soundhog

I’ve realised that I’m still posting a lot of stuff on what remains of my social media presence, but I really should make more of an effort to put it on here as well… possibly instead. Let’s see if I can rectify the situation. Not just going on about how amazing I am and what I’m working on, but other things which enter my head on the subject of records and the manufacture thereof. So…

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I’m currently cutting LPs. A *lot* of LPs. Sixty or seventy, in fact. Therefore, I find myself sitting here, listening for faults, waiting for track breaks/side ends, hoping the swarf doesn’t end up going everywhere unexpectedly… and not being able to do much else. So, I tend to go down internet rabbit holes, and sometimes write about what I find. Here’s an example.

Since I started doing this disc cutting business properly, I’ve become very interested – possibly too interested – in certain details of the records in my collection. Not just label variations and the like, which I’d been a bit obsessed with since I started buying up original issues of psych and progressive albums in the mid 1980s, but the actual cuts and the people who made them. Obviously, everyone’s probably heard of ‘Porky’, Harry T Moss, Doug Sax, Bob Ludwig, ‘Melys’, Hazel Yarwood and the like. However, my particular interest are discs that were cut by people who were (IMHO) closer to my current status in the field. They didn’t work for major labels in-house, or for the posher dedicated mastering/cutting operations, but were truly independent ‘cottage industries’.

The most famous example might well be Percy Phillips, who recorded the Quarrymen acetate in 1958 in the front room of his Liverpool terrace, but there were a considerable number of other people from the late ‘40s to the mid ‘70s who (often after being demobbed) set themselves up with a cutting lathe in modest workspaces or their spare rooms, placed a classified advert in the back of a couple of magazines, and went into business cutting either directly to disc, or – as tape machines became more available and affordable – from customer-supplied ¼” reels. John Hassel. Deroy. Eroica. Lynsound. Rapid Recording.

One such chap that I find particularly fascinating was John Martin, who ran an outfit called County Recording Services from his home in Binfield, Berkshire. From what I can gather, John had been in the watchmaking/repair game, but turned his micro-engineering skills to audio. By the late 1950s he’d established a tape-to-disc cutting operation in a shed at the bottom of his driveway, using a mono Presto cutter. Going forward to the late ‘60s, he’d acquired a Scully machine and was also starting to offer ‘short run’ pressings – usually 99 copies or less to avoid tax – using independent plants such as Lyntone and Orlake.

Some of these records now change hands for rather frightening sums, especially an 1969 LP by a local blues band called Levee Camp Moan, and a live album which was recorded at a mini-festival in the grounds of the farm that the band lived and rehearsed at. (It’s now a gastropub. Pfft.) County Recording Services were also responsible for cutting and pressing the very first record by the legendary and brilliant John Otway, five years before he came to national attention with ‘Cor Baby, That’s Really Free’ and the incident where he soundly squashed his nuts on a guitar amp during a BBC TV performance.

When the indie-industry as we know it today first got going with that Buzzcocks 7”, some of these small cutting outfits suddenly found themselves working with this rather direct new form of pop music made by bands who just wanted to make a statement and ‘bash it down’. John Martin had a fairly fruitful brush with the punk/post-punk/DIY scene, and was responsible for cutting many 7”s and the occasional LP for such bands between 1977 and 1981. Not only the minor-classic ‘I’m In Love With Margaret Thatcher’ by The Not-Sensibles, but also three interconnected masterpieces: ‘The Malcolm EP’ by O-Level, ‘There’s A Cloud Over Liverpool’ by Teenage Filmstars, and ‘Where’s Bill Grundy Now?’ by Television Personalities (which might possibly be my absolute favourite 7” piece of plastic in recorded history). ‘…Liverpool’ is nearly 6 minutes long, and it’s fairly obvious – looking at that rather skimpy run-out groove – that JM didn’t have the luxury of variable groove pitch. I know his pain. A few of these punk, DIY and heavy metal releases now fetch fairly eye-watering sums on the collectors market.

Up until the early ‘70s, the records cut at County seem to have all been resolutely mono. However, John Martin was actually developing his own stereo cutterhead, utilising his machining prowess, with help from his electronically-minded friend Eric Elliott, as well as offering cutting styli. A 1973 issue of Studio Sound magazine has a brief news item about the head, and it was proclaimed that it would be available soon. Unfortunately, this seems to have been a premature announcement. The prototype head was used on JM’s Scully, and one would assume that work on it continued throughout the 1970s – it was advertised for many years – however it seems that Eric Elliott passed away in the early ‘80s, just around the time that the head was deemed to be fully ready for marketing, and patents had been filed. Did any ever make it into use? Answers on a virtual postcard, please…

By the ‘80s, JM was advertising half speed mastering, full Dolby facilities and everything else that any sensible person could want. However the trail seems to go dead around 1985. One would assume he just retired, but it’s hard to tell. Maybe, with the building onslaught of the Compact Disc, the writing was on the wall anyway. It probably didn’t help that albums were regularly breaking 25 minutes per side, which an unmodified Scully would have struggled with, and cassettes were the general format of choice for personal vanity projects by now. Things change.

