Making Vinyl Records at Home (with a self build cutting lathe) / Update 2019

This video shows you some updates i made for my self-build record embossing lathe. With this machine i can cut (actually: emboss) sound into grooves onto the flipside of CD's. These grooves can be played back on a turntable.
For better understanding of the workflow with this machine watch this video: • cutting music records ... .
also check out my webpage for other projects: www.alexrex.de
for testing i used the song: Berto Pisano - Eurodice (1987)
alexrex // 2019

[@roytofilovski9530]

This machine is amazing, really. I'm not really loving the sound quality, but considering you are using hard CD plastic and a self-built machine the results are very good. You should be very proud of your work.

[@N.A._McBee]

Much better than everything I would have expected if I ever knew beforehand somebody would try this at home 😵 😁

[@alexrex7382]

thanks

[@conceptor2158]

Hello sir . Can u tell me . Is there any cnc machine which can cut audio signal on metal plate.

[@PetersPorsches]

This is so amazing as a vinyl and recording enthusiast ive always wanted to make my own records! Definitely gonna try this. Just looking at the design I think tungsten carbide is probably the way to go it will retain edge sharpness throughout the cut. Have you also considered the possibility of using planar speakers in a clamshell configuration and wired out of phase the help with needle movement reduction. Also as a side benefit they tend to have a flat sound profile capable of sub-bas and treble simultaneously with 0 distortion. Just a thought!

[@Kyuuby77]

Good work!! Hope to see the tutorial this year!!

[@marklimbrick]

This is good! Norman has the needle angles on his website and using some kind of surface lubricant. I'm impressed you've got the mid-range drivers to work. Kind of built-in RIAA eq and damping. The early mono moving magnet cutters could be done easy now with Neodyn magnets and power amps driving easy to wind coils. How about a custom CD size record player or re-using a walkman type CD player? The Scientologists bought up one of the last direct metal cutting machines, archive all the prophecies for doomsday I suppose.

[@LuulCrz]

do you have any intention of doing any tutorial or releasing the STL files? Your project is amazing and i like to do something similar!

[@alexrex7382]

thanks .. i wanted to do a open source kit .. but scraped that idea, caused by complexity of the cutterhead. so i may skip over to do a tutorial one day. maybe mid of next year. thanks for your comment. [there are many tutorials and videos out there, where you can get inspiration to build your own lathe .. if you can not wait for my tutorial to come ]

[@humbertosandoval]

@@alexrex7382 do you know any link who can i follow to have an idea how to build it myself....? thank you

[@alexrex7382]

@@humbertosandoval if i find a good one, i will post it here!

[@alexrex7382]

@@humbertosandoval kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5rWc3x5jd2KZ80

[@humbertosandoval]

@@alexrex7382 THANK YOU aLEX

[@ff-qf1th]

have you considered recording at half speed to increase the quality?

[@AlpigrooveRecords]

Great Idea....good results... Great Alex!

[@radiospiritosanto]

it would be very interesting if I played the audio directly from the turntable and not from the speakers ... to evaluate the quality

[@EthicRadioArchiveReels]

How much you charge for building a cutting head?

[@balfasladicra5270]

What name of song?

[@arfansthename]

Wow you actually have a real lead in/lead out groove!

[@cellulardialtelephone5787]

Great work ! Very ingenious.

[@FilmFerkelchen]

Wow, that is amazing! Is there anywhere a detailled tutorial?

[@alexrex7382]

hi thanks. i am currently in the start of building a new machine. i will upload some videos in the future. and i am aiming to produce a small series of these machines - for people who are interested into purchasing one.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Would it work better if the cutter was heated like the industrial one.

[@Arifinanimation]

YOOO I LIKE LO-FI MUSIC

[@command8783]

Impressive. Have you bya any chance see nthis kickstarter called Phonocut? It might be cool to check out to compare.

[@alexrex7382]

yeah .. i know the engineer of the phonocut lathe and we talked about embossing and cutting records! but the lathe of phonocut is something different and way more advanced. I mean, they build a product - i just made an experiment. i haven't seen a phonocut-lathe yet in reallife - but will compare, as soon as i recieved mine. thanks for your comment.

[@DanielKondratiuk]

@@alexrex7382 What makes it so different tho?

[@adam207321]

Thats actually rather impressive damn. I would go as far as creatibg my own drivers. The lower mass the getter. It would also not hurt if you had direct monitoring. So right after cutting you could sense what youre doing. Basically use that tone arm actually. You could then adjust your drive signal (equalise it so that whatever comes out of your RIAA preamplifier is a flat frequency response. Also another idea is to use a current feedback amplifier. It would be ideal here due to the nature of the setup. It would have the most dampening factor and best frequency characteristics. You could some actual very useful stuff from this. Also for angle of tip you could grind the forward facing side of the needle flat or at a slight positive rake. This would allow for less chatter lower surface noise. As you grind past the centerline (the tip of the cutter) youre now also adjusting the cutting tool effective angle however you have to keep in mind that the tip of your now modified cutter isn sharp. For this exact reason I would probably go with a rectangular grind instead of a circular one. Good luck and I hope to see something of this silly project

[@agroflorestatupi]

Adorei o resultado! Sensacional!

