Cutting Vinyl At Abbey Road

SOS visits the world’s most famous studio to discover how the ones and zeroes in a digital recording get turned into physical mechanical grooves on a vinyl record.
Masters of mastering Miles Showell and Geoff Pesche fire up their vintage Neumann lathes at Abbey Road Studios and demonstrate the delicate process of cutting a lacquer disc. It’s a skilled business that requires man and machine to work together in perfect harmony - and the slightest mistake will make the resulting album unplayable.
No pressure then...
Miles and Geoff explain how to prepare a digital audio file for analogue vinyl mastering, the pitfalls and things to watch for in a mix, and give a fascinating overview of the vinyl cutting process from start to finish.
www.abbeyroad.com/
More info on Universal Audio: u.audio/sos
Chapters
00:00 - Meet The Abbey Road Engineers: Miles Showell and Geoff Pesche
01:50 - Considerations For Vinyl Mastering
03:18 - Mixing Tips For Vinyl Masters
04:36 - Neumann VMS 80 Vinyl Cutting Lathe
05:27 - Direct Metal Mastering Lathe
06:01 - Lathe Groove Spacing Computer
08:14 - How To Approach Cutting A Record
09:37 - Stages Of The Process
11:28 - Setting Up A Lathe With A Lacquer Disc
12:53 - Cutting On The Neumann Lathe
16:49 - Controls And Meters On The Lathe
19:14 - Mechanical Recording Of Music
20:00 - Run Out Groove And Writing Comments
21:36 - What's Special About Vinyl?
23:02 - Outro
........................................................................................
Get 50% Off a Digital Subscription.
Use Promo Code SOSYT50 sosm.ag/digital
Get FREE 170-page RECORDING TECHNOLOGY eBook: sosm.ag/recording-ebook
Stay up to date with the latest gear and music software news:
www.soundonsound.com/newslett...
Visit www.soundonsound.com
Like FACEBOOK: / soundonsoundmag
Follow TWITTER: / soundonsoundmag
Follow INSTAGRAM: @soundonsoundmag
#abbeyroad #vinyl #mastering #music #musicproduction

[@murkyseb]

Records will always seem like some bizarre futuristic technology to me. A piece of plastic that sings to you when you scrape a diamond over it. Magic

[@extremeanalogmusic6296]

science

[@AutomaticMilk]

Have you heard about archaeologists extracting sounds from the grooves of ancient pottery ?

[@murkyseb]

@@AutomaticMilk I was amazed when I first heard about that but upon further research it turned out to be a myth

[@viarnay]

​@@extremeanalogmusic6296 yeah, we all know is science but I love fantasy

[@alexstewart8097]

@@extremeanalogmusic6296 YET HEART IN ITS MUSIC

[@user-un9go4qe5i]

In the early '90s, I played on a record that was then cut at Abbey Road. Now I know how it was done! I'm still proud to have been on something that was part-manufactured here.

[@mixingdude]

The life that vinyl has given to the music industry is invaluable. Thanks for a glimpse into this incredible process that is the epitome of analog.

[@InfectiousGroovePodcast]

As long as I live, I will never stop being fascinated with the entire process from recording to my turntable.

[@elektroskeptic481]

I'm also fascinated why they can't achieve detail and headspace of the 60-s and 70-s vinyls anymore.

[@nikolabegonja5490]

@@elektroskeptic481 They can, audiophile grade records today are the highest fidelity they have ever been. But if you want a modern press of an album from the 60s, the main limit is the age or generation of the master, since analogue is a format that degrades.

[@solardisk3]

I have a copy of Bob Marley's Legend that was cut in half speed, the difference is incredible. You can hear so much more detail in the little background percussion sounds, it takes on a life of its own. Just looked at the inner margin and there's MILES's name! Great job, Miles!! It sounds really amazing!

[@applewizard32]

I have a copy of Paul McCartneys Flaming Pie half speed mastered and I’ve just checked, it was Miles that did it! It sounds incredible I didn’t know how much better it would sound and now I wish everything was half speed mastered!

[@maxtroy]

It’s been said that within a block of marble is the sculpture before it’s sculpted, and it’s the sculptor who simply reveals it. A blank for cutting vinyl, mind blowing to think every single permutation of music that could ever be written is contained within that disk, and the vinyl lathe simply reveals one of them.

[@DaveInBridport]

A bit like a pig being full of sausages and chops.

