Vanrock Cutting Problem- Trouble with Highs and Lows

[BillyJoelShaver]

Hi all. Bought a Vanrock and I've been lurking on the boards, this site has been a tremendous resource.

Made leaps and bounds over the last few weeks, I've been cutting polycarb by hand and seeing a man about a CNC'ing some discs tomorrow.

Cutting Polycarbonate with a tungsten needle or a stainless cone needle

I'm using either Mircophone->4-track mixer->Vanrock
Mac->Mixer-> Vanrock

PROBLEM: All my cuts sound hollow and have a warble to them. Main vocal is always clear, but the highs and lows seem to have a "Calliope music" sound to them.

The cuts are also very quiet, but I've read that's too be expected.

SUSPECTED: That it could be a belt issue.

Wanted to ask the pro's before I start meddling too much.

[discosdecorte]

Hi all. Bought a Vanrock and I've been lurking on the boards, this site has been a tremendous resource.

Made leaps and bounds over the last few weeks, I've been cutting polycarb by hand and seeing a man about a CNC'ing some discs tomorrow.

Cutting Polycarbonate with a tungsten needle or a stainless cone needle

I'm using either Mircophone->4-track mixer->Vanrock
Mac->Mixer-> Vanrock

PROBLEM: All my cuts sound hollow and have a warble to them. Main vocal is always clear, but the highs and lows seem to have a "Calliope music" sound to them.

The cuts are also very quiet, but I've read that's too be expected.

SUSPECTED: That it could be a belt issue.

Wanted to ask the pro's before I start meddling too much.

Hi!

Not a pro at all, I'm a total newbie but I've recently purchased an ATOM. I am from Spain, so sorry for my poor English!

You are using tungsten and steel cones, so I think you could be embossing, not cutting. A gold member of this forum, @piaptk, sells sapphire needles for embossing with much better results. I haven't tried them yet but they are very popular in the forum!

Also, the ATOM/Vanrock head has a frequency response from 60Hz to 8kHz.

Best regards,
Fer

[YourFace]

Hi. Complete noob here too. I just recently purchased a Vanrock lathe and have been experimenting with it to get good cuts. Are you getting good clean sounding cuts every time? So far the only way I can get a clean sound is with a sapphire tip turned backwards so it is embossing and not actually cutting. I'm happy that it's clean but it's so quiet and not a lot of audio range so far.

[BillyJoelShaver]

Hi there. I have got some quality cuts from the Vanrock. However, my results have been inconsistent. My most recent cuts have had trouble tracking on any turntable.

Right now, I'm using a heat lamp to warm the disc to around 100F (taken with a meath thermometer), putting a squirt of light fluid on the disc and polishing it in with a microfibre cloth, putting 30grams of weight on the cutter heard, using a steel cone stylus, cutting at 45rpm with a flattened Equalization.

Still doesn't work.

Getting new discs made from a different polycarbonate. Bought new needles, have sapphire stylus incoming.

[discosdecorte]

Hi,

I've been trying to check the frequency response of my ATOM: I've embossed a frequency log sweep from 500Hz to 14000Hz, then I've played it back through a USB turntable to my computer. Then I've played the resulting WAV in my DAW with a freq response plugin.

I don't know if the resulting graph is typical of these machines or maybe my ATOM has some damaged electrical component that is not properly working: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz7KyeaOrEz5c2lxRHBWRlkzTXhfSzZzMXNIUzBMRnkxN0p3/view?usp=sharing

Question for all Vanrock/ATOM users in the forum: Do you think your machine has a similar frequency response? Do you notice that big peak from 1400Hz to 2800Hz when playing back your recordings?

Best regards,
Fer

[kazoo]

Hi,

I have an Atom recorder 21 and I am NOT having great results as I am embossing with steel and tungsten cones in PVC blanks (I know it is not the correct material to emboss but is what I have here with me now to test the machine). Records are not skipping, mids are clear, but is not too loud overall...
Maybe with the right blank material or needle it will sound nice.

I am looking for a source of polycarb blanks 7inch in Europe to make some tests, any advice?

fprado1978, I would like to check the freq response, but didnt manage to do that yet.

Did you guys ever tryied the diamond long shank stylus on pvc blanks?

Whats the material and needle you have the best sound? (heating, lubrification...?)

Hope you are getting good results, how is it going? let us know here...

Thanks for sharing!

Kazoo from Portugal

[squeezebox26]

I got the sapphire stylus and the polycarb blanks from Recordlatheparts.com. Having better results than when I started a month ago. Mike is very helpful. I use the turtle Wax & dry as shown in some video and it works great!! With my Vanrock btw. I use about 32 grams of pressure. Ken

[squeezebox26]

I want to try using equalization but I don't know where to start to clean up the sound a little.

[discosdecorte]

I want to try using equalization but I don't know where to start to clean up the sound a little.

Hi!

Quoting the great @markrob here:
Best bet is to cut some program material with no EQ and then use a program like Fab Filter Q2 to compare the reference against the captured playback of the cut. This will allow you develop an total EQ to make the captured head flat.

Source: https://www.lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6953&p=58486&hilit=Playback+eq+program#p58486

Best regards,
Fer