Understanding Heat Damage.

Jonny_Paycheck

It has come to my attention, through my warp-flattening service, that many collectors do not know or understand the difference between a storage warp and heat damage. Anyone who doesn't understand this, feel free to read on and ask questions. I get a lot of records sent to me that are heat damaged. Heat damage is when a record has been left next to the radiator, under direct sunlight, in the oven, and so on. The actual grooves of the record are marred by the heat - basically, they have begun to melt and bend. There is no saving a record once this happens. A flattener, for instance, can flatten these records but it doesn't matter - the grooves are still demolished. A lot of times very sharp, small warps are caused by heat damage. By contrast, storage warps are broad and gradual.A record that has been warped by improper storage has not had its grooves damaged, and can be flattened to its original state; the heating coil and glass panes reverse the process of its improper storage.If you hear a "woosh" sound every rotation, that is heat damage. If the needle jumps sideways, that is also most likely heat damage. The groove has been elongated into an oval from a circle. Does that make sense?

spelunk

You can also usually see heat damage where the grooves look widened and just generally not right.

Are you getting folks coming into the store wanting to use the flattener for heat warps? Or getting sold records with storage warps that are actually heat warps?

pointman

Heat damage makes me cry.

Jonny_Paycheck

Are you getting folks coming into the store wanting to use the flattener for heat warps? Or getting sold records with storage warps that are actually heat warps?

Folks have been sending me heat damaged records for flattening. It is becoming an issue just because it takes valuable time and it costs money to ship back and forth. I just want people to have a better understanding of it. I was honestly surprised at the amount I've been getting.

I just got off the phone with a dealer who sent me a heat-damaged rarity; I attempted to explain that no matter how flat it gets, the grooves will still be damaged and the record will not be worth much; he was of the opinion that as long as the record tracked, he would still put a collector's price on it.

NiteKrawler45

You couldn't have defined it better JP.

Heat damage is the pits.

mannybolone

It has come to my attention, through my warp-flattening service, that many collectors do not know or understand the difference between a storage warp and heat damage. Anyone who doesn't understand this, feel free to read on and ask questions.

I get a lot of records sent to me that are heat damaged. Heat damage is when a record has been left next to the radiator, under direct sunlight, in the oven, and so on. The actual grooves of the record are marred by the heat - basically, they have begun to melt and bend. There is no saving a record once this happens. A flattener, for instance, can flatten these records but it doesn't matter - the grooves are still demolished. A lot of times very sharp, small warps are caused by heat damage. By contrast, storage warps are broad and gradual.

A record that has been warped by improper storage has not had its grooves damaged, and can be flattened to its original state; the heating coil and glass panes reverse the process of its improper storage.

If you hear a "woosh" sound every rotation, that is heat damage. If the needle jumps sideways, that is also most likely heat damage. The groove has been elongated into an oval from a circle.

Does that make sense?

I think this makes good sense. It might help, for example, on your services page to include an example of what a RESTORED heat-warped record sounds like so they know that even if the final platter is flat, the sound is still going to be fucked up.

That "collector's price" for a flattened, heat-damaged record seems shady as hell but let the buyer beware I guess.

mannybolone

Just curious: my first - and last - experience with heat damage came back in '93 when I left a copy of a Brand Nubian 12" on my turntables with the sun coming through. It created this MASSIVE warp bubble on the part the sun heated up and of course, I had to throw it out.

Would your flattener have been able to "fix" it, visually speaking? The sound would have been fucked of course but I'm wondering what the point of no return would be for your flattening machine.

Jonny_Paycheck

it's hard to say, it really is specific to the individual record and the warp.

I've fixed very drastic warps but I've also been frustrated by relatively minor ones.

I can't seem to flatten a single African record.

Delay

i was djing at the watermelon festival in Virginia in August, and i literally had a record warp while playing.

mannybolone

i was djing at the watermelon festival in Virginia in August, and i literally had a record warp while playing.

That's wild - what was the record made out of?

Delay

vinyl. it was just so hot and humid, i heard it skipping, looked down and it was doing the cosign dance

DJ_NevilleC

vinyl. it was just so hot and humid, i heard it skipping, looked down and it was doing the cosign dance

Same thing happened to a friend of mine at the Virgin Festival last summer in Baltimore. Luckily by time I played that same stage the next day they had umbrellas for us. Still hot as hell though.

faux_rillz

Does that make sense?

What is the proper term for what happens to dudes' ears when I play them my beats, yo?

I had thought that that was referred to as "heat damage," but maybe not???

Soulhawk

Does that make sense?

What is the proper term for what happens to dudes' ears when I play them my beats, yo?

I had thought that that was referred to as "heat damage," but maybe not???

I believe this is called 'shaken little dude syndrome'

or perhaps 'raer whiplash'

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Controller_7

What is the proper term for what happens to dudes' ears when I play them my beats, yo?

I had thought that that was referred to as "heat damage," but maybe not???

no, you're right, but I believe Jonny is talking about "heat damage" as opposed to what you're refering to, which is "that heat damage, son" or "heat damage, unggghhh."

DjArcadian

i was djing at the watermelon festival in Virginia in August, and i literally had a record warp while playing.

I remember DeeRock posting something like this before. Records melting while he was spinning.

sysfunk

Funny, I never knew one could fix records that have been damaged in storage. Now I know. I guess it was worthwhile finally registering here and paying a bit more attention to the discussion.

pointman

If you're playing outdoors during the daytime, make sure there's a tent covering the tables or your set will look like a Mr. Wizard experiment.

DB_Cooper

Now I know.

And knowing is half the battle.

P.S. - Watch out for Faux Rillz. His beats will cripple your auditory canals and hurt your feelings.