Frequently Asked Questions
Your Vinyl Mastering and Cutting Queries Answered
At Side By Side Music, we combine state-of-the-art technology with a deep passion for analog craftsmanship. Our Neumann VMS 80 cutting lathe and experienced engineers ensure that your music is brought to life on vinyl with unparalleled precision and care.
We offer both digital mastering and specialized vinyl mastering services. Our skilled engineers meticulously optimize your audio to sound its best, whether it’s for digital distribution or the unique characteristics of vinyl.
Vinyl cutting is the art of transforming your music into grooves on a lacquer disc. Our Neumann VMS 80 lathe etches these grooves with utmost precision, ensuring that every nuance of your sound is faithfully captured. It’s a delicate process that requires skill and finesse.
Mastering is the final step in polishing a completed mix, optimizing it for distribution. Stem mixing, on the other hand, involves mixing individual track elements or “stems” to achieve the desired balance and cohesion. We offer both services to help you achieve your ideal sound.
The timeline can vary depending on the complexity of the project and the production queue. Generally, from the moment we receive your master, it takes about 4-6 weeks for cutting, electroplating, test pressing approval, and final production.
Test pressings are the first vinyl samples produced from your master. They allow you to physically hear how your music translates to the vinyl format. We send you these tests for approval before proceeding with the full production run to ensure you’re completely satisfied with the sound quality.
While we don’t directly handle distribution, we have established partnerships with reliable distribution companies worldwide. We’re happy to connect you with these partners to help get your vinyl records into the hands of your fans globally.
We recommend providing high-resolution audio files (WAV or AIFF) with a minimum of 16-bit depth and 44.1kHz sample rate. It’s best to send your mixes without any processing (EQ, compression, limiting) as this allows our engineers more flexibility in the mastering process.
We welcome clients to attend sessions at our studio. It’s a great opportunity to collaborate directly with our engineers and provide input in real-time. However, due to high demand, we recommend scheduling your attendance well in advance.
The choice of lacquer is critical in vinyl cutting. Different lacquer formulas have unique characteristics that can affect the sound and the cutting process. At Side By Side Music, we use the highest-grade lacquers that offer the best possible frequency response, noise floor, and cutting behavior, ensuring optimal results.
Yes, we can combine tracks from different projects or sessions onto a single vinyl record. This is often done for compilation albums or artist showcase releases. Our engineers will work with you to ensure that the tracks are sequenced and mastered cohesively for the best possible listening experience.
While our standard production timeline is 6-8 weeks, we understand that some projects may have tight deadlines. In such cases, we offer rush service options for an additional fee. Our team will work diligently to meet your timeline requirements without compromising on quality.