Test Pressing Vinyl Definition

These are made with a generic label and shipped in generic packaging.

Test pressing vinyl definition.

Test pressings are made to ensure that the grooves themselves are clean deep enough and formed correctly when the master presses into the vinyl blank. There seems to be some controversy between record collectors of what is a first pressing as opposed to first issues. They require information on how vinyl lp s are made and distributed and an exhaustive knowledge of music in general. A test pressing is what you might expect it to be from its name.

They are produced in small quantities usually under five copies to evaluate the quality of the disc before mass production begins. An acetate disc also known as a lacquer test acetate dubplate or transcription disc is a type of gramophone record widely used from the 1930s to the late 1950s for recording and broadcast purposes and still in limited use today. The record pressing plant doesn t put much time and care into the test pressings they are meant to test tone and general accuracy of what was wanted during the cutting process. Acetate discs are used for the production of vinyl records unlike ordinary vinyl records which are quickly formed from lumps of plastic by a mass production.

There is no sure fire technique for verifying a record s first pressing but there are some basic tried and true methods that will get the best results. Test pressings usually with test pressing written on the label with catalogue number artist and recording time or date are the first vinyl discs made at the factory. One of a few initial phonograph record copies pressed from the first stamper made which is listened to and visually inspected to approve the quality before production copies are made in volume. That the grooves label and center hole are not off center.

So why do we even need to know if we have a first pressing. Knowing how lp s are printed and distributed can make the difference between. A colored vinyl album by the doors issued only as a test pressing a test pressing of the unreleased genesis live album alternate or unreleased material like acetates test pressings sometimes contain either unreleased material or songs that are different in some way from the commercially available versions of that particular album. That the vinyl does not warp.

A vinyl record made to test the quality of the finished product before pressing thousands of records. A test pressing is a sample press of your record using the same metal parts and the same color vinyl that will be used in your actual order. The definition of a first pressing or pressed vinyl record is a record that was pressed from the 1st original masters.