[@ezion]

What sort of speakers did you use? I see HKM but can't make out the model.

[@Diamondman63783]

Yes

[@SumProject18]

Yes

[@markmarlonmallari2224]

tutorial please... this will be a very nice quarantine project :)

[@krishnaprabha3292]

Please upload making tutorial 🙏🙏🙏 I need to know about cutting needle position in cutter head..

[@stricm3]

What kind of blanks do you use besides CDs? I saw a 7 inch one on one of your older videos.

[@alexrex7382]

about the 7": they are also made out of Polycarbonate!

[@stricm3]

@@alexrex7382 Cool. Would you mind sharing where you get them?

[@alexrex7382]

@@stricm3 a friend of mine were producing the blanks for a while .. i got a bunch of the leftovers at home. i will ask him, if he still sells them and then let u know by PM (message).

[@alexrex7382]

@@stricm3 how can i contact you via message?

[@stricm3]

@@alexrex7382 email is best. the address is michaelstrickland92 at gmail.com. I really appreciate it. BTW, I just purchased a 1950ish "Andy Gard home voice recorder" that I plan to experiment with.

[@ejwin2581]

What turntable did you use for this? I reckon it has a rather strong motor

[@FreazyTek]

Judging from the tone arm it could be a Technics SL1200 or a clone like the audio technica ATLP 120

[@Reverboy]

Actually amazing

[@alexrex7382]

thanks!

[@JoseDiaz-fe5oe]

Beautiful

[@ashokbulbule3360]

What is the provision for cuttimg groove?.

[@igordeoliveirasa6674]

How detect position of needle related to the disc diameter in order to speed up or reduce stepper motor rotation?

[@alexrex7382]

it is one speed all the time

[@igordeoliveirasa6674]

@@alexrex7382 oh really? So we have to take consideration the speed of most inner area of disc and use it all around, right???

[@lukefortune8314]

@@igordeoliveirasa6674 I think it's actually just a linear slide from the edge to the center. no math at all. you just find a speed that gives the grooves enough space, and keep it as consistent as possible.

[@M063L4]

Is the machine move to the center by its self.. or need to program to mooove a lil bit? Thankyou

[@sypialnia_studio]

I wonder if you applied the riaa eq curve before embossing?

[@alexrex7382]

yes

[@humbertosandoval]

@@alexrex7382 WHAT PRE AMP DID YOU USE IT...? AND THE SOFTWARE.....

[@C303ofSweden]

Maybe too far out. I guess you know that if you record with RIAA standard you might get even better sound. Less risk of dist and sound correction to your RIAA amp in the receiver

[@alexrex7382]

Thanks for your comment and your thoughts. I used the inverted RIAA curve for recording. Better than this, its hard to go with this components. But maybe someone could try.

[@C303ofSweden]

@@alexrex7382 Ah so you did use the inverted RIAA. Didn´t notice that, sorry

[@alexrex7382]

@@C303ofSweden no worries!:D

[@beeee__]

Very nice. Just wondering, what is the size of the cutting needle you used?

[@NYlathecuts]

Hey Alex, if you get hold of my Sapphire embossing stylus you'll be amazed 😁

[@zeusapollo8688]

Epic adventure

[@alexrex7382]

thanks :D ... will try to create new adventures in future

[@rapipago3878]

Congrat! question, Do yo used a couple of tweeters or speakers to the cutterhead?thanx

[@ymg200]

Alex, what speakers did you use? Thank you.

[@jonathans1970]

Have you try to cut with diamond cutter?

[@user-mn4jo2nw8u]

Хорошая задумка и реализация

[@danieldorta5746]

Buenas tardes saludos desde venezuela quisiera saber si me puede facilitar algunos planos para hacer una maquina asi

[@tttrrriiipppyyy]

Love this x

[@zonabike1y2]

Hi - The angle of speakers in the cutterhead is 90 grades ?? and angle of conic shape of stylus is in 80 grades ?

[@alexrex7382]

speakers are 90° -- angle of stylus ~80° .. have to check my notes again

[@CNCmachiningisfun]

Thomas Edison needs to see this video!

[@mick_koto]

Where can I find instructions on how to make this device?

[@alexrex7382]

In the moment i don't have the time to make a complete tutorial. I gathered alot of videos and books and threads in forums to build it. maybe one day i will do a tutorial about it :)

[@mick_koto]

Alex Rex Ok, thanks)

[@julianocardoso4698]

very good !!

[@Supamono]

Please build one machine for me!

[@alexrex7382]

would love to do .. maybe one day.

