Do you want to know specifically, or in theory? You can have a mastering
house cut a "laquer," which is a soft one sided blank record onto which
metal is plated and the molds for a vinyl record are made. This can cost
anywhere from $25 to $50 per side depending on your angle. You can play the
laquer on a turntable a few times if you like, but they wear out very
quickly--or you can take it to a pressing plant and have them cast the metal
parts and press vinyl. It can cost anywhere from $250-500 for a set of test
pressings. If you're not planning on releasing the tracks you can just use
the tests for turntable work.
I guess it's up to you to decide whether or not that's expensive. The
problem is that most pressing plants have a minimum order so you'll end up
paying for 100 copies that you don't need. A lot of bands and labels do this
for promo tracks of things that they don't intend to release on vinyl just
to get a few DJs to play the tracks. That's great that Premier can do this
all the time. I guess if your album or tour budget justifes the cost then
that's great for you.
I've found a few places in Berkeley and in NYC that can cut wax for decent
prices (8 ball records has laquer cutting capabilities now). If you'd like
more info I'll get it to you.
P.
_______________________________
Meta-Lingo...
vox/fax:212/387.7977
pca7429@is2.nyu.edu
http://pages.nyu.edu/~pca7429/
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