Published
Fri, Jan 7, 2022, 15:45
- The new press will guarantee fast turnaround times for orders of between 25 and 100 records.
Taiwan-based pressing plant Mobineko is launching a new service called Mobineko Express, designed for limited pressings and fast turnaround times of four to eight weeks.
The new press, which Mobineko has designed and built, will be available for orders of between 25 and 100 records and, to begin with, will be offered to existing Mobineko members.
"These presses are special because it can take anything from an hour upwards to change tooling and prepare for a new order on a traditional record press," Mobineko founder Richard Dron told Resident Advisor. "Then you have to wait for the press to warm up and run a few dozen records before you start getting acceptable quality. Obviously it's a big issue wasting all of that time and PVC on a small order of 50 or 100 which is why most plants won't even think about pressing fewer than 500. Our new presses are designed to have tooling that's very fast to change over and they auto-calibrate so the first record is perfect even running from a cold start."
Dron also told RA that Mobineko was one of the first pressing plants to commit to orders of fewer than 300. "I have always firmly believed this is the future of vinyl and the industry needs to look after small artists to survive long term," he said.
Based on the limits on numbers, Mobineko is confident that the plant can sustainably maintain a turnaround time of four to eight weeks from the order date.
"Usually it's the big labels pushing out small artists at big pressing plants," Dron added. "So I have to admit it's kind of fun turning this on its head and offering a service strictly for the smaller labels."
Sign up for early access. Mobineko Express will start in a few months time.