Test Pressing Vinyl Definition

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.

Test pressing vinyl definition.

These are made with a generic label and shipped in generic packaging. There seems to be some controversy between record collectors of what is a first pressing as opposed to first issues. A test pressing is what you might expect it to be from its name. 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.

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. Knowing how lp s are printed and distributed can make the difference between. That the vinyl does not warp. 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.

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. 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. A vinyl record made to test the quality of the finished product before pressing thousands of records.

They are produced in small quantities usually under five copies to evaluate the quality of the disc before mass production begins. The actual quality of the pressing is not meant to be at the same level as that of the retail product that will be released. That the grooves label and center hole are not off center. 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.

The definition of a first pressing or pressed vinyl record is a record that was pressed from the 1st original masters. A test pressing is what you might expect it to be from its name. So why do we even need to know if we have a first pressing.