Acetate Disc

An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate (a term from Jamaican reggae culture, now also applied to individually recorded discs of solid plastic), lacquer (a technically correct term preferred by engineers in the recording industry), transcription disc (a special recording intended for, or made from, a radio broadcast) or instantaneous disc (because it can be played immediately after recording without any further processing), is a type of gramophone record, a mechanical sound storage medium, widely used from the 1930s to the late 1950s for recording and broadcast purposes and still in limited use today.

Unlike ordinary vinyl records, which are quickly formed from lumps of plastic by a mass-production molding process, a so called acetate disc is created by using a recording lathe to cut a sound-modulated groove into the surface of a special lacquer-coated blank disc, a real-time operation requiring expensive, delicate equipment and expert skill for good results. They are made for special purposes, almost never for sale to the general public. They can be played on any normal phonograph but will be degraded by wear much more quickly than vinyl. Some acetates are highly prized for their rarity, especially when they contain unpublished material.

Acetates are typically produced by dubbing from a master tape recording. By electroplating the acetate master, stampers (special moulds) can be created, which in turn are used to press large quantities of regular vinyl records. Acetates are also used for testing the quality of the tape-to-disc transfer. Historically, they were also a favored medium for use in comparing different takes or mixes, and for getting preview copies of impending new releases into the hands of important disc jockeys.