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How Apollo Masters Got its Name

The God Apollo

From Greek mythology we get golden-haired Apollo, the god of music. Apollo has many attributes to recommend him as a worthy symbol. Chief among these are the sun, light, clarity and truth.He is an archer who conquers fears by shooting arrows which can be interpreted as the rays of sun bringing light and insight. He is associated with prophecy and medicine, as well.

Asclepius, the god of medicine, is his son. The Muses are all in his realm, so that music, poetry, dance, dreams, history --all those qualities we call upon to bring forth creative imagination--are at his beck and call. Thus, our progenitors used the image of Apollo to personify the creative spirit of music which begins with the Master Discs, which are manufactured here in Banning, California.

A Brief History

Apollo Masters has quite a pedigree, and it all started in 1936. Audio Devices signed an agreement with La Societe des Vernis Pyrolac at Creteil (Seine) in France for the rights to manufacture varnish recording discs on October 12th, 1936. Pyrolac supplied drawings for the equipment and the lacquer formula. Audio Devices set up their first manufacturing plant in a house in New York City. They didn't start production of blank lacquer discs until August 1938. Some time later (we have no date) they moved the plant to another house in Glenbrook, Connecticut. They continued to make lacquer discs at Glenbrook until around 1972, when Audio Devices was bought by Capitol Records.

In 1974 Capitol Records built a new facility for lacquer disc manufacturing in Winchester, Virginia. At that time, Capitol Records had a record and tape manufacturing plant as well as a distribution center on their 40-acre site.

[Postscript: In 1990, the Winchester Regional Jail Board leased the old Capitol lacquer plant for a temporary jail for inmates on work release! The building was used until the new jail was completed.]

In 1982 Capitol Records purchased four polishing machines from GC International, which had several divisions that manufactured various items. One division produced polished aluminum blanks for Capitol. This was when GC International and Capitol Records formed a business relationship.

Capitol Records closed the Lacquer Division in October of 1986 and contacted several parties they thought might be interested in buying their lacquer disc manufacturing facility. GC International purchased the rights and lacquer disc equipment from Capitol Records in 1987. The operation was then moved to Banning, California, and Apollo Masters was again producing the master discs which are the basis for making records.

One of the most frequently asked questions (besides "Do they still make records?") is "Why Banning, California?" Banning is a small town of 15,000 people located in Southern California between Riverside and Palm Springs. The dry, hot climate made it perfect for Apollo Masters. All of the equipment from Capitol Records Lacquer Division was disassembled, loaded on 15 trucks and sent to 101 West Lincoln Street in Banning. All the parts were reassembled, and production was started in early 1989.

The Edison Record-Cylinder

Interesting Sidetrip:

Over the years, Apollo Masters had requests for 7", 8" 16" and 17" discs. We made production samples of 7-inch discs, but a market never developed for this size. One of the strangest requests was for a recording cylinder for the Edison recorders and players. This customer tried to coat the cylinders with wax like they were originally made but was having no success, so he contacted Apollo. He supplied Apollo with cylinders made from aluminum tubing. It was necessary to make a machine to rotate the cylinder while lowering it into a reservoir of lacquer to coat it. We produced a small pilot sample, but never went into production.

The Perfect Partner:

Apollo has been distributing Adamant cutting styli since 1990. These sapphire styli are manufactured with specific attention to cutting efficiency and accuracy of directional axis of the rough stone. Stylus edges of several microns are manufactured uniformly by mirror finishing, thus assuring recording of accurate sound frequency signals. Furthermore, Adamant has developed excellent special-purpose polishing machines for recording styli incorporating a unique optical unit. Recording styli of Neumann and Westrex types are highly valued by leading record manufacturers throughout the world.

Apollo Lacquer Master - The Most Polished Performer:

Aluminum substrates of sufficiently high quality must be used for lacquer masters.

Initially developed for the manufacture of computer memory discs, this elaborate, multi-step polishing process totally removes the original surfaces on both sides of the blank, thus eliminating all dips, pits, bubbles, rolling marks and other imperfections. If not removed such defects would show up, magnified, in the lacquer coating surfaces.

As a result of this super-polishing operation, we have a plentiful supply of flawless substrates.

Mastering The Master:

The greatest formulation and finest raw materials cannot by themselves assure a perfect product.

This is particularly true when manufacturing lacquer masters. To produce consistently superior masters, all manufacturing processes must be scrupulously and continuously controlled. The operations must be performed in well-equipped facilities with highly trained personnel.

Apollo's factory in Banning is ideally suited to produce such masters. We feel it is the most modern and sophisticated of its type in the world.

Take, for instance, the control of air cleanliness. The air is filtered to be as clean as, or cleaner than the medical, microchip or computer disc industries. All workers wear class 100 clean room uniforms. The work areas are entered through air locks to eliminate room pressure fluctuations and debris infiltration. All this is done to assure absolute cleanliness of the aluminum and lacquer surfaces.

Our Exclusive Lacquer Formulation:

The ingredients, which must meet unusually tight specifications, are compounded in our Banning plant. The formulation and the process of preparing it are totally proprietary and not available to any other lacquer master manufacturer.

These developments in aluminum and lacquer formulations allow us to exercise complete control over the critical raw materials, thus minimizing the major difficulties experienced in the manufacturing of lacquer masters.

Ultrasonic Cleaner

It Out-Performs Every Master Ever Made:

After polishing, the aluminum blanks are washed in special ultrasonic cleaners to render them totally free from oils and other residues.

The degree of blending and filtering that the lacquer formulation under goes and the resulting smoothness and consistency are amazing. The aluminum and the lacquer come together in the coating room. There, the automatic coaters perform the critical step of depositing a perfectly even layer of lacquer on the aluminum blank.

Even the apparently simple drying and curing process is an example of modern control systems. Throughout the process, all the parameters are continuously monitored.

All masters are 100% visually inspected to insure the absence of any imperfections in the cutting area. Only the surfaces which meet such criteria are accepted for Apollo masters. Those which do not are rejected. The accepted lacquers are then coded to identify the manufacturing date, as well as other information about the process and materials.

Testing … Testing … And More Testing:

Samples of finished lacquer masters are continuously tested for conformity with all specification requirements. There are many physical and chemical tests. Every lot is also cut and checked for sound quality.

Even the lacquers which have been released to inventory are periodically sampled to check the effects of storage and aging. Continuous contacts with customers give us a source of additional feedback on the day to day performance of our lacquers.

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