Info

We have built a cutting lathe machine, strictly from scratch. We cut music on vinyl.

We love DIY spirit. After long experimentation, lot of patience and many hours of tests and failures, we finally can cut audio straight to vinyl discs. We have designed 3d printed parts and we have used aluminum extrusions, nuts, bolts, brackets, audio amplifiers, switches, cables, power connectors, audio transducers, many types of cutting needles, motor, motor drivers, pins & headers, many types of glue, magnets, metallic rods, coils, metering tools, many many test cuts. Cutting records is a science and we have also spent many hours searching and reading information, guides, books and any other source that can give us knowledge about cutting audio (or vibrations) into vinyl. But of course, we love doing it and we love to expand our knowledge on record cutting! Cutting audio (or in other words physical vibrations) into plastic or PVC, is truly an amazing experience…

We create musical sculptures!

We call the machine : BROTHER SINGER.

The records that we cut, are known as “Lathe Cuts”. A lathe cut record is a process of cutting a groove containing the waveform of the music in a disc. The process is in real time and there is no way for mass production. The material we cut is PVC (instead of fragile lacquer discs). They look like an ordinary vinyl record and it lasts like them too. There are no limited plays. This allows us to make one-off records, with a new track you made, or limited edition custom runs of a label. Or whatever else you have in mind…

How does it sound?

It sounds as a vinyl record must sound. Warm and alive. Frequency response is from 30Hz to 17kHz (±2db). However, surface noise is slightly higher than pressed records. Also, loudness is often a little bit lower that the most of the pressed records. We could simply say that the loudness is approximately at the same level of an 17-20 min LP pressed record. Cutting louder is an option, but we don’t prefer to push the cutterhead to its limits, in order to avoid distortion. (of course loudness has a great connection with the sound material — the more the higher frequencies — the less loudness).

Mastering

Here are some tips on how to mix and/or master your audio, for vinyl:

  • Limit your high end stuff (cymbals, hi-hats etc)

  • Applying a low pass filter on the entire mix (cutting off around 16kHz), will also help.

  • De-essing vocals is also really important. The high end "S" and "T" sounds, tend to distort on vinyl.

  • Make the bass frequencies mono (around 100 - 150hz and below). If you do that the bass frequencies will stay in phase, and they won't jump out of the groove.

  • Avoid extreme stereo effects (phaser, flanger, etc) especially in high frequencies. Check your correlation meter and try to reduce “out-of-phase” signals.

  • Give to your digital file some breathe/headroom. Do not overcompress it and of course no “red”signals.

here is a good article to read - on how to mix your tracks for vinyl.

If the audio is not mastered for vinyl, you may hear some differences between the digital file, and the vinyl cut. Of course we do “mastering” before start cutting any audio material. We always want to get the most from our cuts.

.wav files at 96khz and 24 or 32 bit is preferable. Please do not convert your mp3 files to wav. The lost audio information is not coming back. We prefer to send us (info@loficoncept.com) the source with the purest audio information you can have. Of course, you can also send us any other audio file and we will do our best for a good sounding record.


We produce music ourselves so and we can understand the creative process and the passion of the artists. We ‘ve always try to get the most from our cuts because we love doing it !

Duration per side (max)

12inch (33rpm) ----> 17min

12inch (45rpm) ----> 12min

10inch (33rpm) ----> 10 min

10inch (45rpm) ----> 8min

7inch (33rpm) ----> 5.30 min

7inch (45rpm) ----> 4min

Graphics / Packaging

We print your artwork on the center label of each record. The diameter for a small label (7inch) is 8.4cm. The diameter for a large label (12inch & 10inch) is 10cm. You can send your graphics/pics/artwork to our mail (info@loficoncept.com) (jpg preferable) while ordering. We suggest you not to prepare your artwork exactly on the edge, in order to avoid printing misalignment. (e.g. send us a pic with diameter of 10cm - with the beneficial artwork within the 9.5cm).

—————————————————-

Center Labels Dimensions :

7inch = 8.4cm

10 & 12inch = 10cm

—————————————————-

You will receive your vinyl(s), in a white anti-static inner sleeve.

If you want a Kraft hard sleeve for your vinyl you can buy here

In General

Lathe cuts are a subtle and sensitive thing. Each process is like a surgery. There are many factors that the cutting engineer has to be careful, while cutting. Music as term of “wave” has a better fit on vinyl. Too much compressed signals as the result of “loudness war” are not very friendly to vinyl. The result is great when you have a good mix and even better, a good mastering for vinyl. If you are searching to listen your music alive and unique, you are in the right place!

Turnaround Time

Turnaround time to complete one order, depends on how much orders we have in queue. We usually move fast, but we suggest to send us a message before placing any order. Turnaround time could be from 1-2 days to 4-5 months.