This is exactly why I've bought a Phonocut too. Small label owner, doing small limited edition runs as a hobby rather than a business. This removes all lead times for me and seriously increases speed to market. It also means no wastage at all, I will literally cut to order. I think for anything over 30 copies it's the wrong tool.Shamax wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 7:21 pmI see Phonocut filling a very specific niche, and one that fits my situation pretty well. I run a very small label, and have put out a handful of cassettes, pressed LP's and lathe-cuts (most of them done by the folks here). I'd love to be able to source a good Presto, fit it with a Stereo cutter head and do all of my own cuts myself, but I don't have the up-front capital, the space, or the time to learn all of the specific wizardry that goes into rebuilding and maintaining a vintage lathe. With Phonocut I'll be able to make very short-run, handmade releases of demos, rehearsals, live recordings, or short EP's for my friends' projects. Being the closest thing I've seen to a turnkey solution means I can focus more on the packaging, art, and promo while still being somewhat DIY. I doubt I'd consider using Phonocut for anything over a pressing of 10 or 20 max, but that's what suits my situation perfectly.
My hope is that they'll still be able to find a good distributor to handle the blanks for customers in the US and Canada, so we don't get hit with the international shipping charges all the time. Even without that, though, it seems like it'll make a reasonably-priced handmade 10" for very short runs.
I'm UK based so also praying they get a UK distro deal on blanks as the shipping cost was silly to the UK too (considering at time of writing we're still in the EU).
Someone else mentioned printing sleeves, does anyone have any good tips for home set-ups (low runs) for that too? We want to go completely DIY if we can.
