List of Confirmed Record Pressing Plants

[mossboss]

Dietrich hello,

That's the one.

Mossboss hello,

Pleasure.

May I pick your brain?

PressThisRecord?

Yep http://www.pressthisrecord.com/ May be I am missing something

[Aussie0zborn]

Maybe, but I'm sure Matt will fill us in.

[TotalSonic]

Another big one I forgot to list previously - MPO in France - http://www.mpointernational.com/en/services/vinyl.asp

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[thomas]

Mossboss hello,

Yes, brain picking. May I ask you technical questions/talk shop?

Are you using Toolex and SMT?

Mikey hello,

OK, waiting for for fill in.

Matt?

Steve hello,

I have heard so many different things about mpo.

I know DMM and their pins. So I gather, blue and green solution and Toolex.

Anyone, know more? have photos/videos of plant?

[Aussie0zborn]

Disques MPO (Moulages Plastiques de l'Ouest) is an Alpha Toolex equipped plant. They make superior pressings and have done so since the 50s. Initially a husband and wife business, it was handed down to the sons who grew the business to include optical disc manufacturing plants in a number of countries on all continents. One of MPO's big markets for vinyl record pressing in the 80s was the UK. Many major indpependent UK releases were pressed by MPO whose pressings bear the mark "MPO" in the dead wax area.

MPO bought sixteen of the eighteen automatic presses when VPI in Paris closed recently - presumably not to add to their plant but more to keep them out of the market. These are the unusal automatic presses with the lower sliding mould which is the subject of another forum discussion here.

MPO is the current owner of EMTEC (who took over the BASF blank tape business).

Blue and green solution????

[Daimon Terr]

I think somebody has compiled a very good list of currently operating pressing plants:-)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/arsclist/2009/04/msg00103.html

[gottagroovematt]

Hi Everyone--

Matt from Press.This.Record here-- I just noticed that we came up in this topic, and I never have fully introduced myself on this list.

I personally have worked for the past 9 years (and continue to work) in the record distribution business (EDGE Entertainment Distribution in Cleveland). Instead of selling to national mass merchants, EDGE caters to independent retailers in the U.S.-- therefore, in addition to being a record collector, vinyl has always been a "near-and-dear" format to me for my livelihood.

My partner and I in Press.This.Record founded a startup which prints and hosts digital download dropcards, mainly to be included in vinyl record packages (www.downloadthisrecord.com). Our musician customers began asking us where they could have their records pressed, jackets printed, etc. So, my background being in the music distribution side of things, we decided to set up Press.This.Record as a "one-stop-shop" for bands and smaller labels seeking a solution to have records pressed and distributed.

Our ultimate goal is to make pressing records as easy for a band/small labels/producers as it is to have CDs made. As of today, we do not own any of our own pressing equipment-- we are brokering the records (now through Palomino, but have worked with Musicol too).

Over the past couple of months, we (Press.This.Record) have been evaluating purchasing our own pressing equipment, and contracting with an existing plant to operate the machines for us.

Currently, I am also trying to obtain copies of manuals and/or schematics for SMT automated presses...in particular the dual-cavity press.

I really appreciate how helpful everyone I have met on this list has been.

[Aussie0zborn]

I think somebody has compiled a very good list of currently operating pressing plants:-)

Yes that is a good list but incomplete and out of date. I'm hoping we can create a current and complete list from this topic. Also, one of the plants on that list is no longer pressing but simply a broker and has forgotten to tell anyone.

Hi Matt.

[thomas]

Mikey hello,
I was not in today, Holiday caught me by pleasant surprise.
Bump to Tuesday/Wednesday.

Matt hello,
Are you in contact with Vincent?

Daimon hello,
Just caught your GZ post, it is a gem.
1st DMM, compounding, TTT and W&P manuals, injection molding 7", W&P extruder and some tooling of interest?

Mossboss hello,
Kraus Maffei, autos/photos?
Who knows what pressers are thinking and why they do the things they do?
40 years of no extruders? that's tough.
What compound are you using over there?

Steve hello,
Thanks for posting about confirmed lathes, appreciated.
I have to follow up there.

[Aussie0zborn]

Krauss Maffei are well known for their injection moulding machines for the CD/DVD industry and their tanks for military use. Wouldn't be surprising if they once made record presses although I have never previously heard of this.

One interesting early feature of their injection moulding machine for CDs was the "non-opening" mould. So how do you get the disc out if the mould doesn't open you might ask? Well, the mould does open but only a couple of millimetres, a rod pokes one edge of the disc which then rolls out of the mould cavity and a robotic arm then takes it away. So even though the mould does open, it doesn't open fully like other injection moulding machines and so there is a significant saving in time and energy.

Before anyone asks about the sprue, I don't recall this being a sprue-less mould and I seem to think that the sprue is spat out as the non-opening mould opens. But I could be wrong.

[Aussie0zborn]

Dynamic/Sun were really good people - although they tended to make a thin record.

I'm not sure that a thin record is a problem - as long as it is flat. I'm begining to think that anything more than 140 grams for a 12" pressing is a waste of vinyl. I have an Island 12" single that must weigh around 90 grams and it is perfectly flat with very deep grooves beautifully cut!

[Daimon Terr]

Aussie0zborn:
Could you compile the list of confirmed pressing plants from the posts above this and put it into your first post so we have all the info clearly visible together?

Thomas:
Yes, I'm proud that we (here in the Czech Republic) have one of the longest running pressing plants and I collect all the equipment and production info. I have more links to webpages and pictures of GZ but most of them is also googleable or they are in czech language. We suffered from many years under Russian influence (communist dictatorship) and older people here often don't know english language even if they are very clever and great professionals (GZ is example of this). Fortunatelly now there are some younger guys/girls so the company tries to communicate better and now develops an amazing stuff for DMM.

