Sound Affair Mastering
Precision Mastering for Vinyl, Digital, Streaming & CD
Lacquer Disk Cutting
Lacquer disk cutting is the most crucial step in the vinyl production process. This is essential for creating high-quality lacquer master’s for record manufacturing . It involves carefully cutting grooves into a blank lacquer-coated disk, allowing for the accurate reproduction of the recording. Our Scully/HAECO mastering lathe is controlled by a complex feed amplifier circuit. This feature controls the distance between the grooves to ensure that no space is wasted (causing a lower level on your disk) or that the grooves do not overcut one another (causing a skip). This lacquer master disk will ultimately become the metal stamper that is put into production to make your vinyl records. This process will give you a clear and defined finished pressing.
We can produce a 7”, 10”, or 12” playable record for you depending on the availability of acetate disks. Unlike masters, these lacquers (known as acetates) are meant for listening back, ensuring that your music translates to the vinyl medium properly.
Due to the limited supply of acetate disks, we are introducing a new service; The Digilog Reference Test Cut process.
See below for more information.
This timeing chart is a guideline for program lengths for disk cutting. Track spacing and volume of the recording may cause these numbers to change.
33 1/3 12 inch LP.
18 - 20 minutes = Best
20 - 22 minutes = Good
22 - 24 minutes = Fair
24 + minutes = Not recommended
45 rpm 7 inch Single.
3 1/2 minutes = Best
3 1/2 - 4 minutes = Good
4 - 4 1/2 minutes = Fair
4 1/2 + minutes = Not Recommended
33 1/3 12 inch Single.
8 - 12 minutes = Best
12 - 14 minutes = Good
45 rpm 12 inch Single.
6 - 8 minutes = Best
8 - 10 minutes = Good
Digilog Reference Disk Cut
Our Digilog Reference Test Cut service offers you another solution to review how your music will translate to the vinyl format without the cost of a full reference disk. This process features approximately a 1.5-minute sample of each track cut onto a lacquer disk. After cutting, the disk is played back and sent to you as a WAV file via FTP. This will give you an exact preview of what your music will sound like before the master disk is cut. If necessary, you now have the opportunity to make any additional changes to the master lacquer to avoid any potential costs of re-cutting, re-plating and having to order a new set of test pressings.
Test cuts are limited up to 10 minutes per side.
If you have any inquiries about our lacquer mastering services and equipment, please feel free to contact us by phone, text, or email. Alternatively, you can complete the quote request form here. We look forward to assisting you with your mastering needs.