Neumann VMS66 Project Lathe & Story

[rickmcvick]

I wanted to tell the story of how I came about my Neumann VMS66 lathe. There's a lot of history and even more I'm trying to fill in as I research more into the former owner and the gear I procured from him. I'll just start at the beginning.

I started working in audio upon graduating from Sheffield Institute in Maryland (this comes back later). I worked in AV, radio, studios, guitar shops, and pretty much anywhere that would pay me. The radio gig ended up being the start of my gear collecting and treasure hunting. I befriended the engineers at the station I worked at and ended up finding out that there were storage buildings full of gear from the 70's and 80's. One of the buildings was so decrepit that you had to wear a mask and not turn on the lights because it could have started a fire. I found a few tape machines, some UREI gear, DBX 900 series modules and many many parts. I only found more from there at other locations they had stuff stored. Like most of us, once you start finding gear it starts to find you and then you can't stop.

Over the years I found myself getting into lathe cutting. I had gotten taken a little on my first lathe, a money pit I named Lulu after an Eddie Clendening song and the phrase "Watch that first step, it's a lulu" and shure was. The Fairchild turntable was a nightmare getting working and the Audax head was blown too. The only salvageable part was the ROK Master Pro Model M-5 overhead that I still use. I ended up buying a ROK LP-743 turntable, getting a custom, and dare I say a quite beautiful plinth, swapped out the Audax for a Presto 1-C and got a ROK R-8A cutting amp complete with vintage "Jesus Saves" sticker from the original owners. It's been running and cutting like a dream, and sometimes a nightmare, ever since.

I was contacted by Sheffield a few weeks ago to do a disc cutting demo for the staff and any students who wanted to watch. I set up in studio A's control room which is a beautiful room in both aesthetics and acoustics, accompanied by an SSL Duality console, Genelec monitors and a swath of outboard gear. I took the ol' ROK lathe, amp and a few other things and did some cuts from a PC as well as some direct to disc recording of an acoustic player in the live room. After the session I got to talking with Vance, the current director of the studio. He mentioned that there was once a disc cutting lathe at Sheffield as part of their mastering services. Apart from that there wasn't much more info I could garnish, but I did get a name. Walt Copeland.

I started trying to find Mr. Copeland using the standard means of social media and web searches, coming up with nothing. I eventually found a Discogs entry for a Walt Copeland who "signed" his masters as "WEC". From the Discogs page I saw that he worked at a studio in North Carolina before starting his own mastering house in Maryland. I kept digging. I messaged everyone I knew from the Baltimore area who was involved with the audio industry from engineers, voice over guys, and radio folks. So many people knew and remembered Walt, but no one has talked to him in years and no one had his number or contact info. It started to feel like I was getting no where. Then I found a few obituaries from PA and Ohio that matched his name. I started to get disheartened that I wouldn't find Walt and ultimately the lathe.

I knew eventually that the lathe was most likely a Neumann, and that Walt was the last person to own it. So I had some work history, acquaintances that knew him, and a discography. That was it. After finding the obits I was starting to think, maybe he passed, but the details didn't really match up, plus I didn't want to give up. So one late night after days of searching, emailing and getting nowhere I was laying in bed thinking "how do you find a ghost? An older gentleman who most likely isn't on social media" Then it hit me. Phone book. So I searched the phone book and bam, two hits for Walt. One seemed promising as it showed two towns and an age. I wrote down the phone number and decided to cold call the next day. I called. "Hello?" I heard. So I said "Hey this is Rick, is this Walt?"

"Yes it is". I then freak out inside a little.

"Hi Walt, did you work at Sheffield years back?"

"No I didn't" My heart sunk.

"Well, not directly" He then said. I found him! I couldn't believe it. I think I freaked him out too with what all I knew about him.

The conversation eventually worked around to the lathe. I asked if he still had it. "Of course! I have everything I used to use"

My favorite phrase when treasure hunting "I still have everything". I proceeded to ask what exactly that meant. What it meant was a custom mastering console with DBX noise reduction, VU and phase meters, a Scully 280B mastering tape machine with preview, Sontec equipment and the crown jewel; one complete Neumann VMS66 with SX74 cutting head. I immediately set up a time to drive out and meet Walt to chat about history and check out the lathe. I didn't bring up wanting to buy it but he said he wanted to sell it. I asked how much and he said one of the craziest prices. Think of a low price for one of these, and then lower it even more. That's probably about what I paid.

