[78-L] quality control problems - Poor Vinyl

[David Lennick]

Both sides the same? I've had a couple of nice examples. One was Ravi Shankar 
on World Pacific, both sides the same. The other is Stokowski on United 
Artists, Canadian mono pressing, where both sides are "Schelomo" (which is a 
piece I loathe even once let alone twice) instead of the Ben-Haim work that 
should be on the reverse.

Quintessence issued an album whose cover and labels announced Gershwin's 
Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue. I programmed it on CHFI's overnight 
classical program and their quality control was generally very good so I never 
auditioned it. It must have been on the air two or three times before an 
operator who actually knew the music noticed that it was Handel or somebody 
else and had more than the correct number of tracks. Oops!

And don't forget those early Capitol stereo lps with phase reversal, sometimes 
in the middle of a track.

dl

On 9/22/2011 10:10 AM, Thomas Stern wrote:
> IIRC, poor LP pressings seemed to go through cycles - Angel usually was excellent, but they had some periods
> when pressings were off-center, pimply, or warped.  Ditto for all the major labels.  Decca was on some very hard
> substance more like some of the 99c labels.
> Reversed labels were not too common, I remember this being a problem with some Period, Counterpoint discs.
> Also have had the same side pressed on both sides of an album (an Esoteric Henry Purcell album), and
> an RCA France double set, perhaps Paul Whiteman or one of the Jazz issues, where the fourth side
> was Kurt Weill (the album number was the same or similar, so I suppose someone pulled the wrong stamper
> by not looking at the prefix ???).
> The frustrating aspect of the oc, pimply and warped defects was that it was nearly impossible to get a "good" pressing since the
> same defect was on all discs from that run.  The strategy was to return the defective, then wait a year
> to get the next pressing.  Of course, some problems did effect only a single or few discs, so it was possible to exchange for a
> good copy.
>    CD's seem to have a much higher quality.  I can think of only a few times I've had to exchange a disc.  CD-r is
> another story, and they easily become unplayable it not kept in a favourable environment.
>    Best wishes, Thomas.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com
> [mailto:78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com]On Behalf Of Gene Baron
> Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 7:55 PM
> To: 78-L Mail List
> Subject: Re: [78-L] quality control problems - Poor Vinyl
>
>
> I have some LPs (mostly bluegrass/old time country) from the early-mid
> seventies and yes the vinyl on them, especially from the smaller labels, was
> (and still is) extra noisy, and I also remember it being connected to the
> oil shortages of the time.  Don't remember any of the classical LP having
> the same problems, but it's certainly possible.
>
> Gene
> gene.baron at gmail.com
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 8:03 AM, Mark Bardenwerper<citrogsa at charter.net>wrote:
>
>> On 9/21/2011 6:39, neechevoneeznayou at gmail.com wrote:
>>> I know 45s were made with hot levels to help hide the quality of the
>>> vinyl. They wore faster but were intended for a market that would listen
>>> to a song for a few months and then move on to something new. It's the
>>> nature of the pop music industry overall I suppose.
>>>
>>> Of course off center records and crummy surfaces are not unique to any
>>> format, 78s included. I suspect the out of round issue is the result of
>>> a warped record being flattened out. At least, that has been my
>>> experience with 78s. Could it be a matter of a lacquer master shrinking
>>> and slipping on the substrate? Usually that kind of flaw is seen on old
>>> lacquers and has developed over time, not on a freshly cut record going
>>> to the bath to be plated for immediate pressing. Off-center center holes
>>> is more an issue of degree than right or wrong.
>>>
>>> I have rarely seen a pressed 78 record with reversed labels, and I don't
>>> recall that I have ever seen one with the wrong label, but I know it has
>>> happened, and we have discussed it on the list some time ago.
>>>
>>> joe salerno
>>>
>>>
>> My now elderly father is an avid classical music collector. I recall him
>> noting that during a certain era, that getting records with poor vinyl
>> was common due to a shortage. Does anyone have information or facts on
>> that?
>>
>> --
>> Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr. #:?)
>> Technology, thoughtfully, responsibly.
>> Visit me at http://citroen.cappyfabrics.com
>>