VINYLIUM DUBPLATE CUTTER PROFESSIONAL

These negative metal layers are dubbed “stampers”.Ĥ/ At the pressing machine a PVC biscuit (formed out of PVC pellets) is inserted between these “stamper” negatives. Most records however are sent off to a pressing plant where they are washed and coated with tin chloride and liquid silver on each side, then spun in a nickel tank with a charge, creating a negative metallic disk of each side of the original. There are typically two cutter heads (SX74 and Westrex) used in conjunction with these lathes.ģ/ This “master” can then be used as a one off record, and this is known as a dub-plate. The last ones were manufactured in the 80s, though many being used for mastering are even older.

VINYLIUM DUBPLATE CUTTER PROFESSIONAL

Neumann and Skully are the two professional lathes used in the industry.

The record lathe is the “turntable” that rotates the master being carved. The cutter head stylus, shaped like a spade, has two magnets with voice coils that move and convert electrical energy (from the digital sound recording) into mechanical energy that carves, or “cuts” grooves into the record. Could this be create a potential for speed-bumps? More on that later.Ģ/ The master lacquer is sent to a mastering engineer, who has created optimized digital versions of the sound files, to be carved onto the disk. There are only two plants in the United States and Japan that still actually do these productions. The Process From Master Lacquer to Pressing Plantġ/ A flat aluminum disk is initially coated with lacquer (nitro cellulose). The Economist reported that “vinyl sales so far in 2014 are the best they have been for ten years.” A leading charts company in the UK alone predicted a 13% increase in vinyl sales, and a pressing plant in the USA suggested that they will be doubling production by next year, buying 16 presses to accommodate the increase.

The production process that once belonged to the commercial behemoths has been passed on to the niche studio engineers and mastering artists. Part of the modern indication that vinyl's importance is nowhere near fading, is it's persistence in the electronic music industry. Despite the odds the PVC prototype has not only endured, but also prevailed in proving itself a significant and surviving product. By the early ‘90s, the sure-to-supersede digital CD format again threatened to turn the vinyl experience into a relic format.

In the ‘20s popularity wavered as the convenience of radio industries suggested a new norm.

Vinylium dubplate cutter