In the more than 100 year history of mechanical sound recording there have been many developments that advanced the quality of cutting systems and vinyl records. Yet no development has more impact on vinyl than the introduction of the CD in the late 80’s. So it may come as a surprise to learn that disc cutting is a thriving part of Capitol Mastering. The concept of superior sound has not been lost for the engineers of Capitol and our Neumann lathes which have been running since the facility opened in the early 50's.

The first stereo disc was cut by EMI engineers on an in-house system built in 1933. Dedication to quality disc cutting has a long history within EMI and that devotion to the art still lives at Capitol.

At the center of our disk cutting systems is the Neumann VMS 70 fitted with the Neumann SX 74 cutter head. Full analog path is maintained with a Studer A80 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch tape machine with preview and program head stacks as well as extended tape path for various tape speeds. Signal processing is done via a custom Neve mastering console built around the Neve 1081 EQs. The console is a traditional A/B path design with crossover fader and full program / preview processing. Additional analog processing can utilize Sontec EQs, Millennia NSEQ-2 EQs, Cybersonics desser along with Allen Smart limiter/compressors. A Grace model 901 headphone amplifier allows listening to high resolution files up to 96k.

When provided with digital source for CD Mastering, a Protools system is used for playback and a Pyramix DAW Mastering station is used as the editing platform. All conversions are done with DB Technologies Blue series AD/DA converters. The room is clocked via the Apogee Big Ben providing a high degree of sonic accuracy.

Ron McMaster is the man behind the magic. Aptly named, Ron started mastering with Capitol in 1983 when vinyl was still the main product manufactured for the public. His knowledge and love for the craft has been honed over 20+ years of the lathe revolving at his command.

Ron takes great pride in getting the most out of the format. This is truly an artisan’s craft that requires math, science, musicality, and precision. His years as an engineer and musician allow him to artistically balance the demands of this very unique format. Since he started, audio formats have changed radically and Ron has remained current, working in all of the modern formats that have developed over the years in professional audio.

“I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years and there is a lot of satisfaction seeing vinyl come full circle once again by popular demand, I love it!” says Ron.

Recently, Capitol Records jumped back into issuing 180-gram LPs with their “From The Capitol Vaults” series. The vast majority of these releases were cut with Ron at the helm. You can see some of Ron’s recent vinyl releases for Blue Note and Rhino at the following links: