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SURFACE NOISE: Yes Or No?

pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
edited March 2008 in Strut Central
This thread was partially inspired by somebody over in the "do you let friends handle your rekkids?" thread - they admitted flat-out that they try to keep their collection VG+ or better (or something like that), and it got me to thinkin'...This guy I DJ with on occasion has a thing about surface noise; if there's some kind of pop or snap in the grooves, then he feels it shouldn't be played out. He's busted me out a few times for playing a record with some audible miles on it, but then again he once played, at the club, a trashed Carla Thomas single that damn near had the surface noise SINGING BACKUP, so who's to say?Myself, even though I will upgrade records from time to time if the condition ain't right, it doesn't bother me:(1) As long as the record doesn't skip, fine with me.(2) As long as the surface noise isn't louder than the song, cool with me.(3) When you're listening at home to a record, you can't always tell how it will sound at the club.(4) ...especially if it's a 45 - as we know, some singles sound better than they look and vice versa.(5) I've DJ'ed singles I found fifteen years ago that didn't have a sleeve (until later). Could you hear the difference? Hell no - it played just as well as if I got it straight from the pressing plant on release day.(6) Having grown up listening to Richard Pegue's dusties show in Chicago as a teenager, it was not unusual to hear the occasional 45 with hiss or crackle or whatever. The noise was there, but it never got to the draw-the-line point, at least not for me.So how does it work for you?Records don't have to be PRISTINE, just PLAYABLE. Just 'cause a record is used don't mean it's used UP.
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  Comments

  • high_chigh_c 1,384 Posts
    Don't bother me none... within reason.

    I'll trade the M- copy off and keep the VG. Done this a couple times with $$$ records. Little noise adds character. A lot of noise... doesn't.

    Mint freak types bother me.
  • goodwill_huntinggoodwill_hunting 324 Posts
    a large part of my 45 collection is probably vg/vg- they still play fine though so it doesn't bother me, i prefer them that way since they are cheaper and i don't have to be as careful with them
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    I do a regular weekly night called "Da Cool Aid Dance Mash" and I (along with all of the regulars who come out) have started this thing we do in response to pops. If I play a record and anybody hears a pop in it, or some objectionable surface noise," we start a foot stomp and clap session. At that point, everyone else follows and joins the stomp and clap session and the music is stopped. I take the record off of the turntable and hold it above my head. This is when everyone starts singing "another one bites the dust" on beat to the foot stomp and claps. I snap the record in half and we all scream out "yeahhhhhhhhh" and I throw on a new record. Sometimes it interupts the flow of a dance party, but people love it.

    It doesn't matter what pressing it is, uber rare or common, you dare bring a pop or a crackle up in my set... Snap.
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,419 Posts
    Don't bother me none... within reason.

    I'll trade the M- copy off and keep the VG. Done this a couple times with $$$ records. Little noise adds character. A lot of noise... doesn't.

    Mint freak types bother me.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I do a regular weekly night called "Da Cool Aid Dance Mash" and I (along with all of the regulars who come out) have started this thing we do in response to pops. If I play a record and anybody hears a pop in it, or some objectionable surface noise," we start a foot stomp and clap session. At that point, everyone else follows and joins the stomp and clap session and the music is stopped. I take the record off of the turntable and hold it above my head. This is when everyone starts singing "another one bites the dust" on beat to the foot stomp and claps. I snap the record in half and we all scream out "yeahhhhhhhhh" and I throw on a new record. Sometimes it interupts the flow of a dance party, but people love it.

    It doesn't matter what pressing it is, uber rare or common, you dare bring a pop or a crackle up in my set... Snap.

    Then start deejaying off an iPod. With a ritual like that, I'll bet you probably have ten records to choose from now. That's worse than some of those would-be audiophiles that would come through the store I used to work at bitching about "mono sound," even though it was a current record that wasn't mono-mixed in the first place.

    Anybody ever get pissed at you for breaking their records? That doesn't seem to be the type of thing you can laugh off.[/b]

    Mint freak types bother me.
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,419 Posts
    I do a regular weekly night called "Da Cool Aid Dance Mash" and I (along with all of the regulars who come out) have started this thing we do in response to pops. If I play a record and anybody hears a pop in it, or some objectionable surface noise," we start a foot stomp and clap session. At that point, everyone else follows and joins the stomp and clap session and the music is stopped. I take the record off of the turntable and hold it above my head. This is when everyone starts singing "another one bites the dust" on beat to the foot stomp and claps. I snap the record in half and we all scream out "yeahhhhhhhhh" and I throw on a new record. Sometimes it interupts the flow of a dance party, but people love it.

