The Vinyl Thread

[Amy Lawn]

Birthday prezzos from work; Art Angles by Grimes and Total Strife Forever by East India Youth.

I treated myself to a Juno Records order of Heartland by Owen Pallett and Splendor & Misery by Clipping as well.

[Mardy]

57 minutes ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Birthday prezzos from work; Art Angles by Grimes and Total Strife Forever by East India Youth.

I treated myself to a Juno Records order of Heartland by Owen Pallett and Splendor & Misery by Clipping as well.

Hippy Bathday, skipper

[Amy Lawn]

36 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Hippy Bathday, skipper

Cheers Mardy!

Art Angels spinning now, sounding lush af, the beats on this album do not give a fuck.

[Wooderson]

Happy Birthday Lawn, mate.

[When Jokers Attack]

Has anyone got the reissue of Sea Change by Beck? Didn't even know it was reissued until today, will be my next purchase.

[iaintcool]

had a good trip to the local record store this morning.

Picked up XX - I See You Deluxe edition and the clear indie exclusive , Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial, GSY!BE Lift your skinny fists and You Me At Six - Night People and  James Bay Live for the girlfriend. After 9 years of collecting I finally picked up a GSY!BE record and it sounds brilliant!  Looking forward to going digging when I get over there before Glasto

[Gnomicide]

Can anyone recommend any decent storage boxes? I keep my records in an under the stairs cupboard in old cardboard whiskey boxes but it can be a bit of a pain getting them in and out.

 

[Amy Lawn]

On 1/21/2017 at 2:49 AM, lbrown90 said:

had a good trip to the local record store this morning.

Picked up XX - I See You Deluxe edition and the clear indie exclusive , Car Seat Headrest - Teens Of Denial, GSY!BE Lift your skinny fists and You Me At Six - Night People and  James Bay Live for the girlfriend. After 9 years of collecting I finally picked up a GSY!BE record and it sounds brilliant!  Looking forward to going digging when I get over there before Glasto

It's a Lift Yr Skinny Fists... day for me over here! Astonishing album to devote some quality time to, just finished side 3, which is by far and away by favourite part of the album. There's just something very very right about post-rock on vinyl.
 

On 1/18/2017 at 10:57 PM, Wooderson said:

Happy Birthday Lawn, mate.

Thanks Wooderson!

[Wooderson]

On 1/19/2017 at 7:10 PM, When Jokers Attack said:

Has anyone got the reissue of Sea Change by Beck? Didn't even know it was reissued until today, will be my next purchase.

I have it. Recommended. I've never heard the Mofi but people that have heard both say the newie comes close.

[The Nal]

On 1/21/2017 at 1:38 PM, Gnomicide said:

Can anyone recommend any decent storage boxes? I keep my records in an under the stairs cupboard in old cardboard whiskey boxes but it can be a bit of a pain getting them in and out.

 

I had something like this previously

[Amy Lawn]

11 hours ago, The Nal said:

I had something like this previously

Loving Amazon's dumb advertising of crap products there "enjoy the warm sound of vinyl", warm you say!? "Built-in speakers", "USB conversion", behave now lads.

[nikkic]

Recently picked up...

 

The XX - I See You (Clear Vinyl)

Caribou - Our Love 

Tame Impala - Currents

 

All sounding fantastic. 

[nikkic]

I'm new to this vinyl lark, so question for all you seasoned pros...

Getting a fair bit of skipping, on old and new records. I've checked for dust, but it still happens, even when played at a lowish volume.

What should I check next?

[The Nal]

Yeah weight could be an issue, check how firmly the needle is on/off the record as Scruff says. If your turntable has an anti skating weight check that as it that may not be there anymore. Easy to lose I've learned. 

[big__phil]

Question for you lovely people: what are your go-to online shops you tend to use? Sadly I'm not blessed to live in place that has an abundance of record shops. Obviously most record shops (Piccadilly, Rise, Rough Trade etc) have online stores, and Amazon is pretty extensive. Any others which I should know about?

[big__phil]

9 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

I tend to only use ebay are the two I use most. Especially if searching for a particular record. If I can't find it on there, I have used discogs a few times. 

Crash records good too. 

Typo? Cheers though, didn't really consider eBay. Do labels/record shops sell via eBay?

[Gnomicide]

2 hours ago, The Nal said:

Yeah weight could be an issue, check how firmly the needle is on/off the record as Scruff says. If your turntable has an anti skating weight check that as it that may not be there anymore. Easy to lose I've learned. 

Oh, I didn't realise the anti-skating thing was done by a weight. I've had an issue where the needle was jumping back at the very end of the record, turned the anti-skate off because I read that could be causing it. That stopped the problem but now, if I use the arm to lower the needle at the start of the record, it often skips forward a bit when it hits the vinyl. Easily solved as I just lower the needle myself but there's a certain satisfaction in watching the arm slowly lower as you close the lid. 

I'll have to investigate. Is said weight easily identifiable? Where do they normally go?

[The Nal]

1 minute ago, Gnomicide said:

Oh, I didn't realise the anti-skating thing was done by a weight. I've had an issue where the needle was jumping back at the very end of the record, turned the anti-skate off because I read that could be causing it. That stopped the problem but now, if I use the arm to lower the needle at the start of the record, it often skips forward a bit when it hits the vinyl. Easily solved as I just lower the needle myself but there's a certain satisfaction in watching the arm slowly lower as you close the lid. 

