Just today, this video was posted on YouTube. The subject is cutting vinyl masters at Abbey Road Studios. The publisher is Sound on Sound, an insider's channel for audio professionals.
Lots of us are left scratching our heads over the resurgent popularity of vinyl recordings. For those who are of such a mind, watch this through to gain some wisdom. Wisdom about how vinyl masters are made, their problems, difficulties, and the certain romance there is in making master discs. The video features two mastering 'engineers' at Abbey Road. These are the gentlemen who take what they are handed (a mixed and processed digital file, usually) and make it into a master disc that a factory will process and duplicate into the record you can buy and play.
The full video is at:
There's lots of gibberish about "vinyl sound" going about the audioverse. One of the masterers interviewed here explains that "sound." He knows that of which he speaks. Hear his remarks at 09:20 into the video... he explains vinyl's inherent "warmth."
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If your experience leads you to favor vinyl (which is fine by me), it is well to know a bit of what you are talking about. Here, much of that knowledge is proferred -- quite generously. The art of vinyl mastering is a very arcane and sort of mysterious subject. Real vinyl mastering technicians are very small in number; I'd estimate there are fewer than 200 in the world who actually do it for a full-time career.
This is one of the best opportunities to learn from two such pros. And unarguably, Abbey Road knows something of what they are doing.
Lots of us are left scratching our heads over the resurgent popularity of vinyl recordings. For those who are of such a mind, watch this through to gain some wisdom. Wisdom about how vinyl masters are made, their problems, difficulties, and the certain romance there is in making master discs. The video features two mastering 'engineers' at Abbey Road. These are the gentlemen who take what they are handed (a mixed and processed digital file, usually) and make it into a master disc that a factory will process and duplicate into the record you can buy and play.
The full video is at:
There's lots of gibberish about "vinyl sound" going about the audioverse. One of the masterers interviewed here explains that "sound." He knows that of which he speaks. Hear his remarks at 09:20 into the video... he explains vinyl's inherent "warmth."
If your experience leads you to favor vinyl (which is fine by me), it is well to know a bit of what you are talking about. Here, much of that knowledge is proferred -- quite generously. The art of vinyl mastering is a very arcane and sort of mysterious subject. Real vinyl mastering technicians are very small in number; I'd estimate there are fewer than 200 in the world who actually do it for a full-time career.
This is one of the best opportunities to learn from two such pros. And unarguably, Abbey Road knows something of what they are doing.