What happened to the shed and its contents? Who knows. A very fuzzy photo of a Scully from a 1982 issue of Studio Sound may well be all that’s left. It’s a familiar story. Nobody seems to have any links or clues to any remaining family, so all we’re really left with are some classified adverts and run-out etchings. It always comes back to the records, and particularly those with CRS stamped into the ‘deadwax’. Who’d have thought that in 2026, more people than ever (it seems) would be cutting phonograph discs in sheds & front rooms again? Funny old world. Here’s to the originals.

Evening!

Just a quick note to say I’m still here. Orders have gone through the roof over the past three months, and I’m really struggling to keep up with demand. Email communication has suffered as well, I know. I’m still one person with one machine doing absolutely everything in real time, and for the moment I’m avoiding the option of expanding the operation and possibly letting my quality control slip. I don’t want to turn into a mini-mass-production outfit. So, a few changes need to be made. (Oh, here we go… -Ed)

Full-LP orders have increased dramatically for some reason – people having trouble with e***t*cS**ge, maybe? – so unfortunately I need to put a cap on those for a bit. I’m thinking 20 copies/discs of any one title is sensible (so that’s 10 double LPs, 6 triples, 5 quads and beyond that things get daft). I can do more of course, but they’ll have to be done in new batches taking their place at the back of the queue, to keep things moving and to be fair on other customers. It’s also better for my sanity… or what tattered remains there are of it.

7″ and 10″ orders have also crept up significantly, so I’m trying to stay on top of it all. I do have some plans to improve the queueing system for everyone, but I’ll type more on that when I’ve worked the details out and have found a suitable point to bring them into play. I suppose the positive from all this demand is :- I must be doing something right!

I’ve also added some stuff into the FAQ/Tech sections about checking files before sending them. I’m honestly not wanting to come across as a grumpy old sod (or at least, not any more than I usually do) but having cut 25 LPs where a file turned out to be ‘the wrong one’, and the resulting argybargy making out that this was somehow my fault, I need to start covering my backside.

Anyway, in spite of all the moaning, thanks to everyone for entrusting their work to my stylus and ears. I had a nice little comment relayed to me from a very well known lacquer cutting engineer (I’d put money on some of his work being in your record collection) about my wares, which very much put a smile on my face and a little spring in my step. Also thanks to all the nice words from recent customers, and I’m properly chuffed that you were pleased with your records. It’s why I do this in the first place, to make good stuff from your good stuff, yeah?

Ta, everyone! Ben

Hello, everyone.

Just a quick note to keep this bit filled up. I don’t have time to write about what I’ve been working on at the moment, but I shall try to do so when everything calms down a bit. I’ve had to alter the ‘turnaround time’ to six weeks, and that might not even be enough, because this is – without a doubt – my busiest period ever. Thanks to everyone who has entrusted their records/hopes/dreams to me, I’m battling through the queue as best as I can. Some very long runs of full 35-40 minute albums (100 of them in the last two months alone) have rather slowed general progress, and even now there are around 350+ discs of various sizes and lengths booked in and waiting (hopefully) patiently. It’s very nice to be in demand, however. Thank you to the various people who’ve sent me complementary messages regarding the work I’ve done for them, it really does make a massive positive difference to this cynical old grump. If you’re still waiting for a reply to an email, don’t be hesitant to give me a nudge. Cheers for now… Right, better get back to it.

Evening!

Just thought I should make a quick posting on here about everything, but it’s all pretty much business as usual. I had an absolutely manic end to 2025. I had hoped to ‘ease off’ during December, but it turned into an insane rush to get various orders out in time for the festivities. I never learn, and frankly I think I was finally suffering from ‘burn out’ just after I took the final box to the post office. The result was that I’ve actually kept the lathe turned off for most of the period between Xmas and New Year, I didn’t listen to any music at all, and… er… I started building a replica of a weird 1960s synthesizer instead. I get bored easily, you see.

