'In my days at Wakefield Manufacturing, in Phoenix, I was one of the first people in the US trained in DMM plating,' he said. VMP will press mostly from lacquers, but Salstrom can do DMM in a pinch. Views of the pressing and plating areas are part of the plan. 'We want to make it very visitor-friendly,' Salstrom said. Another room will house a high-end system, for critical listening. In front, a retail space will sell records, beverages, and snacks. Soon it will house not just the pressing plant but also a listening room with a wall of records and several turntable stations where visitors can enjoy music. The building that will house VMP's pressing plant was a winery in the 1920s. 'We're catering to a smaller group of people to be able to guarantee turnaround times.' Like Analogue Productions, the new VMP is 'looking at higher-quality, lower-volume pressing,' Salstrom told me by phone.

(Up to now, GZ Media pressed most of VMP's releases a smaller number were pressed at RTI.) VMP, which focuses mainly on audiophile-grade recordings, has hired Gary Salstrom as general manager Salstrom previously worked at highly regarded Quality Record Pressings, Analogue Productions' facility in Salina, Kansas. The new plant is under construction and due to open in January. In Denver, Colorado, Vinyl Me Please is taking a similar operations-on-view approach at their forthcoming, 14,000ft 2 record-pressing facility, called Vinyl Media Pressinganother VMP. VinyLab, which handles small vinyl runs starting at 250 copies, is preparing to open B Sides at the VinyLab, a bar/restaurant/music venue adjacent to the plant, with views of the skyline and record presses in actiona trend also seen at Jack White's Third Man Records, in Detroit. NRP didn't respond to questions, but reports say their LP pressing and packaging operations should be starting up as I write this in early June.Īlso in Nashville, United Record Pressing (formerly Southern Plastics), another large supplier, is said to be adding 48 more presses, although Stereophile was unable to confirm this.įinally, Nashville is home to a boutique pressing plant, VinyLab. GZ Media recently opened a US headquarters in the Music City for its subsidiary company, Nashville Record Pressing. MRP isn't Tennessee's only new record-pressing action. The company's packaging operations will also expand, moving into a refurbished, 100,000ft 2 warehouse. MRP expects the facility to be operational by late September, a month or so after this magazine hits the streets. MRP expects to double its workforce and run its presses 24/7, yielding capacity of some 125,000 records per day. The expansion includes construction of a 33,000ft 2 building adjacent to its current facility, which will house 36 new presses. MRP is investing $30 million in its pressing plant and packaging operations. This arrangement gave MRP access to vinyl stampers, 'along with technical and engineering supply to include new vinyl pressing equipment,' MRP CEO/co-founder Brandon Seavers wrote, in an emailed response to questions. Since June 2016, MRP has had a strategic partnership with GZ Media in the Czech Republic, reportedly the world's largest record-pressing operation. Memphis Record Pressing was founded in 2014 last year, the company pressed more than 7 million LPs. Tennessee is emerging as a center for vinyl pressing in the US.

In response to huge demand, new vinyl presses are coming online in the US, as new companies are formed and established plants expand. The long wait for vinyl-pressing capacity appears to be over. The impact of the lacquer shortage may have been overstated, but it was another factor that companies making records had to deal with (footnote 1). Then a February 2020 fire destroyed the Apollo/Transco factory, one of just two major suppliers of the lacquers used to make most new records. When vinyl declined in the 1980sreplaced first by cassette tape and then by CDold presses were abandoned, falling to rust and disrepair before the vinyl revival, leaving the industry with limited capacity. For several years, record-pressing plants have been oversubscribed there just aren't enough presses to keep up with demand. Like many fans of music on vinyl, I've grown accustomed to waiting for preordered records.

Shutterbug printing