EMI "Maxicut" Record Mastering (vinyl cutting) Process

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by paolo, Jan 13, 2007.

  1. paolo

    paolo Senior Member Thread Starter

    I've just been doing a needledrop of my Aussie copy of The Beatles Rarities (Capitol version) and noticed that it was "mastered at Studio 301 using the Maxicut process". I've got a lot of EMI albums that have this credit but I've never really understood what it means.

    Certainly the Maxicut albums are LOUD. I've got a couple of 12" singles using this process that are frightening :D

    EMI Australia seems to be the only place where this process is credited. So, can anyone enlighten me as to how it worked?
     
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  2. Curiosity

    Curiosity Just A Boy

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Puzzling. I know around 1980 EMI did bring in a new cutting lathe which allowed for longer running times with a higher cutting level. It was used on the UK release of Deepest Purple but that it?
     
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  3. MichaelR

    MichaelR New Member

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  4. Ben Sinise

    Ben Sinise Forum Reticent

    Location:
    Sydney
    The first 2 replies are on the right track, as I believe you'll only see MAXICUT stamped on Australian EMI vinyl and it's associated labels commencing around 1980. This is about the time Don Bartley started working for EMI at Studio 301 (recording and mastering facilities at 301 Castlereagh Street, Sydney) and you'll find his initials "DB" scribed on most of the dead wax of those cuts. I think they may have invented the term as a marketing ploy after they started using Neumann SX74 cutting heads powered by Neumann SAL74B amps. Their is certainly a return to form on a lot of their '80's output compared to some woeful sounding vinyl from the 70's.
     
  5. paolo

    paolo Senior Member Thread Starter

    Thanks very much for the info everyone! I'd always wondered who owned the mysterious initials "DB" on many of the albums I own. At least that's one mystery solved :)

    Incidentally, I dug out my late 80's Aussie copy of the Beatles red album and compared it with my original 73 UK issue. For anoraks like me, its interesting to note that Sides 1-3 of the Aussie have DB cuts, but side 4 looks like a direct copy of the UK master. It even has YEX 908-1 neatly stamped in the dead wax, just like the 73 version. The other sides have PSCO 7171/2 and the YEX matrix hand written, along with DB.

    What's particularly interesting is that Side 4 has abut 1/2 inch of dead wax, as do sides 1-4 of the UK release. However, the DB mastered sides have over 1". Not bad considering that each side has 7 tracks :) There is also no volume difference between sides 3 and 4 of the Aussie release.

    Anyway, Mr Bartley has a website: http://www.donbartley.com/Australia/index.htm.

    I might drop him a line and see if he can provide any more info on Maxicut.

    Thanks again :righton:

    Paul.
     
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  6. paolo

    paolo Senior Member Thread Starter

    Ok, so I wrote to Don Bartley and he has replied :righton: What a nice guy! This is what he had to say about Maxicut:

    "As most mastering engineers at the time knew the Neumann cutting system was designed around stereo classical music and it's natural phase / level relationship, in other words as the stereo orchestra played loader there was an equal increase in the ambient out of phase information.

    The Neumann lathe would see this increase in level and phase (particularly the bottom end) and adjust the depth and pitch of the groove to accommodate the modulation of the signal, avoiding "light" grooves and "groove jumping" on playback. However the Neumann system was not user friendly to loud rock / pop music etc. whose bottom end signal was practically mono, resulting in the lathe maintaining a constant depth groove no matter the level of the signal. This resulted in what was classified by the pressing plants as a "dangerous" cut that would "groove jump" on cheaper playback systems. So most engineers did something to overcome this problem.

    Prior to my days at EMI I was mastering records for RCA Sydney and developed a system where by a phase shift was introduced to the bottom end of the lathe control signal resulting in a level to depth relationship resulting in a "safer cut". The clever people at EMI decided to re-design the control circuitry of the Neumann lathe and replace one the PC boards with their own "Maxicut" board. This created a sensation and engineers around the world were peering into their microscopes to see what was going on.

    By the time I joined EMI in 1980, "Maxicut 2" had been introduced, a more refined version and the one we used throughout the eighties and into the nineties. "Maxicut" was definitely the best and most transparent solution to what was an annoying problem with the Neumann cutting system and I believe there was a patent on the design however I'm not sure if "Maxicut" was adopted by any other users."

    So there you have it! Mystery solved.
     
