Why Adele Didn’t Single-Handedly Cause Vinyl Manufacturing Delays

Six years ago, Sterling Sound mastering engineer Ryan Smith was tasked with what he calls a career highlight: cutting the master lacquer for Adele’s blockbuster release 25. Smith cut five sets of the master for 25, which at the time was a historic number of lacquer sets for production of one album at once — and an early indication of the explosive growth vinyl would see over the coming years.
Now, as vinyl sales could cross $1 billion this year, cutting five lacquer sets for an album