That's the funny thing, the inconsistency in cutting is completely
across the board. Doesn't matter who it is or who recommends them, they
all fu*k up - it's just a question of how often.
I used Masterpiece twice, for the first 2 releases, and they screwed
both times (dunno which engineer). The second time was spectacular,
surface noise running across all one side - basically a low hum
throughout the side which got louder and louder toward the end.
As*holes refused to admit that it was an error, or refund the work.
So I moved on to another company, then another, then another. Won't
name any names - but basically all the big European ones. Like I said,
D&M were the only ones who got it right first time. But I
haven't used them since for the reasons JT mentioned.
The problem is, cutting vinyl is such a fine art, and there are so few
people out there who are real experts at it. It takes an incredible
amount of care and there are so many things that can go wrong. It
really needs more than just a quick hour session to get it right, but I
guess the mark up is so low on it now that it's such a specialist thing,
no one can afford to take the time they used to.
I think the most amazing story I ever heard was from Jason Brunton, who
got a record back from Detroit which suddenly sped up to 45 halfway
through the track, where someone had obviously leaned on the speed
button whilst cutting it. Genius.
Martin Dust wrote:
Never liked Nilz stuff, too tinny. We've always used Simon Francis
over at Masterpiece - Never had a problem. Not keen on some of the
cuts and D&M, cut way too loud and just friggs the dynamics - why do
people think louder is better?
m
On 25 Jul 2007, at 16:26, J.T. wrote:
oops my bad -- i have had a record cut at the exchange (by nilz i
think) with bad results. there was digital "ringing" (compression
artifacts) on a couple tracks which was definitely not there
before...i heard that he didn't really understand the sound of the
record, wanted to add all sorts of bass when there wasn't supposed to
be much etc...
my memory confused the exchange with metropolis, but i haven't heard
a bad thing about metropolis..except the price
