Over the years of cutting at Pressure Mastering, we’ve regularly come across the claim that lathe cuts don’t sound as good as pressed records, or that they have more surface noise. When Spinner Town started, we put out a brief blog post on it, but lately we’ve noticed these same statements popping up again across websites, social media, and even on a podcast. It’s simply not true, and it worries us when people go into lathe cuts expecting them to sound worse, because, again, that’s just not the case.
So we figured it was time to revisit this properly, also we should mention, we are talking about cutting, not embossing. From a technical standpoint, there is no reason a lathe cut should have more surface noise than a pressed record, and depending on who's doing the cutting or the pressing, it can go the other way. We have certainly heard terrible pressings too. The only real material difference is lacquer versus plastic, and yes, lacquer is quieter, but we're still talking silent grooves on either. If a lathe cut has surface noise, that's a calibration issue, not an issue with the medium itself, which is what keeps getting implied. The same goes for fidelity. That comes down to the mastering engineer more than anything else. Even a dynamic cutterhead like the Vinyl Recorder, with a properly implemented feedforward system, can sound fantastic and hold its own against pressed records.
We're aware these are just words without evidence, so we'll be collating audio samples of digital master files, a pressing, and a lathe cut of the same audio for direct comparison. That'll also give a real benchmark on what surface noise levels are actually achievable on entry level lathes. We're heavily involved in the lathe cutting world, and it concerns us when inaccurate information circulates suggesting it's a subpar medium.
All files will be the original WAV file of a song, along with two 'rip' files, one is a pressing and one is a lathe cut. You can play them one after each other for comparison.
Sample 1: Lathe cut by Jack at The Dub Crate
Cooling Out - Digital Master
Cooling Out - Rip 1
Cooling Out - Rip 2
Sample 2: Lathe cut by Ben at Plastidisc
The Advisory Circle - Skyways (Digital Master)
The Advisory Circle - Skyways (Rip 1)
The Advisory Circle - Skyways (Rip 2)
Sample 3: Lathe cut by Ben at Plastidisc
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Digital Master)
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Rip 1)
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Rip 2)
Sample 4: Lathe cut by Ben @ Plastidisc
COAM - Make Out Fade Out (Digital Master)
COAM - Make Out Fade Out (Rip 1)
COAM - Make Out Fade Out (Rip 2)
With all of this in mind, we are here to help. A lathe cut should not have surface noise that a customer would really pick up on, so if you are having issues with this, feel free to reach out. To help diagnose the issue we need:
- Record your cut with 5 seconds of silence before the music, we need both for a signal to noise ratio check.
- Let us know what material you're cutting on, what volume and which lathe you're using.
- Send a photo of your groove depth measurement.
- If you can, include your stylus rake angle.
Send that info over by email and we will happily check it over for you and see if we can help. In terms of audio fidelity, we have already got a guide for mapping and making a feed forward system which can get the best possible sound out of your cutterhead. See HERE.
Always remember, you wouldn’t give Jah Shaka a dodgy cut.