A beautiful incursion into The Vinyl Factory‘s manufacturing unit, where you can see the vintage vinyl manufacturing process in action.
According to The Vinyl Factory:
All our vinyl is created using the classic EMI 1400 Press at the original EMI vinyl pressing plant at Hayes, Middlesex, a century-old landmark in British manufacturing. Our paper stocks are individually sourced and hand-chosen, while our print techniques combine tradition with modernity to create beautifully-produced collectors items.
The Vinyl Factory was established in 2003 when the company acquired EMI’s vinyl pressing plant in Hayes. The plant now presses over 50% of the UK’s vinyl. In addition to high end special editions, The Vinyl Factory group also includes gallery spaces in central London, an independent music & arts magazine and website (FACT) and record shop (Phonica).
via Califaudio
An interesting little film. I stated work aged 16, in the Works Laboratory EMI. in 1944. The laboratory was at the end of a long corridor from the press room, and the roller room where the shellac material was made, and all the raw materials were tested for quality in this lab.
As this was wartime, The glass roof of the building had been blacked out, so no daylight got into any part of the factory. My recollection is of a vast dimly lit complex of rooms, with the black dust from the shellac material covering everything. The rest of the huge factory site was mainly given over to wartime production, the cabinet factory, originally producing the beautiful veneered cabinets for radiograms, now produced wings for the Dehavilland Mosquito aircraft, while all kinds of equipment for the armed forces was produced in other parts of the plant.