How It Works
Test Pressings
Hear Your Records Before You Press The Full Run.
A test pressing is one of the very first records pressed from your stampers. You play it at home before we press the rest of your order.
Test Pressings Video Coming SoonThe Basics
What Is A Test Pressing?
When your audio is cut, metal stampers are made from it. Stampers are the parts that press every copy of your record.
Before the full run, we press a small batch from those same stampers and send it to you. These are your test pressings. They have plain white labels, but the grooves are the same as your finished records.
Standard orders include 10 white label test pressings (20 for a double LP). A digital test press is also available.
What To Expect
When They Arrive.
Test pressings come partway through production, once your lacquers and stampers are made.
- 01
Lacquers
The lacquer is the first record we make from your audio. We set the levels and groove layout, then cut your audio into the lacquer.
- 02
Stampers
The metal stampers are made from it as a negative image of its grooves.
- 03
Test Pressings
White label test pressings are pressed and shipped to you.
- 04
Approve In 24 To 48 Hours
Play them and let us know. Please review and approve them within 24 to 48 hours to avoid delays.
- 05
Full Run
Then the full run starts.
What To Listen For
What We Check For.
Manufacturing Defects
Clicks, pops, skips, warps and surface noise. Test pressings make sure your record plays well before we press the rest.
How It Sounds
You can also listen for how your record sounds. Most of that is settled at mastering, before this point, so changes now mean new lacquers and stampers at extra cost.
What Each Package Gets
Test Pressings By Package.
Standard
White label test pressings included: 10 with a standard order, 20 for a double LP.
Short Run, Pressed
Optional add on, +$99.99 (CAD). Highly recommended, and off unless you add it.
Digital Test Press
Also available, at an additional cost. We record your test pressing digitally so you can listen online.
Good To Know
Common Questions.
What if a test pressing has a defect?
Defects found on a test pressing are fixed before the full run. We make a new lacquer and stamper at no charge, which may lengthen the timeline.
What if I do not like how it sounds?
Test presses are rarely not approved. If one is not approved because it just does not sound right, the client pays for the new lacquer and stamper, and the process restarts before the full run.
This happens late in production, which is why mastering for vinyl matters so much. We are not liable for time lost when test presses are not approved.
How long do I have to approve them?
Please review and approve them within 24 to 48 hours to avoid delays. A quick approval keeps your stamper loaded on the press and running.
Can I skip test pressings?
Yes, you can skip them. Just know that if you do, problems a test pressing would have shown you before the full run become your responsibility. That includes issues that come from your audio files, and minor issues like clicks, pops and some phasing issues.
If there is a major defect, like a record that will not play, we will still take care of it and talk it through with you, as set out in our Policies.
Our advice: choose test pressings. We do not make extra money on them. They are there to protect you and us.