It is a problem, Thomas. In my experience, new reissue vinyl from Analog Productions, Speakers Corner, Cisco, and a few other continues to be consistently "super silent". OTOH, Classic Records has had quality control problems consistently since moving to their new 200gr formulation. Some of their 200gr issues have been dead silent here, some have not, and many others have reported disappointing results. For example my new 4-sided 45 r.p.m. copy of Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" from Classic is noisy on side 1, then dead silent on sides 3-4. Overall, I like the sound of the 200gr issues, but I don't like the variability.
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I have a few Super Analogue Disc Japanese pressing re-issue's from Cisco that were noisy. I was very suprised at that..I should have sent them back, but didn't. I have found the most quiet recordings consistantly to be the Telarcs and Chesky's. The re-issue Classic Records have also been very good to me.
I know that the quality of the vinyl is critical..virgin vinyl being the best with at least 180g or more...but I suppose its an issue of QC as with any recording process. |
I too am conscious of the problem yet, not completely clear to the cause. Vinyl formulae appears to be part of the culprit. Classic Records spotty issuing frustrates me to no end. There are reasons I'm sure, There is no excuse! Speakers Corner and Analogue Productions as Rushton commented are superb. There are also a large group of smaller record companies who seem to have it right, take the release of Richard Thompson -The old kit Bag on Diverse records is spooky cool or the new Spoon release -Gimme Fiction on Merge records or Ry Cooder Manuel Galban's - Mombo Sinuendo on Nonsuch are outstanding pressings, just to name a few. Given the caliber of these performances it's a blessing that someone didn't screw up the vinyl pressing. It's too bad to say but there are many beautiful performances plagued by a vinyl pressing science that should all but be academic at this point IMHO. Happy listening! |
there are only a handful of pressing plants left and the runs from the labels are down to as low as 350 pieces. the vinyl is not always from the same place or the same quality. cost cutting is affecting the manufacturers.in many ways, the wheels are coming off the specialty vinyl business. the 45rpm discs are also very overrated. |
Thanks for your answers. I am a bit confused, because Classic records made my way into Analog. But why should I go on, when the records are noisy, or let's say, when they are worse than years ago. I think, when they have no more time to take care of the pressings, because they need the time to count their money, I will stay away.
But same for Cisco, I bought 2 times the Doc Watson ' Home again ', the first one is a pain to listen to, clicks and pops and groove noises like mad, the other one I bought a few months later is definetly better, but still not perfect. Now we have the year 2005 and I don't want to discuss about analog/digital, but with stuff like that it's no fun to listen to analog. |
What do you do to clean them? What solution? What machine? |
"What do you do to clean them? What solution? What machine?" I guess, this question is for me ?
I use a Keith Monks, the solution is from Germany, I think,"L'Art du Son".
But it does not help, when the Vinyl shows it's problems. |
Jaybo, I'm afraid you don't know what youre talking about. The Analogue Productions 45's are splendid, some of the best recordings ever produced. They rival that of the early Decca recordings, Speakers Corner reissues are beautiful and consistent as well. What prey tell are you playing this vinyl on if you can't hear the difference? It is true that there is plenty of bad vinyl today, so was it true in the best days of the Lp for volume ie sixties and seventies. Try to find a decent Neil young record on Reprise, they all are plagued with surface noise, poor vinyl (material) quality. Your wrong on the account of the 45's being overrated though, I'm sorry. |
I've purchased a few Classic records and for the most part have been happy with them. But the copy I bought new of Peter Gabriel 2 is completely wrecked on the lead in spiral of side 1, and visibly so, the vinyl is like an unpaved road so that the fade in of the sequencer is totally unpleasant to listen to. Side 2 is a little better but still suffers form too many ticks and pops. It's not dirty, I have a VPI 16 and the vinyl is simply badly manufactured, this one should have landed in the remelt bin but it snuck through their QC. I know, I should have returned it while I had the chance...anyone else have a similar experience? |
