The Fairchild 523 Restoration Project We are (slowly!) working to restore an early 1950’s vintage Fairchild 532 record lathe. This lathe will be capable of cutting up to 16” discs at 33-1/3, 45 and 78rpm - and can do on-the-fly manual pitch adjustment from 80 to 500lpi. Our intention is to first get this working with an “old school” true-mono system featuring a vintage Grampian/BBC B1/AGU full range cutter head with the all tube Gotham PFB- 150WA amplifier, and then later add stereo cutting with the recently introduced FlokaSon Caruso stereo cutter head and Rotel RB1080 high-fidelity solid state stereo amplifier. As this system will use manual pitch it will be best for 7” singles or shorter 12” and 10” sides - but will be capable of cutting both masters and references (aka “dubplates” or “acetates”). We expect to have this system working sometime in 2025, please check back here for any updates.

Vinyl Records have had a major resurgence in interest in recent years. Records make an excellent way to deliver your music to your audience - as they provide a tangible collectible format, that can provide great sound quality possessing a warmth, depth and vibe beyond that of a digital release. Vinyl records, with their full sized artwork, also have tons of appeal at the merch table. Total Sonic Media can provide pre-masters optimized for this format, ready to be transferred to lacquer or DMM at the cutting facility or pressing plant of your choice. We maintain a list of vinyl record pressing plants here.

Hi-Res Digital Pre-masters

for Vinyl Records

While you can use the files we create for your CD or digital downloads as pre-masters for vinyl records as well, we highly recommend you order additional files that are specifically optimized for transfer to lacquer or DMM masters for best results. These differ from the CD / download versions in the following ways: • hi-res 24bit 96kHz wav files set up as a single file per side • generally less digital limiting to allow cleaner and more dynamic transfer into the analog realm • low frequencies centered to allow for better tracking (if needed) • ultra-lows rolled off slightly to allow for better tracking (if needed) • ultra-highs slightly rolled off to allow for cleaner transfer (if needed) • de-essing selectively applied to allow cleaner transfer on sibilances (if needed)

Analog Sequenced Reels

For those going for a purist “100% analog” approach, or for those that wish to impart an even greater “old school” vibe to your release - we can also provide pre-masters as sequenced ¼” 2-track 15ips analog tape reels (one reel per side). More info on this process can be read here.

Experienced

TSM’s mastering engineer Steven Berson draws from previous work experiences at New York City’s Europadisk where he worked directly in every aspect of vinyl production - first as a production manager overseeing the scheduling and quality control for the record pressing division from 1999 to 2002, and then as mastering engineer from 2004 - 2005. While at Europadisk Steve cut hundreds of vinyl record masters using the Neumann Direct Metal Mastering system for artists as varied and renowned as Foo Fighters, Martha Wash, OM, Henry Threadgill, and a literal who’s who of hip-hop stars for 12” remixes and compilations licensed by AV8 Records and X-Mix. He draws on these experiences to be able to know what works best for any of the vinyl record pre-master files we create - in order to best guarantee you will have excellent results during the cutting of your vinyl record masters.