I'll have to investigate. Is said weight easily identifiable? Where do they normally go?

Depends on the model of course. The downforce on some cartridges needs to be calibrated depending on its weight. There are recommendations depending on the cartridge weight/turntable. If theres too much downforce you'll hear a sort of scratching noise on grooves with no music and if theres too little downforce the needle will skip/skate across the grooves as its set too high to sit in the grooves. 

I've a Project Essential so everything is manual, lowering the needle, stopping it, anti skating etc - and the anti skating weight hangs via a barely visible nylon thread. The weight itself is the size of a pea. Its a stabiliser basically. 

 

I'm not a read the instructions guy but its needed when setting up a turntable. 

[Gnomicide]

Thanks @The Nal. No wire on mine, the counterweight is set correctly, I'll have to see if I can find more info on my model.

[big__phil]

10 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

Mine's got a counterweight like that picture, but also an anti-skating dial. Similar to this (although I have no idea about the arm bearings!) The Tracking force adjustment moves the weight on the arm to counter balance. The anti skate I tested on blank vinyl to get right resistance (Get dig lazarus dig by Nick cave as it's 3 sides and no etching). Never really touched arm height

My new(!!) LP5 is the same, although I don't think I can adjust the height of the arm. Spent an age re-watching a YouTube set up video last night whilst setting it up. Seems to be working though.

Looking forward to getting involved in this thread. Just made Burial, BadBadNotGood and King Gizz my first purchases. Going to raid my Dad's classic rock collection over the weekend as well I think. Fingers crossed amongst all the Queen and Meatloaf *shudder* there might be the odd gem I can get in to.

Another question (sorry, I'll stop asking stupid questions eventually) - what do you guys do try and keep your records in good shape? Do you clean/dust them down often? How about storage - anything to avoid?

[mungo57]

I thought I'd ask you guys a question if I may:

 

the vast majority of my vinyl plays perfect with my TT (Pioneer PL990) - save 2 albums where they play, however it sounds...... well...... scratchy without being scratchy.

Both are new records, both seem perfectly fine with no scratches, cleaned them and everything and they still insist on making the noise. Its not ALWAYS there, but its there if you get me. I've used a standard 'record cleaner' and soapy water on them (carefully) and still same issue.

I know its not the needle/stylus as all my other vinyl are fine, its beginning to do my head in a bit though as one of them is In Rainbows and it basically ruins the quiet bits (1 side only) and the other is a Steven Wilson album I love (1 disc of 2 only, both sides).

 

Any ideas what could be causing it? Def not the needle and counterweight as the TT is automated and the needle plays all my other records fine. I guess it must be something 'foreign' on the surface of the record I can't get off.......

[Gnomicide]

19 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

Mine's got a counterweight like that picture, but also an anti-skating dial. Similar to this (although I have no idea about the arm bearings!) The Tracking force adjustment moves the weight on the arm to counter balance. The anti skate I tested on blank vinyl to get right resistance (Get dig lazarus dig by Nick cave as it's 3 sides and no etching). Never really touched arm height

Yeah, mine's similar but without the arm height adjuster.

I'd read that the anti-skate can cause the issue I saw, as the arm got towards the end of the record and started moving quicker (what's that end bit called? must have a name?) it was over compensating and pushing the arm back to the last bit of the final track. As i say, not an issue as it just means I have to lower the arm myself (oh, the humanity!), I can't detect any difference in sound quality so unless I can find an easy fix, I'll just leave it off.

 

[The Nal]

1 hour ago, big__phil said:

Another question (sorry, I'll stop asking stupid questions eventually) - what do you guys do try and keep your records in good shape? Do you clean/dust them down often? How about storage - anything to avoid?

If they're in a room thats dusty (I've a fireplace in mine) then try keep them in something like Scruff posted or in a "unit" with doors etc. At a minimum, try not to store them with the open side facing up. 

A brush, even a cheapo one like this

 

And a cleaning solutions like Vinyl Revival for older records or anything other than dust. Skid marks, shite, jizz etc. 

 

25 minutes ago, mungo57 said:

Any ideas what could be causing it? Def not the needle and counterweight as the TT is automated and the needle plays all my other records fine. I guess it must be something 'foreign' on the surface of the record I can't get off.......

99% sure they're just shitty pressings. It happens unfortunately. Shops will swap/give refunds for them.

Woodersons copy of Physical Graffiti sounded more like a bag of microwave popcorn on high heat than Led Zeppelin. 

Edited January 26, 2017 by The Nal

[Gnomicide]

56 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

If I'm being too obvious sorry, but avoid storing them near a radiator and keep them upright -  don't lay them on top of each other. Mine just stand up on a shelf on my wall unit. I just give them a dust before I put them on. Probably should do more and you can get decent cleaning kits if any are old and knackered. Not had to go down that road yet. If you've limited shelf space then these are good but pricey.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NEO-100LP-Aluminum-Silver-Storage-Records/dp/B0084EODE8?th=1

 

 

Or if you want to go cheap - I'm considering these or these.

[The Nal]

1 minute ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

Is that just a toothbrush?

For midgets.