Henry Rollins Vinyl tips.

Irrenhaus

Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/ZLtfo9p-Ydo

Cheers

msg

I'm not gonna be the guy to tell Henry Rollins there's only one groove.

jdjohn

He keeps saying 'needle'. Argh.

Kudos to him for the effort. Nothing he said was bad advice...just a few terminology issues.
I think Michael Fremer's job is safe, though.

Clipdat

Man, he is anal!

jdjohn

Maybe you're being sarcastic, Drew, but he doesn't even use a brush on the record or the stylus before playing.

Clipdat

For shame!

That reminds me, I need to order this: https://www.turntablelab.com/products/ds-audio-st50-phono-stylus-cleaner

Edit: And this (Blue): https://www.turntablelab.com/products/jelco-hs-25-ttl-headshell-premounted-w-cartridge

audioluvr

jdjohn wrote: »

He keeps saying 'needle'. Argh.

They were called needles long before they were called styluses

ZLTFUL

audioluvr wrote: »

jdjohn wrote: »

He keeps saying 'needle'. Argh.

They were called needles long before they were called styluses

Or styli as it were...

jdjohn

Or stylii...as it were Henry actually switches his usage between needle and stylus...and turntable/record player.

What many call the 'needle' is really the cantilever, but I'm sure we'll never get away from the term needle.

motorhead43026

I miss the "Needle Doctor"

msg

put the needle on the rekkid, put the needle on the rekkid, put the needle on the rekkid
pump up the volume pump up the volume pump up the volume dance dance... doohm...

msg

Billy, I think you might be the only one who recognized that 🤙

Clipdat

I did too I just didn't choose to react to it. I used to have that song on cassette as a kid.

Clipdat

Speaking of vinyl, here we are in July of 2020, and Amazon still doesn't know how to properly ship a vinyl record to prevent it from arriving terribly warped. Thanks Amazon.

jdjohn

I think 'Media Mail' might be the best option.

pitdogg2

Clipdat wrote: »

Speaking of vinyl, here we are in July of 2020, and Amazon still doesn't know how to properly ship a vinyl record to prevent it from arriving terribly warped. Thanks Amazon.

I removed my account after multiple instances of smashed broken CD's arrived in oversized non padded envelope(padding wouldn't have helped) . It's also shocking to see them use way over sized boxes to ship smaller items yet to use a proper sized box for CD shipping is FAR too expensive according to Amazon.

msg

I've had some funny packing mishaps with Amazon. Makes you wonder who they've got packing stuff, and whether there's any training or whether it's more just that people don't care.

One was an order where they combined shipping on a replacement laptop keyboard, and a couple of loose spray cans of Plexus plastic polish, all packed in a long box with a couple of air pillows, which proved useless. The laptop keyboard was in a plastic bag. That's it. The cans pretty much steamrolled it the whole journey. You'd have thought I ordered a pack of Scrabble pieces by the time I received it.

For some reason, the records packing is infuriating, while I just shook my head at the keyboard and polish incident.

DaveHo

Clipdat wrote: »

Speaking of vinyl, here we are in July of 2020, and Amazon still doesn't know how to properly ship a vinyl record to prevent it from arriving terribly warped. Thanks Amazon.

Hence the reason I won't buy records during the hot months. Even if it's not packaged poorly, the mail person inevitably leaves it leaving against the door in full sun. Warped no matter how well it's packed.

msg

Good tips Dave.

Also, Amazon does use that weird packaging for records sometimes. It seems to me, the way its designed, it flexes the records. It's not a conventional record mailer box, but, instead, a sleeve of a sort.

I prefer the boxes with cardboard buffers on both sides of the record, essentially top and bottom of the shallow box.

Clipdat

msg wrote: »

Also, Amazon does use that weird packaging for records sometimes. It seems to me, the way its designed, it flexes the records. It's not a conventional record mailer box, but, instead, a sleeve of a sort.

I prefer the boxes with cardboard buffers on both sides of the record, essentially top and bottom of the shallow box.

Yes, THIS! You nailed it. They have their own type of record mailer, but it doesn't provide enough structural integrity to actually transport the record without applying flexing forces to it. It's like they thought they could make their own design of a proper vinyl mailer, but failed in epic fashion.

