Unfortunately, we are unable to place an order of less than 250 vinyls or 100 CDs due to the market unsteadiness and shortages in materials.

We advise you to work closely with a professional sound engineer and graphic designer. Please download and carefully read our specification guide (see below) so that you can provide us with artworks and masters in the good format. Regarding artworks, we strongly advise you to check that their size is adapted to our template, colorimetry parameters and saturation to avoid too many back and forth with previews.

Our turnaround is, like for all vinyl pressing plants, fluctuant. We always focus to get the best turnaround time possible, and we are usually known as one of the quickest vinyl plants in the world. However please keep in mind that pressing vinyl record is a complicated process with a lot of unpredictable troubles which make small delays possible. Our vinyl manufacturing lead times are indicated on our homepage. Regarding CD orders, our manufacturing lead times are approximately 3 weeks. For both formats, please always plan your releases with a month of margin and note that the time taken for previews (or TPs for vinyl) approval is obviously not included in our announced lead times.

You must own the copyrights of the music and we need a Mechanical License to press your records, even for promotional CDs. From a legal perspective we are not allowed to launch your order before we have this license. You can request one from the copyright organization you are associated with, by example for France: SDRM, UK: PRS for Music, Germany: GEMA, Netherlands: BUMA.

The catalog number is a reference we use to classify the orders. You are free to choose it if your label did not already give you one. It can be for example the abbreviation of the name of the project/artist. Please make sure to use only capital letters, no space nor special characters.

In our standard production process, a % of the PVC waste in reuse for pressing. We can offer “eco vinyl” with a PVC 100% made of waste from standard pressing, but this has an impact on the quality of the record. Also, we can offer recycled paper for sleeves. Both options are on demand. We do not propose an eco-paper for labels, but our inks are environmentally friendly.

We are shipping Worlwide with TNT/FEDEX for pallet shipments, DHL and several local transport companies for packages. We highly recommend you choose to send it by pallet whenever possible to ensure that the products are received in perfect condition.

Custom duties should not applicable within the EU. All prices stated on our price lists, quotes and invoices do not include VAT (unless otherwise stated). Companies or individuals will be charged with French VAT at a rate of 20% in case of a delivery to France (on the exact number of Test Pressing and copies sent there). If the customer is based in Poland and ship his records to Poland, the 23% Polish VAT will be applied. For other destinations, VAT will remain 0%.

In this specific case, please contact your usual contact at KPM.

Usually, 12-inch vinyl record matches to 33rpm (Round Per Minute). This rotation speed fits to the size of a LP (long player or album) or EP (Extended Player). The 45rpm matches the 7-inch vinyl, mainly used for singles. A maxi-single or maxi-45 tours in France also exists, but it will lower the listening time. This particular format is usually addressed to electronic music.

12″ 33rpm: 19 :30 minutes per side 12″ 45rpm: 14 :30 minutes per side 10″ 33rpm: 13 :30 minutes per side 10″ 45rpm: 10 :00 minutes per side 7″ 33rpm: 6:30 minutes per side (not recommended because playback quality can be compromised) 7″ 45rpm: 5 :00 minutes per side

The risk of supplying a longer audio time is that it can alter audio quality but especially the volume. Basically, the longer the duration and the closer the grooves will be engraved from each other, and they will be shallower. And it is grooves depth and width which makes the volume. If you are not satisfied with the TP and that a new engraving is necessary because of the master’s length, this one will be at your charge as the recommended length is not respected. Moreover, a new engraving will affect overall lead time of your order.

Yes, the lacquer can be supplied by our clients, resulting in a reduction of the overall cost and lead times (by a few weeks). Supplying your own lacquer makes you responsible of damages due to transportation or when manipulating the lacquer at the factory (please refer to our general conditions). Please follow carefully the instructions on this page.

A test pressing is a sample of the production sent to you before the launch of the overall production. It allows you to check the quality of the stamper and to make sure your music sounds as good as your master file on a freshly pressed record. In order to avoid any confusion / misunderstanding, we always strongly recommend you to order test pressing. Indeed, 99% of our orders include them. By receiving test pressing, you can check the audio quality before launching the whole production. We always send a minimum of 5 tests pressing and recommend you ship them to a single address so that you can compare the sound on all 5. If you decide not to order test pressing, we won't be able to accept claims regarding the audio quality resulting from the cutting.

