The Idiot's Guide to Pressing Plants, Engineers, etc.

[MikeH]

IN PROGRESS

Will update this to include older pressings plants later. For now, just for mostly new vinyl.

Best Plants
QRP, RTI, Record Industry, Gotta Groove

Tier 1: Next Level - great track records
Pallas (consistency fell off during pandemic), Furnace, Paramount Pressing (new plant, too early to tell), Fidelity (new plant, too early to tell), Garcia & Co (used by Sam Records, too early to tell), Optimal


Tier 2: Proceed with Caution:
Third Man (borderline Avoid to me...)


Avoid: United, Rainbo, IRP, PRP, NRP

 

[MikeH]

RECOMMENDED ENGINEERS LIST:
list taken from discord recommendations that I mostly agree with

God Level
Kevin Gray, Bernie, Ryan Smith, Van Gelder, Bob Ludwig, Nilesh Patel (RIP), Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab)

Tier 1: Next Level - incredible work, perfect track records
Matt Colton (if not above), Tim Young, Andreas Kauffelt, John GOLDEN, Simon Francis, Chris Bellman, Joe Nino-Hernes, Lee Hulko (founder of STERLING Sound), KENDUN, Dubplates & Mastering (anything cut there), Record Industry / Sony/CBS, Haarlem in house cuts, Matt Lutthans

Tier 2: Inconsistent Greatness - Capable of greatness level and often so, but also some mid cuts
Ric Essig, Michael Sarsfield, Pete Lyman, Walter Coelho, Daniel Krieger, Carl Saff, John Dent, Ron McMaster, Lex van Coeverden, The Exchange (most things cut here), Cicely Balston, Anne-Marie Suenram, Krieg Wunderlich, Josh Bonati - Bonati Mastering, Heino Leja - Optimal in-house cut

Tier 2: Consistent solid - great, rarely exceptional (but not in a bad way) names to check for
GOLDEN (JJ, April), Dave Cheppa, Barry Grint, Cameron Henry, Alex Nimmermann, Moritz Illner, Carl Rowatti, Heino Leja, Beau Thomas, Sean Magee, Don Grossinger, Pete Norman, Adrian Barber, Allen Zentz, George Marino, Kassian, Porky, Ray Staff, Carlton Batts, Howard Craft, Guy Davie, Adam Gonsalves, Jason Mitchell, Carl Rowatti - Trutone Mastering Labs


Tier 3: Proceed with Caution:
Ian Sefchick, Phillip S. Rodriguez, , Randy Kling, Wes Garland, Miles Showell, Joe Reagoso, Dietrich Schoenemann - Complete Mastering (possibly due to bad pressing plants)

Gambles:
Generic GZ cuts, PRP/GZ

Avoid: Ray Janos, Dave Cooley, Ω, NRP, Bellman doing anything outside of Rock/Classic Rock, Kevin Reeves,

Cheat Codes:
Steve Hoffman + Kevin Gray
Anything plated by EG

Generic / In House cut Rankings:
Record Industry fka Sony/CBS, Haarlem
EMI Records
GZ
NRP
United

 

[Joe Mac]

Im not loving the shade thrown at the prime cuts!

 

[MikeH]

Im not loving the shade thrown at the prime cuts!

I guess Porky could move up a tier if you feel strongly about it...

 

[folsom_lives]

Out here naming NAMES!

 

[Joe Mac]

I’m also just going to say that while he might not be everyone’s cup of tea I’ve more CB pressings that I love than KPG ones…

 

[Joe Mac]

And can we have a “must be burned at the stake” section just for Vlado?

 

[Mather]

Petition to place Miles Showell firmly under the "Proceed with Caution" header.

 

[ngower]

Update the post with their discogs page, coward!

 

[LeeVing]

I think I'd avoid Cheppa and McMaster before I'd avoid Ray Janos.


Cheppa could just be bad because most of his releases were pressed at Rainbo, so they just inherently suck.

 

[LeeVing]

NRP and United are pretty much the same company - they share a building.

 

[avecigrec]

Wes Garland

Always makes me think of:

 

[MikeH]

I think I'd avoid Cheppa and McMaster before I'd avoid Ray Janos.


Cheppa could just be bad because most of his releases were pressed at Rainbo, so they just inherently suck.

Ray is mostly United which also sucks. I don't think I have had any "definitive" Janos cuts. Cheppa got a bad rap IMO because of the scorpio stuff. I think he has a lot of good hip hop cuts.

 

[MikeH]

I’m also just going to say that while he might not be everyone’s cup of tea I’ve more CB pressings that I love than KPG ones…

I think CB is really great at certain types of music.

Also you're biased because you hate jazz

 

[MikeH]

And can we have a “must be burned at the stake” section just for Vlado?

He didn't cut much right? This is just for lacquer cutters...

Petition to place Miles Showell firmly under the "Proceed with Caution" header.

good call. done.

 

[Joe Mac]

I think CB is really great at certain types of music.

Also you're biased because you hate jazz

Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate jazz, I don’t enjoy it, I hate some myopic jazz fans. And you’re all biased because of the jazz pressings, every sword has two edges.

 

[Joe Mac]

He didn't cut much right? This is just for lacquer cutters...

But can I still burn him at the stake? This is the burning question lf the day….

 

[MikeH]

Hate is a strong word. I don’t hate jazz, I don’t enjoy it, I hate some myopic jazz fans. And you’re all biased because of the jazz pressings, every sword has two edges.

fine. moved him up to tier 1...

 

[grendel627]

And I know MoFi has rightfully earned the ire of many for deceitful practices, but the Wunderlich cuts I have sound good to me. I'd rather see his name in the deadwax than McMaster's, whose cuts aren't bad but are often pretty generic and flat sounding to my ears.

 

[D Jilla]

A few other suggestions:

• Tier 2 - consistently solid - Anne-Marie Suenram
• Proceed with caution - Joe Reagoso
• Avoid unless doing oddball US Beatles records - Kevin Reeves

George Horn should probably be somewhere, but don't have a strong enough opinion to know where