Direct Disk

[lucien]

Hello,

I went digging yesterday. Afterwards I realized I bought a "direct disk" record with a nice booklet inside. As there are some pictures of a cutting room and a VMS lathe I decided to scan one page and to create this topic.

Regarding the pictures, I don't know if it's an optical illusion but it seems there's a box on top of the microscope. I guess it's there to be able to see the groove on a monitor.

Regarding the record, I'm used to listening to (over)compressed music so I was surprised by the dynamic range and the huge transients sometimes. Nevertheless, I think the main drawback of this kind of records is that the average level being rather low, there's a risk of being disturbed by surface noise, clicks and pops on very soft parts.

The record I got is in good state visually but 35 years after I guess it's not the same thing

Lucien

[jesusfwrl]

Thanks for posting this! I find direct to disk recording really exciting from an engineering perspective. There is so much that needs to be taken care of in real time, it is amazing that it can actually be done! The pictures are amazing as well!

[opcode66]

It can be done as easily as transfering from a recording. Whether it comes out ok is a whole other thing.

[mossboss]

Great stuff
Let Me tell you a few things. And thats from experience The guys from the band come in to the cutting room setup their rigs practice away tune their gear suck a few cans roll a joint may be some KFC when they get the munchers a few more cans another joint or two another dry run so as to get it right
Ultimately they say they are happy the cutting guy is ready all systems go
Ok guys lets go says the leader, so way you go as well, they get going and you start cutting no big deal so long as they got their act together the result can be fantastic.
So it was a good session the lacquer is ready to go gear gets packed up loaded into various vehicles the gang goes off home wherever
Now here is what happens
You spend the next couple of hours cleaning up the place filling up a couple of garbage bags of crap as well as vacuum the place from ashes or white powder and when you decided it's done you go off as well
For the next month or so you will keep on finding crap here there and everywhere quite amazing where people will place their debris
So for any one contemplating this keep in mind the above, compare the income to the effort the countless hours before and after as well as the cost of a few lacquers
If the first second or third take is necessary as you are already there any way the cost mounts up
This is something which has happened, once with a squealing feedback when some dude turned around to face another band member, another where the guy flanked a beat, as well as all other manner of things which as a rule don't really matter in a live gig, unless you are direct to disc,
The reason is the cost which has not been contemplated if one ask for a quote it is almost impossible due to many unknowns, make people aware of the drawbacks, than see if the guys are prepared to fork out that kind of money
From a technical perspective a direct to disc recording is obviously ideal however the discipline required from the musicians is far above what is the rule for a live gig at Jo blogs bar
For a single on a seven inch one can possibly put up with it for an album with say 6 tracks at say 3 odd minutes a side, phew.
Been there done that more than once, did not even covered cost's, are we to say look here is what is expected form you guys in the cutting room giving them a long list of dos and donts? Hardly as the rules will be broken which will result in a bad atmosphere which is hardly conducive to a good performance
Separate rooms? Let them do whatever than charge them for the clean up as well as any damage, however we did not have that luxury at the time
Cheers

[lucien]

I guess it's easier to deal with a band of japanese jazzmen with a lot of self-discipline
In another page of the booklet there are few comments about engineer skills regarding this track or that track. Nothing really interesting for (very) experienced member here but I will scan it and post it later anyway.

[lucien]

I didn't scan the top of the page (picture of the drummer)
By the way does anyone know a cheap and quick mean to scan records cover?
A3 scanner are a bit short unfortunately.

[mossboss]

This was just an account from past rather unpleasant experiences so others are aware of the pitfalls
We have had some extremely well disciplined people as well with absolutely no issues whatsoever
Extremely dedicated to the task on hand for the session with a 100% self discipline as well as 100% respect for the cutting room environment
But I dare say that is the exception and not the rule
Still direct to disc is a magnificent way of avoiding all the steps involved in the input chain
On another point
Most pressings today if they are done by a single or even two step process where called master pressings in days past calling for a 50% premium
The spill was that it was pressed from the master so at least two steps closer to original material as against master mother son or stamper
So in effect assuming that the cut was clean people are getting master pressings nowadays for less than it was back than when vinyl ruled
A little closer to original material with minimum steps to the end product
Argh
I did buy a lot of styli from a lady some years back when she was disposing of her departed husbands collection of cutting related gear
In an email she told me that he was an audio guy who used to spend most of his time in Japan doing direct to disc
In that regard he had styli manufactured by adamant as well as another jewel manufacturing concern in Japan to his specifications
The lady did keep a few styli which where very special according to her based on what hubby told her she was to donate them to some museum or other as they where thought to be quite unique
Must find my notes on the matter
Memory is faded on the details
Cheers

[lucien]

Thanks for your input again mossboss. Very interesting. I hope you will find your notes

I don't know if I'm allowed to post a link to Discogs but for those who are curious about how a direct disk can sound here is the link to the Toshiba-EMI series : http://www.discogs.com/label/Pro-Use+Direct+Cutting+Series

In the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" release details there are cutting engineer credits : Engineer [Cutting] – Shogo Takeuchi, Shoji Taguchi, Yoshiaki Hirasawa. If you click over their names in the url it leads to their discography.

It would be a funny coincidence if your man was one of these men.

[lucien]

Just to reply to something I was asking earlier :

For those who want to scan records cover or something larger than an A4 document, Microsoft ICE software can give pretty good results.It can combine several images. A bit time consuming though

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice/