vinyl cutters: which, where?
ariel_calmer
3,762 Posts
A friend of mine is thinking about picking up a vinyl cutter, but we're having trouble finding pricing and availability. Need a lower price to make this work, right now we're looking at 7-10k 
Where are the deals?
Where are the deals?
Comments
FYI: The Vestax sounds like shit, I heard & saw it in action, plus the blanks are way pricey.
The closest bet is the Kingston dubplate cutter.
Good luck getting one.
The real deal would be a Scully, Neumann or Westrex lathe.
The maintenace & additional equipment (cutting amps) needed is probably more than you care to bargain for. Much more than 10K too for working stuff.
Not to mention the knowledge, experience & know-how required to do it "right".
Put it this way... You don't see very many young looking vinyl cutting dudes (though there are some).
I researched the idea heavily about a year ago, I had the budget, shopped for serious equipment, talked with real ME's - was going to try to do it figuring I could tap into the DJ market.
After thinking about it more, decided against it.
I'd have to charge way too much to make my money back & I wasn't trying to have all that crazy shit in my house.
(helium tanks to cool the cutting head, etc...)
Plus with Serato & the already established dub-plate cutter dudes, it would be really hard to break even in a reasonable amount of time.
Most guys will do it for $40-$50 a plate.
Say you spend 10K on equipment, do the math... Thats a lot of clients you will need & materials (blanks, cutter heads) aint free!
If you're super serious, really do some research & read up on mastering.
There's really a lot more to it than simply getting a cutter.
Just something to ponder before you drop that cheddar.
But hey if you do it, keep us posted!
I still would one day like to fuck with it myself.
Nobody seems to have info on the cost of blanks for the vestax cutter. I seem to remember $6 a pop but I forget where from. Anyhow the whole point of the vestax is that it cuts something closer to "real" vinyl, and if the sound quality is junk, that shoots that idea down.
Getting an acetate setup seems ridiculous in 2005... how many years of heavy vinyl use by DJs are really left for us to break even on such an expensive setup? Who wants to spend $50 on an acetate that's going to be burned out by a few nights of heavy DJ use?
the vestax cutter does sound like shit and has a horrible frequency range. Not enough for music with heavy bass.
another thing too with the cutter is all the additional equipment. plus you are going to be pissed as soon as someone sends you a shitty mix you don't notice and you blow the head. that shit isn't cheap to keep replacing.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4759823262
(vinyl cutting service)
But as it stands, unless you got mad money to burn & time to invest, it's really best left to the established mastering/cutting shops who already have the equipment, know-how & materials.
There is a lot of meticulous work involved to get it just right & actually make the wax sound good.
FYi; there are different types of cutting materials & cutters too, Acetates & Dub plates (some guys even wised up & call them "scratch plates" now) are terms used interchangeably but the latter tends to be more resilient & you can scratch on them without destroying it as bad you would an acetate.
Big thing to keep in mind is parts are not something you can find at Radio Shack, Fry's or even order out of a catalogue.
There are very very few places left in the world that maintain & make parts for these machines.
Most are custom made/mod'ed to each unique setup & the owner/operators usually have the tech-know-how to maintain / repair it themselves.
And yes indeed - replacing the cutter head is far from cheap & add in the downtime associated with sending your head out to a place (most likely overseas) that will re-coil it for you.
It is guaranteed you will blow/go thru several cutter heads as you learn the ropes (and deal with bad mixes as mentioned), especially if you lack the experience in mastering audio, which is why most record cutting dudes are also experienced Mastering Engineers.
The Vestax blanks last I knew were around $10-15 a piece, I could fathom maybe cheaper if you ordered in bulk?
Let me ask this...
How many people/studios do you know with a Vestax cutter?
I know Zero on the West Coast (and we're talking the Mecca of DJ culture!), which should say something about the quality & popularity of the unit.
If it was 'that good' someone would have it & have DJ's lined up around the block to get plates made.
It looks good & the concept is great - I really wish it was `that good`.
But I hate to say it, it sure doesn't seem like it is...
From technical people I've spoke with & demo's of it I saw/heard - I would not blow my money on it. It sounded mad tinny & muffled from the demo plate I heard with quality - well mastered source material..
I am sure the engineer(s) @ Vestax who designed it can probably get decent results out of it, I heard there are record shops in Japan you can go to & get wax cut for you using these. Japan heads?? Info?
If you still want to look into it, there are a few dealers I can dig up who sell used gear & deal in these machines.
There is also a dude on eBay who sells parts & I came real close to buying a Westrex cutting system from him.
It would be real dope if a Strut'er was in this business & we could all get custom acetates made on the cheap...
There will always be those dudes who want stuff on Acetate (I am one) even with Serato & shit.
For now I still have Richard Simpson make mine.
They have seen heavy use & still play ok, noisy as fuck now, but hey the noise is part of the music!
For now I am leaving the disc cutting to the Pro's.
By the time I got really good at it & made my money back, I'll probably look like partna here....
(PS: thats the legendary Al Grundy).
My garage is converted into a utility room, I have no front/opening garage door (it's sealed shut), just regular door ways.
Not to mention, I couldn't see myself sleeping good at night with combustible tanks of helium or whatver the f*ck some of them things require sittin in my garage.
Definitely something you want in a seperate building, less you really plan it out well.
But hey, if your buddy still wants to tinker, I would suggest looking for an old Rek-O-Kut or Presto record cutter.
They sound like shit (think old time AM radio), majority are Mono & they're all really old looking antiques.
But there are modifications you can do to improve the fidelity a bit & they usually run a few hundred, up to a grand or so.
Good way to get your feet wet & who knows, maybe get good at it.
I'd rather screw up on one of those than a real lathe.
I would also suggest some basic electronics courses.