# All She Wrote...

- Site: Analog Industries
- Author: Chris Randall
- Date: 2012-02-16
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/02/all-she-wrote/

Okay, submissions for the AI compilation album are now closed. It may surprise you to hear that I received 91 tracks. Taking one of the ten slots for myself, that means you have a roughly 10% chance of getting on the comp, which is not bad at all for this sort of thing.

I didn't listen to every track as it came in; it kind of depended on the delivery mechanism. If someone just put a track in dropbox or embedded it on their site, I generally gave it a listen; if it came as a YouSendit payload or something I generally didn't. But my general feeling is that there is a good theme to be had here; most of the submissions are free of any genre restrictions (which was the ultimate goal) and several that I heard are pure electro-acoustic enterprises, which is interesting.

In any event, on Sunday I am travelling (by Airstream RV, of all things) up to Portland to visit the family for a few days. During the course of this trip, I'm going to listen to this over 6 hours of music and try out themes and groupings, and see if I can't come up with a cohesive album. I should have a final grouping by the time I get to Phoenix. (Hey, you guys catch that?)

So the next order of business is mastering, getting lacquers, and the pressing. While I've had hundreds of thousands of CDs manufactured, and am intimately acquainted with that process, it may surprise you to learn (or not, rather) that I have never had any vinyl pressed. I know that quite a few of you have, and some advice on the process, along with recommendations of people to talk to, would be appreciated.

## Comments (24)

**R.A.W.** (2012-02-16):

Hi Chris,

could you put up a list on which tracks (filenames?) you received so we all can make sure that you got everything?

I had some problems in the past sending AD support mails (you never received them). That's why we had to communicate using AI PMs back then. ;)

I already send you the link from our own email-domain as well as GMail, but I would feel a lot better having that feedback at least. ;)

**R.A.W.** (2012-02-16):

Oh, I'd need an edit function for the comment...

I'm sorry, it was the other way around. You always received my mails but your replies seemed to be filtered by my ISP. ;)

**Alan Tomlinson** (2012-02-16):

My knowledge is from long ago which means it may be obsolete. On the other hand, it hasn't been diluted by idiots who know nothing about vinyl.

Thou wouldst do well to find an engineer who works with a lathe regularly and who has a fucking clue.

Thou shalt get a test pressing.

Thou shalt not expect the test pressing to be as quiet as the final product; nevertheless you may make EQ and balance decisions based on it.

Thou couldst call the references from the pressing plant, just to make sure that these people are good.

Thou shalt cross thy fingers throughout the process.

I love vinyl, but it is and was a revolving son-of-a-bitch to get right. Now, it's much harder because it's marginalized.

Good luck,

Alan Tomlinson

**rocketattack** (2012-02-16):

Bob Weston (Chicago Mastering Service) has done excellent work on a lot of vinyl masters. He's got links to pressing plants on his site as well. I imagine he'll have an opinion on at least a few of the plants.

http://www.chicagomasteringservice.com/

**Mike** (2012-02-16):

When it comes to vinyl, picking the right engineer and facility is the easy obvious bit. You know without having done it before that you want to work with someone for whom cutting is a regular job, and someone whose ears you admire. And that's all it comes down to really, if they're doing it often enough, they'll have a well serviced lathe and you can worry about other things

The tough part is picking the right pressing facility. I worked at as an assistant for a bit, and the thing the mastering guys there complained about most was when a client would ignore their advice and have the record pressed on the cheap. Doesn't matter how good the lacquer is if the pressing isn't an accurate copy of that.

**seancostello** (2012-02-16):

Please take pictures of the Airstream on your trip.

I wonder if some modern plugins will create sounds that would wreak havoc with the vinyl pressing process. No strong thoughts on the topic here, as I just thought of the question. I just have a suspicion that plugins that mess with phase in creating a big spatial image might generate signals that a lathe would have problems reproducing.

**beauty pill** (2012-02-16):

Sorry I missed this. I had thought to remix a BP song called "Allow Your Eyes To Adjust" from the museum sessions, but then I interpreted rule #2 over-literally. Or, really, misinterpreted it altogether. And by the time I realized I was wrong, there wasn't time to do what I'd wanted to do. Bummer!

Vinyl pressing: two coastal places that do fantastic work.

West Coast: One of the most famous has a deceptively terrible website:

http://www.recordtech.com/vinyl.htm

East Coast: Very popular, but frequently there's a serious wait list...

http://brooklynphono.com/

RE: mastering engineers: there are fantastic ones with different styles. I know many of them personally, but the very obvious studio for this project is SAE.

They're right in your backyard and they're amazing. Don't give it a second thought.

http://www.saemastering.com/

- c

**mister nova** (2012-02-16):

I've worked with Golden Mastering and they have a lot of vinyl experience. Full disclosure: I am friends with JJ Golden, though that developed after working with him on a couple CD projects.

http://goldenmastering.com/

**Chris Randall** (2012-02-16):

The Airstream is one of these:

http://www.classicairstreammotorhome.com/images/postcards/front_curbside_800x600.JPG

(That actually may very well be the exact one. There's only a dozen or so of those of that vintage still motoring.) Needless to say, my Twitter feed will be chock full of imagery of the Big Adventure.

