Vinyl

Test pressing approval process

Before your vinyl is pressed, you get to hear it. Here's how we get from your master to test pressings, and what to listen for.

  1. Stage 1Lacquer cutting

    Your master is cut onto a lacquer disc, one for each side.

  2. Stage 2Plating

    The lacquer is electroplated to make the metal stampers (the plates) that press your records.

  3. Stage 3Test pressings

    We press 5 test pressings (TPs) from the plates and courier them to you.

  4. Stage 4 · youYour approval

    You listen and approve the TPs, or tell us about an issue.

  5. Stage 5Pressing run

    Once approved, your order goes into the pressing queue.

Check

What to look for

When checking your test pressings, please note the following.

  • The purpose of the TPs is to check the plates we've created. We provide 5 of each, because the TP press can take a little while to warm up at times.
  • Don't be concerned by a small amount of warping or cupping on the TPs. It doesn't affect the audio.
  • If small issues appear on 1 or 2 TPs but disappear on the others, you can safely ignore them.
  • If you hear the same click, pop, distortion or other issue in the exact same place on all 5 TPs, tell us. We need to address that, as it could be an issue with the plates.

Reporting an issue? Note the side, track and time, and whether it's on every TP. It helps us check against your master.

Options

Good to know

  • Tight deadline? The factory can do an in-house test pressing check instead of couriering TPs to you. Ask us if you'd prefer that.
  • Recycled colour vinyl: colours vary across the disc and through the batch, and you can choose between the available colour batches when you approve your test pressings.
  • Launch dates: we recommend waiting until you've approved your test pressings before committing to a launch date.

How our vinyl records are made