Dudes who have put out records

[xdylanx]

For my Survey of the Music Industry class I'm doing a report on putting out DIY 7"s. What companies do you go through? How many do you get pressed for a smaller band? Do you do the covers yourself or get them printed elsewhere? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

[kevin]

united record pressing has a good reputation and they have good "sales" sometimes...

musicol will do smaller runs.

erika & pirates press suck if they're still around, don't go through them.

(i've never put out a record)

[kevin]

haha, damnit, didn't thoroughly read the thread... i guess this is for a class or something and you're not putting out a record

[brianutatx]

A few of my friends labels have helped my bands put out records in the past. We have always gone through A&R records based out of Dallas Texas. They do a great job mastering the records and use good vinyl. My experience with them has been great. Also there are two main people that work there so it feels like a pretty personal experience opposed to something like United. One of the main reasons we use them is because shipping from Dallas Texas to Austin Texas is far cheaper than getting the 7"s shipped from farther away in the country, and when you only get 200-300 records pressed total the price per unit is already high, if you tack a large shipping bill onto that it makes a dent on your ability to break even or make profit (this almost never happens with small run presses done by DIY labels) . Another reason we use them is to support our domestic economy, why would we (proud Texans) get our records done in California by Erika, or in Tennessee by United, we know fellow Texans will do a better job.

I hope that helps if you want any more info lemme know

[steven]

i've pressed at united, pirates press, erika, a&r, rainbow, and probably a few i can't even remember.

united has always done right be me. i've pressed every 7" there except two (which were done at a&r).

pirates press is good for LP's, their turnaround times cannot be beat and if you know what you are doing you can get a great looking package. they press through gz vinyl, which most of my european records from 10+ years ago were pressed at.

erika sucks. don't use them.

for covers i always use imprint. awesome dudes.

[she trembled slowly]

United and Pirates press. Been ah while, Haven't put anything out in years.

[jternovo]

I usually use pirates but there are places in europe that press 7"s for cheap (including shipping)

[joelf1234]

For small runs, Palomino is the best. They can do as small as a run of 100. Communication isn't the best and I've heard horror stories (much like every other pressing plant).

I pressed 250 copies for the Stresscase 7". Gave 100 to the band and kept 150 to sell myself. I got the jackets printed at a local print shop for way cheap. Anyone considering getting jackets done by a company that specializes should think again. From the quote I got from a jacket printing shop in Toronto, it was half as expensive to get it done at that local print shop.

Advice: don't do it. Tapes are better; more efficient, and cheaper...much, much cheaper.

http://effusionrecords.bigcartel.com/

[picklehammer]

tapes suck, don't do it.

most of the american pressing plants have been mentioned. except bill smith! there are none in canada (unless that montreal startup one actually happened.) there are lots of brokers out there, who basically act as middlemen between plants and bands/labels. it can often end up being more expensive. but pirates press is a broker for GZ in the czech republic and I don't think you can go direct with them. lucky lacquers is a broker too, I forget who they use, but they can be more affordable.

for the watcher 7", we paid for the recording and clue #2 records paid for everything else. I think they used palomino. I forget how many they gave us but it was probably around 20% of the total run, then we were able to buy more at production cost. they're selling for $5 in canada shipped and $5.50 in the USA shipped, which I think must be almost equal to production cost already, kind of showing that pressing 7"s doesn't really make you money. the labels were designed by a friend but printed at the plant. the jackets were screened by him and the inserts were printed by clue #2 and I guess they assembled it. I forget the total run. 150 or 200. on black with colour variants for the jackets and inserts.

http://bagsunlimited.com/ is a website with a lot of relatively cheap record packaging supplies (inserts, jackets, sleeves, etc) for those who want to save a bit. great customer service too.

http://www.iloveimprint.com/ has a reputation as being good at printing materials for DIY bands.

something that isn't being discussed is mastering and plating. typically, you will need your audio source sent to someone to be mastered for vinyl, basically making it so it's physically able to be represented in record form. a lacquer is created and then a plate is created from that. the plates are used to make each record. http://www.aardvarkmastering.com/ are a classic staple of DIY punk for this process, though many people are choosing to get it done at the plants to avoid the shipping cost. http://www.bonatimastering.com/ provides a more involved record mastering process. most people who do the mastering have an automated process just to avoid any grooves that are too wide or narrow. I think bonati does a bit more than that. I think the dude was in usurp synapse or rep seki or something. maybe fax arcana?

[picklehammer]

also erika doesn't suck, they just tend to cost more. very good final product. bill smith is a compromise between quality and affordability, though they will sometimes catch you if you're using sampled material. united are cheap as hell but have some of the worst customer service. palomino seemed to be good and cheap but I wasn't too involved with the communication process. pirates press is pirates press... rumours of being mastered from mp3s (????) and all their stuff looks the same... sharp edges and the same predictable colours and patterns.