Vinyl loves your music exactly as it is
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After dozens of exceptionally well-executed, high-quality vinyl projects, I need to address the following: vinyl loves your music exactly as it is. I’m not saying vinyl is limitless, but with careful evaluation, most music needs no compromises in the transfer. Your highs, mids, lows, your stereo image, compression, loudness, quietness, dynamics… almost every nuance transfers perfectly to vinyl.
Modifying your digital audio to fit random specs from online sources typically damages your music’s character: 90% of these suggestions can be completely nonsensical in your specific case. Your artistic aesthetic doesn’t need “fixing.” Many tracks transfer without any modifications at all.
We — engineers handling digital files as the final format — create pre-masters in the vinyl process, not masters in their original meaning. What really happens in pre-mastering: we handle the digital source to make the cutting engineer’s job easier for a quicker, smoother transfer.
The true master for vinyl is created when the cutting engineer cuts the lacquer. Anyone offering “vinyl mastering” without a cutting lathe is being misleading.