See inside a vinyl factory

The vinyl resurgence is continuing to boom with no signs of slowing down. Sales of records hit a 26-year high in 2015, with nine million units sold in the first half of the year alone, and Discogs racking up $43 million worth of transactions.

Everything from the sound quality down to the aesthetic of vinyl continues to resonate with many music fans, keeping it firmly atop the pile as their number one format. You don't get the fresh smell of wax when downloading an MP3 file after all.

With this in mind, we thought you'd like to see the artistic process that goes into the production of records.

Photographer Alastair Philip Wiper has provided us with images shot at the Record Industry pressing plant in the Dutch city of Haarlem in March 2015. They're fascinating photos, capturing in crisp definition the whole operation from the melting of vinyl pucks to the etching of microscopic grooves from which the sound is produced and slotting of the final products into sleeves.

Speaking about the concept of the shoot, Wiper revealed: "I wanted to capture the whole process, but specifically I wanted to get a couple of images that on first glance make you think 'what is going on there?' and upon closer inspection it becomes clear that it is something very recognizable, everyday and iconic that is being made.

"It was quite special in the sense that there were distinct areas that were very different: the mastering department was very precise, clean, like a professional recording studio; the area where they make negatives of the masters was like a chemistry lab - and then the factory floor itself was very noisy and factory-like, with these old machines churning out record after record."

Check out the gallery above.

[Photos: Alastair Philip Wiper]

[Via: Wired]

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Twitter here