After reading (and contributing to - Twilight Sad!) the "I wish I had ____ on vinyl" post, I thought it appropriate to highlight a new trend in reissued vinyl - one that will not only afford a number of you the chance to purchase a copy of that record that has been eluding you for a fair price, but one that may also prove to be sonically superior to the original. We all know about how the thickness of a record can play a role in how it sounds (especially over time), but a few record labels have taken this audiophile reissue trend to a whole new level: Direct Metal Mastering (DMM). What is DMM? Well, Wikipedia describes it as such:
Direct Metal Mastering (or DMM for short) was/is an analogue audio disc mastering technique jointly developed by two German companies, Telefunken-Decca (TelDec) and Georg Neumann GmbH, towards the end of the 20th century. Neumann was responsible for manufacturing the actual DMM cutting equipment as part of their VMS80 series lathes. Unlike conventional disc mastering, where the mechanical audio modulation is cut onto a lacquer-coated aluminum disc, DMM cuts straight into metal (copper), utilizing a high frequency carrier system and specialized styli.
The advantages of DMM (hard surface material) over acetate lacquer cutting (soft surface material) are both sonic and practical: because of the rigidity of the master disc medium, no groove wall bounce-back effects take place after the cutting has been completed. This preserves the original modulation details in the groove walls much better, especially those involved with sudden fast attacks (transients). The improved transient response, as well as the more linear phase response of DMM improve the overall stability and depth-of-field in the stereo image. In addition, disturbing adjacent groove print-through sounds (groove echoes) are reduced in DMM. Also, there is no need to rush the finalized master disc directly into a refrigerator for groove preservation, as in conventional lacquer disc cutting.
DMM also has/had some drawbacks, the increased complexity and cost of the cutting hardware being the most obvious. This is counterbalanced to a degree by simpler matrix processing (the original master disc can even be directly matrixed into stamper plates, if the required amount of vinyl pressings is not very large).
Alongside mechanical audio recording and vinyl LP pressing in general, DMM in now more or less a thing of the past (certainly not in the mainstream of the sound recording industry any longer). The original inventor of the DMM method (Neumann) has completely stopped making cutting lathes and neither do they have any spare parts left for existing systems. However, present-day commercial lathes are being kept operational by independent service consultants, as well as cutting room service departments themselves, often by custom manufacturing missing or broken components.
I know, an awful lot of explanation for what should be a short, concise blog post. However, I know I was not terribly familiar with the process, and I'd imagine some of you were in the same boat. Now, on to the good stuff.
Two record labels of note, One Little Indian and Fat Cat Records, are each in the middle of a DMM reissue series. For readers of my blog, SixtyWatt, you might have noticed the post on Sigur Ros' Von reissue, which is an excellent example of the One Little Indian series. All OLI reissues are to be pressed on 200 gram vinyl, be limited to 2000 individually-numbered copies and housed in a special sleeve. With 39 titles as part of their reissue series, I will not list them out here - they can be easily found in their webshop.
Fat Cat Records' reissue series will no doubt please a number of people on the "I wish" list. As noted on the Fat Cat website this past September, they are planning on reissuing two of Sigur Ros' most beloved albums, Ágætis Byrjun and ( ). Animal Collective are in on the game as well, with Feels already available and Sung Tongs in preorder. Most suprising is the announcement that they will press Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson & Sigur Ros' Angels of the Universe, which has never been pressed on vinyl before. Fat Cat's reissues are a bit different, in that they will be pressed on 180 gram vinyl with a more limited pressing of 1000 copies.
So, sell a few of those extra records you have lying around, and buy some pretty, new DMM reissues... let's be honest, it's not like you have a choice... The power of vinyl compells you.
OF NOTE: Is there anybody out there that can verify the 200 gram DMM reissue of Sigur Ros' Ágætis Byrjun that supposedly was already released? The excellent Sigur Ros fan site, Popplagid, has a listing for it, but Fat Cat's website makes no mention of it (and they are pretty thorough). Quite baffling... Please comment if you physically have one, or have definitive proof as to its existance or non existance.