[@user-zx1ir7jt4c]

What's really amazing is to think that it's simply black plastic....

[@drzazgi666]

Absolutely AMAZING material. Thanks to everyone who made it possible. Hope you'll get a lot of views on that one. More material like this, please. Even if it's a little bit trickier to made, you leave behind an amazing and resourceful footage for future generations.

[@rzerobzero]

"Disc cutting systems roll off top. That's what they do. It's the nature of the beast. That's why records sound warmer. They don't add low end. They roll top off." There it is. The secret of vinyl. I've never heard it explained so succinctly.

[@williamd1891]

One could roll the top off of digital with an e.q and while it may get close it is not the same. Analog just works on a wave length that's more connected to our brains, our souls and the universe. IMHO, YMMV 😉

[@mplsmark222]

Great getting it straight from an expert at the legendary Abby Road. The processes in making the stamper is so involved and probably wasteful and toxic waste too. The environmentalist me says, digital all the way, but I really do enjoy my vinyl records.

[@OfficialAbass]

@@williamd1891 lol do you have some evidence to support that or it's just your own fantasy?

[@mauricekelly6607]

@The Horu Journal Digital is a different type of environmentally taxing, and blanket statements like “digital is more” are not helpful. For example, to say that you need power just to read music from your phone or computer ignores the fact that your phone or computer is often already on when you go to listen to music. The extra contribution to retrieve a song from an SSD and process is minimal compared to what your device is already doing. I don’t have facts and figures to hand, but I know that digital electronics consume less power than physical turntables. Running any cloud service can be wasteful, but can also achieve economies of scale that the equivalent number of analog devices playing back at the same time could never achieve.

[@KitWN]

@@williamd1891 Right at the beginning one of them mentions loading a file or tape into a workstation, which I take to mean a digital conversion, which is where the eq and level adjustment for the cutting is done. My take from this video is that every vinyl disk ends up being cut from a digital master made by these two engineers in the cutting room even if they start with an analogue-all-the-way master tape from the studio, which one of them said was very rare anyway. It was also mentioned that they do different compression of the same master for vinyl and CD, which will affect the final sound quality in ways which has nothing to do with analogue v digital discussions. Another significant point is that, other than physical CDs, any digital source you listen to will have suffered significant bit-rate compression (mp3 being a well known example) which can seriously degrade the quality of the music coming out of your loudspeakers. This applies to any copies you make of CDs onto your computer or phone unless you choose to directly copy the source file which will take up a lot more memory. There are lots of worms in this particular can, and it is the different decisions made by human operators about how different recordings will be processed that is the real issue here. There is no fundamental "analogue is like this, digital is like this" difference. It is down to the quality of the design and manufacture of the specific equipment in the signal chain and how real people choose to use it that will decide the quality of the sound you will hear at the end of it.

[@ZetaReticulian]

“Be naked in church” And “Master ate your cat” Are the best “cryptic” groove autographs I’ve ever come across on a record. Coincidentally…. They where both on acid house music records.

[@ScottGrammer]

Sometime in the 80's I read someone's suggestion in a stereo magazine that if all technology had progressed as it had - except for the invention of the phonograph - and then in modern times an engineer had said, "let's stamp a groove into soft polyvinyl chloride and then drag a diamond along that groove at a pressure amounting to hundreds of PSI, and see if we can use that to record and play back music," that engineer would have been carried off to the loony bin.

[@shadowmixx]

Tangible music. If that doesn't hit close to home, I don't know what will. I think EVERY downloading, file sharing, digital junkie of this generation who has never held any vinyl in their hands should watch this great video all the way through. After years of having me put music on her iPod, I can still remember the first Saturday that I took my baby girl into a locally owned record store. That store is gone now, and I am so glad we shared the memory. I took a picture of her actually holding the Michael Jackson album Thriller, which she had never seen a physical copy of. She was in awe. Priceless magic.

[@Sicaine]

Thanks but i still can appreciate music without having a record at home.

[@shadowmixx]

@@Sicaine Good for you

[@richardbooth6909]

What a treat to have such excellent insights into the recording process.

[@arthurgordon6072]

This is one of the most interesting videos I have seen in ages! Thankyou.

[@craigwarner6156]

Yes I love what ive seen.More of this please I want to see the whole process to be honest. The factory making of the fathers and mothers and stampers,just everything.A new subscriber here.

[@petersvan7880]

Awesome video giving us a rare insight of everything involved in creating a record. Thank you!

