33 rpm vs 45 rpm vinyl12/16/2023 ![]() Not even a squeak came out as I segued into the next record with a big noticeable “wow” as that turntable struggled to get up to speed. Noting subtle, nothing quiet, a big standing with feet wide apart singing full throated “the whole ‘bleeping’ street!” My jaw dropped I opened the mic but I was totally speechless. Well, if you know the Jet Song from West Side Story you know that it ends in a big production “F-Bomb”. But I thought, what the heck it is Broadway so it must be ok and I’ll just correct my error in the back sell announcement. Needless to say when the song I was expecting to hear was not there I was a little surprised. ![]() I was running out of time so when I heard the first note in the cue speaker, I backed it up and let ‘er rip. I was planning on playing “I Feel Pretty” (Side 2 Track 2) but I accidentally cued up “Jet Song” (Side 1 Track 2). And the soundtrack from “West Side Story” was the one that bit me. I learned the hard way at WUSC-AM that albums had sharp teeth that could bite you. Obviously, we never did “instant requests” with albums. Only then could the rest of the slip cue process be carried out. So it wasn’t a matter of dropping the needle in the groove on the outside edge of an album, the DJ had to find the song he or she wanted on the label or the track listing on the album cover and then count the tracks on the disk to find the desired song. ![]() Albums could hold upwards of 6 or 7 songs per side if the songs were short enough. The 45 RPM records rocked this in so many ways.įirst of all, there was only one, or in the case of Extended Play (EP) 45 RPM records, two songs per side. For acetate records it was more like every week.Įase of handling was a different matter entirely. We even had a name for that noise “cue burn!” This meant that we normally had to replace a vinyl record every month or so. “Wait a minute,” you say, “isn’t that a little hard on the record, going backwards like that?” Exactly, it was hard on the record and eventually there would be a second or so of scratchy noise at the beginning of the record. The disk would slip on the turntable until the DJ’s fingers let go of the disk and he or she turned the “pot” or volume control up to get the song on the air. Then the record would be backed up to a point a second or so before the beginning of the song and held by the fingertips while the turntable spun below the disk. The DJ would then place the needle on the record in the groove before the beginning of the song and let the record spin until he or she could hear the first notes in the cue speaker. The record was placed on the turntable and the turntable was started. We had both and the vinyl records were definitely better.Īnother thing that contributed to the better sound on albums is the cueing process that was used in radio to control when the beginning of the record went on the air. But in the case of records, generally 33 1/3 RPM sounded better than 45 RPM and 45’s sounded better than the old 12” 78 RPM disks that my parents’ generation grew up with.īy the way, I am not ignoring the quality differences between the vinyl 45 RPM records and their acetate cousins. And the best yet was 15 IPS usually found on the higher end reel to reel recorders, especially those multi track machines, used in recording studios back in the day. I always found that a little strange because when it comes to tape recordings, the higher the tape speed generally the higher the quality 7 1/2 inches per second (IPS) sounded better than 3 ¾ IPS. Then, if required, Noise Removal - hopefully you won't need much of this once the other steps are done.For the quality of the recording albums always sounded a little better to me than the 45’s did. The less work that you give to Noise Removal, the better it will perform. The other tools will be much happier if they are not trying to cope with DC.Ī rumble filter (low frequency high pass filter) is a good second step. If required, DC offset correction should be the first thing that you do after recording. It is essential that the recording level never goes to 0 dB - always keep a little gap between the waveform and the top/bottom of the track even at the highest peaks (though for old records don't worry if there is an occasional pop or crackle that goes a bit too high - you will need to fix that later anyway) Ensure that the record is properly cleaned and the turntable, stylus, cartridge, tone arm and electrical connections are all in good order.Ĭheck your recording level carefully. Much of the work for a good recording comes before the stylus touches the vinyl. JRSVader wrote:I believe 'Noise Reduction' should be first, then 'DC bias removal',
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