Vinyl cutting U.K. pressing?

[PunkPonyPrincess]

Looking into a recommended company to press my 7” single... it might become an EP if recording goes well. But I was wondering if any Basschatters have any companies they recommend.

Initial small run, say 250 but I expect sales through bandcamp and gigs will go well as i’ve got radio play and it’s my first single in 30 or so years. It’s punk. I’m recording it over the next couple of weeks, but the very rough demo I put up earlier as a status update.

EDIT: a more polished recording but not yet a final print or corrected mix  is now up in my status updates.

 

Edited September 12, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[Lozz196]

I’ve not got the contact details but look up Human Punk on Facebook. They’re a record company and promoters. They put out a single for us so will have used a pressing plant/company, they should be able to pass on details.

[BigRedX]

I don't think there are any pressing plants in the UK anymore. 

IIRC the two Terrortone vinyl releases were pressed in the Czech Republic and France. They were handled through Media Hut and Mobineko respectively.

[keeponehandloose]

Try Vinyl Carvers... they do a copy pressing from existing vinyl ,they may also cut from scratch.

May be called Vinyl123 now..

Edited September 6, 2019 by keeponehandloose

[spike]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I don't think there are any pressing plants in the UK anymore. 

 

My office is next door to one

http://diamondblackvinyl.co.uk/

 

[steve-bbb]

https://www.cyclonemusic.co.uk/

[jensenmann]

Flight 13 duplication in my hometown Karlsruhe, Germany:

https://www.flight13-duplication.com/en/starting-point

They have the last ever made Neumann VMS80 cutting lathe, the Rolls Royce of vinyl cutting and run their own pressing plant. And they are definitely into punkrock...

 

[taunton-hobbit]

Give this a look -

https://thevinylfactory.com/plant/

😎

[PunkPonyPrincess]

Thanks for all the links folx..., if you have any experience of any of the ones linked to please let me know, a link is helpful but without context it doesn’t help me decide. But I appreciate the links, a few new ones I had not spotted here.

And funnily enough i’ve been in touch with Human Punk regarding other matters, I did not know they did vinyl.

Edited September 8, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[steve-bbb]

46 minutes ago, PunkPonyPrincess said:

Thanks for all the links folx..., if you have any experience of any of the ones linked to please let me know, a link is helpful but without context it doesn’t help me decide. But I appreciate the links, a few new ones I had not spotted here.

And funnily enough i’ve been in touch with Human Punk regarding other matters, I did not know they did vinyl.

re the link to cyclone music - im based in Medway , they are local on medway estate, we have a thriving music scene in medway for many decades now, many local artists recording at local ranscombe studios on analogue and many of them also choosing cyclone for duplication or pressing - a friend is a local muso who is now on his tenth album and always uses them i have 5 or 6 of his releases on 180g vinyl and they are all consistently good - be mindful also that the end result will obviously be hugely dependent on the recording engineering and production - if youre anywhere in/near kent pm and i will send details - dont want to be accused of blatant plugging - unless everyone wants me to of course ☺️

Edited September 8, 2019 by steve-bbb

[BigRedX]

TBH these days nearly all vinyl pressing is good quality, because it has to be in order for it to compete with digital formats. Certainly no-one is going to accept the appalling quality of pressings that were the norm in the late 70s and early 80s.

And while there are plenty of brokers in the UK offer vinyl production services you'll find that nearly all of them farm out the actual pressing to plants outside of the UK (not that there is anything wrong with this - if they can offer a good service in terms of turn-around times and production quality)

If Diamond Black do actually press in the UK it would explain why they are consistently much more expensive than all the other quotes I've ever had.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

Cyclone are a bit more expensive than Duplion who seem ok but I haven’t seen any feedback for them.

Duplion

250 = £722.22 white vinyl (VAT - £866.62) £3.46/unit

250 = £870.26 splatter white/red (£1,044.31) £4.17/unit

Cyclone is:

300 x splatter white/red: £1095.00 +VAT (£1314.00 Inc.)  £4.38/unit

I might forgo splatter and just go with white. It also means I can keep unit costs down.

The realities of vinyl production are as follows: leaving out the cost of recording. On top of pressing is mastering: around £300 for a good in person vinyl master on A/AA side and paying the Graphic Designer/Artist £200 (plus tip, slightly higher due to my ownership of all assets and perpetual use of art/logo and assets for possible merch and future releases)  takes each single to £5.50 a unit. Plus £50 for 200 x 7” Cruciform mailers, stiffener, download code card and printing thereof, plus actual postage £1.50p (large letter up to 200g)  each means a unit cost of around £7.20 so if I ask for let’s just pick a random £7.99 per unit in direct sales (Boomkat/Rough Trade and so on seem to charge ~£11+ per 7” so that means at £7.99 on a 250 run...  I’ll make... £206. *if* I sell them all. That’s a big if. 

Not taking into account travel costs to mastering engineer (this can be substantial) plus time, vinyl handouts (artist/master/engineer/journos/radio/promo) plus material costs of printing postage labels, travel to post office (32 Miles for me round trip). There will be other outgoings — but as you can see this is not a money spinner but a labour of love.

http://clairefoxx.bandcamp.com/

 

I’m trying to recreate the excited feeling I had every week in 1977-1980 era buying 7” singles. These things are expensive but magical talismans of sound.

 

Edited November 16, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[taunton-hobbit]

Charge a tenner - I was paying that for import 7s in 1970..........

😎

[PunkPonyPrincess]

I thought £10 but if you charge that, will they come?

[taunton-hobbit]

If they want it, they'll pay - never undersell your talent.............

😎

[BigRedX]

In real terms the cost of releasing music on vinyl has fallen since the late 70s, and the technical quality of the pressing and packaging has risen considerably.

