In 2015, about 18 million vinyl records were sold in the US only. While music streaming streaming has taken over our speakers, the market of vinyl is flourishing. I headed down to Bordentown, New Jersey (65 miles from Manhattan) to see if anything changed in how records are made today. A freshmen in the industry, Independent Record Pressing started in 2015 focusing on smaller labels and high-quality vinyl — and now up to almost 2 million records a year.
The six pressing machines the factory needed to buy date back to 1970s and had to be delivered from Canada.
With the rising demand for new vinyl, major printers take up to 6 months to print a batch. To meet the demands, places like Independent Record Pressers work on smaller prints helping emerging and off-beat musicians to make their records available as soon as possible.
The actual pressing is a straightforward process that has hardly changed. Vinyl is heated and formed into a small thick round piece — a biscuit. The biscuit then goes in between two nickel stampers, one for each of the two sides of the record, and imprints the grooves (the music) into the soft vinyl.
Independent Record Pressing
300 Bordentown Hedding Rd, Bordentown, NJ (Map it)
independentrecordpressing.com
My Favorite Record Shops
Turntable Lab
84 East 10 St., East Village ↳
turntablelab.com
Academy Records
85 Oak St., Greenpoint ↳
academy-lps.com
Co-op 87 Records
87 Guernsey St., Greenpoint ↳
facebook.com/coop87records
Permanent Records
159 20 St., Park Slope ↳
permanentrecords.info
Halcyon
74 Wythe Ave., Williamsburg ↳
halcyontheshop.com
Deep Cuts Record Store
57-03 Catalpa Ave, Flushing ↳
facebook.com/DeepCutsRidgewood
