Pressure Mastering is a professional audio mastering studio based in the UK ran by myself, Matt. I not only offer full audio mastering, but also physical vinyl records cut on my highly modified, in house lathe, with no minimum order. Alongside the music, Pressure Mastering is an anarchist studio with a strict policy of stamping out homophobia, racism, anti-semitism, class inequality and all forms of oppression. I donate a portion of my profits to grass roots human, animal and environmental rights organisations. If this works for you, get in touch, and always feel free to ask any questions.
Music for social change. People not profit.
I offer all areas of audio mastering, whether for digital formats such as CD or streaming, or physical formats such as vinyl or cassette. Once an order is placed, turnaround is generally 48 hours for a first master, which you will receive, listen to thoroughly and send feedback and your thoughts. I give unlimited revisions, the mastering is finished once you are 100% happy.
There are many factors to consider when mastering to ensure an end result that best suits your needs, such as file formats, overall sound, timeframe of the project etc. When making contact for a quote, please include as many details as possible.
Below is my requirements from you, when submitting mixes ready for mastering.
Mixes must be supplied at full bit depth resolution, ideally 32bit, or if not, 24bit with appropriate dithering
Make sure all files are WAV or AIFF, and have the same sample rate as the project
No brick-wall limiting
No mix bus processing unless completely necessary for the sound
Let the endings fade, do not chop off the audio tale
Be careful when using stereo imaging plugins, make sure there are no phase issues within the mix
Alongside audio mastering, I also provide lathe cut vinyl, with no minimum order, anything from one copy upwards. I cut on a highly modified VR T560, removing all original electronics, creating my own, customised signal path for a faithful recreation of your audio including a custom EQ curve made specifically for my cutter head. All cuts are made on a Technics SP10 MKII platter for total stability and zero wow & flutter.
We cut on the highest grade transparent discs with options for printed labels, inserts and sleeves. I also offer a free 1 minute test cut for new customers, you simply pay for the shipping.
When cutting records, I require audio mastered in a suitable way to cut to disc. This can be done here at Pressure or other studios providing the masters are optimised for vinyl. Feel free to contact us with any questions regarding premastering for vinyl.
Below is the maximum running times that I personally recommend for a nice, high fidelity cut per side. Going over these times can mean a trade off in volume and incur more distortion towards the center of the disc. Going under these times means, in most cases, will provide an even better end result in terms of volume and fidelity.
33rpm: N/A | 45rpm: 4 minutes
33rpm: 12 minutes | 45rpm: 8 minutes
33rpm: 15 minutes | 45rpm: 10 minutes
Neither. I cut onto PETG plastic. Below is an explanation of why cutting polyvinyl is not possible for lathe cuts.
A ‘polyvinyl’ is a pressed record manufactured from a pressing plant. In short, ‘vinyl’. The name polyvinyl is short for polyvinyl chloride, more commonly known as PVC. This material makes up around 95% of a pressed record. PVC as a cutting medium wears diamonds out much faster than PETG so it is not widely used. For anyone wanting to read more about disc types, see here: https://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8328)
This totally depends on who cuts it, and with what set up. If cutting with Pressure, yes it will. Whilst I am using a dynamic head in my studio, I have fully mapped its resonances and frequency response. I use my own custom system with dynamic EQ to help tame my heads natural resonances, along with my own custom EQ to flatten my heads response. I can get my cuts to sound the same as the digital source and the volume on par with a pressing, if the audio is suitably mastered of course. If anyone wants to hear samples I can send them over.
No. Whether a pressing from a plant or a plastic cut from me, the end result is always a plastic disc that plays music. It’s durability is determined mainly by how you treat your records.
No. They play the same, they need the same care as the rest of your collection, nothing different.
Possibly, possibly not. Totally depends on the audio, I will always check audio over first and let you know whether I am prepared to cut it. 99% of the time I will request masters specifically for vinyl, but now and again if the audio works, a digital master will be ok.
Yes. I don’t like to throw away blanks that have gone wrong during a cut, so if one side is still usable, I offer free test cuts on these blanks.
UK.
Yes, you will always receive full tracking information once shipped.