Disc Mastering For Vinyl Records Demystified

[@mugwood]

Fantastic - and well presented, I will be referring people to this video!

[@heyrec]

thank you !

[@samtorresnoise]

such a helpful and enlightening video, thank you!! can't wait to dive into SimuLathe and put it work on my masters

[@heyrec]

Great! Thank you

[@TheTwanginalex]

Well Done Helmuth!

[@Key_M4ker]

Time to share with my collegues, thanks for the video!

[@heyrec]

Thanks for sharing!

[@litoboy5]

Great job

[@CHARLIEtheCATofficial]

Well done!!

[@fahedriachi]

Thanks a million for this (and series) of videos on Simulathe❤ I am totally new to vinyle and I am wondering if i can use the tool to to actually correct issues before i send my files for vinyle cutting? For example, can i use gain/width/processors/dynamics, then turn off defects, set outout to Input, then print a master for each side through simulathe and send the 2. wav to cutting? I feel i am still confused about this as a tool vs its simulation capabilites, so please excuse my ignorance😅

[@heyrec]

Nice! Yes exactly - you can send these files to the cutting room. You can also send them some useful information for cutting - as described in the manual - here is the part: docs.tokyodawn.net/simulathe-ref-manual/#Disc_Stats_Window_and_Controls In the Disc Statistics Info Area you find a 'Project Report' button. The Project Report lets you create, view, and export vital settings, measurements, and time stamps needed for the disc mastering engineer. Project Name allows for naming the project that will be used in the report. The Project Report button allows for viewing the project report. The document is created in the HTML format and will open in your default browser. Select the Export Project Report button to export and save the document in the HTML format.

[@fahedriachi]

Thanks alot Helmut 🥰! I will surely use the Report feature..One more question if you don't mind 🙏Regarding the Excursion/Width/Velocity dynamic processors/limiters, if I use them, will they actually impact the master .wav generated? (if yes, I fail to understand how for example excursion or velocity limiter changes the signal so it actually leads to limited excursion/velocity in the real world).. or is it only the low/high pass and elliptical filter that actually impact the master?

[@heyrec]

@@fahedriachi yes, all processing affects the output master .wav generated. The dynamic processors use a model for the movement of the stylus at the given settings (cutting level, filters, width control, lathe calibration, offsets). Dynamic processing is applied accordingly to the simulated stylus movement. It seems to be magic that you can process the groove shape before it is even cut. This is the revolution in disc mastering in 2023.

[@fahedriachi]

@@heyrec thank you again for your generousity and valuable answers. I hope I can catch up to this revolution, and that the vinyl medium continues to strive.

[@c._samms]

Will you find this video helpful? It depends...

[@heyrec]

yes, I totally agree. It depends on how deep you want to go. This is only scratching the surface of disc mastering....

[@GogglzMUSIC]

TLDR: it depends

[@kevinmcgrath3591]

why are LP records mastered by parrallel cutting when played back radially? why not radial cutting to match most record players? this simple geometry fact is a hifi contradiction....

[@heyrec]

hey well - this is a rather self-explaining question imho if you think deeper. There is no other way to match most record players / tone-arms than cutting radially.

[@kevinmcgrath3591]

@@heyrec of course, its a basic mismatch - why are they still doing it? cut the disc tha same way it will be played back, cant be that hard?

[@heyrec]

@@kevinmcgrath3591 oh yes - very hard - impossible in fact. There are many different tone-arms out there and also many different ways of aligning cartridges. Settling for just one of them would result in horror-errors for others. No - for the time being there is not one single 'same way it will be played back'...there are approaches of minimizing errors, but there are many of them. Anyway: There is no way to make a new lathe with what you suggest anyway, no-one can do it, so it is that we will have to live with what we have for the time being...

[@kevinmcgrath3591]

@@heyrec cant be that hard to rotate the cutting head to the tone arm's radius point while it is running along the drive screw , that would correct the radial error.

[@tiborkocsis5819]

For normal groove there was cutters which cut radially. Presto K-8, K-10 for example. For microgroove it will produce a lot errors...