Mystery skips...
prof_rockwell
2,867 Posts
Ok, this is about the 3rd record this has happened to me, and wondering if anyone else has experienced the same:Have a record that is fairly scuffed, but still playable. None of the scuffs you can feel with your fingers (i.e. they don't dig into the vinyl that deep). During playback it skipped, so I did the usual routine of playing the record right before the skip to pinpoint the location. What did I find? Nothing - no scratch, no skip, no boogers, nothing. So, I adjust the weight on the tonearm, and make it reeeeal light, where the needle is almost floating on top of the record, and voila! No skips. I've had this happen on a brand new, out of the package record as well, and it's a pain in the ass to say the least. And my needles/cartridges are only about 2 months old, so I don't think that's the problem either. Anyone else have something similar to this, and is there any remedy besides adjusting the tonearm weight? Is it a pressing problem, or are the grooves just worn out? thanks!
Comments
interesting. Yeah, I think it's just the grooves, but it's weird, cause all the offenders have been double pack LPs and a 12" single - all OG non-reish. And I'm using tech 1210s and shure m447s.
OK, now we can move to your gear:
- Is yout TT leveled?
- Is your cartridge properly aligned?
- Did you set the tracking force according to Shure's specs?
- How about anti-skating?
yeah man, I've been doing this for 15 years, so I got all that stuff down pat. It might be a leveling of the TT issue as anyone who's lived in Brooklyn can attest to wavy floors out here. But like I said, it's only happened on 3 records, and in two different apartments I've lived in in the last year, and one of them while playing out - so we can check off trying it on different setups. And as I said in my first post, they play fine when I put the tone-arm counter weight on super light so the needle is barely touching the record.
I mean, it's not a HUGE deal, but I was just wondering if anyone had heard of this before and had alternate solutions...
What's bothering me lately is what I've been calling "frictionless records," which slip and slide on the slipmat much more than other records... I don't know if they're warped or what (they don't seem to be), but they can be very hard to cue, as you have to give them a push to make them start spinning. I have a copy of Funky Serenity where this is so bad that if I turn up the force on the needle, I can completely prevent the record from spinning at all!
Probably just a good old cases of wear and tear....You can Try " fixing" it as recommended in a previous thread about fixing skips.
Though uncommon, pressing defects are for real. A dealer I worked for had like 50 Sealed Raer Private Press Joints of the same title. When a buyer wrote back that his record skipped the dealer opened a couple more of the sealed records and low and behold they all skipped in the exact same point of the song the buyer described. I would say its probably more of an issue with Private presses because perhaps they didnt get any test pressings to screen for errors or someone was just asleep at the wheel. I beleive thats why test pressings are made to check for quality in mastering and on the vinyl. With private pressings its more likey they just took it to the bank before waiting for the check to clear. Sometimes there are little bubbles and blurbs in the wax that dont effect the play, but are visually displeasing.
When it happens with New vinyl are they on Major Labels?? Just curious if my theory holds truth.
JustAlice: well here's the breakdown: 2 of the records are old (3rd Bass "Derelicts of Dialect" LP, and Grandmaster Flash & Furious 5 "Superappin'" 12") and the other is new (Beans "Shock City Maverick" LP).
I have a indy hip hop 12 (Mike Zoot "High Drama") that has a skip in the first pressing of this record. So all 500 or 1000 or whatever they pressed the first time around have a skip in them at the same spot. Another one is the promo version of "Distortion to Static" b/w "The Lesson" by the Roots (on Geffen). All the radio and club DJs had skips in their records all in the same spot. I remember being pissed when I got my copy at my college radio station at the time, only to be relieved that I wasn't the only one.
and again, these records play fine if I have the needle set EXTREMELY light. I even exchanged the Beans LP at the shop I got it at, and the same song skipped on the new copy - but strangely did NOT skip on the listening station in the store. (and it was my favorite joint too!)
Rather than adding heavier weight, I would mess with the anti-skate feature on the tone arm, it solved my problem anyway.
check: (king of vinyl) dj shadow's number song on the 12" and lp versions.
I do not in any way advocate pressing a needle down onto a playing record. This can ruin records instantly.
Can SS get a "Records FAQ" up so folks don't have to become victims of themselves? Like a Do-It-Yourself Cleaner and Scratch-Eraser Techniques section outside of the forum? Then, we wouldn't have the same threads all the time. We could also employ a "Take It To The Record FAQ" graemlin for those inclined.
yeah, I kinda assumed it was something along these lines, cause they generally skipped on parts that really hit loud - like a bass kick, or some loud vocals.
Meh, guess I'll just have to live with a feather-light tonearm on select records, and not worry about it too much, cause Dildo is the anwer to all my problems
wheeee!