[@allanblack1645]

Thanks enjoyed that, I recognise some terms, swarf, land etc. In 1964 I used to cut laquers at Natec Sound in Sydney on a Nutall lathe well before computers. We used to use French made Pyral laquers. We cut some K-TELL masters, eg: 20 Explosive Hits with 10 a side. To fit them on we’d cut some bass and lower the volume, with many test cuts.

[@frankturner3000]

Thanks Sound on Sound for doing this - a really great look at the process.

[@yamaforever]

Really nice to see how it's done, amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[@analoguecity3454]

I never tire of this subject! I love records so much!

[@halcyondaystunes]

Absolutely fantastic. I was grinning all the way through that. Oh the good old days indeed. I love the little mastering tips too, which many so called home mastering 'experts' might find helpful 😁

[@markhedges1194]

Fantastic insight, from a very professional and highly respected specialist! Thank you for showing this video, of a very fascinating and exact process!

[@BoarderEthan]

Yes. More vids from people who’ve been at it for decades and less from people who just bought an Apollo interface.

[@mattportnoyTLV]

Lol the industry isn’t what it used to be, that’s for sure. Change is good, but I’ve seen such a decline in the last 8 to 10 years that it’s stunning.

[@hether1741]

🔥😂

[@purpleghost4083]

Ditto. They're the ones with the knowledge and experience we need to learn from.

[@idaslpdhr]

Amazing for me as a vinyl head, I have thousands goin back to the 50's though to today, there is NOTHING better than good cut vinyl, and I've always wondered who and what the messages and names were on the run out groove

[@davidcotton5361]

this was awesome - thanks for the visit

[@emiete]

touching material, love for Abbey Road 💞 thank you

[@stevenperry7493]

How very interesting ,always have been fascinated with record pressing plants & the hole electro plating processes ,but this is just brilliant ,thank you .

[@Pokav1deo]

This was absolutely fascinating and enjoyable. Thank you to all of those involved for educating me.

[@SamuelCirne]

What a joy of a video! :) Thanks SOS

[@makinganoise6028]

Spent yesterday in an Analogue Studio with some serious kit that cost a fortune back in the day. We were doing some tracks for a Student doing a Music Production Degree at University, we had to do each song as a complete take, very different from how would be done now digitally, only overdub will be vocals, everybody playing in separate booths, took me back 30 years!!

[@dinosaursr]

Excellent high quality demonstration of classic technology by true professionals. Thanks to SOS for this.

[@RocknRollkat]

Excellent presentation, thank you !

[@ClintLundie]

This is fantastic. Thanks for sharing! 🤙

[@rustinpieces]

What a joy to watch. I soon had to look at my half-speed master LP of Amy's Frank - and yes, Miles' name is there! Amazing. Thanks very much!

[@originalbop5225]

Great insight to mastering vinyl, the format will always be in demand.

[@charlyholehouse-eyre5177]

Excellent stuff, nice to see the two different approaches to creating vinyl records. It would be interesting to listen to a track from each and compare the two technologies.

[@tdcattech]

What great insight from two different individuals both passionate about their craft.

[@rukudzolyd]

Thank you for sharing this knowledge

[@davidhrivnak]

This is such a special insight into what's always been a pretty mysterious process to me. Thank you!

[@big_fat_hen]

Makes me kind of ill to think they may be using those pos s-10's in any way at all to make a Beatles record.

[@LocaliLLocano]

I’m watching this over and over. Good advice on mono bass

[@stevenewtube]

Excellent informative video that very mixing engineer MUST watch! 650w amps, wow.

[@MrTheunivideo]

Very cool. Miles is such a nice guy. This process will always fascinate me.

[@soundhobo]

That was great, absolutely fascinating 👍

[@kevingoodchild3049]

fascinating vid, really enjoyed this

[@MrRom92DAW]

Very cool. Wish we got to hear from Sean Magee! He cut the lacquers for my last album at Abbey Road and pulled off a lot of cool tricks, like locked grooves on each side. Total masters of their craft!!

[@acimbobby]

thanks chaps great look into cutting rooms. Keep up the great work. Abbey Road is always a great name where the true pro's hang out.

[@mrfleamino9350]

thank you guys ,amazing work

[@JanVotava75]

Not only the records, also this video is magical and enthusiastic.

[@bronsonosborne3962]

love these kinda videos more of this please

[@michaelbell75]

Fascinating video, thanks!

