Post Your Needledrops (Part Three)

A bit of the Ray Brown- Super Bass RTI test pressing A1/B1.

DL160
Dual 1229
Adcom GTP-500II phono from tape out.
Inspire
Audacity 16/44.1 no processing.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/zadn97

 

24/96 FLAC. Julian Lennon - "Say You're Wrong" (60 sec sample). From "Valotte" (1984).

AT440Mla cart / SL-3200 TT
Furutech GT40 for the phono stage and ADC / Audioquest Forest USB cable
Audacity (under Ubuntu x64 v12.04) to FLAC.
ClickRepair 15 10 Reverse Wavelet x3

Every once in awhile I wonder why the heck I do these things, and then I make a drop like this one. Versus the original non-drop digital file I have, there's just no comparison - this one is much livelier and has more "punch" to it.

It is a little bright but that's the 440 so I left it as is versus EQ'ing it. This is pretty much exactly what came out of the TT sans the ClickRepair changes.

DR rating on this entire song is 15, btw.

 

Bright, but sounds great. ClickRepair is fantastic. I have found that if I use nothing but decrackle on 5 on a second pass on some noisy vinyl, it cleans up the vinyl very well, very clean.

 

Thanks and back at you -- your last drop sample has a nice punch to it, as well. The only thing I'm curious about is that, especially at the beginning, there's a slight buzzing(?) sound slightly to the right of center. It's very faint but I have no idea if it's in the actual recording or not (remember, I listen primarily with headphones).

As for mine, the 440 is definitely bright. And sometimes that's a good thing. but with certain 80's New Wave / Pop LP's, I've noticed that the treble on the LP is already jacked up. So I have to decide if I want to actual EQ the drop later to reduce the treble a bit. And generally I avoid that, but this one I was really considering it versus just turning down the treble each time.

 

I don't master with headphones anymore, but I do hear that slight buzz. It sounds like it's on the recording.

My EQ fix is subtle, but it renders the response flat down to 2,000 cycles. I find that on some older recordings, particularly in the early 70s, the EQ fix is not needed. For some reason, LPs from the early 70s do sound rolled-off. That's where the Audio Technica 440mla/150mlx helps. But, it's on a case-by-case basis. I'm still inclined to EQ because I more often than not prefer the truer sound of the RIAA curve, no matter what.

Here's a sample I did from my rip of Minnie Ripperton's "Minnie" album. The album is so narrowly stereo that I decided to widen it up with Ozone. Then I took a page from Steve and EQ'ed the vocal so she sounds more realistic. Minnie's voice always annoyed me as recorded. Just a little bump in it midrange with a Q of around 30 did the trick. I know I broke a cardinal rule, but I used the exciter on it too, just a tad.

http://db.tt/n6B1hA3T

 

Well, I don't know what the original sounded like, but this one certain has a wide stereo sound now. Interesting that you can even do that -- I actuallly considered doing the opposite with the hard stereo panning on the early Beatles stereo tracks, but my DAP uses Rockbox and I can just do it in software without altering the actual digital file. The same applies with anything too bright.

I figure that, if I change my mind later, I still have my master files. Each album now gets an Info file that lists the TT used, cart, CR settings, and any EQ tweaking. That way when I'm looking at it a year / 5 years / 10 years from now I'll know what I did.

 

I constantly A/B'd it with the source and all that you really sense is the widening. It put a little dimensionality in the strings in particular. It did have the unfortunate effect of skewing a lot of the sounds, and her voice, to the right of center. I could have tweaked that too, but I decided to leave well enough alone.

Most quality software will let you easily do that. Another reason I don't use the popular Audacity is because it just doesn't have professional features. I also realize that the vast majority of rippers on this forum are purists to a fault.

Hmmm... I just never thought about doing that! I have always had the tools. I hate wide stereo panning.

