A catastrophic fire on Thursday Feb 6th at Apollo Lacquer manufacturing in Banning, California has destroyed one of only two factories in the world producing the lacquer discs used as blank media in vinyl mastering. The other manufacturer is MDC in Japan. Transco, another US based manufacturer was taken over by Apollo quite recently and Transo products were still available, manufactured at the Apollo plant.

The three brands: Apollo, Transco and MDC are seen as qualitatively different from each other and cutting engineers each have their own preferences. Supply of lacquer for the growing resurgence of interest in vinyl is already perceived by many to be stretched, so the consequences of one of only two producers being destroyed are uncertain but seem likely to be significant.

Luckily there were no casualties or injuries in the fire but the Apollo/Transco business has been destroyed and there are no guarantees that they will resume production at this stage. In a statement on the Apollo Masters website they said:

To all of wonderful customers. It is with great sadness we report the Apollo Masters manufacturing and storage facility had a devastating fire and suffered catastrophic damage. The best news is all of our employees are safe. We are uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time. Thank you for all of the support over the years and the notes of encouragement and support we have received from you all.

Do You Need Lacquer To Master Vinyl?

There is an alternative process, DMM or Direct Metal Mastering, in which, rather than cutting to soft lacquer, cutting is direct to a copper disc. It carries some perceived advantages: Improved transient response and no groove wall bounce back effects (a crosstalk effect between adjacent grooves which can occur with lacquer). It is much less common than lacquer mastering and involves the use of specialist cutting heads which aren’t readily available.

Lacquer Vinyl Cutting In Action

If you’re unsure about the whole cutting process, watch this very informative video in which the very hands on, manual nature of cutting lacquer, including the inherent fire risks, are ably demonstrated by Caspar from Gearbox Records.

Do you cut vinyl? Will this fire affect your business? Share your thought here.