VINYL / cutting engineers, please read!

[CarstenDaembkes]

hi,

i´m into mastering since 2004, mostly electronic/dance music & hip hop,
now working at the newly built, northward acoustics designed room/studio
of my long time friend steffen mueller.

most of my masters are released on vinyl and besides being very dedicated
to the medium, as i also run a record store here in germany, i constantly try
to achieve the best possible results for cutting/vinyl transfer.

with the new room, which sounds absolutely outstanding (thomas, you´re the
man!), the masters i have done recently, are the most balanced, simply the
best i did so far.

anyways, to keep a long story short:

i have good experiences with known facilities/engineers in germany,
but mostly when it comes to a clean 1:1 transfer.

i´m searching for a dedicated cutting engineer, preferably in europe,
that is able to cut my masters as hot and still as good sounding as possible,
meaning that i´m searching for somebody that has the skills/room/equipment
to "fine-tweak" my masters the proper way to achieve the hottest level possible
without compromising (much) sonically. and communicating about this is the
main and most important thing (for me).

the point is that, besides the people that guarantee a very good sounding
1:1 transfer, other good, "hotter cutting" engineers here in germany mainly work at
(mastering) facilities that do not offer "cutting only" services, meaning that
you have to let your tracks be completely mastered there.

so i guess i´m calling out for you UK engineers, that may be willing to do
a proper "cutting only" job, without doing the main work to make a track
sound good, balanced and all that.

would be nice to get some answers/offers and i will be happy to even get a little more detailed..

[KK_AM]

Hallo,
I'm no cutting engineer, I'm a producer and I do pre-mastering only,
I know this company can do loud and clear cutting jobs:
Schnittstelle - Vinylschnitt & Mastering

They're based in Frankfurt, and can cut pre-mastered tracks.

Good luck for your search,
gio

[dietrich10]

manmademastering.com in berlin

[ihearsounds]

so, can you please make my records play as loud as possible and sound very good and can i not pay you any extra for your effort/time

[CarstenDaembkes]

Originally Posted by ihearsounds

so, can you please make my records play as loud as possible and sound very good and can i not pay you any extra for your effort/time

thanks for your helpful comment!

so, what do you think belongs to the job of a cutting engineer?
just to make sure that the transfer is "ok" and cut at a save level?

am i asking for too much, when i´m searching for somebody that has
the ears/gear (a decent de-esser f.e.) & a proper room to be able to
do just some final tweaks that enables to cut as hot as possible?

[CarstenDaembkes]

Originally Posted by dietrich10

manmademastering.com in berlin

i would like to try them, but i guess my customers are not willing to pay twice as much as they usually have to..

[duomo]

Originally Posted by CarstenDaembkes

i would like to try them, but i guess my customers are not willing to pay twice as much as they usually have to..

I don't know what prices your customer have but the pricelist of manmade mastering is in the normal price range. I think its a little misunderstanding, because they mentioned the playing time per side the price is for both sides I think ! just ask them, we had this misunderstanding too in the past...

to your question : getting really hot records isn't possible without compromises so its always the best looking for a studio near to your place that you can join the process...

[Suade]

Hi Carsten,

The last time I used Simon Davey at The Exchange in London the job was transfer to vinyl only (no mastering processing). They may be able to help you...

[Fat larry]

Originally Posted by CarstenDaembkes

i would like to try them, but i guess my customers are not willing to pay twice as much as they usually have to..

How much do you think is reasonable?

[CarstenDaembkes]

Originally Posted by duomo

I don't know what prices your customer have but the pricelist of manmade mastering is in the normal price range. I think its a little misunderstanding, because they mentioned the playing time per side the price is for both sides I think ! just ask them, we had this misunderstanding too in the past...

to your question : getting really hot records isn't possible without compromises so its always the best looking for a studio near to your place that you can join the process...

hey moritz, thanks a lot for clearing this up!

i also misunderstood it. quite confusing.

anyways, so then that´s the normal price range indeed.
will then try them on one of my next projects.
friends of mine are very happy with their work.

i know that it isn´t possible to cut very hot without compromises.
actually i just want my masters to be cut just a little hotter,
with a few compromises only.
and i know that this can be done without a lot of extra work.

[dietrich10]

What levels on wax are you trying to achieve?
Tim@manmade has no issues with making loud cuts.

[losvlados]

You are searching a man only for cutting and cleaning you'r audio tracks or you are searching somebody thet will made the complete internal mastering?

[Teddy Ray]

Just contact Porky. The best in the business.



