Cutting Records… for real

For some reason or other, I’ve recently decided to pursue an education in the almost extinct craft of cutting vinyl. I found a record cutting machine at vinylrecorder.com and phoned the company. The designer of the vinylrecorder, Mr. Ulrich Sourisseau, politely told me,

“I cannot sell you this machine unless you come to Germany for training.”

“Oh.”

Fast forward 4 months… it turned out I had 3 days off between gigs on my last tour in Europe so I made arrangements to visit vinylrecorder HQ which is somewhere in the middle of the German countryside.

Mr. Sourisseau has been cutting vinyl records for over 40 years. The vinylrecorder is his life’s work. The machine looks simple enough but is in fact quite a complicated beast… and I don’t know how he could have possibly explained how to use this thing over the phone. So… yes… the training session is recommended.

here is a pic of the cutting head.

this is Mr. Sourisseau looking through the microscope to make sure the grooves are good.

Mr. Sourisseau and his vinylrecorder.

Some pages from a notebook that I filled with record cutting jargon during my 18 hour crash course in vinyl cutting. I just looked through some of these pages and realized that I don’t remember what half of these notes mean. I wrote “microscope” and then drew some lines underneath it… um… apparently it struck me as important at the time. Oh well, it will take me a few months (if not years) to figure out how to cut records consistently. Wish me luck. When I finally figure this machine out I’ll be cutting special records for every show! Imagine a double sided chicken clucking 12″ vinyl… I’m sure you’re looking forward to that gig…. oh the possibilities.

I am such a nerd.