Direct Metal Mastering - Any Love?

The nominal groove depth for DMM is 40 microns. The reason for this, other than more playing time, is that the noise level of the groove increases with depth, or at least it did with the amorphous copper blanks we used here in Oz. 40 microns would cause major mistracking / skipping problems with the primitive playback equipment in our market, so the lathe was fitted with a Maxicut board. I suspect a 'goldenear' might hear the noise being modulated with the music. Another issue is that DMM arrived at roughly the same time as early digital master tapes and the combination was often unpleasant. DMM from an all analogue source such as 30ips half inch tape is very impressive.

 

I ran the risk of eating a poor sounding disc when I picked up this Bob Dylan debut lp from Vinyl Passion pressed in the EU(2013) made through this DMM process a few days ago, and the sound is fantastic. Extremely quiet background, great sounding guitar and harmonica.

Returned and bought, Eric Clapton, "Live at Budokan" and again was very pleased with the SQ.

 

I have about 1/2 dozen Blue Note DMM's, and they all sound pretty good.
Not great like a first or second-run original LPs or a Music Matters reissues, but hey, the DMMs cost a mere fraction of price.
Purists with deep pockets turn their noses up at these, but for the money, not a bad purchase.
Much better than the Scorpio Blue Notes, which have flooded the market in recent years.

 

is that album public domain? or a pirate pressing?

 

Thats how mine sounds. The one I have was a more recent DMM German reissue White Album. It really is an ear wrenching listen.

 

I can't comment too much on this other than to say it's partially true. I've done a fair amount of work for them at RTI back in the 90s related to DMM. Their main reason for using DMM is that they believe DMM masters can survive events that other archival media can't. It's hard to argue with that. Information encoded on a DMM can be played back with out electricity. Try doing that with any type of digital media

 

I don't know

Very high quality packaging and results for a bootleg. Legit local store.

 

To be exact: 40 microns is the minimal basic width!! of grooves (not depth, depth=width/2). I mean for a mono (horizontal) signal or for any peak of vertically modulated signal. We usually cut with groove width settings from 40-55 microns. More than 55 microns only for mono records, dance titles, flexi discs and records with the LOUD CUT option. Records cut with the basic settings should be still perfectly traceable on at least average systems. If somebody plays such records on a badly calibrated low-end turntable and cartridge and has problems with mistracking and skipping, he/she should clean the stylus, calibrate the force and the anti-skating. There is also no guarantee that a cheap noname CD-player with a dirty laser sensor will play any CD.

For comparison: our copper plates with a 40-microns wide test groove can have noise around -66 to -72 dB (values are affected by diamond styli and copper layers), a 80-microns wide test groove can have noise around -59 to -65 dB so there is approx. 7dB increase of noise going from 40 to 80 microns wide grooves. 80-microns wide grooves are extreme values for DMM and they should not be used for real production! Compare this 7dB difference to pressed vinyl records, where the difference is more covered by their own vinyl background noise. It can be heard on transitions from lead-in grooves to regular silent grooves and then to lead-out grooves. Generally said: a record produced from well cut lacquer foils have approx. the same noise as a record produced from good copper plates with wide grooves. Therefore most DMM records have less noise than most records from lacquer foils.

 

UK pressing of On Every Street by Dire Straits is DMM - great sounding and one of my favourite LPs.

 

Sorry, I wasn't thinking, just remembering to adjust the depth to get 40 microns width
I can also relate to your noise figures, though sometimes ours were 10dB difference.
I envy your marketplace, at the time we were cutting DMM, our marketplace was still dominated by ceramic cartridges, in plastic 'tonearms' and undersize platters. One thing that gets the record company's attention - records coming back from the shops because they 'skip'.

 

I have that 1993 DMM Coltrane reissue and it is fabulous!

 

To my knowledge the only album from MOV that I own is Ron Sexsmith's "Blue Boy," and it sounds outstanding. No mention of DMM on it though, so I can't say for sure.

 

A UK hi-fi mag visited the factory and wrote a piece. They use a DMM system for all LP's. Also believe everything has to be converted to digital for cutting. The only analogue titles I know of are cut externally to lacquer or are from old plates. Apparently they inherited a stock of plates from the Sony/CBS catalogue when the present owner bought the plant.

The MOV and GZ DMMs certainly sound far superior to EMI Hayes DMM product in the 80/90s. In other words very hard to tell from the audio quality.

 

Just bought a Wax Time DMM re-issue of Monk's Brilliant Corners. Sure, this disc has dubious origins (on top of everything else, I bought it at an electronics store that sells vinyl for some reason) but as of it's 1st play it's sounding great. Pleased.

 

Following upon my post above: just noticed my Wax Time DMM Monk LP has a bonus track! So, yeah, this thing came from a CD. But the bonus track is an actual outtake (Monk halted it) and it's nice to hear such quiet vinyl. Audiophile? Nope. But it's a neat LP

 

I've been looking for any copy of Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch and found the Blue Note DMM reissue from 1985 today. Sounds good to my ears, and it wasn't pricey.

 

DMM, when the LP is recorded well, sounds just fine.

This John Hiatt record, "Bring The Family", is DMM and is a joy from start to finish.

 

My memory of the few DMMs I bought in the 80s: They had excessive surface noise / crackling compared to my normally pressed titles.

Of course that was only a few records...

I have a few recent Euro-pressed DMMs and the end result is very nice.

 

I love that Hiatt disc myself.

 

Probably the digitally sourced one post-1987. The 'Revolver' from that series is awful.

 

Carly Simon's- Coming Around Again- US Sterling Direct Metal, super quiet translucent vinyl, very nice sound

 

My US pressings of The The's "Mind Games" and "Infected" are both DMM and sound very good, though slightly lacking in vinyl 'warmth'.

Overall, my experience with DMM is similar. Not quite 'digital' sounding, but a little thin and clinical.

 

+1

Really disappointing.

 

You fail to mention that the depth of cutting is limited for a reason - that you can't cut into copper any deeper without burning out the drive motor. There is a limitation that is not by choice.

DMM LPs will wear out quicker being grooves cut shallower.

Amy ticks and I is that develop will cover more playing area.

A slightly worn stylus will total out a DMM cut much fast than a standard cut LP.

And another drawback to DMM not mentioned, the lower level frequencies (bass) must be summed to mono. This might be a deal breaker for some LPs with hard panned L or R bass channel.

 

Sorry, but having worked with DMM, I can't agree with these comments.

[1] Depth of cut - no such issue. The only limitations were non-fill during pressing, and the stainless steel substrate, corresponding with a groove width of about 200 microns.
[2] Shallow grooves wearing quicker - no such issue. The stylus contact point determines wear and this is the same for all 'microgroove' / LP records.
[3] Ticks and pops, scratches etc. - EMI Australia's engineering dept. carried out 40 micron tests back in the lacquer days and pressed test records (I have a copy).
No such increases were found, in fact slightly better scratch resistance was found. They were however susceptible to track skipping.
[4] Why? See item [2]
[5] Mono bass - not true, in fact less important compared to lacquer. However there is a risk of being unplayable so some correction could be applied at mastering engineer's discretion, using an "Elliptical Equaliser" with switchable corner frequencies.

Oh, and EMI Australia's basic groove width for DMM was 50 microns, the same as lacquers for LPs.
Plus - our VMS82 had a "Maxicut" board.