Yo PRFers. I'm thinking about the ever-changing dynamics and costs of trying to release physical media. I'm realizing that I have a few helpful resources who've pressed stuff for me before, and that every time I get ready to release something (or a friend does) it seems like the resources, costs and timelines have shifted. I'm going to share a couple companies I've worked with in hopes that some others have first hand experience with others and that the hive mind can share others. Obviously vinyl is pretty central to what many of us do, but CD or even cassette duplication can be relevant too.

Company: Burlington Record Plant
Pricing: Slightly higher than others. They no longer list their rates, you have to email for a quote. **edit** they actually have a price sheet I missed it itemizes everything so you have to know what you're looking for but on first glance it's not unusually expensive.
Minimums: When we used them we were able to get a 200 copy run which is good for a non-touring band.
Overall: They've moved shop and are now 'accepting some new projects' after a time where they were at capacity. This plant was recommended to me by mastering engineer Carl Saff who is a discerning ear and finds many of the common go-to's lackluster. This is a game of millimeters, but I found their work to be the best vinyl translation of a recording I've ever made. A collector and audiophile who religiously follows our label and buys everything told us that the album we pressed through Burlington was the only vinyl he thought sounded clear enough for his radio shows. I'd happily give them my business again, but I have no idea what their capacity, turnaround, or minimums are at this time.

Company: United Record Pressing
Pricing: Competitive. They no longer list their rates, you have to email for a quote.
Minimums: Historically it was 300 copies. Not sure today.
Overall: This place seemed to be one of the only commonly used plants back in the day. Their quality is really inconsistent. I've had stuff from them that was fine, but some pretty bad pressings as well. I know their wait times were getting really long for a while, but hopefully today's economy is a little less of a log jam.

Company: Solid Merch
Pricing: Competitive. They're much more forthcoming with their costs on their website. Depending on how elaborate you want it you can get 250-500 records at $5-$6 a copy.
Minimums: 100 copy pressings are available (around $1,400 for a basic full color sleeve, shipped). When you look at it as a price per copy, you'd either need to be one of the $25 an LP type of operations or take your vinyl as a 'hope to break even' proposition to accompany making money off of shows and t-shirts. Obviously, you can press a higher number and get the price per copy down. This seems to be the middle step in people just wanting their stuff on vinyl for their own shelf and for some friends, which has lead some to do lathe cuts of 15-30 copies.
Overall: The noteworthy thing with this operation is they seem to be a front that contracts out to Czech pressing plants using Direct Metal Mastering. This makes their turnaround way faster than the traditional shops. I've had a few projects pressed by them and they do sound different than the old school methods. I'm not great at this but in general they sound clean, with a much more open top end (especially compared to a mediocre job from United or others where things sound a little foggy), and maybe slightly thinner sounding then some of the better examples of traditional pressing.

Excellent post.

We just did a small press of 100 via Waxxy Poodle just outside Madison Wisconsin.

Colored/Specialty vinyl (splatter custom color). Full color jackets and labels. Inside sleeves and poly bags. 5 test presses. Shipping.

I sent for a quote on 9/15 and we received our order on 1/03.

We actually ended up with 120 LPs as they pulled a few more then expected. They said they could recycle the 20 or if I'd pay $65 I could just keep the extras. I decided to keep the extra 20.

Total: $1727.00

Quality was really excellent, I was pleasantly surprised. Communication was pretty good. All in all, I'd use them again, but I hear Smashed Plastic in Chicago can do small 100 presses now, so I'd probably try them next time.

^ That Waxxy Poodle site is cool. They have a master list of 20 or so pressing plants. Lead to new info:

Gotta Groove 250 copy minimum
Cascade Record Pressing 300 minimum
Archer Record Pressing 200 minimum
Furnace 500 minimum
Erika 100 minimum

Owen wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2025 2:44 pm Excellent post.

We just did a small press of 100 via Waxxy Poodle just outside Madison Wisconsin.

Colored/Specialty vinyl (splatter custom color). Full color jackets and labels. Inside sleeves and poly bags. 5 test presses. Shipping.

I sent for a quote on 9/15 and we received our order on 1/03.

We actually ended up with 120 LPs as they pulled a few more then expected. They said they could recycle the 20 or if I'd pay $65 I could just keep the extras. I decided to keep the extra 20.

Total: $1727.00

Quality was really excellent, I was pleasantly surprised. Communication was pretty good. All in all, I'd use them again, but I hear Smashed Plastic in Chicago can do small 100 presses now, so I'd probably try them next time.

did that price include lacquers? is Lucky Lacquers Dave is involved with them?

I dont have any personal experience with them, but this place is in Houston and owned by a solid guy from the local music scene: https://610recordmfg.com/

Owen wrote: Sun Jan 05, 2025 2:44 pm All in all, I'd use them again, but I hear Smashed Plastic in Chicago can do small 100 presses now, so I'd probably try them next time.

That is correct, though I'm not clear if this will be a "forever" thing. Keep in mind the print runs tend to go over, so I wound up with the LPs but then 100 extra jackets and hundreds of extra inner labels. That said, Smashed Plastic folks are really swell and I was happy to use them again.

Palomino in Kentucky offers runs of 50 and 100 for both 12" and 7"s. I've had great luck with them (pressed three LPs in the last year with them) and their test pressings all came back without issues. Palomino doesn't offer jacket printing, so you'd be on your own for that.

Both Palomino and Smashed Plastic completed the pressings before their estimated "ship date", which was a welcomed change from the last few years.

I should note that for all of the LPs I've pressed, I've had Chicago Mastering Service cut the lacquers directly which winds up being more expensive in the long run, but not by much (since you aren't asking plants to have someone cut the lacquers for you.)

jorsh wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:08 am did that price include lacquers? is Lucky Lacquers Dave is involved with them?

Yup and yup.

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 9:28 am I should note that for all of the LPs I've pressed, I've had Chicago Mastering Service cut the lacquers directly which winds up being more expensive in the long run, but not by much (since you aren't asking plants to have someone cut the lacquers for you.)

After you're done obsessing over mixing and audio mastering, it seems it comes down to lacquer cutting and plating to really get it right. I'm sure you can press crap vinyl poorly off of a good plate, but I think cutting and plating are usually where people lose the plot (i.e. bad pressings on United). I would say having someone who is A. already mastering your audio, and B. awesome/not a total dingus cut your lacquers is a common sense move. Chicago Mastering Service and Carl Saff both offer this.

Owen wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 9:38 am

jorsh wrote: Mon Jan 06, 2025 12:08 am did that price include lacquers? is Lucky Lacquers Dave is involved with them?

Yup and yup.

nice! glad to hear it was a good experience. Dave cut the lacquers for 'brother the lights don't work' way back when and did a swell job.

can 100% vouch for Carl Saff for mastering + lacquer cutting.

Smashed Plastic pressed the most recent rutabega record (leading up to) and also the forestlike record that came out late 2023.
there were some delays on the ruty record, but that was caused by the place doing the stampers. Smashed doesn't do that in house (unless that has changed, but from my understanding there are very few places set up to do stamper plates in the US).
the forestlike process was smooth and completed within the time frame we were quoted.
i would happily go with Smashed again.