Dealing with "essing" distortion.

[Drew]

Hello all;
I've been looking for some info on deessing and found this thread. Hear is my question.
Has anyone had any sibilance or harsh S's on just one channel? My guess is I may have set up my cart wrong on my turntable, and it's rubbing the groove of the record more on one side more than the other. When I change my cables around for my outputs, the sibilance changes sides, which leads me to the cartridge conclusion.

Thoughts????

Thanks....

Drew

[Craig Maier]

The following can produce excessive siblance (or distortion of the "ess" sound) on a turntable system on one channel only:

1. Badly worn record that was played on a system that had one of the following problems in past history:
A. Chipped stylus
B. Improper Anti-skating setting
C. Improper Tracking weight

2. Of course, the present turntable can also produce excessive siblance on one channel for any of the abovementioned reasons as well.

So, the problem could be damage to the record itself or it could be the result of problems with the system on which it is presently being played on.

[Audyossey]

The following can produce excessive siblance (or distortion of the "ess" sound) on a turntable system on one channel only:

...1. Badly worn record ...
C. Improper Tracking weight...

I would add:

"D. Modern DJ turntable with a straight arm."

These will introduce a variety of anomalies in one channel or the other depending on where you are in the record. It will start in one channel, disappear at the sweet spot where the tracking angle is correct or close and then shift gradually to the other channel.

HB

[quartet87]

Another item to consider in siblance/splashing is the high-end response of the cartridge. For a while I was using one of Stanton's lower end 500 series carts, which always had a harsh tone. Sib splashing increased using that cart over the previous cart, Sumiko Pearl. Recently I replaced the Stanton with a Shure 97xE, which to my ears has a nice mellow rich tone compared to the Stanton. The splashing disappeared and what remains is a natural, balanced siblance on most lp's. The Shure's reproduction reminds me of the V15-TypeIV cart, which I still own but can't buy a stylus for anymore. Anyway, my thinking is that the excessive high end output of the Stanton overloaded my preamp which causes high end clipping which results in siblance splashing. Of course there are lp's that were mastered with the high end emphasized and of course, most carts can't track that. The Kendalls lp's are from the era of thinner, tinny country records as I recall. Just my nickel's worth.

[Craig Maier]

Danny,

How would that explain Drew's experience of this phenemonen occuring on only one channel?

[Drew]

I think I'll go with Craig's assessment. I think I may have set up my turntable wrong as far as the tracking weight. I just received a new cart from Tracer today and will test tonight.

BTW- I use an S shaped arm on my Numark. I also ordered a replacement Ortofon OMP-10 for my other turntable as a backup just in case I have problems again.

Thanks again for the replies.

[Drew]

Well;
I did some testing and indeed, it was the way I set up my turntable. The sibilance was on both channels this time. Thanks to Quartet87 for the Shure cartridge recommendation. I picked one up and it made a huge difference in how my records were tracked. I reset my turntable after I installed the new cart & purchased a Shure tracking weight guage from Tracer just to make sure and all is well.
Thanks....

[Craig Maier]

Drew,

All is well that ends well! Glad to hear that the problem is solved.

[firekat]

Well it's been a while since I have posted here. Typically I do my restorations during the winter.

In any case I had a friend at work send me some albums to work on. He gave me some of his worst so now it is time to get back up to speed.

The first one I started working on is a monophonic Patsy Cline recording "Patsy Cline - Showcase" on the Decca label.

This is my first mono record that I have ever done.

So I did my standard clean the h*ll out of it on the record cleaning machine, put it on the fancy turntable "Broadcast Standard" from KAB with a pretty good Shure cartridge. Performance on this setup has been pretty great and I am able to get a lot of detail out of recordings.

This record was pretty torn up, that and with Patsy's high ranging voice I was once again getting that essing, sibilance, distortion on the high/loud passages. I guess I could categorize it as very fine hash like crackle or tightly packed tiny scratches. The end result of this is the sound affects me like chalk on a blackboard (our younger members probably don't remember this!) and it pretty much ruins the musical experience.

As usual I tried everything to get rid of it, and always run up against the loss of dynamics or range when attempting to do it. I reviewed all my old notes and looked back here on the forum for hints. Nothing I did could give me the results that I wanted.

So I tried an idea, I have my phono going through a pre-amp that has the ability to adjust the bass and treble levels. Most of the time I have this function defeated (tone defeat switch!). After reading a post here saying that lower volumes produced less essing distortion I figured that I could lower the treble, record, clean and then boost it back with DC6. I tried it and used the graphic equalizer and the paragraphic equalizer. Better, but not as much as I would have liked and it was hard to get the music back to the same levels as the original since I have no idea how much treble I was reducing or what frequency range.

