"Lazaretto" is about as specialized as it comes. And he got it done.
And the 3-RPM (actually 4 1/16 RPM) record too - same thing. Already checked into it.
1. Jack White has B) above i.e. a close to unlimited source of income (Sony BMG) to pay these mastering houses the mint they are looking for in order to take a lathe out of service for a considerable period of time - perform the mods - cut the ref - send it in for approval - get it back with the tweaks required - cut the master and send it off for plating.
2. Parallel grooves e.g. like the horse race record - just have a song half normal length and space the pitch out to look like courderoy pants, reset and cut the other equally short song in the space left between.
Notice - like whatever that album is that has a 78-RPM track on it amongst all 33 cuts - you have to physically pick the stylus up and move it onto the next track.
3. As far as the tracks recorded in the label area, the only way they could get that to have any kind of decent sound was to take it over to what used to be Mattel where instead of 33 and 78 they have 105 and 133 RPM on their lathes - and test pressings exist at both speeds. See above under `deep pockets at Sony BMG'
4. As far as the 4 RPM record - that was mastered quadruple speed at 16- RPM - with a digitally compressed file i.e. pitch and time adjusted - reducing the already poor fidelity even further.
And Jack White does lacquer mastering.
We found plenty of lacquer houses that will accommodate the project and have enough extra time and extra lathes to master all manner of crazy projects and not affect their bottom line - but there's only a finite number of DMM houses - none of which are in America anymore.
An equally finite number of DMM engineers - means none of whom we've contacted so far have even the smallest interest in accommodating the project without B) above - the deep pockets of a record label - and even then it's doubtful since that still leaves `no DMM house wants to tolerate 1. an all-analog mastering chain' or 2. extraneous untested processing gear (CD-4 modulator) inserted therein' without B) above.
Oh and to add insult to injury - nobody wants to work long hours in close quarters with a Fat Guy in the mastering booth. That's like being a civilian at a comic book show or Star Trek convention.
(Yes one or two houses actually asked me my weight on the phone when I called in for service information - since I have that fairly easily distinguishable Fat Guy Speech Pattern - (Patton Oswalt does a bit on that) and then told me they weren't interested).
One more reason why I want to be able to get my own DMM lathe - get the mods and gear, be able to get a DMM engineer with the time energy and money to set it up - and then go about doing the mastering myself.
Then I figure - once I'm done with this and the thousands of sides needing remastered from the Seeburg BMS 16-RPM library (nine inch discs with a 2 inch hole) - then I can open it up to become the only DMM house in America anymore and reap my money back that way if I have to.
Or else keep catering to the noncommercial and niche market crowd whose artists, producers and engineers subscribe to values more closely aligned with my own.
