Vinyl records now in crisis: Apollo Transco Mastering lacquer plant is a total loss*

that's a very difficult move, assimilation, and it would be assuming he could even afford the sponsorship.

 

You have to see the positive side of things.

 

Elon Musk to the rescue?

 

I do, thought that hipster comment was hilarious

 

Can you describe what it is you're looking for in the grooves that indicates it's a DMM cut?

 

Now that is funny. Never been a trend follower myself.

 

The main thing is the grooves are really fine and shallow, even more so than a looooong lacquer cut (the kind you'd see where there's 30+ minutes on a side).

There's someone here who can even tell whether a lacquer was cut by Scully or Neumann lathe. I'm nowhere near that good, but DMM is easy to spot once you know what to look for.

 

This is exactly what I was considering (hoping?) regarding SACD/Multi-Channel.

 

Seems so....

HOW MUSIC ON VINYL RECORDS ARE MADE - Music On Vinyl

 

.
I release 1-2 vinyl LP titles each year, with the next one due out late spring.

It seems the supply will be dried-up for blank lacquers and cutting styluses.

Will DMM be a feasible (and available) alternative?
.

 

Yes, to me

 

I have fond memories of that Stanton 681EEE, bought in 1978 on the east side of Manhattan for about $40.

 

Outside of audiophile releases ( possibly), I doubt anyone will notice any changes. During the “drought” labels will be more picky on which releases go to vinyl. The soundtrack to the next sponge bob movie can wait.

 

Well, if we are going to prioritize, no more digitally sourced vinyl Crisis over.

 

That would explain why most of the MOV pressings I've purchased sound so bad...

Seriously, I would doubt DMM is even 1% of all releases. I spent serious money on a couple of the early ones (like Sgt. Peppers) and they sound great, but I think it would be cost prohibitive to make them on a large scale.

 

This fire seems to have just hastened the inevitable, as this has been the Achilles' heel for a very long time. A worldwide market brought down by the destruction of a small building in Banning.
As H. G. Wells would write, an undefeatable Martian force brought down by the common cold - "slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in His wisdom, has put upon this earth".

 

A question I think has been already posted here and one I've heard elsewhere is- Which will be disrupted more, the pressing of reissues or the pressing of new releases? Any guesses?

My own thinking on this the hope that new releases take priority, but even then, who gets to decide which new ones make the cut? My favorite band? Yours? The biggest names? I get to thinking- what if some here-today, gone-tomorrow pop star gets the nod over bands that I really love (I'm thinking about how Dinosaur Jr is in the studio these days)? Whose precious music will take priority? Gads! I never thought it would come to this. All of us will lose out at least to some degree. Yes, I know, it's a first world problem, but I'm guessing the majority of us here feel pretty low about this.

 

Well, this news are quite disturbing. Anyway I know there will be no immediate shortage of lacquers, Apollo had a small network of distributors with large stocks, that was in that way so Apollo could save in freight costs. From what I understood that stock + stock at the studios will last some months. DMM Will also help , there are ony 12 Newmann lathes in operation right now, most of them in big vinyl manufacturing facilities (GZ 4, Record Industry 3, and some other fctories / studios in Europe) and I suppose they will extend production by putting more shifts in place. In the mean while, I know there are companies in the music Industry trying to help Apollo to get back on business, there are also other companies trying to build a new company using designs from the old days. Of course vinyl Industry will suffer, but it will not die. I hope in the long term this wil make vinyl stronger rather than weaker.

 

More than 1% for sure, biggest vinyl Factory (GZ) produces a lot of titles inn DMM they have 4 lathes for that purpose.
MOV does their catalogue in DMM because they produce at Record Industry, that Factory have 3 DMM cutting lathes, and they produce thiur own coppers.

 

I agree. And I’d consider doing the same. But this is a very American approach to a problem and we have no idea what kind of quality of life the MDC chief values. More than doubling up an operation like this would likely require a maximum consumption of time and it’s unclear what the economics are and if it’s worth it to our friend/friends in japan.

 

Abbey Road Mastering Engineer Miles Showell Comments on Apollo/Transco Disaster

Very interesting interview to Miles Showell / Abbey Road Studios on Apollo crisis.

 

It's pretty much the opposite. GZ, Optimal and Record Industry do their own DMM cutting mostly from digital files. It's much easier to do now than lacquer cutting. It's only audiophile labels and other specialist releases were the artist / rights holders have control that are done with Lacquers cut from analogue or digital sources. In most cases files are sent to the plants who master them for vinyl cutting mostly using DMM. I suggest you check out the Fremer (Analog Planet) plant visits especially GZ media. DMM doesn't sound the same as when EMI used it for many titles in the 80s. The sound of many DMM cuts is down to poor digital sources. A problem with MOV releases that were originally analogue recorded, where they use a supplied digital copy. It's just as well for mainstream vinyl product since lacquer supply was restricted before the fire. If everyone cut from lacquer today more facilities would exist for commercial reasons alone and we wouldn't be in a panic over one of two going out of production.

 

This will also affect MFSL’s SACD reissues! If they don’t have enough lacquers in stock, they can’t master the same title on LP and SACD.

 

They can just produce the SACD version. It's possible MFSL get their lacquers from Japan. Already confirmed that KG at Cohearent mastering does.

 

If they reissue one album on SACD and LP, they can keep the tapes only a limited time. If they get the lacquers from Japan, they have no problem.