Regarding the plug-in thing, *shrug* I doubt it'll be an issue. We'll know when we know.

-CR

**DGillespie** (2012-02-16):

That airstream is huge. It looks like out would be a blast to drive.

**DGillespie** (2012-02-16):

*it

**boobs** (2012-02-16):

i had a bad experience with record tech years ago and found them to turn their nose up at small runs/small labels/small projects. the record was distorted as well. they gave me my money back and i got it pressed elsewhere.

recently i've had 2 really good experiences with dietrich schoenemann at complete-usa. he's awesome. treats customers with respect no matter who they are and is of course quite talented and just nailed it both times.

http://www.complete-usa.com/

i've also heard really good things about united record pressing in nashville and of course Archer in detroit.. though archer is frequently operating at capacity and it's tough to get in there.

http://urpressing.com/

http://www.archerrecordpressing.com/

**synthetic** (2012-02-16):

I can't recall, will there also be a digital version available for those of us in the post-Carter era?

**rhythminmind** (2012-02-16):

@seancostello

It's not so much modern DSP that is problematic for vinyl, it's modern mix aesthetic. For digital distribution we have near zero limitations, with this modern production is huge/wide & loud. Thats not to say you shouldn't keep your eye on mix phase correlation with digital audio. The sonic rules still apply, but mixing knowledge is a different issue.

With vinyl mastering it's a balance between volume & length. Stereo width has a direct relationship with the amount of gain attenuation needed during cutting. Wide bass is "bad". Extreme High/Low & Hard-panned content can also be problematic for needle tracking. I loosely kept that in mind with my submission. Think of 60/70's Drum/Bass production, Vinyl limitations had a big influence on EQ decision. Dynamics are also your friend with vinyl. Quiet valleys gain you duration. A modern brickwalled master eats up groove time quick. The mastering engineer should know the "tricks" (Mono sum the low frequencies, High frequency compression when needed, etc. Many current vinyl releases are lame quiet untouched digital master transfers. This release will for sure be a juggling act/compromise, it's the nature of electronic music. Track order is important as well. The "dirty" tracks should live nearest to the center due to inner surface area distortions. I'm far from a vinyl mastering expert, I've just absorbed the info from the veterans working around me.

**MR-808** (2012-02-16):

I'll tell my tech to make sure the Tempest machine at Ground Kontrol is tuned up for you, CR.

**stevehumbert** (2012-02-16):

That Airstream is ....awsome.

Obviously here in Englandshire, such a vehicle would be plain lunacy, but with the scale of your roads it just looks right.

My retirement fantasy (it's a long way off) is doing a coast to coast journey in an Airstream, with time to stop wherever I wanted, for as long as required.

One day...

**seancostello** (2012-02-16):

That is one nice looking RV.

Those streamlined 70's RVs (the GMC motorhome was another great example of this style) always remind me of this horrible, horrible show from my childhood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63_lcQUdxxE

**inteliko** (2012-02-16):

33 ? 45 ?

**Chris Randall** (2012-02-16):

@inteliko: There's no way to do it 45. It'd have to be a double-album set then. We're already pushing the limits of reasonable, looking at over 20 minutes a side. I'm gonna get scowls wherever I go with that, nowadays. This record will necessarily be somewhat quieter than, say, an Autechre release that has 10-12 minutes a side at 33.

@MR-808: I'll stop by and dust off the yellow levels for you. I imagine they haven't been seen since the last time I was there.

@boobs: If memory serves me, Complete sends their shit off to that place in the Czech Republic, right?

-CR

**boobs** (2012-02-17):

@CR - he may have at one point but i think he's all stateside now... we had a conversation about it... i looked but couldn't find the email with the details about the plant.

you should drop him an email.

**obscurerobot** (2012-02-21):

dropbox is great for this kind of thing.

**R.A.W.** (2012-02-21):

@saemskin:

1. if you have a website just upload it to a folder and send the direct link by email (that's what I did)

2. if you have a SoundCloud account upload it as a private, downloadable track and set the email-address in the sharing options (that will send a mail automatically with a download-link)

3. use any other of the million file hosters that work just like yousendit

**MR-808** (2012-02-22):

@CR - Here's what my tech said he did to Tempest:

* Removed glass; cleaned both sides and monitor.

* Found that the "fire" button had a loose switch contact. Re-soldered contact to switch blade, cleaned both "fire" and "super-zapper" switches. Disassembled both buttons and cleaned old beer out of them. Reassembled and tested.

* Removed, completely disassembled and thoroughly cleaned all spinner parts (and optos). While I had it out, I also reflowed solder to all connections on the opto board, as it is subject to quite a bit of vibration during play. Reassembled, reinstalled and play tested. Man, that spinner is smooth now!

I just wish Motörhead was in town, so you & Lemmy could have a Tempest showdown! ;)

**Chris Randall** (2012-02-22):

I told you that fire button was wonky. I TOLD YOU!

I'll be there tonight.

-CR