Hi!

The tracks seems to be ahem, 'massaged', through some sort of auto-mastering FX.

Leave those decisions to the mastering/cutting engineer. Turn off all main mix processes, leaving the audio peaks at maximum -6 to -3dB. Not too much, not too little. Use the pre-amp volume knob to set the loudness you prefer in your own control room. The final volume decision will be done at cutting, you have NO control over this. Raising the volume pre-master will most likely result in a quieter cut!

Also, find a phase/correlation meter like the waves PAZ and tight up the stereo spread, taking extra care to ensure all bass is mono. Try listening to the tracks as they are in mono, you'll be shocked how different they sound! Make sure it sounds good in mono.

Deliver the files at 24 bit resolution. The lenght can be cut on a 33rpm 7" but it will not be the fattest grooves around.

Andreas Nordenstam

through some sort of auto-mastering FX

actually, we want that compressed digital distortion sound
can this not be delivered on vinyl?

Nope. It's not compatible with the actual grooves at any reasonable volume. You can compress and digitally distort a numerous ways in mixdown without violating the limits of vinyl. Check the phase meter and keep it within the constrains of normal stereo. Your sound is trying to go beyond the speakers by being out of phase. It should be avoided in most cases, especially on vinyl. The

To give quick idea of how your tracks may sound on a 7", sum the stereo track to a mono track, apply a steep low pass filter at 10khz and a high pass at 60hz. You might be surprised! To cut your track, the engineer would have to do something similar.

With the peaks being as high as they are, the waveform is not useable for further processing. Much of the information is now lost and replaced with a flat line on the top and bottom of the waves. In addition, the grooves can not be cut like that, they must be limited to useable frequencies. That would turn the clipped tops back to a smoother shape, forcing the engineer to turn down the volume. Your search for loudness will make him cut the track lower. Also, since it requires first aid to be cut at all, it'll probably take more time and money to get it right!

If you give the tracks clean, pre-masterFX, the mastering engineer have a much better starting point. He can compress and limit the tracks within the physical limit of the cutting process. Hopefully giving you a louder track, better sound and even more impact/loudness than a regular plug in squash gives! =)

Ps: have you tried A/B switching between the original and the 'mastered' edit after tweaking the volumes to be identical?

I took a look at your production in a DAW, with software real-time phase and frequency, analysis and it's truly out of the realm of anything that can be cut to vinyl. Way too overloaded. Much too much of random phase stuff, too broad a frequency response, etc., etc.. Turn down the level of your mix so as not to distort your digital master, make everything a lot more monaural in your mix. Limit your bandwidth to nothing more than 80 hertz to 10,000 hertz and you'll be with cooking gas, even though it sounds like you had gas when you made this. Good luck, have fun!