So I’m slowly getting back into cutting discs. I thought I’d have a quiet start to the year, but it’s already filling up. I note that this particular bandwagon has picked up a whole load of new passengers over the past few months, probably as a result of a couple of new cutting machines coming onto the market, and some people thinking it’s an easy way to a small fortune because vinyl’s still back, back, BACK! So, that’s probably great for the consumer with more choice and stuff, but I do wonder how many average-to-awful sounding lathe cuts are going to flood the market over the next 12-18 months or so until people actually realise it’s not quite as easy as it looks. I’ve already done several ‘rescue jobs’ this year for people stung by certain other cutting outfits, and have picked up more (now regular) customers as a result. It’s nice when things work out, eventually.

Anyway, I’d like to say hello and a massive thanks to everyone I’ve made records for this year, and who’ve helped me keep the lights on and the rent paid as I enter my sixth Plastidisc year. Thanks also go to the excellent Souri over in Germany, and also to Spinner Town in the UK. If it wasn’t for these people I simply wouldn’t be doing this now, and I’d rather shut up shop than have to go ‘elsewhere’.

So, 2026. Shall we make some records? Yeah, go on…

Ben

*Note* this was supposed to just go out on my Bandcamp page to followers of my little DIY record label at https://plastidisc.bandcamp.com, but it turns out it was waaaaayyyyyy too big for that. So it’s on here, now.

Good evening, everyone.

So, October 3rd came around pretty quickly, didn’t it? Yes, here I am again, stressing out like mad because it’s RELEASE TIME in about 12 hours or something. If you saw the previous email that I sent out, or read it on here or whatever, you’ll know that there are two discs on the way from The Ultra Modern Label in 2025. Bonkers, that’s me.

Tomorrow it’s a 7″ single of instrumental synth-pop, composed and produced by me. I mean, it’s my pretend record label, so why shouldn’t I? Entitled Interim Report ’25 (mainly because my LP didn’t appear, so this is a sort of consolation prize) it’s got one fast peppy number on it, and one slower moody number on it. Both were composed using some of my almost-working ‘vintage’ analogue synth collection: a couple of Rolands for the fast peppy number, and an example of the legendary (mainly because Bernard from Joy Division built one) Transcendent 2000 for the slower moody number.

It’s in a card sleeve with the artwork printed as front and rear stickers, sort of going with the industrial accident theme of the whole thing. It’s on white plastic, aside from four ‘rogues’ which are a different colour (or no colour at all). Sort of an easter egg hunt, I suppose. I can’t remember which colours went into which sleeves, so it’s a proper lottery. Anyway, there’s a photo below so you can sort of see what it looks like. As for what it sounds like, you’ll obviously be able to listen to the two tracks first. Hopefully they’ll be good enough to warrant ten of your Earth Pounds (or whatever that ends up being in another currency). Speaking of which…

Sending stuff around the world just gets more difficult with each passing day, as I’m sure you’re aware. First up: Europe. This Global Product Safety Pain-In-The-Ass stuff. Suffice to say, I cannot justify paying someone hundreds of pounds per year to be my ‘responsible person’ overseas. Not for the amount of stuff I (don’t) put out. I’ve been speaking to friends who send records out into Europe with no problems, so I’ve decided that I’m basically going to treat it like I did last year and pretend nothing’s changed. IOSS is sorted via Bandcamp, so there should be no extra tax surprises at the other end once an order is placed, the only issue would be the disc vanishing into the holding pen because it’s considered a hazardous item or something, in which case we’ll sort something out… even if it’s a total refund and we can have a little cry about it afterwards. I’m just as much in the dark as anyone about it all.

The US: After bashing my head against the wall a bit, it would seem that ‘phonograph records’ are exempt from Orange Tax. I can only assume this to be the case. I’ve done a ‘test’ with the Royal Mail postal system that I use, and it gave me a price for International Standard delivery with no warnings, so I assume that everything is taken into account and it should work ok. So, if any of my friends over there fancy the disc, just go for it and we’ll see how it all pans out.

UK orders will go Tracked48, so I can keep costs realistic. Hopefully the asking price for the discs is realistic as well. Digital is, as ever, ‘pay what you want if you want to’. The tracks were made to exist on a record, anything else is gravy.

Right, I think that’s enough about all of that. Incidentally, if you’re into this particular release then you might be interested in another couple of things which I cut and are on sale for this BC-F. First up is a rather good electronic pop 7″ by DIMITRI (not from Paris), which is coming out on the excellent Do It Thissen label out of that there Sheffield. ‘Regeneration Breeds Regeneration’ is particularly ace, and both sides have the extra benefit of my mate Dean ‘I Monster’ Honer’s sonic polishing cloth. https://doitthissenrecords.bandcamp.com/merch for that one.

