Hi guys,
my name is tim, i'm from the uk and am in a small punk rock band, basically i have wanted to produce my own vinyl since i was a kid and for the volume of record i want (say 10 of each) pressing is just not practical so purely as a hobby i want to be able to cut my own limited runs of vinyl, mono or sterio is not really important, so my question to you guys is, is what system should i be looking for? how much will it cost and how hard is it to do?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out
Tim
newbie questions, which lathe/system?
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cuttercollector
- Posts: 431
- Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:49 pm
- Location: San Jose, CA
First of all, that's way cool that you have wanted to do this since you were a kid. It's getting to the point that most kids can't remember back to when there WAS vinyl. After all the CD is over 20 now!
Hope yer bandmates are with you in this. I kind of want to see what others will tell you, I'm just an old guy who likes to mess with this stuff. But I'm glad the punk spirit lives on in 7" (or Lps) .
The bad news is that the curve into cutting your own is either expensive or technical or both. If you look around on the postings, you will see that there are many like you and we have gone through this a few times.
To put it as simply as I can, there are old mono home and other portable units. Advantages - pretty cheap on Ebay sometimes. Disadvantages - almost always in need of complete technical restoration, are mono, don't cut very loud, don't make very high quality recordings. Most were made to just do 78, non microgroove (like modern 33 and 45) records as that was still mostly the standard when they were made.
Then you have the new DJ dubplate cutters, which are probably the easiest to learn how to use. They are relatively expensive, stereo, make pretty OK to really good recordings and everyone on here has an opinion as to which one is best for what.
Then you have the actual pro systems used for mastering. Still very high cost to get in the club, very technical, and of course, potentially great results.
What I have seen many people relate that are doing it for a real living now say they did was try and find one of the bettter school or radio station mono simple machines that could be adapted to do microgroove and cut at something besides 78 and start there. Then as they got into it, get more and more professional equipment till they had a full pro stereo setup.
It kinda depends on how technical you are. If you are a machinist and can design , build, modify and repair electronic circuits, hey, no problem, you can practically build your own! But if you are not these things, it gets harder.
I think that is why we all love it, disc recording and playback is such a simple process, anyone can pretty much understand how it works. It can be done in a crude form with no electronics or even electricity. But it can be made to be, some people feel, the best and most high definition quality, surpassing CDs, by infinitly improving and tweaking the record /playback process in an analog way. Happy cutting!
Hope yer bandmates are with you in this. I kind of want to see what others will tell you, I'm just an old guy who likes to mess with this stuff. But I'm glad the punk spirit lives on in 7" (or Lps) .
The bad news is that the curve into cutting your own is either expensive or technical or both. If you look around on the postings, you will see that there are many like you and we have gone through this a few times.
To put it as simply as I can, there are old mono home and other portable units. Advantages - pretty cheap on Ebay sometimes. Disadvantages - almost always in need of complete technical restoration, are mono, don't cut very loud, don't make very high quality recordings. Most were made to just do 78, non microgroove (like modern 33 and 45) records as that was still mostly the standard when they were made.
Then you have the new DJ dubplate cutters, which are probably the easiest to learn how to use. They are relatively expensive, stereo, make pretty OK to really good recordings and everyone on here has an opinion as to which one is best for what.
Then you have the actual pro systems used for mastering. Still very high cost to get in the club, very technical, and of course, potentially great results.
What I have seen many people relate that are doing it for a real living now say they did was try and find one of the bettter school or radio station mono simple machines that could be adapted to do microgroove and cut at something besides 78 and start there. Then as they got into it, get more and more professional equipment till they had a full pro stereo setup.
It kinda depends on how technical you are. If you are a machinist and can design , build, modify and repair electronic circuits, hey, no problem, you can practically build your own! But if you are not these things, it gets harder.
I think that is why we all love it, disc recording and playback is such a simple process, anyone can pretty much understand how it works. It can be done in a crude form with no electronics or even electricity. But it can be made to be, some people feel, the best and most high definition quality, surpassing CDs, by infinitly improving and tweaking the record /playback process in an analog way. Happy cutting!
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cuttercollector
- Posts: 431
- Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:49 pm
- Location: San Jose, CA
Good!
It's such a "simple process" Just an amp and a needle/cartridge in reverse, with something to guide it across the blank disc.
In fact some home units DID use the same arm and cartridge for cutting and playing with pretty much a simple radio/amp chassis for the electronics.
"ALL" ya gotta do is get a turntable that turns the blank at the right speed with no wow or flutter, and no mechanical noise or rumble added, get a lathe that moves the cutter smoothly and consistantly across the disc maintaining accuracy of groove spacing and depth and also adding no mechanical noise of it's own, get a head that is capable of wide frequency response, low distortion and capable of cutting a loud signal, in stereo if that's what you want, get a good stylus preferably heated for lowest noise, set it up for proper cutting angle and depth, again for lowest noise and proper playback tracking, then hook up an amp that has the RIAA recording curve and has eq to compensate for any irregularities in the head's frequency response, also having the ability to add the negative feedback from the head's feedback coils if necessary to make the system loud, wide range and low distortion, oh, did I mention helium cooling for the head if you are really going to cut loud tracks, oh and a vacuum chip removal system, then tweak away using up many expensive styli and blank discs till you get it dialed........
happy cutting
don't be discouraged.
The first time you hear something you cut yourself no matter how bad or on what type of machine, you will feel like you just conqured the world!
It's such a "simple process" Just an amp and a needle/cartridge in reverse, with something to guide it across the blank disc.
In fact some home units DID use the same arm and cartridge for cutting and playing with pretty much a simple radio/amp chassis for the electronics.
"ALL" ya gotta do is get a turntable that turns the blank at the right speed with no wow or flutter, and no mechanical noise or rumble added, get a lathe that moves the cutter smoothly and consistantly across the disc maintaining accuracy of groove spacing and depth and also adding no mechanical noise of it's own, get a head that is capable of wide frequency response, low distortion and capable of cutting a loud signal, in stereo if that's what you want, get a good stylus preferably heated for lowest noise, set it up for proper cutting angle and depth, again for lowest noise and proper playback tracking, then hook up an amp that has the RIAA recording curve and has eq to compensate for any irregularities in the head's frequency response, also having the ability to add the negative feedback from the head's feedback coils if necessary to make the system loud, wide range and low distortion, oh, did I mention helium cooling for the head if you are really going to cut loud tracks, oh and a vacuum chip removal system, then tweak away using up many expensive styli and blank discs till you get it dialed........
happy cutting
don't be discouraged.
The first time you hear something you cut yourself no matter how bad or on what type of machine, you will feel like you just conqured the world!
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cementimental
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:05 pm
- Contact:
Here's instructions to build a primative record cutter, tho i doubt it would be very high fidelity to say the least:
http://gieskes.nl/gramophonerecorder/
http://gieskes.nl/gramophonerecorder/
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cuttercollector
- Posts: 431
- Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:49 pm
- Location: San Jose, CA
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cuttercollector
- Posts: 431
- Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:49 pm
- Location: San Jose, CA
The page listed works along with most of its links as of 11/15/06.
Also there are references on this site to a Japanese kit. Actually 2 of them, one for cylinders and one for flat discs such as plastic covers, old cd media and the like. I found one to buy but have not had time to build it and check results yet. The site was very cool things...or something like that.
Also there are references on this site to a Japanese kit. Actually 2 of them, one for cylinders and one for flat discs such as plastic covers, old cd media and the like. I found one to buy but have not had time to build it and check results yet. The site was very cool things...or something like that.