[@jaccochrysler]

Awesome video. Everything Geoff Pesche says comes out mastered already.

[@alkebulansan]

Wow. That was lovely, amazing. Thanks to all

[@sorcerer101567]

“You get some really good records coming out these days”. I beg to differ. My half speed master of ABBA’s “The Visitors” album was absolutely filthy when I opened it. I had to run it through a record cleaner first, it was caked in dust and hair.

[@H4rleyBoy]

Totally over my head but enjoyed every second of this video.

[@deantiquisetnovis]

Thank you! Great documentary!!!

[@scottrose8417]

Brilliant! THANK YOU!

[@jamespeters2859]

Brilliant! So looking forward to buying a Souri T560. Most exciting thing in the history of joyous stuff. 💚👌🏻🌀

[@worldgonewrong2049]

I treasure the vinyl I own that has been mastered by Miles Showell. I'm pleased to have a few albums!

[@alexfont]

Amazing content. Thanks !!

[@chriszanf]

Would be lovely to have an extra of how they cut things like locked grooves, reversed grooves (plays outwards) and I have a Kevin Sanderson record that has parallel grooves so depending which one you drop the needle on is which track plays (E-Dancer - Velocity Funk / Banjo / The Move on KMS records)

[@analoguecity3454]

Yes, that would be awesome 👌! Great idea!

[@DJDouglasWarden]

the first time I played a record or the cruise went backwards I I was trying to mix out of a song and I couldn't figure out what the hell was happening I kept putting it on at the beginning and then it was just going off so I actually had to end that mix and recording right there because I let the the song play out before I figure it out I had a reverse record.

[@Sicaine]

Thats not really hard to understand how those things work: You cut two spirals. You just have to increase the space between two grooves to fit a second one on it. You can simulate that with a piece of paper and a pen. Outward is recording from the inside to the outside.

[@trappenweisseguy27]

You definitely don’t want to play any groove that takes you from the inside to the outside. Turntables are set up with “anti skating” on the tonearm to counteract the excessive force pulling the arm towards the middle.

[@wizzfizzus]

And quadrophonic LPs

[@user-un9go4qe5i]

I think the most amazing thing is that they were doing this decades before all this modern computerised tech was available. Now THAT is an mind-blowing thought.

[@elektroskeptic481]

Hahah, even more: with all this modern tech they CAN'T produce ANYTHING with the headspace, dynamic range and detail of the 60-s and 70-s vinyl. None. Ever. Forget about it.

[@92trdman]

More documentary like this , Please (Mixing , Mastering process etc)

[@bertspeggly4428]

Fascinating! Thanks!

[@gj2986]

really enjoyed that, cheers

[@jimfischer4703]

Excellent! Thank you so much.

[@lxworld]

What a great insight. Many thanks

[@kodymonroe2613]

Valuable information

[@Mrlogic10]

Thank you for this video!

[@baseguitarist1]

Such an amazing video

[@shane_taylor]

That was fascinating!😀

[@badger_claws]

I really enjoyed that, thanks.

[@spookybizzle]

Watching this only makes me understand more what I saw Leon at Music House do when he was cutting all those dubplates for me. Respect.

[@KeritechElectronics]

The sheer quantity of awesome gear in that place makes me totally nerd out. BTW got a 2018 remaster of Siouxsie and the Banshees' "The Scream", with Abbey Road comment carved on the empty space in the middle, like shown here.

[@DannerPlace]

Fascinating. I love vinyl.

[@abmusica8562]

I grew up with vinyl. As the years go by, I transferred to CDs, but the vinyl still has the traditional warmth to it.

[@brucevair-turnbull8082]

Fascinating elucidation on the vinyl cutting process. I'm of the view that sound recording reached its peak around the 70s. Beyond that digital sound which is excessively busy. I'm sure there are wonderful frequencies to behold but I'm not a dog so can't really appreciate them.

[@phatato]

Very interesting, thank you for this

[@Robert_Babicz]

thank you for this.

[@beatmet2355]

The technical aspects of this fascinate me to no end. The fact a cutting head can etch such audio detail with a relatively simple procedure. CDs and tapes seem logical, knowing how they’re made, but the fact you can replicate what is on that tape on grooved disc with all the same audio content blows my mind. It doesn’t seem logical. It’s a groove physically cut into a solid surface.

[@tima.478]

I agree and before I knew how it was done, I imagined something like a big clean room, enclosed and being constantly suctioned to create some type of vacuum so dust couldn't exist. In fact, it looks more like the records are just being cut in an office, right on top of someone's desk, after lunch...lol.