We provide our clients a quote with a minimum of 5 tests pressings. More tests pressing can be expected if you desire to, but it will add an extra cost. Test pressings can be shipped in a different place than the overall order. We recommend shipping the 5 TP to the same address. We cannot send less than 5 TP as this number will allow you to notice if there are scratches or defaults on one or many TP.

We recommend you to listen to the test pressing on a high end turntable containing a high quality cartridge and stylus and to clean these before listening as well. You want to make sure you get as much quality as possible. You can also listen to them on different audio systems to be sure about the quality.

Listen to the test pressing on different audio systems and try another cartridge or stylus in order to make sure the problem is not in the equipment. If the issue is still present on the record, please contact us so we can provide you with answers, improve the pressing and if needed proceed to a new test pressing production.

Generally, we cut by default to the level of 0VU, it is standard procedure. It brings to minimum the chance of distortions for most of turntables. The general rule is that the longer audio is the quieter it can be cut. If you need a loud cut, the standard time must be shortened according that rule. Also, master must be prepared in the appropriate way. No peaks and relatively same volume among all tracks.

Cutting in loud cut is only done on customer's wish. It is designed for specific kind of music, like club music. We are not obligated to evaluate provided materials in terms of music genre, so please, ask for a loud cutting if your record is DJ-oriented. This also implies that audio material should initially be prepared for it.

Yes, we can send you stampers with final order, once the production is finished (shipment involves additional cost). It’s important to notice that according to the initial order, stampers can be produced in 1 step (order <1000pcs) or 2 steps (family process from 1000pcs). Hence, stampers produced in 1 step have a limited lifespan. You can request a family process while placing your order even if it’s under 1000pcs, in case you wish to reused stampers for several represses for example. Also, please note that stampers wear out during pressing (depending on the pre-set quantity). We cannot guarantee the optimal quality of the returned stampers (especially the 1 step).

Even though vinyl used to have a major difference in audio quality depending on their colors, it is now very difficult to notice this difference thanks to the better PVC quality. Moreover, many other variables can have a greater impact on the audio quality ; such as the mastering process, the electroplating or the stamper manufacturing.

We can propose two different sizes, 7-inches (17,8 cm), 10-inches (25,4 cm) or 12-inches (30 cm standard format). The 12’ format is available in 140 or 180g, 10’ in 110g and 7’ format in 36g. The colors options are available here. Moreover, special effects are possible (with a maximum of 5 colors) such as marbled and splatter. Check our color chart below!

We always send digital previews to check that the artworks fit the templates and will look as you imagined.

If necessary, you or your graphist have three free back and forth which are included in all orders with our graphic department, until all previews are approved by you. Extra correction by our department (if possible) or extra back and forth will be charged. Please note that artworks cannot be changed after all previews and tests pressing are approved, as the whole production start at this point.

Please read our guide here, we recommend working with a graphic designer specialized in supplying artworks prepared for print.

DDPi stands for 'Disk Description Protocol Image' and is the most reliable medium for delivering Masters to the factory for pressing. In basic terms, the DDPi consists of a group of files that contain all the audio and relevant meta-data which make up your CD. For all CD order with KPM, compliant material required is DDPi files. We can take in charge WAV conversion into DDPi, this will generate a cost and additional document to be provided with WAV files.

The maximum audio duration on CD is 74 min.

Yes! Please do not hesitate to contact us for any other special request that may not be written on our product catalogue.

We always send digital previews to check that the artworks fit the templates and will look as you imagined. We can send print proof as well for a surcharge if you need it.

If necessary, you or your graphist have three free back and forth which are included in all orders with our graphic department, until all previews are approved by you. Extra correction by our department (if possible) or extra back and forth will be charged. Please note that artworks cannot be changed after all previews and tests pressing are approved, as the whole production start at this point.

Please read our guide here, we recommend working with a graphic designer specialized in supplying artworks prepared for print.

You can contact us or directly the carrier in question to open a claim. Please do it as quickly as possible after the delivery, as there is a limited time to open a claim to a carrier.

You have 30 days after the delivery to make a claim. Then, the Kuroneko team would make anything possible to come up with a solution that fits both parties.