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In Reply to: RE: Problems with jazz vinyl, new and used... posted by carvinman on May 28, 2012 at 13:26:36
Most responders seem to be assuming that the problem is your set up, yet you say that when you played test records, everything came out fine. There are some great jazz records out there, such as Blue Notes and Verve, and Pablo. However, there are also alot of really crappy jazz records out there. A great many recording engineers have no clue what they are doing. There are a great many albums out there where the mikes are far too close to the instruments, especially the brass instruments, as you mentioned. Don't automatically assume there is something wrong with your setup - if I had a dollar for every audiophile that assumed there was something wrong with his setup when all he had was a really badly done recording....
Follow Ups:
Yes, and boy do you notice it more on acoustic recordings.
...are more sensitive than most.
There are plenty of Blue Notes with distortion on the recording. Wayne Shorter's Juju, Jackie McLean's Destination Out and other mid 60s records, etc. All of those have a little sizzly distortion on the sax at points. There are plenty of Blue Notes that don't, too. I don't know what the difference is. Maybe some artists actually liked the distortion, thought it sounded hot or something?
Either way, yeah. I'm not totally convinced the OP's problem isn't actually on the tape. One way I check, if I have a question like this about an album I'm unfamiliar with, is to find a way to listen to it online. Yes, that means downloading torrents, and if the question of legality bothers you, it might not be for you. But when it comes to this usage at least, my conscience is clear. Or you can go on ebay or amazon and find cheap copies of the CDs of a few of these albums.
It also helps to keep a used record that you KNOW someone else damaged with a worn out stylus or poor setup, so you can throw it on in a situation like this and remind yourself of the difference in sound between distortion that's just recorded that way and groove damage. In my experience, it's extremely easy to find a copy of Led Zeppelin 4 with this kind of damage. By the time you get to the end of Stairway on a lot of copies, you'll just want to rip the record off the platter and do terrible things to it.
Anyway, good luck to the OP. These things can be extremely frustrating to figure out.
Passive-aggressive much?
Most of the responses here seem pretty valid to me and offer a rational way of figuring out what the root cause is. Just saying there are crappy records out their is a pretty pat and weak answer with a typical, yet unecessary, stab at "audiophiles". I can think of a lot more labels that put out well recorded albums than just the three mentioned. With so many factors to consider, the sensible thing to do is due diligence. What's the other choice? Trash a bunch of LP's that may have nothing wrong with them? There's a solution. (roll eyes)
Hi WOStantonCS100 - certainly there was no intent to be passive-aggresive in my post, frankly I fail to see how you read it that way. I do not agree that it is a contentious statement. It is certainly not name-calling - aren't we all audiophiles on this site???
The intent of the statement was in fact to be humorous, and obviously you didn't find it so. Perhaps the attempt at humor was lame. There's a reason I'm a musician and not a writer, as I like to say. Also, my post did not say that any of the posts with technical suggestions were wrong (there were some great suggestions for checking, as you pointed out), I was merely pointing out that since the OP has already run test records and everything checked out fine, this would seem to argue for a bad recording, then. There are indeed many folks out there who are all too ready to find fault with their equipment where none exists, as many equipment makers would attest. I am not attacking these folks, I am trying to help.
Your post, on the other hand... A little aggressive.
Edits: 05/29/12
"...if I had a dollar for every audiophile that assumed... ..." = contentious
C. No flames, personal attacks or contentious off-topic comments: The idea is to make this a pleasant environment to discuss audio, not a schoolyard, or name-calling and rock-throwing festival.
Dance around that one all you want; but, the statement was unnecessary and contentious. And, yes, it was met head on. Speak to people like you would speak to them IN PERSON and most forum head-butting goes away, quickly.
Your post... ...a little worthless. :-)
Maybe I misinterpreted your post. If so, my apologies.
Perhaps it was all a misunderstanding... shake hands... bow to your neighbor... moving on. :)
I don't think there was any aggression in his answer. Plus, he may be right.
For my first foray into vinyl years ago, I had patiently collected 70ish records. I had no experience whatsoever. I played them and at worst they sounded like crap, at best no better than a bad CD. I returned the turntable thinking it wasn't good enough.
There IS a lot of mediocre software out there, in fact, most of what's out there is mediocre and it's a possibility the OP should consider.
Then I learnt to discriminate between labels, pressing, etc, etc... and all is fine now. But I can safely say that picking 100 random LPs on the market today and playing them even on a good TT might not convince everyone of the superiority of analogue.
Edits: 05/28/12 05/29/12
YOUR posts are not passive-aggressive. :-) And, I agree with you on the possibilities. The only way to know for sure is to take the time to find out, do the tests.
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