Based in Tucson, Arizona, Michael Dixon runs what seems like a hundred businesses centered around lathe cut records, from cutting records for bands, to selling lathes and parts, to a training camp for aspiring cutters. Most of what I knew about lathe cuts came from hearing about DJs having fragile, expensive lacquer dubplates made to scratch their own tracks onto recordings years ago – but the game has changed a lot, as I learned thanks to Michael’s encyclopedic knowledge of the subject. I recently acquired a four-record set that Michael’s collaborator, Zack Hansen at Precarian Cuts, made for Seattle’s Great Falls, and they are cool as hell!
How did this whole thing get started for you?
I have played in bands, and I've loved and collected records since I was a kid. I always wanted to release my own music on vinyl, but none of my bands were very good and we couldn’t sell 50, much less 1,000 copies. Pressing records was so expensive, even back then. In 2006 I went to a house show in Olympia and asked the band if they had any vinyl. They said they usually had lathe-cut LPs, but they were sold out. They told me about Peter King’s lathe cutting service in New Zealand [King Records Worldwide, see Tape Op bonus content], and said, "This guy will make you 20 copies, if you want." So, I started my record label [PIAPTK, People In A Position to Know], buying lathe cuts from Peter and releasing my own home recordings, as well as for my friends’ bands. Eventually I said, "Maybe I can do this myself." I started buying broken machines. I met a friend, Kris Dorr, who is more mechanical and taught me a lot – he’s been my business partner for Mobile Vinyl Recorders for almost 15 years now. He taught me a lot about how these work. I continued experimenting with the cutting side, and realized if I had two lathes, I could double my output. With four lathes, I could quadruple my output! As I bought these cutters, I had to maintain them and learn how they work.
What was your path to doing this full-time?
I moved to Olympia in 2004 and I was teaching high school. I wasn’t playing music anymore; I was more focused on my career. I was teaching business. Accounting, entrepreneurship, work-study program, and marketing. I was running a tiny label, and my creative outlet was making weird and unique packaging from upcycled trash. I ended up getting hired by The University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery to run a live cutting booth for a traveling vinyl record themed art exhibition called “The Record,” and I got a little bit of press for the recording booth. Six months later, Converse called and said, “We want to set up a dubplate station at Coachella for this band called The XX. Will you come down and cut records?” So, I called in sick at work. Kris and I flew to Palm Springs, California, shipped down the lathe, and we cut dubplates at a VIP party for three or four days. Everybody there was like, "Oh, my god. I have to have this at my marketing event." That also became, "My record release," or, "My film premiere," or, "My wedding." Even though I was a marketing teacher, I had no idea about this “marketing activation” thing, where brands want cool things happening at their parties. Converse said, "We love this and want to take this all over the world in the next year. Here’s a list of all of our events. Can you do it?" I said, "Maybe." I loved my job. I loved teaching. I went to work the next day and the principal came in with the contract for the next year. I was told, “If you’re coming back, you need to sign it.” I went home to my wife at the time and said, “I have this potential opportunity, but it’s freelance. I’m going to lose my insurance. Money might be tight for a while.” She said, "As long as we can get out of the Northwest and find some sunshine, let’s do it." I quit my job, moved to Tucson where I had a bunch of friends and it was cheap to live, and I started doing more events and more short runs for bands. I was also ramping up my label, repairing more of the machines, and doing it full-time. That was 2012.
Can you talk about this as a businessperson, as well as a person who loves art?
Yeah, art and commerce. It is kind of a dirty combo! But if big corporations pay me lots of money to appear at their party, then I don’t have to charge tiny bands and musicians as much for records in order to make...
