The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls

JayDC · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:26 am Post subject: Half Speed Cutting....

Okay, okay.. So I picked up a couple of represses of some very nice early 90's dance music. They were cut by Miles , I suspect in the UK. Now, these are the loudest pressed record I have ever seen, or heard. They are about +9db.. Crazy.. the inscription in the dead wax reads "the paradigm 1/2 speed process". What the heck is that?..

JayDC · Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 6:43 am Post subject:

hehehe.. to answer my own question.. http://www.imastering.co.uk/engineers/miles_showell

Very Happy

andybee · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 63

he he, but cutting loud is dangerous.
2 weeks ago, I cutted a record for a small dance label.
so, there was only 6min material per side, at 45RPM.
I wanted to go to the max. The the cut was very very very loud,
I cutted also with halfspeed, very deep grooves.
The record was so loud, that the label don´t want to release it,
not playable on some pickups Smile

(ortofon concorde)
so, finally I did a "save" cut... that works better.
I had to pay the galvanics, and the second cut and another one
was free for the label. Rolling Eyes

andybee · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 63

"‘The Paradigm Process’. In a nutshell, the technicians and Miles were able to bring 25 years of development to the original concept. The cuts using this process have met universal acclaim. There are only two engineers in the world who can offer half speed mastering and Miles is the only one in Europe!"

I´m the other one !!!! Razz

but I´m in europe too Shocked

I named my half speed process the: "NEN*PLR-Mastering"

anybody arround else? Very Happy

volo · Joined: 13 Jan 2007 Posts: 4

Couldn't you use this technique with the Souri vinyl recorders "half speed adaptor" or "half speed motor"?

andybee · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 63

yes, if your motor can run at halfspeed....
you need a modified RIAA curve too.

mysterious cutter · Joined: 28 Oct 2006 Posts: 18

ODG · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 1

I've been cutting 1/2 speed for about 6 years now. I was also inspired by the man Stan Ricker. I've cut many many dance records here in the states U>S>A>

grooveguy · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 40

Has anyone here tried "Half-Speed, Direct-to-Disc"? You just play and sing an octave below normal... bet it would work! Laughing

motorino · Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 203

i prefer direct to beer mastering Laughing

better flavour and taste than half speed Laughing

Lewis D · Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:37 pm Post subject:

Hmmmm. How can it take 25 years to come up with half speed mastering? Thats as long as it took to get from acoustic disk recording to single groove stereo recording.

Anyway, they were cutting at half speed in the 50s. A place called Shelldon mastering, they may not have had +9db but if they had an SX74, they could have got those levels. There were a few places doing it and was well known about.

But then again if a "standard" pickup can't reproduce, then whats the point on doing it soo loud. Some 78 rpm records are as loud as records cut nowdays. Some 78s are +4db which is pretty loud.

I think poeple should try and concentrate on the quility of the disks they are cutting and not so much the levels because there are plenty of very loud but crap sounding records.

Aussie0zborn · Joined: 11 Mar 2006 Posts: 69 Location: Australia

I cut at half-speed only once on my old system (a Neumann VMS70 / SX74 / SAL74 ) and was knocked out by the level. I never had the time to try it again and develop any real skills in the art of half speed. But yes, the results are astonsihing. Very easy to understand why the label didnt want to realease your LOUD half-speed cut.

motorino · Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 203

well, im THE FIRST in octave-speed Very Happy

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