For a music format that exists on a microscopic level, perhaps the most intriguing thing about the way in which records are pressed is the sheer industrial and mechanical nature of the process. From growing stampers in chemical baths to shrink-wrapping the gatefold sleeves, the pressing of a record is at every stage both an incredibly physical and exact process.
Short of going inviting you all for a tour of the factory ourselves, we asked photographer Marco Walker to document the stages of how a record is pressed – with captions provided by The Vinyl Factory’s Stephen Galton – to take you up close and personal with the machines behind the music.
Metalwork baths. We grow the masters, positives and stampers in these baths via electro-plating with nickel.
A piece of metalwork before it’s put in the bath.
A piece of metalwork being placed in the metalwork bath to be electro-plated.
A ‘de-horning machine’. This spins the ‘positive’ metalwork, whilst a technician polishes the grooves. This removes all the ‘spurs’ at the top of the groove which would otherwise affect sound quality by introducing clicks if not removed.
Listening room. They listen to ‘positives’ in here to check for aural imperfections before we grow a stamper.
