Lathes in Jamaica

[audiosteam]

Found an article here today.
https://thecarverystudio.com/randys-records-studio-17/
Studio 17
Dusty place innit?

[audiosteam]

The one from Studio One uncropped in higher resolution.
taken from here https://thevinylfactory.com/features/remembering-joseph-hoo-kim-reggae-producer-channel-one/
the article shows a few more nice studio pics and a small press.

[Dub Studio]

when i was there around 1998 there where at least:

dynamic sounds:
vms70 in bad shape but workable

they had a 2nd VMS70 in a different room sort of hidden from the main room. I believe one of the VMS is still there with some pressing gear

A mastering engineer by the name of Geovanni Simpson from Dynamic has an impressive 5954 credits on discogs. Does anyone have any information about him?

[Aussie0zborn]

What I found interesting about Jamaica is that almost eveybnody I met there had released a record! For a country of 3 million people, they had at least eight pressing plants (not all operated at the same time) and a vibrant music scene. The equipment they used may not have been the most up to date state of the art equipment, but they made it work.

Equally interesting is that there are no reggae clubs there and if you ask where you can go to listen to reggae music, they simply don't know.

The VMS70 at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong factory was stripped down and in disarray when I saw it but was installed in a very nice purpose-built room, which was off limits to visitors so I was quite lucky to see it. I hope it sbeen restored and functional now. Other facilities such as Arrow Studio had a Scully with the first Vinylium "Pitch" system and lots of Ramsteele equipment in the rack, as well as a Presto 8D or 8G lathe with a mono cutterhead. It's all gone now. The plating facility was incredibly antiquated but it worked for them until the owner was shot dead at the front door (RIP) exacty where I had been waiting for his son to come and open up. No wonder he was nervous about me standing there waiting for him and even more nervous when I waited on the same spot for my taxi driver to come back. He suggested I wait on the corner. I didn't know why until I later learned of his father's fate on that doorstep.

Other VMS70s were at Dynamic Sounds (they're gone too, now) and in recent years another one popped up but disappeared just as fast as it appeared. Even nearvby Barabados had a VMS70 with an SP77 console so while the region had some good gear, its hard to say they pressed the best quality records. With Tuff Gong starting presisng again with a new press, one would assume their quality is to an international standard now.

Ofcourse, we will never forget the photo of that old Neuman lathe dumoped outside. I wonder what happened to it.

[andybee]

Sadly, most of the younger people there can not operate the equipment anymore.
If you listen to the actual stuff that comes from jamaica, sound quality is very often
ultra terrible, bad recorded and mixed... only the big artists have good sound engineers.
they listen to the music everywhere, in the car, bus, at dances at night, don´t worry,
there are still a lot soundsystems arround

[Dub Studio]

Sadly, most of the younger people there can not operate the equipment anymore.
If you listen to the actual stuff that comes from jamaica, sound quality is very often
ultra terrible, bad recorded and mixed... only the big artists have good sound engineers.
they listen to the music everywhere, in the car, bus, at dances at night, don´t worry,
there are still a lot soundsystems arround

This is a lazy stereotype, and I don't think its true. King Tubby smoked weed too, right? Well no, by all accounts, he didn't.

Maybe all the old gear is sitting there covered in dust, but so were some of Schubert's lost works until someone found them on a trip to Germany and brought them back to life.

Things change, and people move on. People may have moved on from vinyl in Jamaica, but that doesn't mean everthing else has gone downhill. There are plenty of people who can record and mix, and I am sure there are plenty of newbies who aren't so good but they could improve with time. Same as everywhere else. Why is Jamaica any different?

[Dub Studio]

So an acquaintance of mine, who visited Tubby's studio to work with him, remembered seeing a Presto lathe in the corner of the room.

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhLfddqlh3c (0:39) shows a tantalising glimpse of what looks like a Presto Type 125-A microscope (see: https://archive.org/details/PrestoCatalog1940/page/n33/mode/2up)

Further digging unearthed a photo from a book on Tubby, showing a Presto 6N lathe with what looks like a Grampian cutting head... not sure what type:

[Tellsan]

WOW!!!! and nobody knows about faada TELL & dub cutting back in the 90s.

Actually Tubby helped me build my first dub cutter

tell lathe.png

I used a IBM 3340 hard drive for mainframe system to make the platter & drive system. I disassembled 2 & used 8 platters to make my platter then I put a 14" LP master disk on the top.

IBM 3340.png

When the frame was being machined he told me it would not work because while turning it on a lathe (in his machine shop) it would come apart at a certain point. I did not believe him. I used to work for IBM then & I said IBM don't make cheap stuff.
He said maybe not but it was not made for what I wanted IT to do. SURE AS HELL THE THING CAME APART as he said.
I had a lot more respect for the king then. Anyway we figured it out a WORK AROUND And the lathe was built.
Funny thing was, many years later I was reading an article that IBM got the idea of making hard drives from lacquer discs & the platters in the 3340 drive were exactly 14" diameter.
They had other drives for midrange system 34 & 36 that use 10" discs platters for their hard drives

I learned 2 other very important things from the king.
The first time I went to his studio & saw his voicing room I could not believe it.
The room looked very crappy & cheap & I said to him I can't believe that the songs I hear that were recorded there sound so good. He said to me its not about looks, its about THE acoustics of the room.
He further explained that you can have the best microphone in the world & have it in room with poor acoustics & it will sound like crap. Also you can have a cheap microphone in a room where the acoustics is excellent & that microphone will sound good. That stuck with me to this day. When I built my studio acoustics was always at the front of m mind.

The other thing was make sure you have a pair of shit speakers & if you can mix a song on them & the song sound good on them, then the song will sound good on anything. He said nothing wrong with having good speakers but make sure you have some cheap ones.

I used to work for the king part time evening (after IBM daytime) for over 1 year.
I was wiring his new studio & helping to set up his Scully mastering lathe.

I learned a lot from the king.

I wish he was still here to see what I am now doing.

[andybee]

Great! Very nice work, The King would be proud of you!