[@tima.478]

Records will always be more magical than any other form of music because it was a record that first breathed life into and captured, a recorded voice and music.

[@raukwannerton3940]

This was great!

[@AndySnap]

Fascinating!

[@sansocie]

Love this post

[@DJDouglasWarden]

best documentary ever!! ☮️❤️🎵🌍🤗🏁

[@jtlampsu2]

Who knew that it started as a 14"?? Excellent video, & what a job to have!

[@PAZPERDEE]

Great video

[@GerardBrummer]

Great documentary with two great guys! And Abbey Road Studio's are the legend. Maybe a stupid thought since I'm not hindered by any technical knowledge in this matter, but looking at this I'm wondering why the cutting head is a tangential tracking one and not a radial, as a pickup tone arm. Wouldn't this optimize the tracking angle of the pickup stylus to zero when playing records?

[@alanmusicman3385]

Wow! This is so great - to hear these details explanations of the cutting process is fascinating and makes me value my vinyl collection all the more. I think I'm gonna watch and share the heck out of this! What fascinates me is the process which Miles describes of how they go from the master through to the stampers. I've always wondered whether precision in the sound is lost during those several transfers from ridge to groove and then back again. I know from my own experience that original vinyl copies of a track CAN retain just as much detail and range as a digitally remastered copy made years later - albeit that the vinyl always has that more rounded sound - but conversely some vinyl versions compare very badly with digital remasters. I wonder what stage of the vinyl making process those problems would be most likely to come in at - cutting the master, or the subsequent processes? At one time (1970s) I met an engineer called Bill Foster. I had an album called "Jan and Dean's Greatest Hits" and Bill wanted to listen to it all through. Why? Because he had previously worked at a mastering company who had tried and failed to produce a master of that album to the record company's satisfaction, and eventually someone else did it. Bill wanted to hear how the finished product turned out! That was my first ever inkling that there was just so very much more art and science to creating records than I had previously guessed at! Great video - many thanks. Alan T.

[@grooveshackrecords]

Great video!

[@mikeuk4130]

Now really looking forward to hearing my new Roxy Music first album from 1972, re-mastered at half speed by Miles. By coincidence, I only picked it up yesterday from Burning Shed in Norwich. It’ll be cool to compare it with my original, which I bought new in ‘72 and have enjoyed many, many times.

[@Watts660]

Amazing video. I've been buying vinyl since the 70s but this is the first time I've ever seen how they actually cut vinyl. Really interesting to watch.

[@zebunker]

Then you know not to call a record "vinyl" the material it's made out of. Do you refer to CDs as plastics

[@Watts660]

@@zebunker No I refer to CD's as CD's. What do you like to call them? I think I'll continue to refer to records as vinyl if that's ok with you.

[@BB..........]

Imagine what guys like Doug Sax had to pull off to be able to cut direct-to-disc albums with no preview for groove spacing.

[@meeder78]

That is why those albums tend to have quite short running times per side.

[@BB..........]

@@meeder78 Yep, and also to avoid inner-groove distortion, as well as not torturing the musicians to try to play 20+ minutes without a mistake.

[@Erdalkizilcay0]

We've just did it Vinyl cutting at Abbey Road Studios. For the Beatles Alaturka. And it was done by Mr. Geoff Pesche, obviously was wonderful..🥂

[@KCYT2010]

Nice. Thank you !

[@tk-zh3dd]

Very interesting, thank you.

[@oldestgamer]

That last comment is right on the money, when I listen to vinyl, I listen to one, then another, then another, then another, the vinyl pulls me in! When I listen to digital, usually one or two sides and I'm done, digital just seems to be much less involving. So when someone asks me why is vinyl better than digital, that is the answer. Doesn't make sense, but that is almost always what happens.

[@drizzl8899]

those are real mastering engineers who know every aspect of the craft and thats why i personally as a mixer dont like to call myself mastering engineer on top even with a good understanding of the field.

[@DynamicRockers]

Really nice video. Thanks S.O.S. ;)

[@steini6771]

Just FAB! Thanks lads -

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

Brilliant. Never heard it explained so well. And the thing about the cutter head cutting a wider groove for bass sound and the space between each groove I never contemplated before. So cool.

[@tathagata7213]

And to think the band I was in around 1984 cut an album in one of these rooms! Wow!