Lathe cutting terms, in plain English.

A record cut individually on a cutting lathe, direct to the playback medium, rather than stamped from a metal master in a factory. No minimum order, no pressing plant. See what is lathe cut vinyl?

A one-off record, traditionally cut for DJs and sound systems to play an exclusive mix or unreleased track. See what is a dubplate?

Polyethylene terephthalate glycol — the thermoplastic used for most modern one-off lathe cuts. Durable, comes in a range of colours, and cuts directly without an intermediate manufacturing stage. See PETG vs lacquer.

The traditional cutting medium — a lacquer-coated aluminium disc. Still used as the intermediate stage in commercial pressed record manufacturing. Softer than PETG and wears with each play. See PETG vs lacquer.

How closely spaced the grooves are on a record, measured in LPI. Tighter pitch means more playing time but less room per groove for volume and bass. See groove pitch & LPI.

The unit groove pitch is measured in — one LPI means one groove revolution per inch of the record's radius. Typical range is roughly 90–300 LPI depending on format and content. See groove pitch & LPI.

Fixed pitch holds the same groove spacing throughout a side. Variable pitch adjusts spacing dynamically based on the audio. Most lathe cutting, including ours, uses fixed pitch. See groove pitch & LPI.

Revolutions per minute — the speed a record spins at, typically 33⅓ or 45. Higher RPM increases groove velocity, improving high-frequency accuracy and reducing inner groove distortion, at the cost of playing time.

Distortion that increases progressively toward the end of a side, caused by reduced groove velocity as the stylus nears the centre label. See inner groove distortion.

The part of the lathe that physically carves the groove, vibrating a stylus in time with the audio signal. We cut on a Systemphonics Nebula cutting head.

Two different things that share a name. A cutting stylus carves the groove during production, usually a heated sapphire or diamond tip. A playback stylus is what's fitted to a turntable cartridge to play the finished record. See turntable setup.

Playback stylus tip shapes, in roughly ascending order of tracing accuracy and price. A smaller, more precise tip traces fine groove detail, including inner grooves, more accurately. See turntable setup.

Turntable settings that affect how accurately the stylus sits in and traces the groove. Set incorrectly, both can cause mistracking and added distortion. See turntable setup.

How loud a record is cut, which is directly linked to groove width, playing time and bass headroom. Louder cuts need wider grooves. See lathe cut volume.

A lathe cutting order of a single copy (one-off) or a small number of copies (short run), typically anywhere from 2 to 100, without the minimum order requirements of a pressing plant.

A record made from the same stampers used for a full pressed run, produced to check the master before committing to volume production. Different from a dubplate, which is cut directly from audio rather than from a stamper.