How are records made?
Recording
When the band is ready to record some songs they will go into a recording studio with a producer. In Madness’ case during the ’80s and ’90s this was Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The studio could be anywhere, usually in London, although ‘7’ was recorded in the Bahamas.
Alan Winstanley and Clive Langer at the mixing desk
Each instrument and vocal would be recorded separately through a mixing desk onto a multi-track tape (nowadays some recordings are digital, although top producers still prefer the sound of analogue tape). The producer would then mix the track, setting levels, EQ and adding effects so the songs sound like they will when you listen to them. Clive and Alan initially used Genetic Studios in Berkshire and later they set up their own Westside Studios in Holland Park, London.
The final mix is then transferred to master tapes. The master mixes that came from Westside Studios were on half inch 2 track analogue tape.
Mastering
The master tapes are sent to a mastering studio, such as Utopia, Trident, Master Room, Portland or Tape One. There, a skilled mastering / cutting engineer would transfer the master tapes to a lacquer-coated aluminium disc. The lacquer disc is cut using a lathe, the result looking something like the final vinyl record.
Neumann VMS 70 disc-cutting lathe
This lacquer disc is known to record collectors as an ‘acetate’, and these occasionally appear for sale. They can be played directly on a standard turntable but the material is delicate and the sound will deteriorate very quickly. They are very expensive, due to their rarity.
A 7″ record cut into an 8″ acetate
Once the acetate has been quality approved, a new lacquer will be cut and given a unique matrix number, eg. A1 or B1.
This is the stage when the etchings in the run-outs around the label are cut. Some of the cutting engineers who engraved their names into Madness records include Steve Angel, Denis ‘Bilbo’ Blackham, Arun Chakraverty and George ‘Porky’ Peckham.
See the Runouts page for a list of all the etchings
Plating
The final master acetates (one for each side) would then be sent to the pressing plant. They would be sprayed with silver nitrate, and electroplated with nickel. The nickel layer is then removed to reveal a negative of the master – this is called the ‘mother’. The original acetate is damaged during this process.
In small limited runs of less than 1,000 the vinyl can be pressed directly from the mother. In large production runs, as in Madness’ case, two more processes would have to take place – first to create a few ‘positives’, which are nickel-plated discs with grooves like a standard record; then several ‘sons’ or ‘stampers’ from which the final vinyl is pressed. Typically one mother can create 5-10 positives, each of which can create 10-20 stampers.
A stamper is created for each side of the disc. The first discs to be pressed from these stampers are Test Pressings, which are used to evaluate the quality of the record. They usually have plain white labels, sometimes with the band name and title hand written on them. These usually find their way into the second-hand market but are very expensive due to their limited quantity, sometimes in single figures.
Pressing
Once approved the pressing run begins. The A-Side and B-Side stampers are fitted to the press. Pre-printed labels are inserted (the label orientation is random) and a ‘biscuit’ of PVC is loaded between the plates. Black was the standard colour but any colour may be used; in the 21st century vinyl resurgence, black seems to be the least common. The plates are steam-heated and a hydraulic press quickly moulds the PVC into a flat grooved disc. This disc is trimmed around the edges, resulting in the final vinyl record, to be placed in its sleeve.
An SMT pressing machine
Each stamper is usually good for about 1,000 pressings before it becomes damaged. If all mothers and stampers are exhausted (after pressing approx. 100,000 records) another acetate would have to be created to be able to press more. This is the reason for different numbers in the runouts, eg. A4, A5, A6 etc…
The material from the fathers, mothers and stampers is usually reused to create further plates and, as such, these are hardly ever found for sale.
CBS Pressing Plant, Aston Clinton
The majority of Madness UK albums and singles were pressed by CBS UK, based at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire until June 1980, then Aylesbury until 1991. The Aylesbury plant had 40 automatic 12″ presses and 20 7″ presses.
The lacquer on this record was cut by ARUN – Arun Chakraverty, who worked at Master Room in London, W1. He etched the message ‘WE HAVE LIFT OFF’ on this side. The 7″ in the photo came from A-Side master no. 2, hence BUY-84-A2 which includes the Stiff Records catalogue number.
All CBS pressings have a letter stamped at 9 o’clock representing the number of the ‘positive’, from ‘A’ to at least ‘F’. The letters are broken, so the ‘A’ looks like an inverted ‘V’ and a ‘B’ can look like a ‘D’. This one is a ‘D’, indicating the fourth positive from that mother. As all positives from the same mother should be identical, collectors generally ignore this letter.
The very faint ‘7’ in the runout indicates the stamper number, so this one is from the 7th son of the 4th positive from the second mother. This number appears at 3 o’clock but is often illegible and is generally ignored by collectors.
CBS pressings have a unique label profile, with a 44mm diameter ‘lip’ and a 32mm diameter ‘ring’, and varied smaller rings. They also have a ridged ‘gripper ring’ around the label. Other pressing plants have their own unique stamper/label profile.
Mis-pressed vinyl is quite collectible. Some records may have the wrong labels or may even have been pressed using the wrong stampers, resulting in the wrong song, possibly even by a different artist playing on one of the sides.