[TotalSonic]

Dynamic/Sun were really good people - although they tended to make a thin record.

I'm not sure that a thin record is a problem - as long as it is flat.

Agreed - beyond a very basic threshold of necessary weight to insure proper molding it's more of an aesthetic thing. 120 grams is usually way more than enough. 110 grams just have a vibe of being paltry to me though - and most DJ's I know feel the same way. It's certainly a little easier to get consistently flat records with less attentiveness to cycle times if weight is above 120 grams though.

I'm begining to think that anything more than 140 grams for a 12" pressing is a waste of vinyl.

100% agree with you. There's absolutely no reason to go over around 140gram pressings I can think of except to satisfy criteria that has been marketed to audiophiles.

I have an Island 12" single that must weigh around 90 grams and it is perfectly flat with very deep grooves beautifully cut!

Of course - groove depth is set during mastering and the weight of the record has no effect on it (unless other issues such as non-fill are occurring).

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[motorino]

Djs prefer light vinyls, better for scratch techniques (more light more speed in the scratch) and more vinyls in the case

Cheers

[cymbalism]

Disques MPO (Moulages Plastiques de l'Ouest) is an Alpha Toolex equipped plant. They make superior pressings and have done so since the 50s. Initially a husband and wife business, it was handed down to the sons who grew the business to include optical disc manufacturing plants in a number of countries on all continents. One of MPO's big markets for vinyl record pressing in the 80s was the UK. Many major indpependent UK releases were pressed by MPO whose pressings bear the mark "MPO" in the dead wax area.

MPO bought sixteen of the eighteen automatic presses when VPI in Paris closed recently - presumably not to add to their plant but more to keep them out of the market. These are the unusal automatic presses with the lower sliding mould which is the subject of another forum discussion here.

MPO is the current owner of EMTEC (who took over the BASF blank tape business).

Blue and green solution????

my cymbalism labels are pressed thru MPO. they do an amazing job - from the test press to final press, quality is amazing! we used to use ACME in canada when we were pressing ourselves before the UK P&D happened and ACME wasnt too bad either. i think they shut their doors though, sucks for me because they still had our first four releases' stampers so there's no chance of a repress unless we can a) get those back or b) redo the whole process again to press em.

highly recommend MPO for anyone pressing dance music on wax still though, great company

[thomas]

Dynamic/Sun were really good people - although they tended to make a thin record.

I'm not sure that a thin record is a problem - as long as it is flat.

Agreed - beyond a very basic threshold of necessary weight to insure proper molding it's more of an aesthetic thing. 120 grams is usually way more than enough. 110 grams just have a vibe of being paltry to me though - and most DJ's I know feel the same way. It's certainly a little easier to get consistently flat records with less attentiveness to cycle times if weight is above 120 grams though.

I'm begining to think that anything more than 140 grams for a 12" pressing is a waste of vinyl.

100% agree with you. There's absolutely no reason to go over around 140gram pressings I can think of except to satisfy criteria that has been marketed to audiophiles.

I have an Island 12" single that must weigh around 90 grams and it is perfectly flat with very deep grooves beautifully cut!

Of course - groove depth is set during mastering and the weight of the record has no effect on it (unless other issues such as non-fill are occurring).

Mikey Steve hello,
I would like to contribute to this, but it is such an all encompassing issue.
Weight and quality are interconnected, just as much as experience and equipment.

My best-

[dietrich10]

cymbalism-did you contact mastercraft to see if he still has parts to make you new stampers off the original cut?

thomas-sent you email re:parts list

D

[cymbalism]

cymbalism - did you contact mastercraft to see if he still has parts to make you new stampers off the original cut?

D

i wasnt sure who made the stampers for acme. i'm sure if it came down to demand for the first three releases, we could just get them redone in the uk and not deal with shipping the stampers over there and all that.

our very first release (000) we had mastered out of a place called scrunch on the east coast. they used to cut dubs for the planet of the drums tour (ak1200, dieselboy, dara). the whole thing was a disaster as someone there tried to cut the master w/out john (the owner) knowing and pocket the money themselves. when we got the test acetate the a side sounded like total crap and the b side didnt even get cut completely! it ran into the sticker in the middle and it sounded like he completely blew the head in mid track! we complained about it and john redid it and it was still a disaster. john assured us it was okay and sent the master lacquers to acme for processing and when we got the tests from acme it wasnt even worth pressing the complete run so there were only 50 tests made. the a side sounded better than before and the b side was cut in its entirety but it still suffered from the head damage, hense making a poorly pressed 12. shortly after we received the tests, we went back to john and told him we were extremely unpleased with the turnout and never received a message back from him nor a refund. last we heard he sold his lathe to turnstyle in california and split back to england. nice right?

001, 002, LTD001 and LTD001R were all mastered by simon at the exchange and they all turned out great. shortly after the release of 002 and LTD001 nu urban in the uk picked us up for pressing and distribution over there and we've used a few different mastering houses since then. we are now mastering with sam @ precise for our drum n bass and dubstep labels and pressing with MPO.

diy is great when someone isnt trying to screw you but in the end, getting someone to fill the bill and leave the creative aspect to yourself is much less of a headache.

[thomas]

Cymbalism hello,
That sucks.

Dietrich hello,
photos please.

[PALOMINO]

I think somebody has compiled a very good list of currently operating pressing plants:-)

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/arsclist/2009/04/msg00103.html

Aww, we didn't make the list. However, you can mark it down that we are confirmed to have been, are, and will continue to squeeze hot vinyl into flat circles!

Dietrich, thank you for including us in your list. It seems to be the most accurate.