Guide: Vinyl Compound Explained

At Precision Record Pressing, we work with a wide range of colored vinyl compounds that enable complex color and effect applications.

Black vinyl records have always been the predominant color, but with modern pressing capabilities, there are far more options available. At PRP we have hundreds of colors and effects available to both independent and major artists and labels, all thanks to one key ingredient: vinyl compound.

What Is Vinyl Compound?

Today, records are made from pellets containing polyvinyl chloride (PVC), rather than wax or shellac. With modern playback technology and the renewed demand for physical media, PVC has become the industry standard for record manufacturing because it balances flexibility during pressing with long-term durability.

Why Is PVC Ideal For Vinyl Pressing?

Heated PVC softens to evenly imprint stamper details, such as grooves and decorative etchings. It cools quickly and becomes rigid and durable. These physical properties are essential for maintaining consistent, high-volume production.

Raw PVC pellets are naturally colorless and translucent, providing a blank slate for color and effect innovation. When treated with pigments and additives, raw PVC pellets can produce compounds with varying densities, opacities, hues, and material behaviors. Each of these characteristics influences how a vinyl record looks when pressed.

Reducing Vinyl Waste

At PRP, measures are built into our workflows to divert trimming waste (also known as flash) and rejected records back into production, creating a more closed-loop approach to waste reduction. Each automatic press has built-in grinders that collect ‘flash’ and reuse it during the same press run.

PRP also offers Eco Mix vinyl, which takes this process a step further by incorporating all waste from the pressing process. Eco Mix uses rejected records from both manual and automatic presses, along with other waste PVC, to create a recycled compound to produce new records.

Related Article: Guide: Multi-Color Vinyl Effects Explained

Types of Compounds:

Opaque Compound

Opaque compounds can produce single color records, Blends, and manual effects. Opaque compounds combine raw PVC with color additives to create a solid, non-transparent record. Opaque is the most common vinyl appearance and remains one of the most popular options for single color records, as a majority of records pressed each year are black.

Opaque compounds can be overpowering when combined with specific colors. Low-contrast color combinations will result in little to no visible definition.

An example of a low-contrast color pairing is White (O2) and Bone (O14). However, pairing either color with Black (BK) or a dark, translucent compound will produce a more potent manual effect. Opaques will reduce the visibility of glitter and can diminish the look of some High Dispersion and Marble compounds. Blends are formulated to incorporate these additive compounds, ensuring they remain visible when pressed.

Recommended for:

• High-contrast color combinations
• Records with etched designs
• Single color records
• Standard, Cream, and Deluxe Blends

Not recommended for:

• Ghostly effects
• Blends containing shimmering metallics
• Color In Color base
• Layered manual effects with little to no color contrast

Translucent Compound

The main property of translucent compounds is the ability to let light pass through, a natural property of untreated PVC pellets. Translucent compounds can produce a single color record or incorporate effects to add depth and dimensionality.

When paired with a darker or saturated opaque compound, the translucent color can appear visually overpowering. For this reason, translucent compounds are most often paired with lighter colors or used as a base for manual effects. Translucent compounds also enhance the visibility of additives such as glitter, making them essential for effects that rely on visual depth.

Recommended for:

• Single color records
• Layered manual effects with contrasting colors
• Ghostly effects
• Decorative etchings
• Glitter effects
• Shimmer and Metallic Blends

Not recommended for:

• Galaxy effects with other translucent colors
• Layered manual effects with little to no color contrast

Neon Compound

Neon compounds are vibrant and high-energy when pressed as a single color record. Their semi-translucent properties make them suited for effects that rely on light interaction, similar to translucent compound applications.

Neon compounds work best in layered effects that include other translucent or neon colors. When combined with darker, opaque colors or highly complex effects, the color intensity decreases.

Recommended for:

• Glitter effects
• Ghostly effects
• High-contrast color pairings
• Single color records
• Deluxe Blends

Not recommended for:

• Splatter on a dark base

Glow in the Dark Compound

Glow in the Dark compound contains phosphorescent materials that absorb light and glow in low-light conditions. They are not known for maintaining hue intensity in layered manual effects or Blends. This compound is mainly used for single color records or as splatter.

Recommended for:

• Splatter applications with contrasting colors
• Single color records

Not recommended for:

• Layered manual effects with little to no color contrast
• Galaxy effects

Marble Compound

Marble compounds are formulated differently from standard vinyl compounds. This type of compound creates swirling, organic patterns during pressing. These compounds have a higher melting point and denser structure, which allows them to retain a strong organic pattern when mixed with other standard vinyl compounds. Marble compounds cannot produce single color records and can only be incorporated into Blends.

Used in:

• Deluxe Blends

Not used in:

• Single color records
• Splatter effects

High Dispersion Compound

High Dispersion compounds have a higher color or additive concentration and a lower melting point, allowing them to disperse color across a record more dramatically than Marble compounds.

High Dispersion compounds appear as solid colors or contain glitter particles that create metallic or shimmering effects. The mixing ratio with a standard compound influences how the material disperses, either evenly across the record or in more concentrated, sporadic patterns. These compounds are mixed with other standard compounds and used exclusively in blended effects. High Dispersion compounds cannot produce single color records and can only be incorporated into Blends.

Used in:

• Metallic and Shimmer Blends
• In addition to translucent or semi-translucent compounds

Not used in:

• Single color records

Vinyl compounds are the foundation of every color and effect. Understanding how each compound behaves on press helps ensure your ideas translate accurately into finished records. For images of real pressed samples, the Vinyl Visualizer is the most reliable way to explore compound behavior before committing to production. When in doubt, your account manager or our color specialist can help guide your color choices to align with your creative goals and production capabilities.