Seeking the perfect cut

摘要

Many years ago, the late Julian Vereker used to show his contempt for namby-pamby record cleaning devices by picking up an LP and wiping it on his jumper before playing it. One day last autumn, during a fascinating visit to Abbey Road, my jaw dropped when I saw top mastering engineer Steve Rooke do the same thing with one of the DMM metal blanks he was about to use.Of course, it turned out Steve was only dusting off the back of the thing, not the pristine top surface, before fitting it in position on the cutting lathe. He was cutting the masters for the vinyl version of Nairn's latest Charlie Haden issue, the excellent Private Collection.