Abbey Road Vinyl / User Guide
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Chapter 4: Vinyl Record Production and Playback
Creating the Record
Making a vinyl record is a labor-intensive process that hasn’t changed in a long time. Most of the record pressing machines in
use today are many years older than the consumers who listen to the records made on them. The record production involves
these steps. Where applicable, the corresponding Abbey Road Vinyl control is described in italics.
1. Transcribe the music to lacquer.
a. TG 12410 Transfer Desk
The final mixed audio passes through the TG 12410 Transfer Desk. This gives the mastering engineer the tools
needed (EQs, filters, limiters) to master the musical content for optimal placement on the lacquer.
These desk characteristics can be turned on or off.
b. Neumann SAL-74 cutting rack
Once the signal is prepped on the transfer desk it goes to the Neumann cutting rack. This is the last gate before the
signal goes onto a vinyl, so it was designed to be as flat as possible, with minimum harmonic distortion. It includes
a de-esser to protect the cutting head from overheating when trying to cut very loud high frequency sounds. The
rack also applies the RIAA encoding to the signal and get the signal ready level wise to be cut to a Lacquer.
This device does not measurably alter the signal, so there is no corresponding control.
c. Neumann VMS-80 cutting lathe
This is where the lacquer is cut. A soft lacquer disk turns on a platter while a very precise, heated cutting head
shapes grooves into the material. The lathe utilizes a “groove width logistics board” that delays the incoming audio
by 1.5 seconds in order to analyze the signal. If needed, the lathe will cut a wider groove to accommodate more