That's the one thing I never do is keep logs on what I do. If I don't remember what I did, so be it. My choices are usually final. But, I am bad about keeping unprocessed files. Any good engineer keeps unadulterated copies. I guess I like the hobby of doing remasters. I am at the point where I can do an album three different times with slightly different software and techniques and wind up with a very similar sound. I recently did a needledrop of an album that a name mastering engineer did. Different pressing, different gear, different software, I and wound up with a drop that sounded virtually identical to the pro's work. So much for the poster who said my work was bad.

 

I've never herd this song before but I like it. It would be interesting to hear some of your before and after clips to compare your work and hear what is possible with these software tools you use.

 

Love it! I was expecting some bass-orgy but got a cymbal-demo instead

 

New gear change... started by getting rid of the Empire cart and getting a new Shure SC35C cart and stylus.
I can tell a marked increase in sound quality over the others done with the old Empire gear.

Steely Dan Do It Again, 69 sec sample in 24-bit/96khz
Ian Hunter Just Another Night 66 sec sample in 24-bit/96khz

both normalized to -0.7db
no other processing.

 

I could quickly dub the song again and put it up.

 

It sounds great man!

 

Here is another sample using the new cart/stylus and this one was ripped in Ubuntu Studio.

Eric Gale Sara Smile in 24/48


and then a few from Dan Fogelberg
Part Of The Plan
Illinois
Souviners
Better Change


Comments?

 

I could quickly dub the song again and put it up. I may get to it tomorrow. It's late and I have to get to bed.

 

The before sample:

http://db.tt/3vrzySgu

 

Fixed my hum problem. It ended up being a bad tube. It was a blessing in disguise because I ended up getting some NOS Telefunkens. WOW! Here they are:

Steely Dan- Kid Charlemagne- First USA Press http://www.mediafire.com/?oynddi397xa44lp

 

Was there any post-transfer processing of this sample?
It seems to lack a bit of punch, plus your dbs are unbalanced by 2db.
If there was any hum, you certainly eliminated it.

 

A couple recent releases for your perusal:

Bonnie Raitt
Nicely made 2LP, but I'm not wild about the vinyl mastering (a tad dark).

Melody Gardot
No complaints here. Bernie Grundman cut.

Ortofon 2M Red used.

 

No processing. I've been told this by someone else too. I am a newb at needledropping so I don't really know what I'm doing wrong.

Like, what do you mean my dbs are unbalanced? When I record I have the interface set to line level and both gain knobs at 0. Is this why I'm getting less dynamics? I usually turn the volume up with a master fader in Pro Tools. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Are you using any specific programs?

 

Hoping for comments! I think I finally got the M97xE dialed in the way it's supposed to be. Only took me two turntables and nearly a year to do it. I think the Cars sample proves this thing is capable of proper treble response, and the Labelle is appropriately warm and '70s soul sounding, for want of a better phrase.

Stylus: M97xE w/ stock stylus
TT: Denon DP-37F
Pre-amp: Art DJ Pre II set at 200pf
ADC: Sony MDS-JE520
SP/DIF to Sony VAIO VGX-XL2A with Windows 7
Audacity 16/44.1
ClickRepair: 10, reverse, simple

The Cars - My Best Friend's Girl (S/T LP, original issue)

Labelle - Lady Marmalade (Nightbirds, original issue)

 

Thanks. I can hear the difference in the voice and it does seem to have more separation.

 

The Cars one I own on LP, so I can compare at least. It's probably the cart but my 440 sounds a little more detailed to my ears - keep in mind that it's subjective of course. I even dropped the treble a bit on mine just to remove that from the picture, as the 440 is bright.

My LP is 6e-135-a-1a in the deadwax, btw: http://www.sendspace.com/file/ixtslo

AT440Mla / treble dropped during editing / dropped to 44khz / CR 15 PP reverse Wavelet x3

 

bumping for comments on the new gear rips. [did this solve the OOP issue?]
thanks,

 

The Cars sample sounds really crisp and clear. Nice soundstage and image.