Where does this come from, and can I check it?

A lathe engraves a lacquer disc that is plated and pressed. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a music fact?

Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Mastering for vinyl cuts a physical groove

A lathe engraves a lacquer disc that is plated and pressed The engineer balances level, tone and how far apart the grooves sit so the side fits. Bass is often narrowed to mono to keep the stylus from jumping. Digital releases skip the cutting step but still get a final master. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Library of Congress

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Technology trivia

More facts like this

Vinyl cutters fold deep bass into monoOut-of-phase low frequencies would throw the stylus out of the groove A vinyl side trades loudness for playing timeFitting more minutes on a disc means narrower grooves and a quieter cut Records got measurably louder and flatterHeavy compression raised average level while squashing peaks Streaming services turn loud masters downSpotify plays most tracks at about minus 14 LUFS, so a hotter master gains nothing The loudness war flattened CD masters for two decadesEngineers squeezed peaks with compressors so their records would sound louder Peaks between samples can exceed digital zeroReconstruction filters can overshoot the highest stored value in a digital file

Tags: mastering, vinyl, production

Mastering for vinyl cuts a physical groove: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: A lathe engraves a lacquer disc that is plated and pressed. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a music fact?: Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.