  7. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Good work that man!:thumbsup: Excellent stuff. I've got a maxi-cut Best Of Billy J Kramer that plays beautifully. Your point about the Beatles stamper being used on your Aus double album touches on the great under-researched issue of Aus and NZ Beatles albums that were pressed from UK stampers shipped to australasia. I recently got an Aus mono Sgt Pepper original pressing. Gatefold sleeve, psych inner sleeve and insert, immaculate. Vinyl is mint -1 pressing, UK stamper. It just sounds sensational, the quality of the pressing and the standard of the vinyl is exceptional. They were doing some great work in HMV Sydney in '67:righton:
     
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  8. Ben Sinise

    Ben Sinise Forum Reticent

    Location:
    Sydney
    The Australian first pressings of Sgt Peppers in stereo and mono have UK -1/-1 matrices; probably a metal mother was sent out to produce local stampers. Not only that, but the earliest runs use G&L covers and Fool inners imported from England. I've checked the groove spacings, run out spirals and size/font of the stamp on local copies against their UK counterparts and they match perfectly; so it's no wonder they sound so good. The quality of the heavy vinyl from the '60s is good too but trying to find decent copies is not easy due to our smaller market. I've rejected 6 or so copies of Sgt Peppers over the last couple of years, so well done on picking up a near mint one, especially a mono, which is rare in that condition. :thumbsup:
     
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  9. MichaelR

    MichaelR New Member

    Threads like this are why I love this place !!

    Well done Paolo
     
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  10. paolo

    paolo Senior Member Thread Starter

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  11. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Hi Ben
    Yeah it was a cool score. All the packaging was G&L (with the 'patents pending' on the back cover) and I don't think the record had ever been played, pretty much stone mint! It sounds outrageously good, better than my -1 UK copy. The vinyl is super thick and juicy.
    It was a great xmas present!

    :D
     

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  12. Simon A

    Simon A Arrr!

    Splendid thread! Very informative. I guess this has just opened another can of worms for Beatles collectors worldwide... :shh:
     
  13. Onward

    Onward Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oslo, Norway
    Oooh. Thats vinyl porn right there :love:
     
  14. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Hardcore!;) :D
     
  15. nin

    nin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
  16. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Sorry, more vinyl-porn..couldn't help myself:D
    Original top-opening New Zealand white album. The metal parts were sent over from the US for this one. So only NZ and America had a tube cut white album? Where did the parts for the Aussie white come from?
     

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  17. Ben Sinise

    Ben Sinise Forum Reticent

    Location:
    Sydney
    The catalogue number "SWBO" gives it away...
     
  18. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Aah! So its the same as the kiwi. Does the Aus have SWBO - 2 - 101 - J40
    crossed out in the deadwax?
    Weird that both Au and Nz got the tube cut american metal. What was that all about? Why didn't thy continue with the UK metal as they had up until then????
     
  19. AFCAD

    AFCAD Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Great thread on a great forum - enough to flush me out for a first post!

    I have been enjoying "DB" vinyl for years.

    A lot (but not all) of the original Beatles Australian pressings seem to be from UK metal. If you can find nice copies they can sound great, most are in pretty average condition though. LPs from a number of other UK acts also seem to use UK metal on early Aus releases. They obviously can sound great too and are generally cheaper than UK versions!:)

    My Australian White top loader ends in J41 on all sides.
     
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  20. Ben Sinise

    Ben Sinise Forum Reticent

    Location:
    Sydney
    Thanks for joining in, Richard :thumbsup:

    My rule of thumb for Australian Beatles vinyl is to look for pressings that have the small "YEX" or "XEX" machine stamped in the dead wax just like the UK pressings. Avoid those that have a larger or different font, the "YAPAX" stamp, or anything hand etched. Unfortunately, there are way too many sonic disasters amongst the decent ones; the decent ones being those that are pressed from UK metal, with a couple of exceptions.
     
  21. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Its a good rule Ben. I apply it to NZ pressings too. You can even find export machine stamped vinyl such as the NZ 'Hey Jude' which uses the UK YEEX-1
    metal. Sounds sensational. I guess the metal parts must have worn out by the 70s though because there seemed to have been a recut (presumably using dupe tapes sent out from the UK) of a lot of the Beatles album. The White album is the puzzler..in the 70s it was recut with very clear 'bands' as opposed to the seamless look on the original vinyl. I'm not sure which tape source was used...
    The same thing applys to Rolling Stones vinyl too. A lot of the NZ pressings used original metal from the UK or US.
     
  22. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Yes, welcome Richard. Good to have you on board:thumbsup

    'J41'..interesting.....
     
  23. AFCAD

    AFCAD Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia

    Thanks for the welcome Ben and William. :thumbsup:

    I agree with Ben re: "YAPAX" stamp and sonic disasters! UK ones sound a lot better to me for these. The only original Beatles LPs with "YAPAX" with this seem to be Help and AHDN in both mono and stereo. Not sure about BFS but I think I have seen a stereo copy with the small "YEX" stamp - have never found an original one in good enough condition to buy. The rest, with the exception of the White Album as noted above, seem to have the small "YEX" or "XEX" stamps as per the UK pressings.

    Polydor and Decca seem to have often done the same with use of UK metal in the 60s but often changed (I think) going into the 70s.
     
  24. AFCAD

    AFCAD Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    This thread is sort of changing direction a bit from where it started - sorry!!
     
  25. william shears

    william shears Senior Member

    Location:
    new zealand
    Well it's still sort of on topic:)

    Does the maxicut rarities sound any better than a normal UK pressing??
     
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