Vinyl options: what you can actually specify
Updated September 2026 · 6 min readThis page is the menu. Everything below is something you can put in a brief and we will quote against, with a note on what each choice does to the price, the lead time or the sound. It is deliberately option-by-option rather than package-by-package, because we don't sell packages: the release gets specified once, properly, and then priced.
What it isn't is a price list. Manufacturing is quoted per project by the plant we recommend for your particular run, and what we charge for managing the release is published in full on our pricing page. If you want indicative numbers for a configuration before talking to anyone, the release planner will build a budget from these same options.
One thing worth saying at the top: not every plant offers every option, and the ones that do aren't always the ones with the best price for your run. Availability is part of what plant sourcing is for, and it's a real constraint rather than a formality — small formats and unusual finishes sit with a narrower set of plants than a black 12" does.
The record
| Option | Choices | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Disc size | 12″ · 10″ · 7″ | How much fits per side, how loud it can be cut, and which plants can quote at all. 10″ is frequently the priciest of the three per copy despite being smaller. |
| Speed | 33⅓ RPM · 45 RPM | 45 buys headroom and costs running time. A 12″ holds roughly 18 minutes a side at 33⅓ and about 12 at 45. |
| Records per set | 1 · 2 (2LP) · 3 (3LP) | Each extra record is its own pressing, its own tooling and its own test pressing — not one line item multiplied. It also shortens every side, which usually improves the cut. |
| Titles in one project | One or several | A double album is one title. Two records with their own artwork are two titles, each sourced and quoted on its own. |
Side lengths, the trade-offs between them, and the full table by format and speed are in our format guide.
The vinyl
Colour is where budgets move fastest and where expectations most often need setting. A solid colour is a small step up from black. Splatter and marble are a different order of cost and handling, and they behave differently copy to copy. A picture disc is its own thing again, closer to a print product than to a pressing. What each one means in practice is below.
| Option | Choices | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 140 g standard · 180 g heavyweight | Mass and warp resistance, not sound — the same master off the same stamper sounds the same either way. 180 g is a 12″ option; 10″ and 7″ press at their own standard weights. |
| Black | — | The cheapest, the most widely available and the most predictable. Every plant runs it. |
| Solid colour | Opaque or transparent | A modest per-copy uplift, often with a one-off changeover fee. Availability of a specific shade varies by plant. |
| Splatter, marble, multi-colour | — | Costs meaningfully more and typically adds a week or two to the run. Every copy differs by nature — that is what the effect is, not a defect, and it can't be matched to a reference image copy for copy. |
| Picture disc | — | Available on request. Minimum quantities are higher than for standard pressings and the format is a visual one first — it is not the choice for a club-facing record. |
Colour effects are also what moves a release from our Standard to our Complex tier — see pricing for how that works.
Labels and packaging
| Option | Choices | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Outer sleeve | Printed single pocket · gatefold · plain or disco bag | Usually the largest packaging line in a quote. A gatefold is a different board construction, not a printed variation on a single sleeve, and moves the release to the Complex tier. |
| Inner sleeve | Plain white · poly-lined · printed | A separate line from the outer sleeve and easy to forget at brief stage. Poly-lined inners are a real per-copy cost and their absence is a real complaint at delivery. |
| Centre labels | Printed or plain · one colour or full colour · same or different artwork per side | Print colour count is a cost line of its own. Plain or white-label pressings are a legitimate choice, not a downgrade. |
| Inserts | Printed insert, booklet, download card | Each is a separate print item with its own artwork, its own template and its own proof. |
| Shrinkwrap and stickers | Shrinkwrap · hype sticker · obi | Small per-copy costs, worth deciding at brief stage rather than after the sleeves are printed. |
| Dead wax etching | A short line in the run-out groove | Cut into the master, so it appears on every copy. Some plants include a short etching, others charge for it. Confirmed in your quote before you commit. |
Artwork templates come from the plant, not from us — bleed, spine width and trim differ between plants and between formats, so nothing is designed to a generic template. What EU product safety rules require on the sleeve is covered in our GPSR guide.
Run size
Our range is short runs from 50 to 300 copies, and that is where the sourcing work pays for itself. Below 50, pressing is the wrong tool: cutting and plating are paid once whatever the run size, so the setup swamps the per-copy price. Above 300 the project carries more money and more risk and we quote it individually.
Plant minimums are a separate constraint from ours and they move: some plants take 50, some floor at 100, and at least one won't quote black below 200. Colour finishes often carry their own higher minimum than black at the same plant. Where the real floors sit across the EU is in our guide to minimum order quantities.
What we don't do
Worth being explicit, because it saves a round of email.
- Mastering. You supply a vinyl-ready master. We check it against the chosen plant's spec, and if it isn't ready we bring in a mastering engineer and keep it inside the project rather than sending you off to find one.
- Artwork design. You make every design decision. We check what you send against the plant's template and tell you what needs fixing; the technical prep — CMYK conversion, bleed, template fit — is available as a fixed-fee add-on if you'd rather not do it yourself.
- Runs under 50 and single dubplates. Pressing doesn't fit these, and we say so rather than quoting something that makes no sense.
- Distribution, storage and promotion. After delivery the records and the revenue are yours.
How these options reach a quote
Every option on this page ends up in one written specification, and that specification is what goes to plants — the same brief to each of them, which is the only way the quotes that come back are comparable. Change something after the quotes are in and it may mean re-quoting; change it after production starts and some things can't be changed at all.
You don't need to have decided everything before you get in touch. "Not sure yet" is an answer on most of these, and working out which choice fits the release is part of the job. What matters is that the decisions are made deliberately and written down before anything reaches a plant, rather than assumed.
Not sure which combination fits your release? The release planner takes these options and gives you an indicative budget, a break-even figure and a production calendar, with no sign-up and no contact with a plant. When you're ready for real numbers, send us the spec and we'll come back with one consolidated quote.