Located at 7401 E Davison Street on Detroit's East Side (Detroit, MI 48212) is Archer Recoding Pressing. A very unassuming building, both outside and inside, Archer Record Pressing is among a relatively small number of vinyl record pressing plants left in the world. Archer Record Pressing was started in 1965 and thus celebrates its 50th year of operations at the time this article was written. The business has remained family owned the entire time, now by third generation Archer, Mike Archer.
Archer Recoding Pressing was the first and remains the only vinyl record pressing plant in Detroit. Nevertheless, the company regularly turns away away business. The Archer's say cassette tapes in the 1980s nearly put them out of business, but the techno and electronic movement founded in Detroit in the mid and late 1980s brought a reassurance to vinyl needed by DJs.
Because of Archer Record Pressing's 50 year history and Detroit's reputation as the birthplace of techno, they are well-known around the world and get requests for pressing from Japan, Amsterdam, Russia, South America, Berlin, and London to name just a few. DJ Andy Garcia said in an interview that every good record he bought had the with ARP (Archer Record Pressing) stamp on it which was like a holy stamp indicating you had the record made the right way. Mike mentioned in an interview they try to focus on local requests from Detroit first.
One interview cited Archer Record Pressing as pressing 15,000-20,000 albums per week. The price list for a pressing is located here (7" and 12"). Another interesting aspect of vinyl record pressing is that machines are extremely difficult to purchase these days as no one has made them since the 1970s which makes new business entries into the industry difficult. Technical support is also not available; Mike learned it being in the family business.
Click here to watch a great video on Archer Record Pressing
Web articles on Archer Record Pressing
Archer Recoding Pressing web site - Includes video on company
Vimeo video on Archer Pressing
Some records produced at Archer Record Pressing
Detroit News article on Archer Pressing
Yelp page on Archer Pressing
Metro Times article on Archer Pressing
blog.afropop.org article on Archer Pressing - contains audio interview with owner Mike Archer.
Discogs page on albums pressed at Archer Record Pressing
thetakeaway.org article on Archer Pressing - includes audio interview with Joe Archer
Audio interview with Mike Archer
detroittechnohouse.com article on Archer Record Pressing
Article on Archer Pressing from Zatoon.co
Vinyl record pressing plans around the world
Archer Pressings - Discography
Wikipedia article on Detroit Techno and History
Article in the roots of techno and Detroit
The 10 best early Detroit techno tracks, according to Kevin Saunderson
The 10 Best Detroit Techno Documentaries Ever
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