IDM Mailing Archive

***You have to be **really** careful about playing your precious records elsewhere. For one summer a few years back I did a second radio show in addition to my regular one, but this was at a different station with super old equipment (where I still do the show has always had Technics 1200s). Their equipment was just crap, and the turntables were those kind you see in old schools: you know, where the turntable absolutely huge and is screwed down and looks more like an industrial tool than a turntable. Definitely not DJ or vinyl friendly. The needle on that thing was huge and I noticed that whenever I played a record there at this second station, the record would later (at home) sound like crap. Turned out that their crap turntables and the huge needles (tonearm didn't have any way to adjust the weight or anything to alleviate the pressure) were carving huge canyons in the grooves of my records. I had to quit the show (it was just an extra summer fill in thing) because of this :( Andrew Che wrote:

quoted 39 lines At 01:19 PM 10/21/98 -0400, xx wrote:

> At 01:19 PM 10/21/98 -0400, xx wrote: > >> a question from the relative vinyl newbie that i am (child of the cd > era): how > >> many times can i expect to play through a record, given relatively good > care, > >> before i'll start to hear any actual degradation in the sound? > > > >depends largely on your turntable, your speakers, your ears, etc...a really > >good turntable with a nice cartridge will cause less degradation than a cheap > >consumer one. and degradation is more noticeable with higher quality > speakers. > >some records that i've had since '95 or '96 and played fairly often (like > >afx's "hab" for one) are noticeably duller than new ones...but that's analog > >media for you... > > If you have one of those laser pickup turtables, there is no wear, but > those are very hard to come by. > > Adjustment of the tonearm angle & weight are important too. The DJ > practice of taping pennies to the cartridge is a no no. > > It also depends on how often you play it. Vinyl has "memory", in other > words, the friction of the needle heats it up, so if you play it again in > less than 24 hours, it will stretch out, which I believe destroys the > smaller high frequency ridges in the groove. > > Temperature is also a factor. The lifespan of a record in shrinkwrap in > the backseat of a car in Arizona in summer is very short indeed. Keep > them in a cool dry basement & never play them & they'll probably last for > hundreds of years. > > My policy is, play once to get rid of the tiny bubbles in the vinyl, wait, > play it again to record it to harddisk for noise removal, then sell the > damn thing when its value peaks. > > Those that are familiar w/ my views on vinyl will be shocked to know I > have about 12 linear feet of the stuff in my basement. > > Che

-- Andrew Duke Cognition Audioworks 1096 Queen St #123 Halifax NS Canada B3H 2R9 TEL 902-422-7132 FAX 902-422-1262 http://www.globalserve.net/~cognition (Cognition Audioworks/In The Mix: listen : read) In The Mix show 575: Richie Hawtin/Neil Landstrumm/Merrick Brown In The Mix show 576: John Tejada/Damon Wild/D.JeRome playing now: John Tejada:Little Green Lights And Four Inch Faders:A13 world premiere playing next: Low Res:Approximate Love Boat:Plug Research world premiere

Excerpts from mail: 24-Oct-98 (idm) Re:watchYerNeedlez! by Andrew C. Audioworks@glo

quoted 3 lines to adjust the weight or anything to alleviate the pressure) were carving huge

> to adjust the weight or anything to alleviate the pressure) were carving huge > canyons in the grooves of my records. I had to quit the show (it was just an > extra summer fill in thing) because of this :( Andrew

Random interesting fact: A few years ago Canada's Legion of Green Men put out a super-cheap flexi-disc acetate called Decay, a one track lock-groove record designed to get fucked up with repeated plays... packaged in photo-sensitive plastic. Play it for a few weeks and the track slowly changes as the needle carves a deeper groove into the plastic. Aaron "I Like Concept Records" Michelson

At 01:19 PM 10/21/98 -0400, xx wrote:

quoted 1 line a question from the relative vinyl newbie that i am (child of the cd

>> a question from the relative vinyl newbie that i am (child of the cd

era): how

quoted 1 line many times can i expect to play through a record, given relatively good

>> many times can i expect to play through a record, given relatively good

care,

quoted 5 lines before i'll start to hear any actual degradation in the sound?

