(Auto translated from German)
Lackmaster & Galvanik
If you want to produce a record, you first have to make a lacquer master (also called a lacquer cut or lacquer) of the music. The audio signal is engraved into the lacquer layer on a cutting machine that looks like a large turntable. The cutting head that does this works mechanically in a similar way to the pickup on a record player. Only it runs in the other direction.
The lacquer master is required as the first step in the electroplating process to produce the stamper.
The first step in electroplating is to make a metallic impression of the lacquer master. To do this, the surface must be made electrically conductive. To do this, the surface is coated with a very thin layer of silver. The resulting foil is placed in a nickel bath. When electricity flows through this bath, nickel is deposited on the silver-plated surface. When the desired layer thickness is reached, approx. 0.25 mm, the foil is removed from its bath and the nickel layer is separated from the silver foil. This is the first electroplating, the so-called "father" - a negative. Unlike the lacquer master, this has dams instead of grooves. A metallic counter-print is made from the "father". This is also called the "mother". And from this the "son" is then made.
This is used as a matrix for pressing the record.