    It doesn't matter what pressing it is, uber rare or common, you dare bring a pop or a crackle up in my set... Snap.

    Then start deejaying off an iPod. With a ritual like that, I'll bet you probably have ten records to choose from. That's worse than some of those would-be audiophiles that would come through the store I used to work at bitching about "mono sound," even though it was a current record that wasn't mono-mixed in the first place.

    Anybody ever get pissed at you for breaking their records? That doesn't seem to be the type of thing you can laugh off.[/b]


    hahahahaha, is there one joke here, or two?
  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    I do a regular weekly night called "Da Cool Aid Dance Mash" and I (along with all of the regulars who come out) have started this thing we do in response to pops. If I play a record and anybody hears a pop in it, or some objectionable surface noise," we start a foot stomp and clap session. At that point, everyone else follows and joins the stomp and clap session and the music is stopped. I take the record off of the turntable and hold it above my head. This is when everyone starts singing "another one bites the dust" on beat to the foot stomp and claps. I snap the record in half and we all scream out "yeahhhhhhhhh" and I throw on a new record. Sometimes it interupts the flow of a dance party, but people love it.

    It doesn't matter what pressing it is, uber rare or common, you dare bring a pop or a crackle up in my set... Snap.

    Then start deejaying off an iPod. With a ritual like that, I'll bet you probably have ten records to choose from. That's worse than some of those would-be audiophiles that would come through the store I used to work at bitching about "mono sound," even though it was a current record that wasn't mono-mixed in the first place.

    Anybody ever get pissed at you for breaking their records? That doesn't seem to be the type of thing you can laugh off.[/b]

    Mint freak types bother me.


    another one bites the bait

    very funny ritual and I love the sweater vest dress code at the cool aid dance mash...so sassy!

    surface noise does not bother me as pristine records might as well be CDs...but a lot of my LAmerican finds have annoying pristine look with horrible sound that just drains out the msic..always a disapointment

    but this is records we are talking about..you dont have surface noise on a good part of your records thanyou dont know the real!
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts

    Anybody ever get pissed at you for breaking their records? That doesn't seem to be the type of thing you can laugh off.[/b]

    dawg, I'll snap your records right in your face. You'll thank me too.










































    just kidding. I guess you missed the sarcasm in my post. I made that whole thing up. i'm kind of flatterd that you believed it though. I don't even dj out very often.

    I agree with you guys. As long as it doesn't skip and isn't crackling so much that it's out-doing the music, I am fine with it. I enjoy some crackle. It's one of the charms of vinyl. I find that a lot of hip hop 12 inches play well even if they are beat up. If the pressing is loud, the beats generally overpower the crackle.
  • leisurebanditleisurebandit 1,006 Posts


    (1) As long as the record doesn't skip, fine with me.

    (2) As long as the surface noise isn't louder than the song, cool with me.


    i agree totally, especially the above.
    i will definitely trade or sell an NM copy and keep the VG (for most titles).

    i was just saying to someone, I'm REAL happy to have bought my Dom Salvador e Abolicao for 30 that plays with background noise, instead of the clean copy that the same seller just auctioned for $175.

    then again i'm not a DJ or producer so i can't comment on how this translates to those settings
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,419 Posts
    then again i'm not a DJ or producer so i can't comment on how this translates to those settings

    i sample VG-- records a lot. i just clean them up on the computer.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    Surface noise is part of vinyl. Why is this even a question? When you first put the needle down you get that initial snap/crackle/pop and it let's you know your in for a treat.

    Hell I have MP3's and CD's that skip.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Surface noise is part of vinyl. Why is this even a question?

    Somebody I was deejaying with complained about it to me the night I played something with a hiss, and I'm like: well, damn, sorry I left my mp3's at home! The people kept dancing, anyway, and the record never stuck, so...
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    I think there are some records that have a noticeable hiss to them that feel kind of awkward when you throw them on really loud at the club. If it was a "rare soul" night or something then people might be charmed by the crackle and hiss, but if it's more of a dance night then you're probably going to get people thinking "nice records grandpa" and wondering why you wouldn't just buy a cd.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts

    just kidding. I guess you missed the sarcasm in my post. I made that whole thing up. i'm kind of flatterd that you believed it though. I don't even dj out very often.

    well, deadpan sarcasm doesnt always travel well in print - thats why emoticons were invented. but now that i know what i know, i think the joke was pretty funny!

