The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

Dear Lathe Trolls, My academic paper (co-authored with professors Tina Dacin and Santi Furnari) on preserving practices with an empirical focus on developments in vinyl record manufacturing in recent decades has now been published online: https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/amj.2022.0605 The paper ...

Thanks Thomas for sharing that article! George Alexandrovich has been so helpful for my research but I never knew he wrote an article about DMM! And thanks to Dub Bull for the corrections! There will be a chapter dedicated to DMM in a book I'm writing - informed by interviews with several DMM expert...

Ok, so this is curious... I've been digging around in patent archives to find the Wadsworth patent that apparently suggests Cadmium is the most suitable material. I finally found it (https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/d4/ea/3d/3ed3b78a7e6524/US1421045.pdf) but it makes absolutely no mention...

Copper is actually soft compared to many metals. The TelDec .pdf mentions that it's amorphous copper and, therefore, is resistant to the elec-Troll -lytic (; processes which take place during electroforming of the sons. They are cutting ' mothers ' directly - which is the main reason for developing...

Found it: "The cutting of grooves into metal was first proposed by J. Rosenthal and S. Frank in their German patent dated 13.November 1891." https://oldthing.de/Original-Patent-Louis-Rosenthal-und-S-Frank-in-Frankfurt-a-M-1891-Phonograph-Grammophon-0044419372

What is also interesting (at least for nerds like me) is tracking patents by Horst Redlich over time: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/horst-redlich It seems like the first patent concerning storing audio information in copper disks was filed in March 1979 (after experiments with storing analog v...

Thanks Martin, I had some interesting conversations about the implementation of DMM with several mastering engineers and how those using it today are not adhering to the original specifications that were required to obtain a formal DMM license. Apparently there have been advances since the original ...

Hi Rene, this ist the basic patent concerning DMM from early 80´s. Sorry, it is in german language. It deals about all the details, esp. the interdependence between hardness of the copper-blanc and excitation of the supersonic frequency which facilitates the cutting process. Best redards, Martin DM...

Thanks boogievan!

Hi everyone, Allow me to tag on to this thread created by JJZL which seemingly never got anywhere - Does anyone have any reliable information about the development and history of DMM? Perhaps there is a Teldec archive somewhere? Or maybe someone from the original development team gave an interview o...

I found this really interesting nugget of information - see file attached - in an old BPI report from 1986. It lists the pressing plants that were still active in the UK at the time and the ones that closed in the early 1980s.

Yes, that's a good point. Asking too many questions at once is overwhelming, so breaking them down into very specific ones probably makes the most sense. But I also don't want to flood the forum with lots of questions in case it starts annoying people. I'm pretty sure Presto stopped making lacquers ...

Dear lathe trolls, It was an honor to present some of my findings on the persistence of analog audio disc making as part of my research on preserving crafts at the “International Disk Recording and Mastering Convention” hosted by J.I. Agnew and Michael Dixon earlier this month. One thing I’d like to...

Dear vinyl record aficionados, Happy 2023! I just wanted to reach out to you to let you know that I am trying to document certain developments in phonographic record making from the peak of global vinyl record sales (late 1970s) until December 2022. I don’t want to keep this information to myself bu...

Thanks Lukas! Based on conversations I've had with others and research I've done, I agree with all your points - especially how digital communication has enabled the preservation of analog production. I think your point about DMM is especially interesting. It was introduced as a means of increasing ...

Thanks Phinster, The developments concerning styli and lacquer discs are indeed very interesting! Can anyone confirm that MDC temporarily halted production following a tsunami and that their subsequently produced lacquers were of poor quality because they had trouble finding usable compounds to adhe...

Dear Lathe trolls, Some of you will know me because we’ve spoken via phone/email/zoom/face-to-face in the past – My name is Rene Wiedner, I’m an associate professor at Warwick University, and I’ve been doing research on how vinyl record manufacturing was kept alive by enthusiasts after the successfu...

Does anyone know if there are any companies that (can) make moulds for ceramic stampers? Possibly outside the vinyl record manufacturing industry?

Also, with regard to reference copies - wouldn't that be the same process as for DMM?