Preparing for vinyl release.

[Absorb]

I have some questions here, i really can´t figure it out.
Somebody told me that you shall put the bass/everything under 300 or 400Hz in mono. And the rest is no matter.
If this is correct, wich i dont doubt. How do i proceed? I have some clue´s but...i think they are odd or just plain stoopid/wrong

So, if somebody has some experience, please feel free to enlighten us!

I do understand if you don´t want to tell the public about you "magic touches/and tricks" but then, keep it to yourself. I respect that.

I have tried to search, but dont really find something like this.


Edit: On a second thought, better leave it to the experts at the vinyl-plant perhaps...

[Measax]

I have never release on vinyl...but I have friends who have and told me a lot...yeah bass up the middle...mono not sure what the hz is but it is in 300 area...reason why...digital is different from vinyl. when they cut the vinyl the mastering is totally different...the mastering guy who cuts your track will be the one to ask these questions too...but I know they have very little bass in the master the cut for vinyl....other wise the needle would jump like crazy....fyi...so yeah all is correct there...just make your bass in mono and all effect on bass mono...kick drums should be in mono...cut the vocals up the middle if you can as as well....vocal rang can be fairly low as well...not too sure about those....usually if something is going to get pressed they will let you know what needs to be done though...

[Torque]

You don't have to have the bass in mono, just don't pan it or the kick or the needle will tend to jump out of the groove. The only problem your low end could give you is if you use alot of square waves in your bass sound because that will tend to make the needle jump out of the groove as well because the needle has a hard time sliding over them. If you huave a problem like this you should go and tweak your synth and put a saw, triangle or sine wave as the lowest frequencies in your bass sound.
On the high end of the mix make sure you don't have too many freqencies over 16,000 htz because the person that cuts the record will have to roll off of anything higher than that to put it on vinyl and you don't want to get the record back and be like "what the fck happened to my mix?!"

Don't overdue it on compression on the mixdown because the mastering technician will probably have to limit it in order to get it up to the right DB and you don't want to kill all the dynamics.

On vinyl:
If you have a mixdown that isn't very good it's better to choose the heavy vinyl because it will make it sound bigger. The thing that sucks is that thick records wear out quicker because you need heavier weight on the needle to get down into the groove.
Thinner records are better for really good thick sounding mixes and the records last longer.

the vinyl myth:
Contrary to popular belief virgin vinyl is not the best. The best mixture is 10% re-grind and 90% virgin vinyl. Virgin vinyl is very soft and will wear out quick and does not sound as tight on the highs. The 10% re-grind will take care of this problem and make sure your records last a long time and it's also cheaper.

cutting machines:
In europe they use machines that have floating heads which are great for cutting LP's but not so great for singles. They have a really good sound in the highs but sometimes lack definition in the low end.
In Detroit we use stationary heads which have extrememly good definition on the lows and were originally made to cut singles. They aren't as good on the highs as the european guys have but the bass is killer.

colored vinyl:
Different colors have different sound characteristics. Blue and Red vinyl have extremely brutal highs. Yellow vinyl is crap IMO, i wouldn't wipe my ass with it. The best bet is always black, it has the warmest sound.

that's all i can think of right now

[plaster]

torque=knowledge

[harass]

nice topic, thanks for the insight Torque

[Robot Criminal]

whoa u really know your vinyl.

but what about the frequencies? And I've heard actually u can pan the low end to some extent (if its mono?) but no wide stereo or phase shifting in bass. Innit?

[Torque]

I'm sure you can to a certain degree but why the hell would you really need to anyways? What's the point? In a club there is really no way for them to be able to pay attention to your cool panning bass anyways. I never realy thought phase shifting or really wide stero on the bass makes much sense in a mix down anyways because it would leave a hole in the stereo field. "Don't fck around with the low end" is the general rule. It's hard enough to get good definition on the lows already without having to worry about panning it etc....

[Measax]

I'd put my bass in mono...stereo could be panned before you ever touch it....