Custom Records Custom Wax

Custom Records Custom Scratch Wax - Review by ProfessorBX

Build Your Own Weapon - every Scratch Artist dreams of it.

The ability to make your own custom scratch tools, filled with all the sounds you need for the upcoming battle, scratching behind your group, or just cutting in your own home, there are countless times when you wish that you had a particular sound that has never made it to wax. While Final Scratch/Serato and scratchable CD players provide some way to go about using your own sounds, in the end there are plenty of situations where only real wax will do. That said, cutters like the Vestax Cutter and the Kingston Dubplate cutter only provide a partial solution-they are far to expensive for the average DJ and in the case of the Vestax unit really don’t provide great sound quality (forget what Vestax says, no matter how you spin things it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a great sounding pressing from a unit with a 60-12khz freq range, I know, I have a record cut by Vestax themselves for demo purposes). So when I heard of a guy in my hometown that not only does custom records cut on what he says are 100% scratchable plates but also does so on a real lathe, my interest was defiantly piqued. Was I to find the Holy Grail in my hometown or just another dead end?

God is in the Details

The first thing that I noticed when I entered Mr Kim’s cutting room and sat down to watch the cutting in progress is how much work Mr Kim really puts into each record cut. Doing a * basic * mastering job on each piece of material that comes through his door (really basic, so don’t get any ideas about sending pure crap material and having it sound decent without paying extra), tweaking the eq at certain points in the pressing where the treble drops a bit and doing the track spacing by hand (the process is not automated due to the age of the record cutter), I was nothing but impressed by how professional Mr Kim was. When I walked out of the door I felt safe that my record had been pressed with enough care that if it sounded like crap it would pretty much be my fault. I don’t think I could have driven home fast enough to throw down the wax on my tables, praying the entire time that it would be the tool that I had been looking for and not just another disappointment.

Stud or Dud?

The record itself is actually an aluminum plate with an extra hard (read-much harder than your standard dub plate) vinyl like coating, and overall looks identical and feels basically like vinyl, albeit with a few minor differences. Number one was that the weight felt slightly different from normal wax…not really in a bad way, just different. As well it seemed to grip the slipmat ever so slightly lighter than normal wax, and while it is as thin as a standard Dirtstyle, it doesn’t bend nearly as far because of the aluminum center (which also may make it less likely to warp). Overall I have to say I actually like the feel a bit better than normal wax, as the lighter grip plus the fact that it has remained perfectly flat for almost 4 months of abuse makes it a safe choice on pretty much any setup. Skip wise I didn’t notice any differences between it and my trusty copies of Black Market Snuff and Bully Breaks (both of which I pulled a scratch sentence from). Durability was also a shock as well, as while it didn’t last as long as normal wax for scratching it easily outlasted the Vestax custom vinyl and was far better than the dubplates of old. Finally, sound quality was good and LOUD, with no noticeable loss over normal wax.

Wax Works

I really can’t express how pleased I was with the quality of Custom Records cuttings-you have to try them yourself to believe it. If one were to do a side-by-side test with normal wax one would be hard pressed to tell the difference, and I can’t really find a fault in the quality. I’m planning to buy a pair for the upcoming battle circuit this summer, which is about the highest compliment I can give. As well Mr Kim has some less expensive one sided clear plates which weren’t quite ready for review when I got my hands on the wax, but Mr Kim says that not only should quality be about the same as the normal black records, but he can also make custom picture discs with them for a personal touch. Highly recommended.

Overall - 8.5, leaning towards a 9