Whether it is worth doing when the main way you are going sell your records is to be out gigging every weekend is another matter.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

13 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said:

If they want it, they'll pay - never undersell your talent.............

😎

This is true. I might think about going above £7.99. I’m not releasing on any of the digital or streaming services although there will be a download code and i’m hoping to just keep my music to physical copies as i’m not interested in gaining any more attention than what is personally manageable. Which is not much.

[tedmanzie]

http://curvedpressings.com/

in hackney, I think the pressing plant is there too, and the mastering engineers come recommend from friends of mine.

ps I would go £9 for a 7”

Edited September 13, 2019 by tedmanzie

[BigRedX]

14 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said:

If they want it, they'll pay - never undersell your talent.............

😎

Yes, but...

These days you are competing in much, much, bigger market place no matter how niche the genre of music you play.

Gone are the days when having a record out made you band seem important, John Peel would play your single at least once, and Rough Trade would take a box or two so it was potentially in every independent record shop in the UK.

Pretty much anyone can do it now, and you don't have to agonise over whether you can afford to have a second colour on the sleeve (or forgo the sleeve altogether for a bit of photocopied A4 paper folded around the paper dust sleeve) or printed labels vs plain white that you were going individually hand stamp yourself.

It does mean though that the only way your are going sell very many copies is to do so at your gigs. It has been my experience that once the band stops gigging the internet sales drop of to a handful a year at best.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

I oppose streaming services, despite their inevitability i’m content to be unknown and exist outside of Spotify/Tidal/Apple/Google and Amazon (and all the attention grab stuff most bands seem to require and want to indulge in). I’m happy being smol and in control.  It’s about £1600-£1700 all in with everything except recording (which I do at home)  for a single.

But oh it’s a thing that didn’t even require a computer to record or make the cover art on. That purity may disappear once it hits the mastering ppl but that’s out of my reach.

i might include a random badge, “I hate Claire Fox” (I added the extra x to differentiate myself from a more well-known pile of human sludge) and/or “Antisocial Justice Worrier”. Like I said I’m  more interested in recreating the essence of the late 70s  than considering this an “investment” or as a moneymaking venture — I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose money and I’m okay with that. I’m making a double a sided petulant scream into the void.

Edited September 13, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[BigRedX]

9 minutes ago, PunkPonyPrincess said:

I oppose streaming services, despite their inevitability i’m content to be unknown and exist outside of Spotify/Tidal/Apple/Google and Amazon (and all the attention grab stuff most bands seem to require and want to indulge in). I’m happy being smol and in control.  It’s about £1600-£1700 all in with everything except recording (which I do at home)  for a single.

But oh it’s a thing that didn’t even require a computer to record or make the cover art on. That purity may disappear once it hits the mastering ppl but that’s out of my reach.

i might include a random badge, “I hate Claire Fox” (I added the extra x to differentiate myself from a more well-known pile of human sludge) and/or “Antisocial Justice Worrier”. Like I said I’m  more interested in recreating the essence of the late 70s  than considering this an “investment” or as a moneymaking venture — I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose money and I’m okay with that. I’m making a double a sided petulant scream into the void.

But can you do it in real terms as cheaply as The Desperate Bicycles?

I terms of keeping it pure/analogue that's a lot harder. A pervious band I was in tried to do an all-analogue release on cassette, but found that it added 50% to the mastering cost to keep the audio out of the digital domain, and that none of the small-run cassette duplicators would accept an analogue master tape.

Same with your sleeve artwork. The first thing that will happen one you pass it over to the printers is that it will be scanned into a computer.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

I  expect the ppl I hand my work to work they way they need to. I record without a computer not to be an analog luddite but because I don’t own one (I have an iPad for web browsing — which is plenty).

The graphic artist I think uses a computer to print out art then uses tipp exx and spray mount and then rescans in — but that’s their process. Likewise the engineer and post production personnel tweaking this might use a computer, not my concern unless it’s harmful.

I loved Desperate Bicycles and Television Personalities as a kid... lessee... £157 in 1977 appears to be just under a grand (Source). I reckon I could do it for £967. Maybe another time.

Cumulative price change	516.17%
Average inflation rate	4.42%
Converted amount (£157 base)	£967.38

 

Edited September 13, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[PunkPonyPrincess]

Definitely a random choice of a couple of badges. Friend of mine makes badges and sells them at conventions. It’s a trivial thing, but it feels right.

[PunkPonyPrincess]

55 minutes ago, Meddle said:

So it is a vanity project and you are treating it thus. No harm there. 

It is by its very definition vanity publishing  
    n  the practice of the author of a book paying all or most of the costs of its publication

no one in their right mind would want to get involved with me.

Edited September 13, 2019 by PunkPonyPrincess

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, PunkPonyPrincess said:

I  expect the ppl I hand my work to work they way they need to. I record without a computer not to be an analog luddite but because I don’t own one (I have an iPad for web browsing — which is plenty).

The graphic artist I think uses a computer to print out art then uses tipp exx and spray mount and then rescans in — but that’s their process. Likewise the engineer and post production personnel tweaking this might use a computer, not my concern unless it’s harmful.

I loved Desperate Bicycles and Television Personalities as a kid... lessee... £157 in 1977 appears to be just under a grand (Source). I reckon I could do it for £967. Maybe another time.

Cumulative price change	516.17%
Average inflation rate	4.42%
Converted amount (£157 base)	£967.38

I'm surprised you're not doing your own sleeve artwork...

I was part of the DIY, Weird Noise Cassette Scene in the late 70s and early 80s (at the slightly more "commercial" end). For some of us the Desperate Bicycles were too mainstream!

Anyway good luck with the single and let us know when you have copies to sell.