[@Supamono]

Alex Rex Great work, man! ✌🏻

[@liabunda2568]

What music on the song youre using

[@GeorgeGeorge-xj2bc]

If i understand things correct the cutting needle is cutting the disc tracks depending to the music vibration coming from the speakers and does not have any other electric connection?Amazing!!Quite difficult is also the computation of motor's variable step as moving towards to the disc's center to obtain evenly tracks distance and to avoid overlapping.

[@alexrex7382]

thanks .. and yeah! thats basicly how it works

[@simonemastroianni1985]

@@alexrex7382 Hi Alex, your work is amazing! But I have a question: how do you calculate the velocity of the motor steps? Did you use some mathematical formula or you simply adjusted the velocity of the stepper motor by hand?

[@alexrex7382]

@@simonemastroianni1985 try and error :D i got two fixed velocities declared in the arduino control software. while doing my first few runs i adjused the speed till i got good mix between recordable lenght and groove-distance.

[@Tommy-pv1vh]

Back in the early days the movement was mechanical

[@mixmachineanalog]

Hi Alex, any chance you can build a machine for me?

[@croatiancovers5018]

Do tutorial how to make dath mashine

[@alexrex7382]

thanks .. will do, if i find enough time to do a good one!

[@noeangelmartinezcomino649]

Alguien sabe o me puede decir cómo se llama la pieza musical que está usando para este video. Gracias saludos.

[@nevilleandann]

Price please for one need one bad

[@youguessedit995]

What did you use for the aluminum stylus holder tube? It looks like there's a screw head at the end, as if it's threaded.

[@gameyord7182]

a diamond needle would be optimal

[@edinsongomezlinares6252]

Hello what material is the needle to engrave. thanks

[@alexrex7382]

tungsten

[@stephanskworcz5343]

Super je suis entrain de construire un graveur avec les moyens du bord

[@vincenzopisani9737]

Hi I saw your video and I like it. I wanted to ask you for advice i tried to do this job but i don't riesco to record on vinyl for sure i'm wrong something but i don't know what you could give me a help or if you make them and you can buy them. If i don't create too much trouble, you could answer me thanks. Sorry for my English

[@1979vieira]

como você poliu a agulha?

[@ogirdor3225]

So, is it possible to emboss in stereo?

[@alexrex7382]

yeah .. thats the question :D .. stereo doesn`t make much sense while embossing, but with two coils (speakers) you can have more power, to emboss the groove - thats my opinion!

[@ogirdor3225]

@@alexrex7382 it makes sense. How many watts does it have the amp you are using to record?

[@alexrex7382]

@@ogirdor3225 20 WATT - just works fine for my setup

[@ogirdor3225]

@@alexrex7382 thanks!!

Quantos minutos caberiam?

[@edinsongomezlinares6252]

Hola me gusta tu proyecto yo tengo uno parecido pero quisiera sabef de cuantos wats son los altavoces y el amplificador cual se utiliza cuantos vatios espero qe me saques de duda suerte tu proyecto me encantoo

[@alexrex7382]

have to check again .. will let you know

[@tayseermohd6124]

Few seconds later.?

[@anilgumnambhartiya5139]

How to buy it

[@truecamera4757]

Can you teach how to do this?

[@Geheimezendervideos]

Amazing alex , like to come in contact whith u is it possible?

[@whitelion7976]

I would buy a cutter head from you if you were selling them.

[@sonnyobrien]

bro thats a cd ya goof

[@CitizenofTatooine]

Hello. Here's a noob question. Let's say I would cut a record in 33 rpm. Would the sound quality improve if the record were played on 45 rpm? Thank you.

[@wazowski2617]

No, it would just be faster

[@schummiehugo]

cool

[@nutechinfo]

Very nice video i want to make same can you help me?

[@seskamol]

< 3

[@piotrus7aswaitosaw979]

Use dbx box.You'll be happy:-)

[@oliwier000b]

Mniej szumów będzie (wiem że jesteś z polski (: )

[@piotrus7aswaitosaw979]

@@oliwier000b Szkoda,że źle wiesz:-)

[@piotrus7aswaitosaw979]

@@oliwier000b Nie chodzi o mniej szumów choć to też się wydarzy ale o podniesioną dynamikę w wyniku kompresji sygnału zapisywanego.

[@oliwier000b]

@@piotrus7aswaitosaw979 ale szumów jest DUUUUUUUUUUŻO a jakby enkodera użył to to by mało było

[@piotrus7aswaitosaw979]

@@oliwier000b Pewnie że tak ale dynamiki tam też brak:-)Taki box posiada dwie funkcje.Zrobiłem kiedyś zdublowanie i efekt też był ciekawy dla bardzo wolnego przesuwu taśmy magnetycznej.Użyłem tylko wysokiej jakości taśmy.

[@Bryan-M]

Cut something with more bass instead of this 30s music.

[@alexrex7382]

it from the 70s and released in 1987. The bass is missing caused by the setup i use

[@robfriedrich2822]

Well, it sounds like a worn record and has a lack of higher frequencies.