How to Press Your Own Record: Vinyl for 1, Vinyl for All
Press at home or order from a plant.
3,0 / 5,0 | 
Whether for DJing, sampling, a keepsake or a gift, there are many reasons to press your own record. Here’s how.
How to Press Your Own Record
In the middle part of the 20th century, before cassettes were invented and certainly long before digital voice recordings were possible, people used to record voice messages on record. Voice-O-Graph was a press-your-own record service. They looked like phone booths but instead of a telephone inside there would be a microphone. Pay your money and the record would start cutting. When it was done, it would spit out the record for you to send off to your family or friends.
If this sounds like a lot of fun to you and the idea of cutting your own one-off record really appeals, then this story is for you. There are no more Voice-O-Graph booths left for public use but there are still ways to cut your own private press record, either at home or through a service.
Why press your own record? Well, there’s the voice message option but that’s largely unnecessary thanks to modern technology. However, if you’re a vinyl DJ there’s something to be said for having an exclusive on vinyl. You could also make your own custom scratch record with your favorite scratch sound all on one disc. Lo-fi music producers could use it as a way to impart some authentic vinyl noise to a sound before sampling. Lastly, you could press up a song and send it out as a way to get noticed by a record label – or even as a gift for a friend.
Always wanted to press your own record? Read on to find out how.
Press Your Own Record Option 1: Press it Yourself
Serious vinyl aficionados have all fantasized about it at some point: owning your own vinyl-cutting lathe. While professional record cutters are massive and massively expensive, there do exist a few consumer-grade options. One of these may be what you need to press your own record.
Teenage Engineering PO-80 Record Factory
By far the most affordable option is the PO-80 Record Factory from Teenage Engineering. A DIY kit, the PO-80 let’s you cut vinyl records from any audio source. It’s very lo-fi so don’t expect to be able to play these records out.
The PO-80 is actually licensed from a Japanese company called Gakken, who sells science-related kits. The science behind the technology is often as important as the product itself. This is a roundabout way of saying the PO-80 might be disappointing if you go in with inflated expectations – especially after paying $149. Listen to the audio examples on TE’s site (link below) and decide for yourself. I recommend using it as part of a lo-fi sampling process.
- Teenage Engineering PO-80 Record Factory product page
Phonocut
Phonocut is – in the words of the manufacturer – “a revolutionary precision machine to produce high quality records.” Place a blank disc on the turntable, connect an audio source, and press the start button. It’s as easy as that, apparently. The sound quality is surprisingly good (hear examples on the website, link below) and the package comes with the recorder, cartridge and five 10” blank records.
Phonocut is priced at €2499 (down from €2999), so it’s not cheap. It’s also not currently available. As of January 2022, the manufacturer projected that initial orders will “not be in your hands before the end of 2024 at the very earliest.”
On July 2 of this year, Phonocut updated its Kickstarter page with new photos so maybe things are moving ahead after all.
- Phonocut home page
Homegroove
Rather than supply a complete cutting machine, Homegroove instead is a record cutter that attaches to your existing turntable. If the final result looks a little janky, that’s because Homegroove is an open-source, DIY project projected to cost around $500 to complete the build.
The only problem? The link to the open-source website with project files is password protected. Bummer. Hopefully this will come back online at some point. It seems like an interesting option.
- Homegroove home page
Vestax VRX-2000
Originally released in 1999, Vestax’s VRX-2000 stood somewhere between consumer-grade curio and professional vinyl lathe. With a delicate sapphire cutting stylus plus a three-band EQ to compensate for extreme incoming signal curves, the cutter is a little more advanced than the items listed above.
Other functionality includes a built-in ionizer to reduce static build up, platter pitch adjust of +/- 10%, a manual rotation wheel to set the position of the cutting arm, plus VU meters to monitor the audio signal.
These don’t come up for sale often and when they do, they sell for big money. However, if you’re serious about cutting records, this is probably your best option without buying a full-on lathe.
- Vestax VRX-2000 product page
Press Your Own Record Option 2: Record-Cutting Plants
If all you want is your song on a record and aren’t interested in becoming a vinyl mastering engineer, there are a number of record-cutting plants that offer small batch and even single pressing services. Try one of these to press your own record.
Vinylify
Vinylify makes personalized vinyl records on demand. You supply the music and cover art and they’ll whip up a single 12” record for you. It costs $99 and you can choose between black, white and transparent vinyl, with up to 15 minutes of music per side.
This is a great option for gifts and vanity pressings.
- Vinylify home page
Cutsy
London-based Cutsy offers a similar service to Vinylify. “Your fully personalised record, sleeve and centre labels – produced in just seven days from £39.99.” There’s even a custom record builder on the web page to design your artwork.
Cutsy also offers traditional record pressing for orders of 50 or more.
- Cutsy home page
One Cut Vinyl
One Cut Vinyl handles single and small batch pressings including handmade sleeves. “Our bespoke professional service is ideal for all vinyl enthusiasts who require smaller quantities than pressing plants can handle,” the site says.
Cut One Vinyl offers a variety of sizes and colors, from 7” up to 12” at either 33 1/3 or 45 RPMs.
- One Cut Vinyl home page
Vinylacy
Want a picture disc or a record with an unusual shape? That’s possible at Vinylacy, where you choose size (7”, 10” or 12”), color (transparent or black), and shape (round, square or heart). Upload cover and center label art too.
They also offer gift cards for the vinyl-loving musician in your life.
- Vinylacy home page
Press Your Own Record: Turntable Recommendations
Ready to press your own record but don’t actually own a turntable? Here are a few recommendations to get your started.
More Information
- All about turntables
- All about DJing
This might also interest you
One response to “How to Press Your Own Record: Vinyl for 1, Vinyl for All”
These £50-£100 vinyl cutting services, it’d be nice if they sent you a pressing plate (dub plate), so that if the tune became popular, you could get 5000 copies pressed quickly. It’d be worth getting 10 promo copies pressed, and the dub plate, for £150 or so. Could see a service like that being a big hit with some musicians, who could later pass the dub plate on to a record company if they got some interest.