How Vinyl Record Jackets are made: Inside Disc Makers

A look inside the Disc Makers factory and how vinyl record jackets are made. See how premium coatings, precision die-cutting, and expert craftsmanship turn your design into a show-stopping vinyl package.

How Vinyl Record Jackets are made: Inside the Disc Makers factory

by Tony van Veen via Disc Makers Blog

Ever wonder what goes into making a record jacket? In this article, I’ll share how we make your record jackets at Disc Makers (and why they look so good). The whole process starts when you upload your graphic files to your Disc Makers account dashboard. As soon as you upload those art files, you’ll receive an instant digital proof to review and approve.

Unlike at other pressing plants, you don’t have to wait two, three, sometimes five days to get approval for your jacket. As I said, our proof is instant. Then, once you’ve approved that proof, our prepress team will give your files an extra review before we schedule your jackets to be printed. If there’s anything preventing your record jackets from looking great, we’ll let you know.

Printing quality

The printing quality of your jackets is essential if you want to make a splash with your record as an independent artist. Since many of our artists want small quantities — 100, 200, 300 records — at budget-friendly prices, we start our jacket manufacturing process with digital printing on super high-quality HP Indigo presses. These presses, with their HP ElectroInk, deliver a level of detail and clarity of the printed image that just can’t be matched by jackets printed with inkjet technology. Once the jackets are printed, the next step is coating.

This is a bit of the secret sauce — why our jackets look so amazing. The coating process lays a clear protective layer on top of the printed surface of your jacket to protect it from scuffing during repeated handling.

We offer three coating options. There’s standard aqueous (or water-based) coating for a medium gloss satin finish, and my favorite is the super high-gloss UV coating. We also offer a silky matte UV coating, which is really nice for certain types of design. To me, the UV coatings in particular make your jacket look amazing, and most other companies charge hundreds extra for the UV finish. But since we know you’re not made of money, you save big on UV-coated jackets from Disc Makers, so you can actually afford these amazing-looking record jackets.

After the printed sheets are coated, we die-cut the sheets to trim off the unprinted edges. This is done with a die that cuts out the exact shape of the jacket and the glue flaps that fold — comparable to a very fancy cookie cutter. The jackets get fed into the die cutter, which cuts one sheet at a time and adds scores for where the jacket needs to fold. Once the sheets are die-cut, it’s time to make the jackets.
This is done on an automated high-speed folder-gluer. Flat, die-cut sheets are loaded on one side and are fed down belts to a spot where glue is sprayed onto the glue flaps, after which the jackets are folded. The jacket is then held together by a slower-moving compression belt until the glue is dry enough to put them in a carton, waiting for the records to be inserted. Did you know there were this many steps to making a simple record jacket?

Ordering your record jackets

At Disc Makers, we press custom vinyl records and offer several options for record jackets. You can choose a Euro jacket, a standard jacket with a spine, or a deluxe gatefold jacket. It’s all about protecting your record, letting the artwork shine, and boosting your brand.

When it comes to quality, we’re not kidding around — because we know you have to look good. When you are ready to get your music pressed on vinyl, check us out at discmakers.com. We’re here for you.

Step inside our manufacturing facility to see how we make our record jackets:

Tony van Veen is the CEO of DIY Media Group, the parent company of Disc Makers and BookBaby. As a college student, he played in indie bands, created his own LPs, cassettes, and t-shirts, and sold them at shows. Today, he collects CDs, vinyl LPs, and concert t-shirts to support the artists he loves.