Test pressings let you review the record before production. Learn what to listen for, how to report faults and who pays for recutting or new stampers.
A test pressing is the final shared checkpoint before the full production run. It is not a souvenir or another demo: it lets us check that your final submitted audio has been transferred correctly to vinyl.
What does a test pressing tell you?
Test copies are pressed using the production metalwork. They let you check sound, side and track order, transitions and playback. The stamper is the metal part that forms the grooves in the vinyl during pressing. Cutting and stamper manufacture have already taken place by this point.
Under Hanaton’s manufacturing terms, we supply three black test copies with test-pressing labels. They do not approve the final vinyl colour, pattern or printed packaging. Artwork needs a separate approval.
How to listen
- Use a clean record, a clean undamaged stylus and a correctly adjusted turntable. Set tracking force according to the cartridge manufacturer’s instructions.
- Listen to both sides of one copy in full at the specified 33⅓ or 45 RPM. Checking favourite passages is not enough.
- Compare against the final submitted master and cue sheet: correct version, sides, complete track list, beginnings, endings, pauses and transitions.
- Listen for distortion, unusual noise, repeated clicks, skipping or sticking. Check any suspect passage on the other test copies.
- If possible, repeat the check on another correctly set-up turntable. Contamination or a playback-system problem can also cause symptoms.
Vinyl is not a silent medium. A click alone does not identify the source of a problem. Nor does a problem affecting only one copy prove that everything is acceptable: document it and contact us. See our quality standards for the assessment criteria.
Found a problem? Send us these details
Do not approve the test pressing while an issue remains unresolved. Email info@hanaton.hu with:
- Artist, album and catalogue number, plus the disc identification if readable.
- Side, track and exact timestamp, with a brief description of what you hear or see.
- Which test copies are affected and whether the problem repeats at the same location.
- The turntable and cartridge used, and whether you reproduced it on another system.
- A short audio or video recording where possible, and whether the same issue is audible in the submitted master.
When is a recut needed, and when is a new stamper enough?
We first locate the cause. Not every problem requires restarting the entire manufacturing process.
- The submitted master or final track sequence changes: the affected side needs a new cut, new metalwork and a new stamper. A replacement audio file cannot simply be uploaded into an existing groove.
- The cut is faulty: a recut and new metalwork are needed, followed by new test pressings.
- The stamper is faulty but an earlier metal part remains usable: a replacement stamper may be made from that part without another cut.
- The issue arose during pressing: we correct the affected production conditions and make new test copies. This does not automatically require replacing the cut or stamper.
Who pays for the correction?
If the error is in the materials you supplied, you pay for the correction. If we caused the error in production, we cover the correction. We determine responsibility by checking the submitted source, agreed specification and investigation results.
For example, accidentally supplying the wrong mix, a defect already present in the master or requesting a content change after cutting makes the necessary recut and replacement stamper a customer cost. We correct a confirmed production defect introduced by us from suitable source materials without charge and provide new tests. We agree the scope and price of any chargeable change with you before proceeding.
Written approval releases the production run
Once you are satisfied, approve the test pressing in writing, preferably by email, identifying the album and catalogue number. This also accepts the sound quality to be reproduced. Following a correction, the replacement tests need checking and approval too. Feedback and correction time affect the schedule, so avoid fixing a release date around an unresolved approval.
See sections 3–5 of the Hanaton manufacturing terms for the detailed conditions. Next: How your record is made · Audio preparation · Cue sheet generator.