[78-L] Removal of hiss - a different approach

[Michael Biel]

DAVID BURNHAM wrote:
> I know an audio engineer who does 78 re-issues who sometimes wets the record before playing it in order to reduce stylus friction and hence hiss noise.. I don't know what liquid he uses, i.e. oil, water, soap, etc. 
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>   
A reminder from an earlier posting on this subject yesterday -- you can 
not wet play shellac records.  If you do so you will never be able to 
properly play them the normal dry way ever again.  You will ruin shellac 
records by playing them wet.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com

> David Harvey 
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> This isn't really a novel approach.  Often in my career with CBC radio, when we were broadcasting old 78s or even Lps which were noisy, we had a water bottle with an eye-dropper lid with which we would wet the record while we were playing it.  We did this mainly on old transcription turntables which had arms weighing a pound or two.  When using more modern light-tracking arms, it has to be done judiciously because if you apply too much water, the stylus will start hydro-planing, which can be distracting on live radio.  I think this was a method used when necessary by Clyde Gilmour, (a local collector who had a program called "Gilmour's Albums").
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> db