Lacquer Masters for Vinyl
Sky Onion Mastering features a state-of-the-art lacquer cutting system, lovingly built with the finest components available.
A pristine Neumann SX74 cutter head is driven by a custom engineered cutting amplifier, capable of incredible detail from the lowest sub-bass to the highest treble. The drive circuit is intentionally minimal, with a short signal path, hand selected components, and an output stage biased heavily into class A.
The lathe body is a beautiful cast aluminum Scully from the 1930s, retrofitted with high performance upgrades to the most critical components: the platter, turntable motor & bearing, leadscrew drive and cutter head suspension.
Extended runtimes and reliable precision are facilitated by a FloKaSon Pitch18 disc cutting computer, which optimizes groove depth and spacing by dynamically reacting to the audio that’s being cut.
This is my second lathe, put into service in 2020. My first lathe was a 1960s Scully with a Westrex 3D cutter head that I bought and refurbished in 2012. That lathe worked well and I cut a lot of masters with it, but over time I struggled against its weakness and desired something better. I can say with confidence that my current lathe has no weaknesses whatsoever. I call it HAL2020, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other cutting system.
Vinyl Submission Guidelines
I regularly cut lacquers as a standalone service. When submitting mastered files, 24bit “Side A” and “Side B” files with a cue sheet is the preferred format. Individual song files will also work. The last song or two on each side will be subject to “Diameter Losses”, and sequencing your LP with that in mind is worth considering. Quieter, darker songs will sound better than loud, bright songs at the end of a side. Shorter sides allow for louder cuts and superior fidelity.
Vocal sibilance has the tendency to distort on vinyl - if you track, mix and master with that in mind you’ll get a better sounding record. The low end doesn’t need to be mono, but make sure it’s not excessively wide. Leave a little headroom and don’t hit the limiter too hard. Warm and pleasing digital files become warm and pleasing records.
Suggested Approximate Runtimes
12” LP - 25 minutes max, under 19 is best
7” at 45 - 6 minutes max, under 4:30 is best
7” at 33 - 8 minutes max, cuts at 45 sound better
10” - 17 minutes max at 33, 12 minutes max at 45
Master lacquer rates on the rates page.
12” LPs = $370 | 7” = $180, plus shipping
"Holy crap! The test pressings sound amazing. Been involved in vinyl releases in various ways for decades and I don't recall ever hearing a test press that sounded so perfectly clean"
-Rob Vaughn, The Sound-O-Mat
"That's so wonderful to hear, Rob! We take a lot of pride in the quality of our pressings. Gus does such amazing work, I'm glad that y'all have connected!"
-Dustin Lanker, Cascade Record Pressing
Preparation and Quality Control
If you send me masters for lacquer cutting I’ll listen to the audio to confirm it’s ready for vinyl. Most submissions are fine, but if there are any red flags I’ll let you know. Some masters can be cut truly “flat”, while others will need some additional fine tuning before cutting.
Fine tuning starts with visually checking a spectrum analysis of each file to find hot spots in the treble. Those are reduced if necessary to avoid vinyl playback distortion. TDR SimuLathe CUT software aids in finding potential issues with groove width and excessive high frequencies. Elliptical EQ, High-Pass and Low-Pass Filtering are minimally applied when required.
Recommended Pressing Plants
I recommend pressing vinyl at Cascade Record Pressing, especially if you’re in the Pacific Northwest. I can also recommend RTI, Gotta Groove, and New Orleans Record Press. I have supplied lacquers to most of the pressing plants in North America and I’ll work with your preferred facility.