Vinyl Pre-Mastering Analyser

File summary

Mono compatibility · sub-bass phase

Vinyl grooves encode stereo as lateral + vertical stylus movement. Out-of-phase low frequencies create extreme vertical motion — the cutting stylus can break through the lacquer, or adjacent grooves collide causing skipping. Bass below 150 Hz should be near-mono (correlation ≥ 0.60).

Sibilance · high-frequency harshness

Sibilance (5–10 kHz) cuts the deepest, fastest grooves on a lacquer. Excessive energy here forces the stylus to move so rapidly that playback cartridges cannot track accurately, causing distortion on “s” and “sh” sounds. The air band (10–16 kHz) adds sheen but pushes treble groove depth further. A de-esser or gentle high-shelf cut before mastering is the usual fix.

Dynamic range · PLR (peak-to-loudness ratio)

PLR = True Peak − Integrated Loudness. A high PLR means peaks are brief and average level is low — grooves can be spaced tightly without collision, yielding longer sides and better fidelity. Low PLR (heavy limiting) forces the cutting engineer to reduce transfer level or shorten the side.

Sides recommendation

Vinyl side length directly affects audio quality: the closer the groove spiral reaches the label, the shorter the groove radius and the higher the tracking distortion. Louder, more compressed masters need shorter sides. The recommendation accounts for your measured PLR — a dynamic master can safely run longer per side than a heavily limited one.

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