SAMP Records is the vinyl pressing partner for a number of major and independent record labels in South Africa. We know vinyl and we are able to assist you with any vinyl project. We are able to oversee the entire project for you – from mastering for vinyl to artwork printing – we can assist with each process.
How does production work?
Pressing your music to vinyl involves 7 key processes – each being an important aspect in creating a top-quality record. Every project is unique, and every requirement is different, so talk to us with the specific needs of your project and we’ll help put it together.
Project Consideration
33RPM vinyl records are limited to 19 minutes per side, and 45RPM vinyl records are limited to 14 minutes and 30 seconds per side. Carefully study the music that you want to press to vinyl to determine the track composition of the record, as well as the playback speed. 45RPM is best suited to heavy bass / dance music titles.
Licensing / Music Preparation
All music needs to be fully licensed, and you need full, signed permission from all stakeholders to press music to vinyl. You will need to also ensure that you have paid the relevant mechanical royalties to CAPASSO to be able to legally press your music to vinyl – we can point you in the right direction on this one. In terms of the music itself, ensure that all tracks are output in 24 bit WAV format, and that they’re at the highest possible resolution, without converting them upwards.
Artwork Design / Templates
We will supply templates and guidelines for the artwork design of record labels and covers. At an extra fee, we can offer graphic and design services with one of our experienced design partners.
Mastering for Vinyl
All music will need to be mastered for vinyl by an experienced professional. At an extra fee, we can offer mastering services with one of our experienced sound engineer partners.
Pressing Plant Quality Control
Once the mastered music and artwork is submitted to us, we will then pass it on to the pressing plant for a final quality check. At this point, you will likely need to confirm certain design aspects and may need to answer a few questions about how you want the record to sound, depending on the requirements of the pressing plant.
Test Pressing Approval
Next up, the pressing plant will make 5 test pressings and then ship them to us to carefully test and listen to. Once we’ve confirmed that all the tracks are in the right order and that the test pressing meets yours and our approval, we will then give the final confirmation to the pressing plant to go ahead with production.
Shipping and Customs Clearance
Once manufacturing is complete, the vinyl records are boxed and shipped to us in South Africa. Throughout this process, we will oversee all shipping and customs clearance requirements with our shipping partners. Once in South Africa, we will then ship the records to you.
All projects work on a minimum of 250 units.
