Lathe Cuts
Empty Space is pleased to share its privilege of producing lathe cuts, often called “dubplates”, with like-minded people. If you need a vinyl cut for a project, don't hesitate to get in touch with us using our contact form.
We are equipped with professional-grade tools for cutting, including a feedback cutterhead with a diamond cutting stylus, a specialized high-torque direct drive motor and a low-distortion stereo cutting amplifier. We exclusively cut on high-quality PVC, ensuring performance and durability that matches pressed records. These aren’t acetates - our lathe cuts are built to last! Every lathe cut comes with white labels and a polylined inner sleeve. Cardboard outer sleeves are available upon request.
To ensure optimal playback, all audio is mastered for vinyl in-house. This process balances the frequency spectrum, dynamic range and stereo width to suit the medium. For the best sound quality, cuts are limited to a maximum of 12 minutes per side, maintaining good loudness, clean highs and solid bass response.
We can work with all common digital formats. For analog formats, we have a high-quality studio cassette player and a reel-to-reel machine calibrated to LPR35, operating at 3.75 IPS or 7.5 IPS. Our vinyl mastering is primarily performed with analog equipment, enabling us to offer a fully analog signal chain if desired.
If you’ve had external mastering done, you can simply forward your files to us - most masters work fine. The only exception are ultra-loud masterings with excessive clipping and limiting, which can cause issues. In such cases, we’d appreciate receiving a version without a clipper or extensive limiting. If you haven’t done any mastering, we’re happy to optimize your music before cutting. However, due to our infrastructure, we are not yet in a position to offer professional mastering services.
Our focus is on collaborating with artists, DJs, museums, theatres and other creatives who are passionate about their projects. Please note, however, that we currently lack the infrastructure and time to manage large-scale orders.
We offer a transparent pricing policy: CHF 5 per vinyl and CHF 2 per minute of music. These costs cover materials and equipment maintenance. If your funds are tight, we’re open to barter or trade - it’s not about the money, it’s about the music.
The entire cutting process and vinyl mastering are handled by Formen, who contributes on a voluntary basis. All earnings stay within our association, helping to fund future projects.