    (i was looking online for a still of that film clip with the balding radio announcer breaking records and saying "rock & roll has got to go", but i couldnt find it, otherwise id-a used it here)
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I think there are some records that have a noticeable hiss to them that feel kind of awkward when you throw them on really loud at the club. If it was a "rare soul" night or something then people might be charmed by the crackle and hiss, but if it's more of a dance night then you're probably going to get people thinking "nice records grandpa" and wondering why you wouldn't just buy a cd.

    once i was deejaying a rare soul night at a place that usually had dance music. although we went over well, the sound engineer was chagrinned by one particularly hissy 45 i played. it didnt skip, it didnt even have a scratch, and there was a snakehiss going through the whole song, but i didnt see anybody covering their ears. while i dont go out of my way to play tore-up records, the man should have understood that this wasnt going to be a digital techno dance party.
  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts
    Little noise adds character.

    This is truth.
  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
    Little noise adds character.

    This is truth.

    Slightly downgrading records is where it's at in '08.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Little noise adds character.

    This is truth.

    Once, in the eighties, I heard my man Pegue play, by request, G.C. Cameron's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday." The clicks and pops were extremely audible, but it was actually poignant in a weird way, like seeing a shrinkwrapped old album with a price tag reading "Rac-A-Records - 1.99". It didn't irritate me at all, and I thought it was cool that this wasn't being beamed over some small college station, but a major-market multiwatt R&B station that was Top 10 in the ratings. God bless Richard Pegue and old vinyl!
  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts
    The way I see it, if the amount and nature of the surface noise matches whatever sounds are coming out the record, it's cool with me.

    But if it's like a "tick, tick, tick" where an acoustic guitar and light percussion are playing, it ain't cool.
  • BaptBapt 2,503 Posts
    Please send me your MINT Brazilian raers!!

    I hate surface noise.
  • nzshadownzshadow 5,526 Posts
    Little noise adds character. A lot of noise... doesn't.

    Mint freak types bother me.
  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    SURFACE NOISE SERIOUSLY HARSHES MY MELLOW
  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    Surface noise is not bad, I wouldn't want a record that sounds like it has been tied to a car bumper and run through a parking lot a number of times, but I'd hope the record would show that it's all dinged up.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    I get way mroe anoyed by the screach you hear when a guitar player slides his hands up/down the guitar neck durring a song. I can't belive they don't deal with that in the studio.
  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    I get way mroe anoyed by the screach you hear when a guitar player slides his hands up/down the guitar neck durring a song. I can't belive they don't deal with that in the studio.

    FUCK THAT!!! I LIKE THAT SHIT!!! REVERSE WHAT YOU SAID RIGHT NOW. WHAT'S NEXT, YOU DON'T LIKE PEOPLE BREATHING BEFORE THEY SING, SO YOU REMOVE THAT FOR THE FINAL MIX? GOD DAMMIT!!!

  • BaptBapt 2,503 Posts
    Once again, NO.

    I just received this today :



    DivShare File - Ellis Regina Surface Noise.mp3


    Dude, on ebay, is selling it as EX

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Well, that example that Bapt posted is extreme (and kinda funny - both "ha ha" funny AND "peculiar" funny)! But in that case...no.

    You could ignore the noise if it were an uptempo soul record with a really hot, loud mix. But that there sounds like a lightweight Brazilian album that somebody forgot to put back in the cover.
  • MoogManMoogMan Sao Paulo, Brazil 1,173 Posts
    Like a friend of mine says, if you don't like/can't stand some noise don't buy used records and go hear some new CDs.
    As someone already pointed, a little bit of noise gives character to the record.



    Peace
  • JLRJLR 3,835 Posts
    FUCK SURFACE NOISE

    98% OF surface noise is caused by dirty records. Clean your records, buy a decent cartridge, no your designed to DJ Shures are not decent and enter the world of noise free records.
  • HAZHAZ 3,376 Posts
    FUCK SURFACE NOISE

    98% OF surface noise is caused by dirty records. Clean your records, buy a decent cartridge, no your designed to DJ Shures are not decent and enter the world of noise free records.

    I concur. Also, a good phono stage makes a difference.
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