Lathe cutting X-RAY sheets

[collapsedhole]

came across this on a forum for drug users i'm a part of, it not a noise release, but damn i wish it was cause i think its cool as fuck and have never heard of this process before so wanted to share here...

https://www.discogs.com/F%C3%B6llakzoid-The-Holydrug-Couple-F%C3%B6llakzoid-The-Holydrug-Couple/release/7225004

what could be more appropriate for a GOVERNMENT ALPHA lathe!

i know x-ray sheets are made out of silver, curious: 1) what the sound quality would be like, 2) if that would mean it would be damaging to a needle?

[david lloyd jones]

there is a book, whose name escapes me (publ by strange attractor press) that goes into the history of lathe cut records on xrays in ussr part samizdat, part lack of materials, the pics are great, though the music most likely not.

[Johann]

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/09/462289635/bones-and-grooves-weird-secret-history-of-soviet-x-ray-music

This is a link to that book and an interview with the author, these "bone" records were from the Soviet Union and used lathe cut x ray slides (I believe some type of pre film x ray) to distribute banned western music (mostly rock), it's been a while since I heard this recording (or it may have been another) but I recall that certain types of x rays were for certain types of music or artist...as far as noise goes I believe the KGB attempted to infiltrate the market selling faulty records that were intended to damage users equipment to discourage the underground sale of these and shake confidence in the market, early anti records I suppose. Don't know if anyone might know more about this and be able to back up this or tear it down, I simply don't know enough about the history. Pretty spectacular none the less!

[WCrap]

i did a couple cuts with my own xrays some years ago.
sound quality is shitty of course, but they are certainly very nice objects.

[calaverasgrande]

It's basically the same thing as flexidisks. Those were horrible quality sound due to the shallowness of the groove, and the material used itself being kind of coarse. I'm still kicking myself that I never released anything on flexidisk though. It cost slightly more than a regular 7" but at that time I was more concerned with wringing some fidelity out of analog tapes and 7" masters. Especially when you can't afford real mastering.
I'd love to know how they are cutting these. DIY lathe? Or is it an actual Neumann, Westrex etc?