entirely on what the deal is, but IME most small labels these days want a lot without offering very much in return, that couldn't be covered by a well organised band.

If it was my band I'd be looking at getting any interested label to front the entire manufacturing cost of the album, and have a promotional budget or contacts that go beyond what the band itself could manage. I'd be very wary of any label asking for money for anything other than recording costs and perhaps the commissioning of sleeve artwork/design. If the label isn't prepared to put money to put out your record then they probably aren't worth bothering with. Also I'd want to retain the rights to any part of the project that the band paid for as opposed to the label - or at the very least have the rights revert back to the band after a few years.

[PaulWarning]

yes be very wary of small record companies, a band I know signed a deal where it's a 50/50 split of revenues but all the promotion and recording costs come out of their half which means they've not seen any money because all their bit gets spent on promo

Edited April 23, 2018 by PaulWarning