[78-L] The infamous HMV crackle

[James Tennyson]

I  think you're right: humid conditions are a factor but not the only cause. 
There seems to be no correlation between the time that the pressing was done 
either: I've found late thirties pressings to be just as bad as the  earlier 
ones. Except that from time to time for no reason one finds a pressing that 
is superb: I just found Gracie Fields  " Singing in the Bathtub" on an   HMV 
pressing from  around 1931 or so. I plopped it on expecting to hear the 
usual  castanet accompaniment but it was almost as silent as  a Columbia 
laminated.  So you never can tell and I would love to know why.
Jim Tennyson.
From: Chris Zwarg <doctordisc at truesoundtransfers.de>
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 12:11:16 AM
Subject: Re: [78-L] The infamous HMV crackle

At 19:23 05.01.2009, you wrote:
>Was this caused by long term exposure to humidity (abound in England)
>
>or by the use of fibre needles (used to be abound in England)? and piling 
>up
>of cactus juice in the grooves?
>
>Or something else?
>
>Is anybody aware of some scientitic research on this matter?
>
>Erwin

I have heard that the shellac "mix" used in the UK was different from that 
used elsewhere, due to the absence/presence of certain naturally occurring 
mineral ingredients, and whatever was used as a "filler" was noticeably 
grainier than the usual mixture. The idea might have been to make the 
surface as hard as possible so that it abraded the (cheap) steel needles 
rather than wearing out itself. Certainly most of the crackly HMV/EMI 
pressings turn up in otherwise good condition, in my experience it is 
uncommon to find one worn to death, quite unlike pre-1925 HMVs which have 
much quieter surfaces when mint, but all-too-often suffer from rough starts 
and greyed-out loud passages.

I don't think the crackle has anything to do with fibre needles, as thorough 
cleaning of these records doesn't help a bit, and under a strong magnifying 
glass you see the minuscule pits and pimples in the material that cause the 
crackle on the ungrooved center area as well, where a fibre needle would 
never have touched the surface. Also there's no reason to believe that the 
Brits wouldn't have played Vocalions and imported US or Continental 
pressings with fibre as well, not to mention all those early G&Ts and 
Fonotipias that already were collector's pieces in the 1930s, and these are 
NOT exceptionally crackly today.

Humid storage seems to aggravate the problem - moldy/mildewed records are 
always extremely crackly - but I doubt whether it is the only cause, as HMV 
pressings stored in their original covers or albums without a hint of dusty 
or moldy smell after 80 years are still cracklier than, say, Electrolas or 
Victors in similarly perfect condition. If only, at the time of the EMI 
merger, HMV had taken over Columbia's lamination process (almost as smooth 
as vinyl pressings) instead of extending their noisy stuff to Col. and Parlo 
as well....!

This is just my observation and conjecture; sorry I haven't come across any 
"official" documentation on this matter.

Chris Zwarg


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