Lowlathe Pressworks · Ghent · Est. 2014
Pressedin plainsight.
We press records for independent labels and the bands behind them, and every order gets a live line into the plant. Scroll to follow one record from master to test pressing.
01 — Lacquer
Cut into lacquer.
Your master is cut in real time on our 1978 lathe into a soft nitro lacquer. One pass, no undo. The engineer watches the groove under a microscope as it spirals in.
Side A · 19:42 · 112 lines/cm
02 — Plating
Grown in nickel.
The lacquer is silvered and bathed in nickel for eleven hours. What lifts off is a negative: the stamper, with ridges where your grooves were.
Father → mother → 2 stampers
03 — Biscuit
A puck of colour.
Tangerine PVC pellets are melted and extruded into a 180 g biscuit, then dropped between the two labels while it is still soft.
160 °C · 180 g · Batch T-07
04 — Press
150 tonnes, 28 seconds.
Steam heats the stampers, the press closes, and the biscuit flows into every groove of both sides at once. Then cold water locks it in.
Press 3 of 6 · cycle 28 s
05 — Trim
Edge, trimmed.
The overflow ring, the flash, is cut away while the record is warm and goes straight back into the hopper. Nothing tangerine leaves as waste.
2.1 g flash → regrind
06 — Listen
Then we listen.
Every fiftieth record is played start to finish on a reference deck, both sides. You get the test pressing in the post before the run ships.
Noise floor −62 dB · approved
LOWLATHEThe MarramSalt HoursSide A · 33⅓
Cutting head · 0.3 mm stylus
Stamper · 0.42 mm nickel
Biscuit · still soft at 160 °C
Steam in · 182 °C
Flash ring · cut warm
Reference deck · side A