Pure analogue.
Nothing between you and the music.
Purist AAA label—recorded, mixed, mastered and cut fully in the analogue domain. No converters. No compromise.
The Label
SME Music is the new record label from SME, the British manufacturer of reference-grade turntables and tonearms founded in 1936. Our records are produced to the same standard of mechanical precision that has defined SME for generations, with sessions conceived for long takes, natural acoustics and minimal intervention.
Decades of experience and expertise, tried and tested recording techniques, and top-of-the-range analogue equipment used at every stage of the production process ensure the technical excellence of every album released by SME Music.
The Process
Led by the producer Tony Faulkner, the recording concept for SME Music returns to the practices of previous eras in recording long takes, and fixing the two-channel stereo balance during the sessions.
Modern-day digital recording customarily involves a multitrack arrangement of microphones, hundreds and thousands of individual takes, and extensive post-production work. However, software plugins and black boxes cannot fully recreate the ambience and reverberation of a venue, and they cannot simulate the unrepeatable energy and flow of a performance captured in long takes.
The Microphones
To record the first SME Music releases with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, a pair of the legendary Neuman M 50 tube microphones were used.
The supplementary (outrigger) Neumann M250c valve microphones are the very same ones used for many of RCA’s ‘Living Stereo’ recordings of the 1960s, which were renowned at the time as the pinnacle of dynamic high-fidelity reproduction.
The MicrophonesThe Mixdown
The mixing process used a modern analogue mixer made in the UK by Audient, and designed by Dave Dearden. The signal from the main microphones was fed to the mixer via outboard valve microphone preamplifiers made by Tim de Paravicini and by Dave Peach. Monitoring on location used Spendor Classic 4/5 loudspeakers powered by Yamaha amplification, and headphones by Stax and Sennheiser.
The MixdownThe Master Tapes
The master tape was produced on RTM SM900 analog ½-inch tape using a STUDER A80 tape machine, and then transferred to 45rpm lacquer masters.Â
The Master TapesVinyl Mastering & Lacquer Cutting
Our SME master tapes travel from the concert halls of London to the heart of Berlin in Germany, where Emil Berliner Studios continues the craft it helped invent. Across generations, Emil Berliner Studios has advanced the medium from early wax to today’s audiophile lacquers. Today their cutting room marries that lineage with a tastefully modified Neumann VMS 80 paired with Ortofon cutting amps, and a plethora of purpose-built custom equipment for truthful, low-noise and high precision transfers from ¼-inch and ½-inch master tapes.
Vinyl mastering at Emil Berliner Studios is bespoke by design. For SME Music, it is the final act of performance. Each side is auditioned and mastered specifically to its programme material, balancing groove geometry, headroom and spectral energy so the lacquer carries the hall’s air and weight without strain. There are no templates here. Every decision serves the same end: a living signal inscribed in lacquer.
The work is led by two of the field’s most respected engineers. Rainer Maillard, four-time GRAMMY-winning recording engineer, producer and General Manager of Emil Berliner Studios since 2008, oversees the chain with the ear of someone who has lived inside orchestral sound since joining Deutsche Grammophon in 1990. Heading the vinyl department, Sidney Claire Meyer shapes each cut with rare craft, refined under Maillard in Berlin and further honed with Kevin Gray in Los Angeles. Together they translate our SME Music Master Tapes into lacquers that press cleanly and play with poise.
Vinyl Mastering
& Lacquer Cutting
The Catalogue
Accent Heading
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