Music

We spoke to the guy behind Sonic Boom's in-house record cutting service

by Mark Teo

A few weeks ago, we reported that a vinyl-cutting service was coming to Toronto’s Sonic Boom record store, all thanks to Crosss frontman Andy March. Although we initially (and erroneously) wrote that it’d be a record-pressing service, March’s work will, in fact, be a lathe-cutting service, serving up gorgeous, small-run records. We spoke with March to find out more about what he’s bringing to Sonic Boom, how much his services will cost you, and what lathes could mean for your band.

Hey Andy! Tell us more about the process of making lathes. What kind of equipment do you use?

We use a Presto 8DG record lathe from the 1950s to cut the records, one at a time, in real-time. It’s a very large machine, which weighs about 300+ pounds. This machine has a giant turntable on top, which turns the disk as the audio is being cut into it. The audio travels from our computer, into a high-powered tube amplifier (also from the mid ’50s), to the cutter head, a small device which uses a tiny cut gemstone to carve the grove into the disk. These gems are very expensive now, and wear out quite quickly, so we are always trying to avoid damaging them, and having nightmares about making mistakes and breaking one.

We also have to make the disks themselves by hand. Using a cold press laminator, we layer Polycarbonate Film—basically a sheet of clear plastic—a clear adhesive, and the graphics for the disk, which are printed on card stock. We drill-out the center hole, cut the audio onto the disk with the lathe, and finally we cut the disk into a circle by hand using scissors.

I have been making these disks for friends and bands for a few years, but when I moved to Toronto, I couldn’t find a space to work out of. I came up with the idea of housing the machine at a record store, and that idea really took off.

How’d you end up landing a space in Sonic Boom in particular? Obviously, their new location in Chinatown has a lot of space—did you approach them, or did they approach you?

I approached Sonic Boom. They have a HUGE store, which is just a very very beautiful space. [It’s] one of the nicest record stores I have ever seen anywhere really, and the owners were very receptive to the idea, and we moved the lathe and started to set up almost immediately.

Tell me more about the cost and process of making lathe cut vinyl. How much do you intend on charging bands—especially for larger runs of, say, 50 records? Can bands outside of Toronto get in touch with you?

We have two pricing schemes. One for bands/labels/artists/etc. who want multiple copies, likely to re-sell to their fans 0r friends. We have another price scheme for people who want just one or two copies for personal use—gifts, art projects, DJ scratch records, etc.

For bands we can make copies of a 7-inch for about $8 including packaging, so they are able to resell those records for $10 or so, at shows or online or through a distro, and still make some money.

For people who just want one custom record, we help to master the audio, format the graphics, and do all the other customer service stuff, and we charge $15 for a 7-inch.

We can also do 10-inches and 12-inch. The prices go up proportionally of course. The biggest cost for us is the wear on the cutting stylus (the gemstone), so the length of the audio being cut is the main determining factor for price. The longest record we can cut is a two-sided 12-inch, which fits 38 minutes of music, and those go for $45 for a single copy, or $22 for bulk orders.

What differences can bands expect from lathe cut versus standard pressed vinyl?

The records we make are not like pressed vinyl from a vinyl pressing plant. They are a lot different. They are flexible, they have full colour graphics across the entire disk surface. They also don’t sound like pressed vinyl. They are a little more scratchy, a little quieter, and a little more lo-fi. The sound of a Monotype disk suits some styles of music really really well. On the other hand, some types of music that rely on modern, high fidelity sounds for impact—EDM, for example—would not have the full sub-bass make it to the disk. So if a band/artist is making an order, I often offer them a test copy to make sure they like the sound.

The whole process can happen by email of course, and we can mail disks worldwide, you don’t have to come into the store. The email is monotypeaudio@gmail.com.

What kind of attention has your business been receiving so far?

So far, we have had a really amazing response. People are coming into the store every day to watch their records being make for them, and customers of the store passing by are always fascinated to hear about what is going on. NOW Magazine ran a small story on us last week, and the story was picked up by a few blogs, which is pretty fun to see. We have been getting orders from all over the world this week, which is really cool.

Sonic Boom is at 215 Spadina Ave. in Toronto.