Mastering for Vinyl

[JoeJackson]

Guys ... does anyone master for vinyl up here who can give me some advice how to do it. Or ... much better ... anybody up here willing to improve their mastering-for-vinyl-skills?

Damn ... we've got a cool deal with a small label that wants to release our last "demo" on a 7"-Vinyl. I did the mix and mastering (if you could call it mix and master haha) without even thinking about a release on Vinyl.

So yesterday I was in instant-awe when I suddenly realised "oh fuck ... vinyl =! cd". (Not that I didn't know that a 7" is NOT a cd - I've got a small Vinyl-collection myself)

So I could really need some guidance here, guys. I promise, I will do some more amp-setting-printout-sheets in return. I owe you a recti and a laney ...

Cheers,
Joe

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

I've been reading into this quit a lot lately since I'm mixing and mastering a lot of hardcore / punk / trash bands that end up on 7"es and 12"es.

main things to pay attention to:
-less limiting or clipping on the master than you would use for cd (keep the waves round on the top rather than square, the needle needs to follow a round line, too steep "angles" will make the needle miss parts that will lead to distortion)
-watch out for anti-fase
-use a de-esser on the vocals in the mix if possible, otherwise use a dedicated limiter on the high end
-be a bit more conservative with low end

keeping this in mind should get you a fine vinyl master, mine sound a lot better since I've started paying attention to this (and since a get bands to actually make a separate CD and vinyl master)

 

[JoeJackson]

Thanks for that advices ... I guess I need to get a lot of the mix fixed. First the songs are clipped and limited like hell ... secondly I guess there is too much low-end going on.

 

[ahjteam]

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/where/172918-suggestions-vinyl-mastering-pressing-duplication-uk.html
http://www.totalsonic.net/vinyl.htm

 

[greyskull]

The best way is to get someone else to do it for you!!
sorry!!

 

[Glenn Fricker]

My advice: Don't. The guy who cuts the acetate will be doing the mastering. You're not going for volume with vinyl.

 

[JoeJackson]

Okay, so I will be fine with just bypassing the limiter on the 2-bus and bounce it as 48kHz wav's, right?

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Yeah I was going to suggest what Glenn said just don't master it leave all the dynamics intact!

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Don't do it Really...

 

[JoeJackson]

Haha, alright

Then I'm going to ditch the limiter and just leave some vintage warmer on the master-bus ...