New vids of VMS70 in action (not mine):
This one with narrative explanations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chZH7HTZCyk
This one with just music: (sounds like Clutch?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4xVD_vOnLg
Jah Man! Jah-Mai-Cah styyyle...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArMQu-RYGsQ
HUGE Dutch record cutting, plating, pressing facility [32 presses] - skip interview clips if you don't speak the language
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_bgRWvpLls
hi-quality video tour of another pressing plant (unnarrated)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np-cuDmMJ6c
more vid of a 7-in. automated press
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnBErxITTmU
- Bob
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blacknwhite
- Posts: 483
- Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:57 am
- Location: US
Some interesting videos here. The last one featuring the 7 inch automatic press is showing a Toolex-Alpha press making vinyl records. We sampled one Alpha 7 inch press and had it running for several months along with our 49 Alpha 12 inch presses, but we couldn't justify keeping it. We just weren't doing enough 7 inch vinyl business in the mid 1980s as the commercial record market in the USA had pretty much all gone to styrene. The market was different then from what it is now - no consumers were demanding high quality 7 inch vinyl then - they wanted cheap singles, so styrene was king.
The first video with the cutting engineer describing his work is pretty good, but he gets confused when trying to describe why cutting high frequency content is so difficult. There are two main reasons why this is a problem. The first is that a magnetic cutter head such as this Neumann SX-74 model becomes mass loaded when operating above the mechanical resonance which is around 3kHz. Trying to cut frequencies above this resonance results in having to put more power into the head to get the same stylus amplitude. The higher the signal frequency, the more power has to go into the head to maintain the same waveform amplitude. So the first danger with cutting massive high frequency signal content is the danger of burning out the cutter head. That's why all modern professional cutters are equipped with cooling systems such as the helium gas cooling employed on this SX-74 that you see.
The second problem with high frequency signal content is not a cutting problem, but a playback problem. The higher the signal frequency, the shorter the recorded wavelength and the sharper the groove curvatures that the playback stylus has to maneuver and track accurately. It is not physically possible for any mechanical playback stylus shape to accurately track 20kHz or even 10kHz at the same wave amplitude as 1kHz without EXCESSIVE tracing distortion. So the cutting engineer makes the decision to limit and/or compress the high frequency content while cutting so as to reduce the amount of distortion in the playback.
Youngsters growing up today with digital audio and its lack of sonic limitations don't understand that analog tape OR disc recording is simply NOT capable of accurately recording OR playing back the same range of signal frequencies and amplitudes that are no problem for digital. This is the main reason why analog faded away and digital is the new standard for audio recording and playback.
The first video with the cutting engineer describing his work is pretty good, but he gets confused when trying to describe why cutting high frequency content is so difficult. There are two main reasons why this is a problem. The first is that a magnetic cutter head such as this Neumann SX-74 model becomes mass loaded when operating above the mechanical resonance which is around 3kHz. Trying to cut frequencies above this resonance results in having to put more power into the head to get the same stylus amplitude. The higher the signal frequency, the more power has to go into the head to maintain the same waveform amplitude. So the first danger with cutting massive high frequency signal content is the danger of burning out the cutter head. That's why all modern professional cutters are equipped with cooling systems such as the helium gas cooling employed on this SX-74 that you see.
The second problem with high frequency signal content is not a cutting problem, but a playback problem. The higher the signal frequency, the shorter the recorded wavelength and the sharper the groove curvatures that the playback stylus has to maneuver and track accurately. It is not physically possible for any mechanical playback stylus shape to accurately track 20kHz or even 10kHz at the same wave amplitude as 1kHz without EXCESSIVE tracing distortion. So the cutting engineer makes the decision to limit and/or compress the high frequency content while cutting so as to reduce the amount of distortion in the playback.
Youngsters growing up today with digital audio and its lack of sonic limitations don't understand that analog tape OR disc recording is simply NOT capable of accurately recording OR playing back the same range of signal frequencies and amplitudes that are no problem for digital. This is the main reason why analog faded away and digital is the new standard for audio recording and playback.
Collecting moss, phonos, and radios in the mountains of WNC
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NottinghamToolexAlpha
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:16 am
- Location: Nottingham,England.
Am trying/would like to buy one of these Alpha 7" press to go with the 12" press, as I Get asked for good quality 7" Packages - but can I find one...?
Their were a couple still in operation in UK a Few years ago(as I think this one is - as it's pressing Gerald's Label-Jazzman- down in London...!)
Their were a couple still in operation in UK a Few years ago(as I think this one is - as it's pressing Gerald's Label-Jazzman- down in London...!)
Perfection to me is a nice cup of tea...and a day when everyone is happy with their records!
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NottinghamToolexAlpha
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 2:16 am
- Location: Nottingham,England.
Hi Bob, posted this somewhere else, but this is proberly the right place - there is an ad running on UK television at the moment for a well known Mobile(Cell) phone manufacturer that features a record press pressing a 45 as a backdrop, think its a Belgiun LENED but I'm not sure - quite what it's got to do with Phones, I dont know....thought it might interesting to find.....
Perfection to me is a nice cup of tea...and a day when everyone is happy with their records!