A week later I got a truck, a few people and a pocket full of cash and drove 3.5 hours to meet Walt. I showed up to this nice little place in the middle of the woods and backed up to the garage door. There she was in the garage. The Neumann. It was currently taken apart in 4 pieces. The motor, main base table, the lathe itself and the LPI module. It was in rough shape, a little rusty, dried out tubes, and dust. SO much dust. Mice had taken up residence in the main table, and all the wires looked nice and crispy. However, it was all there. From the cutting head, to a spare stylus, it was all there. The Scully was another surprise. It is stock at 1/4" stereo but came with all the components to make it 1/2" stereo. Win. The Sontec gear was another big surprise. The deal came with a Sontec DRC-400 4 channel mastering limiter. This is one rare bird. There were also two Sontec MEP-250 2 channel eq's that I bought. These must be early versions as they manufacturing location was still in Cockeysville Maryland and not Virginia.

Walt and I started talking about the history of the lathe and where Walt worked. The lathe was originally purchased and housed at Modern Sound in New York. The lathe was then moved to Sheffield Institute around '79/'80 and stayed there for about a year in their mastering studio. Walt purchased it then moved it to his studio and used it to master projects until Walt retired. This is where I come in. But before we get to pictures let's talk a little about Walt's history. Walt worked at ITI right before ITI went under. ITI is where Burgess Macneal and Massenburg developed the first parametric EQ. As ITI was on the downswing Massenburg and Macneal built one recording console which was used in their studio until it was changed to Blue Seas Recording Studio. Once Blue Seas was forced to leave Hunt Valley, MD it was relocated to a barge in the Baltimore harbor. One morning the bilge pumps failed on the barge sending it to the murky depth...kind of. It's shallow so part of the barge wasn't submerged. The recording console was salvaged in some capacity, though stories differ as to how much, the 16 track tape machine and all the masters were lost, microphones I believe were salvaged, and one Martin D-28 was fished from floating around the harbor. All this to say Walt had one of, or the only (not sure) recording console prototype. This was an 8 channel mic pre console basically. Along with the console he has one of two production prototype 2 channel stereo EQs. These were built into a custom cabinet by Walt. These were not for sale sadly, but it was really awesome to see these pieces of music history. Now on to the pictures.

Here is the main part of the lathe:

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It's quite dirty and most of it is seized. It will need a lot of work.

Here is the rest of the lathe parts:

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The table has the glass swarf chamber intact, which is excellent, and all three modules for 33.3, 45, and half speed mastering.

The mastering console has the master VU meters, a Neumann U79 phase meter and card, and a bunch of controls and knobs that I really don't know what they do yet... It needs a lot of cleaning...

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Along with this lot came the Scully 280B mastering preview machine in both 1/4" stereo and 1/2" stereo head blocks. This was amazing to find. Complete with a Patti Labelle backstage pass (Walt ran lights)

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Here's a picture of the prototype console & EQ in custom cabinet:

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I wanted to share this all with you because these are so rare and it's amazing to actually have found one. All this will be restored and be put in use at some point. There's a lot of work ahead of me here and I plan to keep everyone posted about the progress. I love hearing the history of the gear people find and this lot is steeped in history and lore. I can't wait to begin the long process of cleaning this machine up and getting it all up an running and eventually cutting.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this missive. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll try and answer them as best I can. Any history or ephemera you may have on this machine I would love to see. I have the manual but that's it.

-Rick

[markrob]

Hi Rick,

Wow, great detective work. Congrats on the super find and thanks for posting the pictures and the awesome story surrounding it. You have your work cut out for you, but I'm sure you will love every minute of it!

Mark

[emidisc]

Awesome find !

[mrd]

This is awesome! What a find and great digging skills!

[Aussie0zborn]

Well done! Might be easier to install a third party pitch control system rather than sorting out all the wiring.

[untitledthe]

Awesome

[petermontg]

What a little treasure trove!!! Great little story.
Best of luck getting things back up on running. Some TLC and she will be running fine.

Best
Peter