Yet, other than by mastering engineers and a few dedicated audiophiles, little is understood about this complicated and arcane process that is becoming a “lost art”. More »

The following sections are an overview of the vinyl transfer process and the systems used by Sterling’s engineers. More »

The VMS 80 can cut longer, louder sides with a wider stereo image than any other lathe. The VMS 80 computer divides each rotation of the platter into sixteen increments giving it tighter control and allowing for more grooves per inch. More »

Loudness on a record is a function of how tightly the grooves can be packed together without physically touching. The lathe has a cutter head which contains magnetic coils attached to a stylus that resembles a V-shaped chisel. The cutter head is suspended on a motorized carriage which moves across the lacquer disk. More »

As the cutter head is fed an audio signal, the magnets move the stylus which cuts through a thin layer of lacquer material. The resulting V-shaped groove is an analog of the audio signal. What makes this so remarkable is that it takes place at microscopic dimensions, in the order of thousandths of an inch. The width and spacing of the grooves is controlled by a disc cutting computer.

In general, wider grooves are required for low frequency (bass) information and for transients like a drum hit. The computer analyzes the music and positions the cutter head for upcoming musical passages. This is accomplished by feeding a “preview” signal to the computer in advance of feeding the “main” signal to the cutter head. More »

1. The first is to convert the signal to digital and using a delay line or a workstation, output two feeds, one for the computer and one for the cutter head. The problem with this approach is that it requires an analog to digital and a digital to analog conversion of the signal.

2. The preferred approach is to use a specially configured tape machine with two sets of playback heads and output electronics. On playback, the tape passes over the preview head which feeds the cutting computer. Then after going over an additional roller that creates the 0.9 second delay, the tape passes over the audio head which feeds the cutter head. More »

All cutting requires signal processing. At a minimum, the levels must be set and in most cases some equalization, compression, or limiting is required for an optimum result. Because any changes to the signal must be done on both the preview and main channels, a transfer console and four channels of processing are required.