Raspy Vinyl Record Help

[Woochifer]

Thanks Woochifer for the explanation! I suspected it was bad pressings, but never knew why they sounded crappy.

I attained most of my collection from 1975 to 1980 on a paper route allowance. I have a lot of singles because they were under $1.00 in those days and that's what I could afford. As a matter of fact I managed to collect all of the Billboard top 100 pop singles for the years 1976, 1979 and 1980. Got most of my albums in 1979 and 1980 when I got a real job.

I have a bunch of Capitol promotionals from that period and a bit earlier that I have never played. My Uncle used to work for Capitol Records and he got promos by the box load. Those promos were/are solid. I can't remember hearing a bad promo (except picture discs). Funny, at the time, I thought they were worthless since they were "not for sale" and sometimes I treated them as such. When I was about 12, I remember him giving me a box of promos which contained about 5 Instant Karma (John Lennon) 45s that were blank on the back side. I sold a couple for a dime each and treated the rest like crap. I have none of those now and won't even mention how much they would be worth today. I remember having an early Beatle promo 45 that had two songs on each side. Just a memory today.

Actually, I remember that 45s were more inconsistent sounding in general than LPs. That could be because a hit single would sell in the millions over a short period, while the LP that contained that song would see much lower sales volume.

Promos are usually a safe bet because they are early production, and I remember some record companies pressed their promos on denser vinyl, which made them quieter. Since promos usually go out to record stores, radio stations, and reviewers, and they often get pressed in low volumes with generic covers, I would think that there's some incentive to make sure that they don't wind up with something that sounds distorted. Somewhat similar to how movie studios distribute "wetgate" prints (those struck from the original negative rather than a second or third copy) to premieres, press screenings, and high profile showcase theaters.

Some vinyl junkies swear by the early production LPs as the best sounding ones because they are likeliest to be pressed by a stamper that's not as far removed from the master disc as latter pressings might be. You can actually identify the stamper number used to press a particular record by looking at the blank space at the end of the LP.

This inconsistency and variability is both the beauty and the curse of vinyl.

[piece-it pete]

This inconsistency and variability is both the beauty and the curse of vinyl.

Hey Wooch, I didn't know you were a poet!


Nutty, The only thing I have to add here is that I use a manual cleaning device called a "spin clean" available here:

http://www.garage-a-records.com/spin.html

I have had GREAT results with it, particularly since I ditched their drying cloths and bought a few 3M "Microfiber" tack cloths at Walmarts' hardware section. I have cleaned at least 400 lps' with it, along with a couple of 45s'. If it still sounds like crap after cleaning you're prolly out of luck. I've ditched a few lps' that broke my heart, but what can you do?

I do plan on trying Gruv-Glide shortly, both for better sound and to protect my favorite lps' from overplay damage, which I've heard tell it helps.

Have fun. Too bad about the promo Beatles!! But who knew.

Pete