Hmmm. I knew that my turntable is set up correctly, but maybe I could do more? I re-cleaned the record again. I then screwed on my little rubber record clamp/weight for any additional help that might afford me. Then I thought - geez, I bet this turntable/cartridge is REAL sensitive, maybe that is part of the problem, what can we do about that? Well that's where good ol' US legal tender comes in. I placed one each 2006 "D" One Cent piece on the head of the fancy well balanced tone arm. I recorded the record using my normal configuration. Immediately I noticed that a lot of the surface noise that I had previously was gone, also was a fair amount of the essing distortion which was present in the previous recordings. There was only the slightest difference in "openness" from the original recordings. During the impulse cleaning of the file the total amount of clicks were substantially less (38,000 versus 75,000) with this configuration.

Cleaning the recording from this point was a breeze for the most part, add a slight touch of reverb and some other stuff and it sounds great without that broken glass scratching on your back essing distortion.

Whatever works. On the really thrashed records I will probably try this again. Records in better shape will be done without the penny and in the usual manner.

Now on to the "B" side, wish me luck!

[Craig Maier]

Hi firekat - - - and welcome back - - -

I always keep an assortment of coinage on my turntable deck. Sometimes, I use the coinage to fix tracking problems with 78's. But, somtimes, I use the coinage to fix "tracing" problems with vinyl.

Keep in mind that early (monophonic) vinyl was cut for a 1.0 mil stylus, not a 0.7 mil one which is probably what you have. So, right from the get - go there is a disadvantage here. And, the weight often improves stylus tracing.

The other thing that I do with old vinyl monophonic recordings is to transfer them in Stereo. Then, I choose between the best File Conversion Filter setting by selecting from Stereo to:

Mono (L+R)

or

Mono (L only)

or

Mono (R only)

Depending on the groove wear pattern, usually one of those settings will sound better than the others and almost always will sound better than leaving a mono record transferred in stereo as a stereo final product. So, give that a try and let us know if that helps.

[firekat]

Thanx for the info on the stylus, oops forgot about that little detail. So a 33 Mono LP requires a different stylus. Oh Well, like I said it was my first attempt at a mono record. Now I will have get a 1.0 mil stylus as I have some other mono recordings that I want to do. I have some interesting mono Ragtime records on 33 LP formats.

I will also remember to record in stereo and then convert. Good point. I did record and then converted to stereo for some other work that I do that requires it.

I did try a conversion to stereo, sounds pretty good actually. Will send examples of both mono & stereo to the owner - he is pretty picky, it will be interesting to see what he says.

And to think that when I first recorded it I did it in stereo because I forgot to hit the radio button. Oh well.

Thanks for your help & insight.

Good Luck To Us All!

[firekat]

Ok Craig, now for a little more help please?

Where do I get a stylus/cartridge for a 33 mono record? A quick check around the web did not immediately net me anything.

Is it worth the money, or should I just work with the one I have right now, a Shure M97xE?

One other thing, I take it that the RIAA curve is practically the same for a mono as for a stereo recording?

Sorry, but I don't think I have seen much on the differentiation in available information between mono and stereo 33's.

Thanx!

[Craig Maier]

I am not positive where to purchase a 1.0 mil stylus for LP's (and old 45's); I obtained mine from Stanton about 10 years ago and I do not think that they make it anymore.

There used to be a company in the UK called Expert Stylus Company (I think) that made all manner of stylii shapes and sizes. Maybe Google it and see what pops up.

The RIAA curve is the same for stereo and mono records recorded with the RIAA curve. What I mean to say is that in the early days of the LP (invented by Columbia) the curve used was the Columbia EQ curve. RIAA for use on LP's came a little later when RCA jumped into the LP business. RCA used RIAA, Columbia used the Columbia EQ curve and London used their own curve. In the late 1950's, the industry standardized on the RIAA curve for LP's. Reiterating, the RIAA curve is the same shape and contour for mono and stereo recordings.

Also worth noting is that the 45 RPM record which was invented by RCA uses the RIAA curve - - - probably not too surprising since RCA invented not only the 45 RPM record format, but also the RIAA EQ curve. When they decided to get into the LP business, they cut with the RIAA curve that they had invented, not the Columbia curve created by the inventor of the LP.

I hope that helps some.

[Craig Maier]

I Googled Expert Stylus Company in the UK and came up with a useful link, although not one directly to the company. Click here for some information:

http://www.78tours.com/Expert_Stylus_Company.htm

keywords: Custom Styli, Custom Needles, Special Styli, Special Needles, Custom Points

[Rick Barber]

Craig, there is a company in Indiana that sells a bunch of cartriges and stylies. I do not believe they are compition of yours but I will not post a link with out your approval. Either here or on my email.