Josh Doherty: “When you’re getting a record made, the first thing that happens is you go and get a lacquer cut. To start off it’s probably explaining how a record is pressed for anyone who might not know. We spoke to Josh Doherty, aka artist and label owner Posthuman and an Account Manager at Mobineko, about how vinyl production ended up in its current state, how the new machines work, and the impact the pressing plant might have on the industry. Mobineko - a Tawainese pressing plant - is attempting to solve the problem, with a new pressing machine that can turn short runs around in as little as four weeks.

Add to that a fire that caused Apollo Masters - a major lacquer manufacturing plant - to close down in 2020 and labels are seeing wait times of more than six months for pressing vinyl. The technology continues to age, while demand is nearing levels not seen since the ’80s, with major labels re-pressing classics to sell to a new, younger market - at the time of writing Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ sits number one in the Billboard vinyl chart.Ī larger number of titles doing shorter runs has also been a factor, meaning plants are struggling to press as many records a day with increased changeovers cutting into their running time. But behind the scenes, manufacturing is plagued with delays, increased shipping costs and backlogs. In fact, 2021 saw vinyl sales hit their highest level in three decades.

Every year, new numbers are released showing the format’s strength and resilience continues. On the surface, the good news keeps coming for vinyl.

Dub plate pressing