Once the music is complete and recorded onto a CD or DAT, it will be sent to a vinyl cutting suite.

Here, the audio is first mastered. This involves playing the audio through a series of EQ's (where treble, mid-range and bass content can be altered) and compressor/ limiters (where level is controlled by reducing the impact of peaks/transients in the audio, so as to increase the average peak volume, so a louder sounding signal is perceived /cut). Multiband (the signal split into treble/ mid/ bass) compressors/ limiters can also be used. If for instance, there are one or two loud crash cymbals or sibilant vocals, these can be reduced with careful set-up, so as to not reduce the specific frequency for the whole track.

Once a good mastered sound is achieved, the audio is cut onto a master lacquer. This is an acetate coated aluminium disc, 14” diameter. (Larger than the finished product, so as to be handled in the production process). This is achieved by sending the mastered audio to the cutting amp rack. Here the signal is first passed through the RIAA curve system (see How a Record Works), then into 2 power amplifiers. Imagine these as high quality audio amplifiers, around 600watts per channel (left and right). This amplifies the audio from the line level input and sends the signal to the 'cutting head'. Imagine the cutting head as two very accurate, small, loud speakers, but instead of driver a paper cone as in a speaker, the magnets/coils drive 2 metal rods (1 per channel). These two 'drive rods' meet at the cutting stylus, which can therefore be driven in both the horizontal (level) and vertical (stereo) axis.

The master lacquer is rotating at the specified playback speed, and the cutting head is lowered onto it. The cutting head is pushed across the rotating lacquer by the 'vari-groove'.

This piece of equipment listens to the audio signal, and pushes the head across the lacquer, at a higher or lower rate depending on the audio level. This is to ensure that cutting grooves in the record do not crash into each other, and that disc space is maximised in quiet passages.

The cutting head, tipped with a sapphire cutting stylus, cuts the soft lacquer out of the rotating disc, by moving up and down, left and right, as the lacquer rotates beneath it, tracing out an exact waveform representation of the music/ input. (see How a Record Works).

Stylesheet switcher.