John, please check your email. Link is here:

http://www.jameshoughtaling.com/TEMP/

Jim,

I downloaded and listened to the MP3 audio. There are several issues here.

1. The record is definitely dirty. The sound I hear may be the result of gunk and grime, rather than scratches from playing. A better needle and tone arm might track a little differently and therefore reduce this problem. Proper vertical tracking force as well as correct settings for the sideways "anti-skating" force that is used in good turntables can definitely make a difference.

Modern LP turntables are usually set to track with about 1-3 grams of force. I still have a stylus gauge for measuring this, but even thirty years ago, most people didn't have them and instead relied on first balancing the tonearm so that it didn't go up or down from exactly horizontal, and then they used the dial on the back of the tone arm to "crank" in the proper force. Since you are only going to play these records a few more times, you can afford to be a little on the heavy side for tracking force , but anything more than 5 grams (the force usually used for 78s) is going to introduce distortion of its own.

Once you have captured both sides of the record (do this first and save it in a safe place) you could try washing it. Don't get the label in the center wet. Use warm (NOT hot) water with regular dish washing soap (not the detergent from your washing machine. Rinse in warm, softened water (a little Calgonite can help). If you are a photographer and have some Photo-Flo lying around, that works too. What you are trying to do is let the record dry using just air, but you don't want crud from hard water to un-do some of the cleaning you've done.

2. You also have a problem with the levels you are getting from the phonograph. I remember having this problem when I helped a friend six months ago who had one of these USB turntables (his was from the Sharper Image bankruptcy sale). I don't think we ever did get the levels correct. The problem I hear on your audio is that during the main part of the song, the audio is clipping badly. This is a problem with your setup, and not with the record. Somehow you have to reduce the levels. I used iZotope RX to "declip" the audio, and so it sounds better, but you really don't want to have to do this.

3. I can hear some harsh edges to the sound and I suspect that this is from the cheap cartridge being used. The only way to know for sure is to play a pristine record on the turntable and hear how it sounds.

I've provided a "restored" version below. I simply used the declipper in RX, followed by the "vinyl restoration" module in Sound Forge. As I indicated in my earlier post, someone wrote in this forum about a week ago about some software that, based on the demo, may do a remarkably better job with the "wide" clicks that you have on this record.

This link is good for seven days:

Restored Version

Thanks a bunch. That sounds so much better. I can't remember which version of SF I have but it's very old, that must be where I remember seeing the scratch & pop filter. I have not installed it in a while. I don't have the RX program you mentioned. I try to clean the album and try again.

Turntable is a Rosewill RME-ULP01R and comes with "Recordmate" software. I didn't look hard enough for the volume control but just found it. So I'll set the levels a tad lower. As far as the rocker arm, it has no controls at all. If I had a lot of music to record I would look into a proper turn table. Thanks again for your help.

1. The record is definitely dirty. The sound I hear may be the result of gunk and grime, rather than scratches from playing.

Although frowned upon by audiophiles, the Windex approach worked wonders on my old Firesign Theater LP's, which were so encrudded with delivery pizza byproducts and other three-decades-old unidentifiable organic material as to be unplayable . . .

My stepfather was a DJ and had hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands of records) and when I was younger I used to set up the turntables, amp, mixers and his Peavy Black Widow Equipped speakers upstairs and play some of his records. We had lights with a control box he wired himself... memories.

Anyways, he had a felt type cylinder thing that he would use to clean the records (it was made just for that) and on it, it said to use rubbing alcohol. Pour some directly on the record and use the cylinder thing to soak up the liquid while it was spinning on the turntable.

He said he would do that on every record right before it went live.

j razz

the Windex approach worked wonders on my old Firesign Theater LP's,Just don't get any on your mukluks or you'll create a brouhaha.

Ha ha ha ...

The felt (more like velveteen) thingy is called a Discwasher and until a couple of years ago you could still get them. There are many disk cleaning products available still for the vinylphile crowd.

Try this web site for vinyl cleaning stuff, watch out for other things, some of it truly laughable snake oil. I should go into business selling some of this stuff.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/c/147/Maintenance_Supplies

some of it truly laughable snake oil.

You mean that $800 for DreamCatcher 8 Foot Loudspeaker Cable is too much?
Snake oil salesmen are alive and well :-)

Mike

Just don't get any on your mukluks or you'll create a brouhaha.

I'm glad "someone" here is old enough to read the humor in my post . . .

I should go into business selling some of this stuff.

Oh, you should check this site: http://www.needledoctor.com/
Last time I checked you could buy a 15 ft. speaker cable for $40,000.