There’s also a suitably nuts 7″ by Leamington Spa legends Jackdaw With Crowbar. One side is a sort of electronic dubby banger, the other side kind of sounds like the dear departed Tim from Cardiacs joining up with late period Add N To (X). Well, to me anyway. I’ve never been very good at describing music, so probably a good job I didn’t try to become a music journalist, eh? Anyway, https://jackdawwithcrowbar.bandcamp.com/merch for that one. And yes, both sound great. Of course they do. I made them.

There we go, I think that’s about it.

Oh yeah, the upcoming Photocopies 10″ has taken a step further towards reality. The music is done, the labels are done, the cover is pretty much done (I just need to work out what form it’s going to take). It’s going to be a translucent red disc containing 22 minutes of pop-aceness. I’m going to start making them soon, and it’ll be out in December, all being well. First Friday, of course. Stay tuned.

Ben

It’s not often that I ever come into contact with a record that I’ve cut once it has gone in the post. Sometimes people will send me the sleeves and any other packaging so I can make my own copy of something I particularly like – I’ll post a couple of examples of those soon – but in general I don’t feel the need to hang onto ‘one for myself’. However, a notable exception turned up in the post yesterday.

It’s an EP (or mini-album maybe, it’s 25 minutes long) by tenebrous LIAR, a group founded by Steve Gullick in the mid-2000s. If his name sounds familiar, then you may also know him as a photographer of some repute. Even if it doesn’t, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll recognise some of his work if you do a quick internet search. So, obviously the visual presentation of his music isn’t going to be anything run of the mill. I supplied him with the cut 12″ discs in blank, black card sleeves, with white labels. The card sleeves were stamped and hand numbered, with an A3 photo print wrapped around it providing the main artwork. Inside, the discs are in black poly-inners, with the labels hand stamped. There’s also an A4 matte card print, the album credits* printed onto (what I presume to be) a vellum sheet, and a paper bag containing a numbered print of the full cover art. It’s all really quite something. The main photos here are from the Bandcamp listing incidentally, as I don’t have a camera which will do it all justice.

I cut 20 discs in all, and they all sold pretty quickly. Mr. Gullick was very happy with the discs, I’m knocked out by the end product, and hopefully the owners of the other 19 copies are as well. Good luck getting a product of this quality from Elasticst*ge.

* Massive thanks to Steve for giving me a mention on the credits as well. It doesn’t happen as often as you might expect…

Afternoon, folks.

No, no great earth-shattering news to report. Business as usual, basically. In case anyone thinks I’m not doing this anymore because of the lack of updates on this site, it’s just that the lack of updates are due to me being so busy. Some people might know that I was juggling this little escapade with another full time job, with the result that I had zero time that I wasn’t working at something or other. Things reached crisis point late last year, and the cutting won. So this is my sole income right now. Quite scary going back into the realms of self-employment after six years of a steady paid job (the first one I’d really had, which is quite amazing since I’m over 50) but it had to be done because I absolutely detested it.

The market has changed a lot in the five or so years since I started this little venture. Back then a few people seemed to be having the same ideas as me, but no bother. In the last two, I’ve seen dozens of other people buy a cutting lathe and set themselves up in business. Good for the customer? Maybe. I’ve heard some good results from elsewhere, and some shockingly bad rubbish. The majority is in the latter camp. There’s also a new(ish) company offering ‘on demand’ LPs with no upfront costs, in full sleeves (a real plus) for a fairly decent price… less than I could match, unfortunately for myself*. They’re being very secretive about how they’re achieving all this, and one of their founders is very vocal in trashing the likes of established lathe cutters and their methods. One of the other founders is someone who was a partner in a very well known and long established lathe cutting company. Hmm….?

It’s an attractive option. I know how they’re making them. I’ve seen/heard the results. Best leave it there for now…

Anyway, I’ve expanded the already copious amount of words on the site, addressing a few issues which have come up recently, and also why I won’t be able to do you orange and black splatter discs like some people are now offering. The whole ethos of Plastidisc is to make good records, and if that means dialling back the novelty factor then so be it. It’s worked so far, hopefully it will continue to do so in the face of increased competition. I’ve capitulated to a few people and quoted some recent feedback on the front page. I was always loathe to have a ‘testimonials’ section on here, I can’t stand people puffing themselves up, but maybe it’s time I started using the leverage that I’ve built up over the last half decade. I’m still cringing deep within, mind you.

Anyway, back to it. You know where I am if you need me. Cheers, folks…

Ben

* I’d say 80% of my business is 7″ and 10″ at the moment. Suits me!