I bought over 80 Classic Records in the last 12 month. Most of them are in a great quality, especially the 1S box sets. From time to time there are records which I have to send back. Mostly because they are scratched. The noise on the records are from band hiss. I have to point out that I am talking about classical music, recordings from the 50/60. Lately I bought some 45 rpm Mercury Living Presence (Classic Records) which make a odd noise. It sounds like a pressing bubble, but not repeatedly. Like a quiet pop. At first I thought there is something wrong with my system. But I found out that I don't have it with other records. Only with the 4 45rpm records from Mercury. 6 month ago I had some big trouble with the reissues from Speakers Corner. Almost every record was damaged. They had a scratch from a wire. So as if someone takes a wire and scratches the LP several times. And then there is TheMusic.com. I think they are somehow connected to Classic Records, anyways. They have a so called "Hand Select" service. Which apparently does not work. I received some LP's which had quite some damage. I did send them back for return. The LPs which came back had even more damage. I gave up on them. I mostly order now from Acoustic Sounds. And I gave up to send every LP with a small scratch back. Otherwise I have to pay more for shipment than the whole LP costs. This is just how LPs are. If I want perfection I have to buy CDs. But then, the sound from a LP is still unbeatable. At least to my ears with my system. |
Excellent topic - a problem I had noted with some dismay, given you are often paying a significant premium for these LP's. |
I have to agree that it seems in the past few years the quality has really gone down. I wonder if the manufacturing cost have gone up so they chose to lower the quality in lieu of charging higher prices. After all sometimes I think 'Gee I am spending sometimes twice what a CD cost and the surface noise is horrible" and then I order more. Maybe the guy that said a "A fool and his money are soon parted" was an audiophile? |
"For example my new 4-sided 45 r.p.m. copy of Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" from Classic is noisy on side 1, then dead silent on sides 3-4."
Sounds like a press operator forgot to slap on some mold release prior to pressing?
A sticky record stamper would probably leave all sorts of stuff to make noise.
Yes, the old minimum wage doesn't get what it used to...
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i didnt say i couldn't hear a difference. i said they are very overrated. i've had many where disc 1 was noisy and disc 2 was quiet. |
>>Jaybo, I'm afraid you don't know what youre talking about<<
This is quite common in this and other threads. |
" If I want perfection I have to buy CDs ", well, I don't want to "see" that so "black/white", but when I started this topic, I wanted to say, a few years ago I bought nearly everything, which was offered and I was very satisfied with the qualitiy. I don't mean tape noise or something like that, that's ok for me, I mean noises and pops and groove noises which makes a Record nearly unlistenable and my next experience is, a few CR get worse after playing them a few times. Seems I am not alone with my frustration ... |
Sorry Thomas, I didn't mean to be b&w. I am on your side.;) And it is absolutely unacceptable to spend some $120 on "The Royal Ballet Gala Performance" 45rpm reissue, and then you have to send the LP back because it is damaged. This happened to me. The LP had some serious pressing damages. There were some kind of dust burned into the record. And the substitutes, which I received, has still some problems. I have not had the noise problem yet. But I think that is because I mainly buy 180g records, which were pressed a few years ago. IMO, if you want a premium price, as a company like CR, then you have to deliver premium quality. |
wc65mustang......i have a way of bringing that quote out in people.....like when dan ackroyd would would say, "jane, you evil slut". for $40 the 45 rpm lp's should be quiet throughout the 4 sides and the gain should never have to be adjusted from side to side. even worse the unnatural break in the artist's 'song-cycle' is like an 8 track. at least they don't fade out a song on one side and fade in on another. |
I have been very happy with recent Sundazed 180 Gram presssings, in fact I have not had to send a single one back. True their catalog is not full of your mainstream artists but I have purchased The Paul Butterfield Blues Band catalog,Love and The Stooges and I think the sound is awesome. When I compared my original pressing of Revisited by Love with the Sundazed it was neck and neck. And they are half the price of Classic. You can buy them online too and cut out the middle man. I have to agree that the quality of Classic has gone down hill,I've had to return two recordings in the last 6 months. |
I bought a new 45 RPM Classic reissue Willie Nelson Stardust and one of the lp's out of the 5 was somwwhat noisy.I tried to hand clean it,and instead of making things better,it increased the surface noise dramatically.I know now I'll need to get a Nitty Gritty RCM to fix it now.
I think it's best with this current batch of reissues not to clean the new LP's we get.I IMO JUST SEEMS TO MAKE THINGS MUCH WORSE THEN BEFORE HAND. |
This may make those ticks and pops a little easier to take...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10053831/ |
