Vinyl record consumption has increased over recent years. During 2019, roughly 19 million vinyl albums were sold in the US alone. However, it can be expensive to cut vinyl for unsigned musicians or underpaid music-lovers. That’s why some crafty inventors have come up with ingenious at-home record-maker machines.
If you are a music lover who listens to classic vinyl records, then you will love these machines. You can customize a record for your own pleasure, or you can make one to give as a gift. If you are a singer or a musician, you can record a song and have it directly recorded onto the disc at home. Depending on your lifestyle or needs, there are different record cutters from a less-expensive mini device that cuts small vinyl records to a more expensive, larger machine that cuts the traditional size of vinyl.
The Mini Record Cutter
Yuri Suzuki, a designer, and musician partnered up with Japanese learning company Gakken to make a mini record cutting machine that cuts five-inch vinyl records in under five minutes.
Manufactured by Gakken and designed by Suzuki, the device is powered over USB. To cut a record, users plug in a music source device such as a smartphone or iPod via the provided auxiliary audio cable and then place the cutting arm onto a blank disc, and the cutting begins. After around four minutes, a full side is ready for playback, and the unit can then be switched from recording to play mode. An integrated speaker and a tonearm with ceramic cartridge allow for instant replay.
This little (7.5 x 6.3 x 5.9-in) device offers music lovers a much cheaper way to cut vinyl at home, with prices starting at around US$80. The company plans to send out its first shipment of products to the UK and the US by late 2020.
However, if 5 – inch discs don’t feel like the real thing to you and you have extra cash, then you might like Phonocut’s vinyl presser that also lets you make records at home, but on 10-inch discs.
Phonocut Vinyl Presser
Phonocut, a Vienna-based startup, has developed a ‘home vinyl record’ machine that lets you create and record your own records. The device cuts 10-inch vinyl records in real-time, using a diamond stylus for etching soundwaves onto the surface of the disc.
Phonocut designed the machine to ‘re-invent record production’ quickly and simply. It only requires three steps to create records using Phonocut’s home vinyl record:
- Place a black disk on the platter
- Connect and play a stereo audio source
- Hit the button to start, and the device will begin equalizing and processing
Phonocut explained:
Since the invention of record discs in 1889, mankind has been dreaming of a simple but precise desktop machine which would enable anybody to produce their own quality records with just the push of a button. 2019 saw vinyl records celebrating a surprising worldwide comeback, but still, their production was locked up inside of high-tech, high-volume pressing plants. But as we know, technology exploded in many fields opening up the incredible opportunity to finally re-think and re-invent record production. This is exactly what we did together with a small team of globally acknowledged experts.
The retail price for the Phonocut device once it goes into production will be €1999, and the company plans to send out its first shipment of the product in December 2020.