I just realised I’ve not posted anything for a while. There’s an understatement. Can’t have me losing ‘engagement’ with the algos, can we? Whatever that is/they are. I could post this on my FB group but I really need to make it look like I’m not asleep on here. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m at bursting point with the workload yet again. Long may it continue.

Anyway, I was thinking about how the technical aspects of microgroove records have become something of an obsession for me, since I started doing all this. Having bought and played thousands of records over my lifetime, I sort of understood how it all basically worked, but I had no idea just how difficult it was/is to create something that sounds decent and plays properly, and how much intricate work goes into that piece of plastic which you listen to twice and then forget about.

I cut a few 7″s earlier this week for a very satisfied customer indeed (modesty prevents me from quoting his feedback, but suffice to say he feels they were a lot better than the ones he’d had done elsewhere of the same tracks previously, so that’ll do me nicely) and to be honest it was a bit of a squeeze. Two five minute tracks with pronounced beats and a fair bit of low end on them, one for each side. Keeping a decent overall volume without losing too much bass at 45rpm on a seven inch is a tricky act, because there isn’t very much space to fit it all in, if you’re sticking to the technical standards laid down – for very good reasons – a million years ago by the RIAA. Example: keeping the inner concentric (lock) groove where it’s supposed to be, 98.4mm from the centre of the disc. Going past that point can cause problems on some record players, aside from the compromised sound due to dimensional losses and increasing tracking angle error, which will affect *all* of them. Some auto units will reject the disc before the end of the audio, some will cut the motor, sometimes the arm will be physically unable to swing in any further (Soundburger owners, take note). If you’re cutting a novelty 5″ disc or whatever then obviously the rules don’t really apply so much, but for a ‘proper’ record I feel it’s best to stick to them.

As a result, one of the things I’ve been noticing on older records – cut before the days of super sophisticated lathes with pitch computers, and then Direct Metal Mastering which can pack grooves even more tightly together – is how much space there is (or isn’t) between the end of the audio and the lock groove. Going by the aforementioned standards sheet for the 7″, the last ‘recorded groove’ should be at 108mm from the disc centre, giving 10mm of run-out area. On a track which is up to around 3 minutes long, it’s easy to stick to this and get a nice ‘hot’ (ahem) level with full range. Past 3 minutes, you start to run into problems, and certain things may have to be compromised.

So, in the pop world as songs started getting longer but overall volume was still important for jukebox play and whatnot, people started to push things a bit and eat away into that 10mm area. It’s not uncommon to find 7″s from the late ’60s and ’70s with 5-6mm or so ‘deadwax’, sometimes even less, as the cutter strove to make it just that little bit louder without cutting the bottom end away. And the more they got away with it, the more they pushed it, either for length or volume or both. Therefore I’ve been examining dozens upon dozens of 7″s, just to see how close to the wind they rode. I found a record recently (cut and pressed in Spain) which was only just over 3 minutes long, but cut with a peak level of nearly +12db for maximum sonic impact at discotheques, and barely 3mm of space to spare before the end. The identity of this particular hot stamper club banger? Erm…

Hello. Business as usual here, the platter hasn’t stopped spinning and the discs keep on coming. There have been some interesting developments in the blank disc world, as the people making the nice white discs are now doing all sorts of funny shapes as well. Some are off the shelf, but there’s also the possibility of getting any design custom made. Basically this means that there’s going to be an explosion of novelty shaped lathe cuts going forward, and if you really wanted an hexagonal disc or a square one or one with little designs cut out of it, in black, white or transparent, then it’s probably doable. Bear in mind that anything other than a square is going to cut down on the usable space for recording, and hence running time.

Other than that, I’m awaiting a new piece of equipment which I’m hoping will improve the standard of my discs yet further. “But surely that’s not possible?” Well, yeah it is. I don’t care what shape or colour or whatever a record is, if it doesn’t sound good then it’s got no right to exist, and that’s the most important thing for me. So, more news on that when it happens. I’m not just mucking around here, you know…

Have a photograph to liven up this dull post. I recently made 100 7″s in black for the excellent Swansea Sound, which sold out in the blink of an eye. However I also cut a solitary white one, which went on eBay and raised over £200 for a fund to benefit striking Amazon workers in Coventry. I’m quite proud to have been involved in that, frankly. Right, back to it… type soon.

A quick note to say that decent quality white blank discs are now available to me, and thus to you. Prices are the same as 2mm black or transparent discs, which is nice. Let me know if you fancy a flat white that makes noises rather than just makes you jittery and gives you a headache….

(It could be a both/and, I suppose.)