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[Joe_caithness]

surely all of us at some point have read that infamous website?

http://www.vinylrecorder.com/

After seeing one in action the other day, I totally want one, some day, just for my own nerdisms if not anything else! Thanks to Henry Dubstudio and JP at Formation Audio for that.

Anyone ever had one? A endless list of possibilities of how you could mod, adapt, add to these systems.

If anyone sells one in the uk, make sure you holla over here, it's kinda a life long dream of mine to make vinyl at home like some kind of mad scientist.

[lowland]

Those 19" level meters look like fun!

[JTransition]

Why buy a toy when you could buy an old Neumann 66 that you could actually cut masters on?
You would be quite surprised at the price difference.

[Hermetech Mastering]

Why buy a toy when you could buy an old Neumann 66 that you could actually cut masters on?
You would be quite surprised at the price difference.

Surprised in a good way, or in a bad way? I.e. how much is that contraption above, and how much would an old Neumann in good condition set you back?

[JTransition]

In a good way.

[Hermetech Mastering]

Ah, maybe I need to hunt one down... Doesn't seem to be that many people cutting to vinyl any more.

[Joe_caithness]

I'd love to cut vinyl just because one the main scenes I "operate" in is pretty much a vinyl niche but doesn't really have a "guy" to go for for cutting the actual lacquer, it's always a risk sending away your premasters and praying the cut is good, would love to be able to break that chain and apply a evaluative ear.

[Allen Corneau]

Ah, maybe I need to hunt one down... Doesn't seem to be that many people cutting to vinyl any more.

Don't know about Spain but there is a good number of folks cutting vinyl in the USA.

[Gold]

Gengy is cutting in Milan at Phonopress, a pressing plant. He might let you watch the machines work.

[Hermetech Mastering]

Thanks Paul, that's great to know, and I will certainly try to contact him!

[EDIT] Thanks again Paul! I have contacted them (although I couldn't find any reference to a "Gengy"), and am waiting to hear back, so hopefully I'll be able to visit soon!

http://www.phonopress.it/contatti

[Gold]

The mastering studio may have a different name. Gengy posts on GS.

[Hermetech Mastering]

Cheers dude. I've always wanted to know more about cutting vinyl, but have had zero experience so far, so this will hopefully be a great opportunity. Will hunt down Gengy on GS!

[EDIT] Just heard back from Fillipo at Phonopress (apparently Gengy is an outside engineer, mainly cutting at Elletroformatti, although he sometimes cuts there), and he has invited me to come and observe at my leisure. They have a modded Neumann VMS70, equipped with a Neumann SP272 console and Weiss outboard. Will hopefully go next week!

[TotalSonic]

The Vinyl Recorder is a really nice idea that has the following flaws in its execution:
* customer service -  Vinyl Recorder is run and supported by one person, Souri, who is known to not always answer inquiries in any timely fashion, who will not sell parts and supplies such as stylus and blanks to those he has not sold directly to (or approved an ownership transfer to) and will not sell upgraded systems until after the system user has already purchased a standard stock system and used it for a while.  He's even been known to cut off a few purchasers of his systems from further support because he didn't like them.  As such I'd enter into buying a system cautiously.
* wow & flutter - a Technics 1200 motor and platter is incapable of not having a bit of wow & flutter in cut discs due to its lack of torque.  Souri does offer a "precision platter" and motor upgrade or you could use something like a SP-10 motor if you could find one, or perhaps use the VR cutter head on a Presto lathe - but this will be additional cost.
* cutter head - the standard cutter head included with the is a non-feedback type.  As such it is more limited in frequency response and more prone to distortions relative to Neumann or Westrex/Haeco heads typically used in professionally disc mastering.  You can compensate a bit for this with judicious use of eq but it still won't get you what a good feedback cutter head will.  There apparently is now an upgrade available to a feedback cutter head - but again this is not included in the standard "starter" package - and I still don't know how it will stack up.
* one offs vs. masters - the VR is designed to use diamond styli to cut into one off 12" or smaller vinyl blanks, and stock is not setup for cutting 14" lacquers for masters for pressed vinyl runs.  For someone looking to make short runs for their own projects this might make sense.  As a business model it generally leaves a bit to be desired though in terms of potential income vs. labor involved.   

If you are still interested in purchasing a cutting system that would be less expensive than a Neumann or Scully other things to look into are the Vinylium Dubcutter (which is similar to the Vinyl Recorder but features a feedback-type cutterhead as stock) - http://www.vinylium.ch - or get a vintage "semi-pro" lathe from the likes of Presto, Fairchild, Rek-o-kut, RCA, etc.  A great forum devoted to this kind of stuff is at http://www.lathetrolls.com

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Gold]

Ahh, I thought Electroformatti was the plating/mastering operation of Phonopress. I didn't realize they were two separate operations.