Making a Vinyl Record

Making a Vinyl Record

By: mick moolhuijsen



Open a new document in Photoshop. I’ll go with 500x500px square canvas, but you can choose whatever size you want. Fill it with some light gradient.



Create a new layer group (Layer / New / Group…) and name it Vinyl. Within this group create a new layer and name it Vinyl too. Fill it with a dark gray (I’ll use #222222). Now add noise by going to Filter / Noise / Add Noise... Set Amount on 10% and check the Gaussian and Monochromatic settings. This will be the texture later on.





Now go to Filter / Blur / Radial Blur… and use these settings:



Duplicate the layer and change the blending mode to Overlay. The picture will turn black, but don’t worry. It’ll pop up later. Now, go to Image / Adjustments / Brightness/Contrast… and set the brightness on +25 and the contrast on -25. The texture is now barely visible.



Now, we’re going to draw our vinyl record. Pick the Ellipse Tool (press U on keyboard) and set it on Shape layers. Place the cursor in the middle of spin and while holding down shift and alt drag a circle near the edge of canvas. This way, the circle will be perfect.







Hold down ctrl and select Background layer. Pick the Move Tool (press V on keyboard). Now in options toolbar, click on Align vertical centers and Align horizontal centers. This will center the circle.



Next, we’re going to cut out the shape. Hold down ctrl and click on Shape 1 layer. Now, hide that layer. Select Vinyl layer set and add a layer mask.



Duplicate Shape 1 layer (Layer / Duplicate layer…). Press ctrl+T or go to Edit / Free Transform Path and set horizontal and vertical scale to 5%. Rasterize the layer. You’ll notice that the small circle is off center, so you’ll need to nudge it a bit in the right position.



Select Vinyl layer set, hold down ctrl and click on the Shape 1 copy layer. Pick the bucket tool and fill the small circle with the black color. This will make a hole in the center.



It’s time to add some shine. Here is how we’re going to do it. Above (hidden) layer Shape 1 copy create a new layer. Name it Contrast. Set the default foreground/background colors by pressing D on the keyboard. Go to Filter / Render / Clouds. Then go to Filter / Render / Different Clouds and apply them a few times. After that, go to Filter / Blur / Radial Blur… and set these values:

Lower the opacity as you see fit for your picture (I lowered the opacity down to 15%). You may not see the highlight, but put it against a black background, and you’ll see it’s there.

Create a new layer and name it Highlight. Make a gradient like this one:

Drag the gradient from bottom to the top of the layer. Press ctrl+T (or go to Edit / Free Transform) and scale down the gradient to a narrow band. Then go to Edit / Transform / Perspective and while holding shift drag top left corner down. Drag until it starts to twist around and until narrow section moves to the center. Press enter and then again ctrl+T. Stretch the layer vertically a bit and press enter.







Set the Blending mode to Soft Light. Duplicate the layer twice, set the blending mode to both copied layers on Overlay and lower the opacity for a bit (I did by 10%).



The last thing is a sticker. Use Ellipse tool to draw a circle. Then I suggest you to try and make your own design. I filled the circle with color and then draw few lines across it. Use Burn tool with max 10% strength to burn around small circle. It’ll look more 3D. After that I tweaked few things like color of Vinyl layer, then I applied Unsharp mask to bring out the cuts on vinyl… In the end, I added another layer between Contrast and Highlights with clear plastic around the sticker. Just fill the layer with dark gray. You’ll know what to do.