The blank
A fresh disc.
An aluminium disc under a skin of black lacquer, coated the day before and left to settle. It is the master's only chance: one disc, one pass, no undo.
Pressing plant and cutting studio Ancoats, Manchester
Sound, set in vinyl.
We cut the lacquer, grow the stampers and press the records, all under one roof in Manchester. Four presses, one lathe and a lot of people who listen before anything ships.
Scroll to follow the record
A1The lacquer cut
The lacquer cut
The cut
One groove, all the way in.
A heated sapphire stylus carves a single spiral from the rim to the label while a vacuum lifts the curl of lacquer away. The pitch opens for loud, bassy passages and tightens for quiet ones.
Under glass
Checked by eye and by ear.
Our engineer watches the groove under the microscope as it is cut, then plays the lacquer back before it leaves the room. If the sibilance bites, we recut it.
Stylus radius148mm
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A2Plating
Plating
Silvering
A mirror skin.
The lacquer is cleaned and misted with silver so the surface will carry a current. It comes out like a mirror, and it is the last time the master looks like a record.
The bath
Nickel, grown on the groove.
The disc hangs in a warm nickel bath with a current across it. Metal builds up on the silver and copies every ridge and valley. After an hour or so it is a stiff negative of the lacquer.
The stamper
Peeled, polished, punched.
The nickel shell is separated, trimmed and punched to fit the press. That is the stamper: ridges where the record will have grooves. One good stamper presses around a thousand records.
Bath current0amps
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A3The press
The press
The biscuit
Hot, soft, ready.
A puck of PVC, soft as dough at around 150 °C, is set on the lower stamper between two paper labels. It is already the colour your record will be.
The squeeze
Flat in seconds.
The upper platen comes down under hydraulic pressure and the biscuit spreads out to the edge of the stamper, filling every groove. Steam keeps it fluid and the surplus squeezes out as flash.
Steam out, water in
Cooled under pressure.
Steam is swapped for cold water while the press stays shut, so the disc sets flat. Open it too early and it warps, so we wait.
Platen150°C
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B1Trimming and QC
Trimming and QC
The trim
Off with the flash.
The record turns on the trimmer while a knife takes the ragged edge away. The flash drops into a bin and is reground into pellets, so nothing is wasted.
The look
Every one, under a lamp.
Each record is held to a bright lamp and tilted. We hunt for scuffs, blisters, warps and fish eyes. One in ten also goes on a deck and is played end to end.
Pass or bin
The honest bit.
Good ones go in sleeves. The rest, about three in a hundred, go in the bin and back to pellets. We would sooner lose a record than ship a bad one.
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B2Your pressing
Choose your record.
Watch it change.
Pick a colour and a size. The disc on the turntable, and the one that came off the press, change with you.
Colour
Size
- Weight
- 140 g
- A side
- 22 min
- Speed
- 33⅓ rpm
- Each, at 300
- £4.20
Classic gloss black. Quietest surface, sharpest highlights.
Drag the scene to look around
B3The needle drops
The needle drops
Lead-in
Lower it gently.
The arm swings over and the stylus finds the lead-in groove. A faint hiss, one small pop, and the room goes quiet.
Side A
Twenty minutes of groove.
That is the whole job: a spiral nearly half a kilometre long, followed by a diamond tip finer than a hair. What you hear is the wall of the groove moving.
Run-out
Then the quiet bit.
The spiral slips into the run-out groove at the label. Lift the arm, flip the disc, or send the next job down the line. Side B is waiting.
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C1What we make
Pressing, mastering, test pressings.
Straight prices, no minimum fuss. Everything here is a placeholder on a concept page, and nothing is bookable.
Pressing runs
£4.20 each at 300 x 12" black
- 100 records£5.60
- 300 records£4.20
- 500 records£3.70
- 1,000 records£3.20
140 g, paper inner sleeve and poly bag included. 10" runs cost about 20% less, 7" about 60% less. Plating and stampers are £180 a side, once. Turnaround about eight weeks.
Mastering and cutting
£140 a side, 12" lacquer cut
- Mastering for vinyl£85 a side
- Lacquer cut, 12" or 10"£140 a side
- Lacquer cut, 7"£110 a side
- Reference lacquer£60
Send 24-bit WAVs and a note on the running order. We cut on a vintage lathe, one engineer, and you are welcome to sit in.
Test pressings
£165 for five, white label
- Five test pressings£165
- Extra set of five£55
- Rush, within 6 working days+£70
- Colour test, any vinyl+£20
Plated, pressed and posted in about ten working days. Approve them before the run starts. We would rather you heard a problem here than at your launch.
Extras: splatter +85p, marble +65p, clear +35p per record. Printed sleeves from £1.10. Shrinkwrap 18p. Download cards 14p.
C2The small print
Small plant, big care.
- Years pressing
- 0
- since a garage in Levenshulme, 2011
- Records a week
- 0
- across four presses, two shifts
- Lacquers cut last year
- 0
- one lathe, one engineer, a very patient kettle
- Records rejected
- 0in 100
- and reground, never sold on
C3Get a quote
Tell us what you're pressing.
A few details and we will send a price and a date. A person replies, usually the same day.
Thank you. We will check the diary and write back with a price and a pressing date. Mind the steam if you come to visit.
C4Visit
Come and hear it.
Find us
Spindle Records Pressing
Unit 9, Dye Works Yard
Ancoats, Manchester M4
Talk to us
0161 496 0148
hello@spindle-pressing.example
Hours
Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm
Sat, 10am to 2pm
Plant tours: first Thursday, 5pm