HOW TO PREPARE YOUR MUSIC FOR VINYL

This page contains general information on how to prepare your mix for vinyl. If you don't have the knowledge or means to properly process your music as described DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT as we have equipment to take care of most matters. Some important points to remember when making your CD-R master is:

• Blend (mono-ize) the bass frequencies. Do not pan bass left or right.
• Do not include loud level out-of-phase signals in your master. 
• Watch out for ultra high frequency signals. Keep sibilance ("sss" and "shh" sounds) to a minimum by de-essing where necessary.
• Do not over compress, over EQ or over process your program. Make your mixes sound satisfying to you.
• Normalize levels so all tracks have same peak volume.
• For best sound place your loudest brightest most agressive music on the outer tracks and quieter material on the inner tracks.
• Add about 2 seconds silence at the end and start of each indexed track.
• Give us times to each track so we know when to make the silent groove bands. 

Why is it so important for mixes to be mostly in phase and the bass being in mono?

Phase is more or less irrelevant to CD but when mastering to vinyl it’s very important.

If the mix is in phase (mono), the cutter stylus will move from left to right - if the mix is out of phase (stereo) it causes the stylus to move up and down. Too much up and down movement (out-of-phase) will produce a groove that's too shallow or interrupted. This will cause the playback needle to jump, especially the bottom end is very critical. If the bass is in stereo, the cutter stylus will leave the surface of the record – the plate will be unusable.

How do I know if my mix is too much out of phase?

Most software has a built in phase meter, it should be in the positive range.

Try listening to your tracks in mono, ideally there shouldn’t be a big difference when listening to your tracks in stereo vs mono, if there is – especially at the bottom end – you might have a problem. If you switch between stereo and mono, kick/bass should stay in the center.

Is there anything I should take care of on an album or LP?

Put the most agressive or important tracks first – every record sounds best at the beginning (outer grooves). The quieter tracks should be at the end of the record.

Please note – a 12" will always sound better than a smaller plate due to the higher groove speed at the outer grooves. Try listening to any 12" record and compare the beginning of the plate with the end, there will be much more hi-end at the beginning.

For loud dance music with lot of bass and loud hi-hats we definitely recommend a 12" plate. Particularly for drum & bass and hip hop, where loudness and  lots of bass are most important.

If you'd like to read more details about record cutting and the best way to prepare your music for vinyl please visit
Producing Great Sounding Phonograph Records