In the beginning of May 2018, the entire maPlatine.com team had the chance of being invited by M Com’ Musique, a vinyl record pressing company, to discover their factory. We were also able to discover the manufacturing process of a vinyl record.
Discovery of M Com’ Musique’s factory
Located in Orgères, a few kilometers away from Rennes, France, it only took us a couple of minutes to get to M Com’ Musique’s factory. We were welcomed by the two founders of M Com’ Musique, Mickael and Antoine, as well as Alex and Aline, two employees of M Com’ Musique.
The vinyl record press machines
A few months ago, M Com’ Musique only had a manual press machine in order to press vinyl records. During our visit, we were able to discover this press machine. Mickael and Antoine explained to us that they entirely built this machine by themselves and with second hand components! Hats off to them! With this manual press machine, they had to press each vinyl record one by one. They still managed to make around 80 vinyl records every hour.
Recently, M Com’ Musique purchased an automatic vinyl record press machine! This machine is surrounded by a glass cabinet and we were therefore able to see how this machine functioned, and especially the different steps in order to press a vinyl record. This automatic machine manages to press around 150 vinyl records every hour.
Storage and Recycling of material
In its raw form, vinyl comes in the form of small PVC beads. In M Com’ Musique’s stock, there are of course black vinyl beads, so characteristic of vinyl records. There are also other colours: transparent, red, blue… These colours enable the manufacturing of coloured vinyl records!
And at M Com’ Musique everything is recycled! Indeed, the company recycles the vinyl surplus once the vinyl record is made in the automatic press machine. Or, for example, when the press machine encounters a problem and the vinyl record is scratched, M Com’ Musique also recycles these vinyl records. Everything is ground in a machine dedicated for this and will then be reused to make diverse vinyl objects.
Manufacturing of a vinyl record
There are several essential steps in order to make a vinyl record. During our visit at M Com’ Musique’s factory, we were able to obtain more information on how a vinyl record was made. In the video below, find out how M Com’ Musique makes a LP in five steps.
As you can see, making a vinyl record is not as easy as you think… A big round of applause to M Com’ Musique for their work of high quality! We can only be proud of the “Made in France” 😉
Once again, a big thank you to M Com’ Musique’s team for welcoming us and for this visit which was enriching!
If you wish to find out more about the history of M Com’ Musique, do not hesitate to read the interview with Antoine, the co-founder of the company.