From Roots To Boots!: George "Porky" Peckham

Porky's Mastering Ltd., 55-59 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, London, W1D 6LD,United Kingdom, 020-7494-3131,

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

Just contact Porky. The best in the business.

Unfortunately George Peckham has been retired from mastering for a few years.

Got to say for "loud" cuts that still were clean the best for this out of Europe I've heard came from Shane McEnhill (formerly with Heathmans - now at http://www.finyltweek.com/the-studio...ters-room.html ) and Nilesh "Nilz" Patel at the Exchange - http://www.exchangemastering.co.uk

Both these places are likely to be on the pricier side though.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[ihearsounds]

Originally Posted by CarstenDaembkes

thanks for your helpful comment!

so, what do you think belongs to the job of a cutting engineer?
just to make sure that the transfer is "ok" and cut at a save level?

am i asking for too much, when i´m searching for somebody that has
the ears/gear (a decent de-esser f.e.) & a proper room to be able to
do just some final tweaks that enables to cut as hot as possible?

well, i would think in order to make a good cut yes to make sure the transfer is "ok" and if its a 1:1 transfer, to make sure that it plays as the source and to make the cut play, if possible due to the material length, as close as to 0dBu

I think your asking for more work to be done to make them tweaks to have your record cut loud and play well, thats all, all good men + ! thumbsup

Propably best to look for an engineer close to your location to make it most easiest to work with, Germany´s full of cutting rooms, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL CUTTING ENGINER !

[dietrich10]

communication is key. is the cutting engineer does not communicate well than move on and find one for the long term

[Northward]

Originally Posted by CarstenDaembkes

with the new room, which sounds absolutely outstanding (thomas, you´re the
man!), the masters i have done recently, are the most balanced, simply the
best i did so far.

Thanks I'm happy to hear that.

Maybe I'll see you there sometime soon. Working with steffen is fantastic. Love his gear too!

[rhythmtech]

try laurie @ curved

Curved Pressings

he looks after the majority of the uk techno scene and cuts LOUD!

[CarstenDaembkes]

Originally Posted by Northward

Thanks I'm happy to hear that.

Maybe I'll see you there sometime soon. Working with steffen is fantastic. Love his gear too!

You´re welcome Thomas! Diffusors are now properly installed and Steffen likes the effect. So will i, i guess, when i return to the studio tomorrow.

Would be nice to meet there soon!

[CarstenDaembkes]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

Got to say for "loud" cuts that still were clean the best for this out of Europe I've heard came from Shane McEnhill (formerly with Heathmans - now at Finyl Tweek - Studio Two: Shane The Cutter's Suite ) and Nilesh "Nilz" Patel at the Exchange - The Exchange Mastering Studios

Both these places are likely to be on the pricier side though.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Thanks Steve. We get quite a few records in regularly that were cut by Shane,
and yes, they are loud & still clean. i just contacted them to see what they are able to do/offer.

[CarstenDaembkes]

to clear some things up: i know that my masters are already very "vinyl compatible", as they are balanced, far from being squashed, not distorted as hell or whatever. i´m just looking for an alternative cutting engineer that is able to manage to get me a 1-2 db lift in level with only a few tweaks which shouldn´t be very time consuming/raising the costs much. and it´s not that me/my customers are not willing to pay a little more for the service, it just has to fit the budget.

communication is key, yes. if that "somebody" knows what has to be done to somehow satisfy my needs, then it doesn´t matter for me if he´s from germany, the uk or from the easter island..

i have no problem with "supporting your local engineer" but there is no lathe around my place closer than a 2.5 hours drive.

[CarstenDaembkes]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

Just contact Porky. The best in the business.

i would love to meet that guy. he is so cool, definitely. really dig his attitude.
a shame he isn´t cutting anymore.

[ihearsounds]

you can PM me for test cut stike

Originally Posted by CarstenDaembkes

to clear some things up: i know that my masters are already very "vinyl compatible", as they are balanced, far from being squashed, not distorted as hell or whatever. i´m just looking for an alternative cutting engineer that is able to manage to get me a 1-2 db lift in level with only a few tweaks which shouldn´t be very time consuming/raising the costs much. and it´s not that me/my customers are not willing to pay a little more for the service, it just has to fit the budget.

communication is key, yes. if that "somebody" knows what has to be done to somehow satisfy my needs, then it doesn´t matter for me if he´s from germany, the uk or from the easter island..

i have no problem with "supporting your local engineer" but there is no lathe around my place closer than a 2.5 hours drive.