I do not own any DMM mastered vinyls that I know of. How about you, are they more musical or worse you think?

The cutting lathe for DMM engraves the audio signal directly onto a copper-plated master disc, instead of engraving the groove into a lacquer-coated aluminum disc.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_metal_mastering

It seems to be a more direct way to cut a vinyl master so it's an interesting aspect of vinyl production.

Efraim roots wrote:I do not own any DMM mastered vinyls that I know of. How about you, are they more musical or worse you think?

In my experience they are worse that normal pressnings.

Thanks for your input! I got this answer from a european pressing plant

For a 7inch a DMM is actually perfect as there's less innergroove distortion towards the center of the record. A 7inch is actually cut on the 'worst part' of the record, when cut in DMM the quality is better. A lacquer is softer, once cut, the material always bounces back a bit which is not the case on a DMM as it''s copper.

But in general a lacquer is more suitable for 12" dance related or heavy bass material, and DMM for longer programs, albums, classical repertoire and 7inch.

If anyone else want to chip in with their experience I would be thankful.

Edit. I found a comparison in the playground thread (page 27). It seems like that comparison also suggests laquer being the more musical option. Thanks!

All DMM copies I own sound worse than my plain ones. They sound thinner and "shouty". Voices and strings get a very artificial quality. Personally, I don't like them and tend to avoid them like the plague.

Regards,

Vincula

Wikipedia though, I think this article, particular the last passage is interesting:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_metal_mastering

Matt

christian wrote:

Efraim roots wrote:I do not own any DMM mastered vinyls that I know of. How about you, are they more musical or worse you think?

In my experience they are worse that normal pressnings.

+1 I avoid them if possible

Great! I'm about to arrange a 7" 45rpm "indie" release. Now I know I'm going for a lacquer cut! If anyone happen to know about someone who cut exceptional lacquers please let me know :-)

Efraim roots wrote:Great! I'm about to arrange a 7" 45rpm "indie" release. Now I know I'm going for a lacquer cut! If anyone happen to know about someone who cut exceptional lacquers please let me know :-)

Thomas OK and I discussed 33 vs 45 rpm while at RMAF. I found this really interesting as I've heard many times that 45 rpm is supposed to sound better than 33rpm, but in my own experience with maybe 20-25 maxi singles, I've always found them to sound worse than the same track on the 33 rpm LP. But then I've thought "Maybe it's the additional mixing of the maxi single that screwed it up".

Thomas, however, had found a record that was released both in 33 and 45 rpm. The same recording cut in both speeds. And his conclusion was that 33 sounded better.

Interesting, huh?

Ok, thats certainly interesting findings! One of my favorite producers used to cut lacquers for several years in the 90's. I always wondered why he cut his own productions maxi 12" singles in 33rpm while 45rpm certainly was standard for that format and genre. I should try to find some tunes for a critical comparison. Something for the playground ;-)

I think Joe Cockers Sheffield Steel was DMM on one side and normal pressing on the other, or that could be an urban myth. Both sides sound really good with one side being warmer than the other

After some research about the available european cutting studios in nowadays vinyl production I came to the conclusion that A LOT (50% ?) of vinyl mastering actually is done with DMM technique. I chose lacquer for my own release tho since I seem to prefer those discs.

A mastering engineer I met in the 90'ies said he would recommend / use dmm when the source was muddy and the record company/studio would not allow him to apply any eq.