Your music is transferred to a playable test acetate, also called a dubplate. It has the similiar appearance and purpose as a vinyl record but with twice the weight. A dubplate is constructed of a hard, inflexible aluminum lacquer coated material. As a reference disk, it is used to make audio recordings on to see how a track sounds on a vinyl record-like surface. Quite a few artists and producers transfer their songs to dubplates to play them out at clubs to get feedback from the audience and to test on club systems. Djs and producers are known to swap or trade their exclusive songs on dubplates
DUBPLATE RECORDING SURFACE TIME CONSTRAINTS
speed/size
running time@standard level/per side
approx.maximum level(+6db)/per side
33rpm
7" 10" 12"
6 minutes 13 minutes 16 1/2 minutes
4 1/2 minutes 7 minutes 11 minutes
45rpm
7" 10" 12"
4 minutes 10 minutes 12 minutes
3 minutes 6 minutes 8 minutes
78rpm
7' 10" 12"
n/a 5 1/2 minutes 7 minutes
n/a 4 minutes 5 minutes
VIDEO EXAMPLE OF A DUBPLATE (ONE-OFF ACETATE REFERENCE) BEING CUT