I was born in 1940 and remember 78s, 45s, 33, 8-track, cassette. Try buying some of the equipment to play these. We have CD, and now DVD and Blu-Ray. What will be next?

I also remember 80-column tab cards. The equipment was all relays and the user controlled it by pluging wires in a plug board.

My first mainframe computer (room size) took 0.3 seconds to add two numbers, took a total of 0.5 seconds if you wanted to know if the result was +, 0, -. Also, multiply and divide were optional. Now look what sits on our desks.

Larry

Well, those cables make a difference don't they?

http://gizmodo.com/363154/audiophile-deathmatch-monster-cables-vs-a-coat-hanger

It's stuff like "brilliant pebbles" that may not always work....

http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm

Or maybe the "intelligent chip"

http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina62.htm

Personally, I think it's the $5K 1 meter power cords that add so much "musicality" and "black soundstage" that are really worth it. Never mind that a good power supply design is tolerant of any power cord that meets standards, what about the wiring in your house, or going all of the way back to the dam? (hydro power where I live)

Rocky

ps - anyone who wants to buy some rocks for $1000/kg just send me an email. Shipping and handling not included. I guarantee they are smarter than brilliant pebbles.

pps - bonus points for anyone who knows what "brilliant pebbles" is mocking. For those of a certain age.

pps - bonus points for anyone who knows what "brilliant pebbles" is mocking. For those of a certain age.

Brilliant Pebbles

Brilliant Pebbles, the top anti-missile program of the Reagan and the first Bush administrations, was an attempt to deploy a 4,000-satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit that would fire high-velocity, watermelon-sized projectiles at long-range ballistic missiles launched from anywhere in the world. Although the program was eliminated by the Clinton Administration, the concept of Brilliant Pebbles remains among the most effective means of ballistic missile defense.

Mike

Mike

"Firesign Theater LP's,"

Now you're talking!

Don't Crush that Dwarf - Hand Me the Pliers

Wish I knew where all of mine disappeared to. Probably were stolen by George Leroy Tirebiter

they're burning the kid tonight....

it's as easy as a bridge.

time to light up another one - omg, it's paisley again......

"How many of you are there?"

"I was a cock-teaser at Roosterama"

"Everything you know is wrong"

"Deputy Dan has no friends"

"Oh, I'm sorry... You have the plague"

I have a 45 listed on ebay that is a Sun Record out of Memphis, Tennessee. It was found in a box of other 45's that was bought at a yard sale for $10. The artist apparently wasn't any good so only a few hundred records were made (I listened to it on youtube- it is definitely not my kind of music). The thing that makes this one so valuable is that his band would later become Elvis's band. It is up to $1,500 right now.

So, you may want to check your old records and see if any of them are worth more now than they were then :)

j razz

So, you may want to check your old records and see if any of them are worth more now than they were then :)I have the "Introducing the Beatles" on the VeeJay label. Could be worth a fortune, but unfortunately it isn't quite the right release. There were several versions of the same record, and the backside photos were different on each one.

Of course the most amazing collectible of the Beatles is a 78rpm version of their early hits. Yes, the Beatles did actually release a few of their early tunes on 78.

Back on topic I have an old acetate record recorded in the '30s to see what I can get off of it. The bad news is years ago the family decided to clean it and it's never been the same since <groan>.

Someone has written on it in red pen:
"CAUTION Weight of pickup head should be approx 2 1/2 oz"

Bob.

CAUTION Weight of pickup head should be approx 2 1/2 oz" Yikes! That's almost 80 grams. At that weight, the needle will cut its own groove.

Is the acetate record a one-off unique record, or is it a commercially recorded label? I have had several 78s which were shot, and one that was missing one of the records (for those not familiar with 78s, since they only could hold a few minutes of material, long pieces of music, like symphonies, were often issued on sets of 4-6 records). I have often been able to get other collectors to send a recording of the missing record. On several other occasions I was able to find a better record on eBay. In one case I actually found a 33 1/3 version of the 78 rpm record (Basil Rathbone as Scrooge in "The Christmas Carol"). The 78 rpm version was a favorite recording that I listened to dozens of times in my childhood, and it was amazing to suddenly hear the identical material in one of the earliest "hi-fi" records ever made.

So, if you can get the record elsewhere, that's definitely the way to go.

"Is the acetate record a one-off unique record, or is it a commercially recorded label?"

One off, cut live I think.
It's 10" in diameter.

I just listened to the CD someone else had made from it a while ago, definately noise to signal.

Bob.