In the earliest days of the recording industry (the acoustical era: 1877-1925), all phases of the recording and mastering process were entirely achieved by mechanical processes. Performers sang and/or played into a large acoustic horn, which at its tapered end was connected to a cutting stylus. In response to the vibrations of air in the horn, the master recording was created by the direct transfer of acoustic energy from the diaphragm (sound box) of the recording horn to the mastering lathe, typically located in an adjoining room .The stylus cuts a spiral groove in the thick wax coating of a cylinder or disc, rotated steadily by means of a crank. These masters were usually made from either a soft metal alloy or from wax.

After the introduction of the microphone and electronic amplification in the mid-1920s, the mastering process became electro-mechanical, and electrically driven mastering lathes came into use for cutting master discs.

Disc cutting lathe used to cut master discs for any of the early gramophones format (LEG, 78, 45, 331/3) which can be seen at the Australian Jazz Museum

In electrical recording the sounds to be preserved are gathered by a transducer (a microphone) and the vibrations converted into an analogously varying electrical signal, which is amplified and applied to another transducer (a stylus), which cuts a spiral groove in a waxed or (later) lacquered disc.

Electrical microphones led to a dramatic change in the performance style of singers, ushering in the age of the “Crooner”, while electrical amplification had a wide-ranging impact in many areas, enabling the development of broadcast radio, public address systems, and electrically-amplified home gramophones. In addition, the development of electronic amplifiers for musical instruments now enabled quieter instruments such as the guitar and the string bass to complete on equal terms with the naturally louder wind and horn instruments.