Noisy vinyl? - Just add water

Comments · 2.7K

• CA

  @captaincinema5066 · 9 years ago · pinned

  In 1966 I worked in the LaBrie FM Stereo Network in NYC as the Chief Recording Engineer. &nbsp;We transferred &quot;Easy Listing&quot; music from LPs to tape for FM radio stations that didn&apos;t want to incur the cost of buying a full library of LPs. &nbsp;At this time FM was didn&apos;t have nearly the audience that AM had -- most radios didn&apos;t even get FM reception -- and they just simulcasted whatever they were broadcasting on their AM transmitter over to their FM transmitter. &nbsp;But the FCC eventually mandated that the stations who owned an FM license had to broadcast at least 85% original programming and couldn&apos;t just duplicate their AM audio. &nbsp;All of a sudden then, stations scrambled to get syndicated music packages like ours for a quick and easy way to get original programming on their FM station. &nbsp;<br><br>Of course we needed to master LPs to sound pristine. &nbsp;While I would say 50% of our LP library was new records, the other half was used and needed to be MADE to sound new. &nbsp;We used a variety of cleaning methods and we also had what was called a Transient Spike Suppressor, a clever processor that always had about the last 50 microseconds of audio stored in memory; when it detected a pop, it would replace the pop with the same amount previous audio. &nbsp;Unless there were dozens of pops in a row, your ear could never hear the electronic &quot;splice.&quot; &nbsp;We also actually splice out pops from the master tape itself, and believe it or not, those eliminated microseconds of sound were undetectable. &nbsp;<br><br>But here the interesting thing -- we played LPs wet all the time when they had surface noise and those tiny scratches that the TSS unit couldn&apos;t detect. &nbsp;We always cleaned then with a special vacuum machine first, then with cleaning solution that was old specifically to radio stations (have no idea what was in it, but it did smell like it had alcohol) next level up was to wash it in diluted dishwashing liquid. &nbsp;Then lastly, we used this very wet-play method that you show here. &nbsp;Great video, btw. &nbsp;Here&apos;s the eye-opener -- the solution that we let the needle &nbsp;run in (a bubble of the liquid would ride with under and be dragged along by the stylus plastic body) the liquid we used was 60% distilled water AND, believe it or not, 40% diluted KY-jelly. &nbsp;The KY is a water-based lubricant that seemed to work better than water alone. &nbsp;We used it routinely and it really worked. &nbsp;<br><br>I haven&apos;t read the long discussion pros and cons yet about using a water bath to play records so I don&apos;t know what the con arguments might be, all I can say is I have day in and day out practical experience in one of the largest professional production houses in NYC and we certainly wouldn&apos;t use it if it didn&apos;t work and as you have also demonstrated, there is no question it can significantly tame LP surface noise.

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• HU

  @hughjass4040 · 9 years ago

  I swear that mood music is straight from spongebob

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• EL

  @elviswjr · 9 years ago

  &quot;Popular Music That Will Live Forever&quot; Never got converted to CD and died in the 80&apos;s. How ironic.

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• YA

  @yanikkunitsin1466 · 6 years ago

  &quot;Popular Music That Will Live Forever&quot; - well, that&apos;s optimistic

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• DI

  @dillondriskill6403 · 6 years ago

  That’s the 1960s equivilant of Lo-Fi indie hip hop beats to relax/study to

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• BL

  @Bloodray19 · 6 years ago

  It just amazes me that vinyl records are possible. I mean, they are just precisely cut grooves in a piece of plastic and some needle turns it into music 🥺

  379

• GA

  @gazjones3549 · 9 years ago

  Ive always done this as a dj. People look at me like im mental when im squeezing a baby wipe onto a record and then the sound goes from shit to HD. Controversial. but it fucking works.

  476

• LM

  @LMacNeill · 8 years ago

  Back in the ‘70s when I was a kid, I can remember my Dad cleaning his records with water and a little bit of dishwashing soap. &nbsp;And he <b>never</b> dried them — he just put them straight on the turntable. &nbsp;He said it got a better sound that way. &nbsp;I never really thought much about it until now. &nbsp;I guess he was right. &nbsp;:-)

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• CH

  @Chillywillystyle · 3 years ago

  It absolutely blows my mind how any content that was ever mainstream has been kinda lost and forgotten… it’s just a sad situation when classics aren’t really available now for new listeners to discover for themselves &amp; experience.

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• SE

  @sebastianibarra4351 · 7 years ago

  All that was on my mind while listening to the record &nbsp;was: thats some good bob sponge music

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• CG

  @CGQuarterly · 9 years ago

  My grandparents had a tabletop radio in their kitchen that was turned on 24/7, and was turned into a station that played exactly the kind of music that you&apos;re talking about.

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• BR

  @Bronco541 · 9 years ago

  LOL - &quot;Popular Music that will live forever&quot; never even made it to a CD conversion.

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