Many years ago I ran a record label, and as part of the process of manufacturing I took the source DAT tapes to a cutting studio, where an engineer cut the "lac

Many years ago I ran a record label, and as part of the process of manufacturing I took the source DAT tapes to a cutting studio, where an engineer cut the "lacquer", which is a one-off, soft wax version of what will later be pressed into hundreds of records. After he had finished mixing the record and used a lathe to cut the lacquer, he showed me the grooves which has been cut using a microscope attached to the lathe. Not quite as much detail as the photos above, but more than enough to see clearly how the shape of the grooves creates the resultant waveform. Really, really incredible feeling. Vinyl records are, without a doubt, one of my favourite pieces of music technology.