Anyway, I put the warped double record release sandwhiched between other records on a shelf. Hopefully leaving it there for a while will help. I have two more of these double-pack releases on the way, hopefully they fare better.

msg

Yeah, it's really crummy.

Drew, maybe for future use, see if there are any custom glass companies near you. I picked up a side job a few years ago for a small company that does custom architectural glass for construction. They would get samples all the time. I was talking to the office manager one day while over there for work, and asked her whether they had any scrap panes for a record experiment I wanted to try. She set me up with a couple of panes of 16" square by 1/2" thick. They're unexpectedly heavy.

After discovering my first warped record, a rare live album by a band called Luna, I read about how sandwiching a record between two panes of heavy glass and a quick sun bath could help restore a warped record. Other variations included a session in the oven on low heat. I tried the oven version with a sacrificial album once, but was too tentative on the oven heat and duration, I think, and it was only marginally less warped; barely noticeable. I'm also leery of the sun bath, as well.

There are good arguments on both sides of this method. One of the strongest arguments against it is that if you're heating a record to the point of reshaping, you could be deforming the groove as well. The other side of this argument is, well, your record's pretty much unusable anyway, so...

For the past year, I've had a warped album sitting between these two panes of glass, sort of as a cold press experiment. (Sheeze, just realizing how long it's been since I've actually made time for vinyl listening.) Anyway, seems like a good time to pull this album out to check it, and then to store it as usually and see if it reverts to its warped profile after a few weeks.

I've seen a few other options/apparatuses for correcting this, as well.

This is a video of how badly this record is warped:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagpX92df3Q

pitdogg2

Wow motocross track for needles

Clipdat

Let me know if it fixed the record! The idea of pressing it makes sense. I've also seen some advertisement in the back of Stereophile for some device that supposedly fixes warped records but haven't looked into it.

Looking at your video, that's a tad more severe than the warp on the ones I just received, but close.

Yours looks like one of those thick 180g pressings which usually are more immune to this sort of thing happening. Sorry that a treasured record arrived in that condition.

msg

Oh, haha, I was unclear in my description - that's actually a different record than the more rare live album I was originally talking about.

I don't find 180g any more resistant to warping than regular records. What I do find is that warps seem more common in newer pressings, in general. Whenever I'm able to find old records of favorite albums, they're the standard vinyl weight from the 80s and 90s, and are almost always in great shape. I've never had one warped. I swear it's probably 50/50 I'm going to have an issue of some sort with new records, whether warped or crappy press.

I'll report back when I check out the record. Gonna make sure I wash my hands again first, and possibly even wear gloves so Henry Rollins doesn't yell at me.

Clipdat

msg wrote: »

Gonna make sure I wash my hands again first, and possibly even wear gloves so Henry Rollins doesn't yell at me.

jdjohn

I've got a Vinyl Flat that works well. It can't perform miracles, like flattening a bad wrinkle on an edge, but it's good for general warps and dishing.

msg

That's the one I was thinking about getting.
Do you have the electric bag for it too?

jdjohn

Yessir. It comes with a probe thermometer as well...very easy to control the temp.

pitdogg2

I remember in the mid 80's good vinyl seemed to be done. Most of the records were so thin i swear there was spots light shined through. So many had bad pops and ticks i felt like my good needle was more of a nail in those grooves.

msg

How do you find those older records comparing to newer pressings, Ivan?

pitdogg2

I have not heard any new vinyl Scott. My last experience was mid 70's to late 80's. Once CD's came on I went all in. It does seem to me now that 180gm and heavier is now the norm.
Back then to be honest I never really paid much attention to the weight of said record until about 83-84 albums seemed to have gotten much thiner and good pressing harder and harder to find. I'd heard a record producer once say that most masters were good for less than 100* pressings and some were used 1000's* of times and mould residue built up so badly a clean pressing was impossible but these got sold to musiclands and disc jockey type stores in malls and such.

Guess where most of my music was bought at back then?



*Edit numbers made up but you get what I mean.




I will say my albums pre 80's was much better quality.
I wish I still had all my original KISS and Black Sabbath and Rush albums.

Well except Rush Fly by Night, I could never get a good copy of that.