>> before i'll start to hear any actual degradation in the sound? > >depends largely on your turntable, your speakers, your ears, etc...a really >good turntable with a nice cartridge will cause less degradation than a cheap >consumer one. and degradation is more noticeable with higher quality

speakers.

quoted 3 lines some records that i've had since '95 or '96 and played fairly often (like

>some records that i've had since '95 or '96 and played fairly often (like >afx's "hab" for one) are noticeably duller than new ones...but that's analog >media for you...

If you have one of those laser pickup turtables, there is no wear, but those are very hard to come by. Adjustment of the tonearm angle & weight are important too. The DJ practice of taping pennies to the cartridge is a no no. It also depends on how often you play it. Vinyl has "memory", in other words, the friction of the needle heats it up, so if you play it again in less than 24 hours, it will stretch out, which I believe destroys the smaller high frequency ridges in the groove. Temperature is also a factor. The lifespan of a record in shrinkwrap in the backseat of a car in Arizona in summer is very short indeed. Keep them in a cool dry basement & never play them & they'll probably last for hundreds of years. My policy is, play once to get rid of the tiny bubbles in the vinyl, wait, play it again to record it to harddisk for noise removal, then sell the damn thing when its value peaks. Those that are familiar w/ my views on vinyl will be shocked to know I have about 12 linear feet of the stuff in my basement. Che

***some hip hop DJs or people that want to do a lot of scratchin' will tilt the needle so it's more coming back at them i.e grabbing the vinyl on an angle instead of straight up and down; this will keep it in the groove better, but ain't gonna do your records any good in the long run; best bet for record longevity is a good turntable with a quality cartridge straight up and down with only as much weight on the tonearm as you need; and of course keep your records clean, your needles clean, and keep the records in their jackets when they ain't bein' played. Andrew rod a lester wrote:

quoted 11 lines well ok // if vinyl depletion somewhat depends on the way your stylus arm

> well ok // if vinyl depletion somewhat depends on the way your stylus arm > is tilled then which way should i tilt it. i have an old Pioneer > turntable and the arm either goes to the right or left. which would be > better for the records. > > «®ôл > > ___________________________________________________________________ > You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. > Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html > or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

-- Andrew Duke Cognition Audioworks 1096 Queen St #123 Halifax NS Canada B3H 2R9 TEL 902-422-7132 FAX 902-422-1262 http://www.globalserve.net/~cognition (Cognition Audioworks/In The Mix: listen : read) In The Mix show 575: Richie Hawtin/Neil Landstrumm/Merrick Brown In The Mix show 576: John Tejada/Damon Wild/D.JeRome playing now: John Tejada:Little Green Lights And Four Inch Faders:A13 world premiere playing next: Low Res:Approximate Love Boat:Plug Research world premiere

At 10:33 PM 10/24/98 -0700, rod a lester wrote:

quoted 4 lines well ok // if vinyl depletion somewhat depends on the way your stylus arm

>well ok // if vinyl depletion somewhat depends on the way your stylus arm >is tilled then which way should i tilt it. i have an old Pioneer >turntable and the arm either goes to the right or left. which would be >better for the records.

I'm not sure what you mean, but the cartridge should be level and tangential to the grooves. Back in the old days they sold these alignment setups which had a special plastic disc that helped determine the exact angle for screwing the cartridge to the tonearm, which is critical. They also had instructions on how to set the anti-skating & whatever the tonearm balance is called. I used to have one but I sold it sometime ago. I switched to a linear tracking turntable, which has the advantage of being perfectly tangential to the grooves, just like the cutting lathe that cut the master. It uses sophisticated feedback algorithms to drive the motor that moves the cartridge across the record. Theoretically it should cause less wear than a regular turntable. Of course the hands-on experience of putting the needle, the needle, the needle on the rekkid is out. Che