I visited a couple of vinyl mastering/cutting houses, Neumann, garrard, studer pics inside

Hey guys, So I just got home from a work trip to the UK and Holland and had a couple of really interesting experiences I thought I would share with you guys.


First I was in Amsterdam for a buddies shop opening party, at the party he mentioned the shop next door "makes records", whaaaaaat. So the next day I stopped by Brouw je eigen plaat to check out their operation.


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Well I immediately recognized their set up as being from the German company selling record cutters to convert mp3's, astute readers will remember the various threads on the introduction of the set up from the past.


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unfortunately they weren't cutting any records while I was there. Apparently you can have you own music cut on a record or choose from their royalty free archive of music for the low some of 35 euro each. Sadly the guys really didn't know much about the process or much technical info, they cater to the dj/electronic music crowd where sound quality isn't the main focus. That being said, listening to a couple of records on their Rega rp1/ headphone set up sounded....decent.


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The records are cut from vinyt blanks


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the leftovers


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all in all this was a cool experience but not really as in depth as I would have liked. I could tell the few basic questions I asked went right over their heads by the blank stares. here are a couple of detail shots.


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So that was it really for the Amsterdam part of the trip, When I reached London things started to get really interesting.


Talking to a close friend he mentioned his buddy has a small operation mastering for vinyl and cutting records, oh and in passing he mentioned "Frank bought the cutting lathe from Motown records in an auction" Wait, waht?!? THE Motown records? Well I was skeptical at first but was very excited to head down to his place and check out his set up, especially after the bit of a let down in Amsterdam.


So we went to a warehouse loft space in a trendy London neighborhood to check out The Carvery, mastering and duplicate specialists by Frank Merritt. When we walked in this was the first thing I saw.


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My heart sank a bit, this was definitely not the Motown cutting lathe and was half expecting a repeat of the Amsterdam experience, well I couldnt have been more wrong! I turned around and there it was.


The Neumann!


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This was it, Frank told us how he bought the lathe from an auction of Motown equipment and had it shipped to London. Just think of the records cut on this very machine! It was truly a piece of serious kit and was amazing to see in action. Here are a couple more photos of the Neumann


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Frank was extremely knowledgeable of the machine and spent a good hour showing us all the details and explaining how everything worked. The Neumann is a truly impressive machine, we could have spent an hour talking about the leveling platter and dialing in the level by cutting a groove and looking at it under the microscope to make sure everything is perfect.


oh speaking of looking at the grooves under a microscope.


You can clearly see the microscope on the left side shinning its light down on the record surface


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the grooves under the scope ( it was extremely difficult to get photos through a scope with my iphone so pics aren't the best)


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After they test cut they payback using a SME 3012 with a " bog standard stylus" to listen for sound quality. I found it interesting they use a cheap stylus but as Frank put it "if it sounds nice with this stylus it will only sound better with a nicer cartridge"


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As great as the Neumann was it wasn't the only interesting piece of gear in the room. They had just acquired a very nice looking EMT 950!


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The EMT is a serious, SERIOUS turntable packed with technology and quality. Frank had just purchased this table and is in the process of trying to find someone to go through and restore the unit. it was really something else, I wish I could have heard it!


the fun doesnt stop there, sitting next to the EMT was a personal favorite sweet looking Garrard 401 with sme 3009 tonearm.


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and just chilling next to the 401 was a BBC Studer tape machine!


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talk about a dream team!


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All of this was played through a serious set of Tannoy monitors, these speakers sounded amazing, I wish we could have spent a lot more time listening to them!


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Well guys I will leave you with a few more random shots of "The Carvery" this place was the definition of a London arthouse vinyl mastering facility and Frank was an extremely knowledgeable person. I am so pleased he was able to take time out of his day and talk with us. In stark contrast to my Amsterdam experience Frank answered all of my dumb questions so in depth I feel like 90% of what he was saying went right over my head! I cant wait till my next London trip so I can go back to The Carvery university of vinyl mastering to learn some more!


ok here are some more pics


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ok guys , enjoy!

WOW! Thank you so much for sharing!

no problem! I completely forgot to mention the EMT in the title but it was an amazing turntable. Such an amazing piece of machinery. I got the lust for one now!

Awesome thread and pics. Being an ex-Toolmaker/Machine designer, I always love to see how things are done. Must have been a great trip.

Great thread! Thanks for sharing. :congrats:

too cool, thanks for sharing.

You did a great job on this, extremely interesting and well done, congrats man!

Very cool visit and wow, what a great read. Thanks for putting it all down and sharing the experience!

That must have been amazing, thank you for sharing your experiences!

Looking at the Carvery website I see I have some of their pressings. Right in the heart of Hackney as well. That's a fun trip. Thank you so much. Makes me homesick for London.

Thanks ,I enjoyed your adventure very much.You can see the better the record cutting set up the better the result.I would love to cut and press my own copy of The Buddha Of Suburbia on Vinyl..:)
Stump

Jeremy, thank you, very cool and very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Cool visit!

What a great post! Thanks so much for taking the time to post these great photos!

Thank you! Excellent post!

Thanks a lot ! I don't think I've enjoyed pics like that here before :celebrate008_2:

yes very cool. thanks

Good stuff! Nice pictures,too. The wallpaper is a little screwy though... :happy: Sorry, couldn't resist.

How fun!:P