Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Anything goes! Inventors! Artists! Cutting edge solutions to old problems. But also non-commercial usage of record cutting. Cost- effective, cost-ineffective, nutso, brilliant, terribly fabulous and sometimes fabulously terrible ideas.

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Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Post: # 65370Unread post C-Pilote
Wed Jul 17, 2024 8:07 am

Hello everyone,
Just to share my last innovations with
My lathe Presto k8 /TKV ultra mod.
I’ve been experiences really good results
Since I tried EPOS lab stylus from Tasos!
And I’m incredibly surprised how they work
So good ! I got a good sound and especially
For punk rock music the sound quality is really
Good!
I cutting right now at -3dB LUFS on my program
Meter so it’s around 3 dB less loud of standard
Records but the sound quality is at the rendez-vous!
Just have to turn the volume of the amp up
And it’s all good!!!
But only one problem:
My last embossed records plays really good on my 4 turn tables at home! No surfing
No skipping you feel the stylus is biting in the
Groove.
When I go to some friends house to hangout
I bring some of my test to check how it goes on other turntable and it’s a disaster you ear the sound is good but it’s a all go surfing and party skipping!
Lol
At home my cutting records and standards records plays perfect on
My 2 DUAL and perfect on my Technics
anoug good on my cheap Crossley

And when I try on other people sound system
It’s a mess 🤣
And they put standard records and it’s all play good but not my embossing records???

I compared standard grooves and mine on my
Microscope and it look pretty much close.
I know I will have to get a better microscope
For more precision about the grooves..

But I would like to ask?
Other ones between you had this weird
Moments ?
I’m sure probably yea !some of you?
So any tip or cutting /embossing story to
Share, will be appreciated!
✌️🩻🚬🤘
☢️

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kugelblitz
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Re: Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Post: # 65375Unread post kugelblitz
Wed Jul 17, 2024 2:39 pm

i had a similar thing happen to me in a hip record store/bar trying to show off my woodglue records project.

worked perfectly across systems at home,
nothing but noise in the record-shop, people from the bar-portion came over almost immediately with a "turn that sh*t off" vibe

suffice to say they were not sold on my project :p

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pentlandsound
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Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Re: Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Post: # 65376Unread post pentlandsound
Wed Jul 17, 2024 3:42 pm

As one who (occasionally) produces embossed records for public consumption, I've had to consider the issue of player compatibility. The very first discs I made with my most recent lathe, about three years ago, played fine on my own Lenco/Shure setup, tracking at 1.75g, but would not play at all on a friend's system at 1.1g.

I found that the problem in this case was too much bass; the wide excursions of the shallow embossed groove at low frequencies were causing the very light playback stylus to be thrown out, although my heavier pick-up worked OK. Since then I have developed several EQ curves, and decide which is to be applied depending on the amount of bass present in the original recording.

The playback equipment itself can cause all sorts of issues; too light a tracking force is only one possible reason. Any kind of auto-stop, auto-return or auto-change feature can cause havoc because of the mechanical linkages attached to the arm under the deck. These mechanisms rely on a fairly hefty downforce in a deep groove in order to overcome their inherent friction. I bought two vintage Garrard changers from the 1960s to use as test equipment and found that 4g is needed on these machines to play my embossed records successfully.

Other causes might include stiff tonearm bearings, dull playback styli, over-zealous anti-skate, or the use of fancy audiophile playback styli like Microline or Shibata, which are fine for the V-profile of cut grooves but can't really follow the U-profile of an embossed groove.

So I'd suggest first creating a record with silent, unmodulated grooves. If the playback still skips then the problem may be more likely to be with the record player than the record. But I suspect the problem may be to do with too much bass. Try reducing the bass frequencies (below say 400 Hz) by 6dB to start with.
Hope this helps!

David

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Re: Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Post: # 65378Unread post C-Pilote
Wed Jul 17, 2024 9:24 pm

Thanks David
Cutting bass or lower the volume during
The embossing like Mike says..
I will going back on the lathe when I’ll be back from Europe,
But I know I’m close of the goal.
I will probably getting back with cutting diamond
Too, later..but
It’s good to take brake sometimes.
So I will take the next 2 week off of the lathe
And thanx for you precious experiences infos

Cheers
Chany
☢️

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piaptk
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Re: Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Post: # 65379Unread post piaptk
Thu Jul 18, 2024 12:57 am

Ive found the treble is more often the problem than bass. Volume has to be kept low (about 80% the volume of a standard pressed record) because the shallower grooves during the fast lateral modulations tend to throw the playback tonearm of shitty crosley style turntables (or anything without tonearm counterweight adjustment).
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farmersplow
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Re: Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Post: # 65382Unread post farmersplow
Thu Jul 18, 2024 5:47 pm

That's why good ones Dub-Cut's can be better than bad factory pressings. The explanation: I once spoke to a record producer who said that it is always better to do the mastering separately from the pressing plant. The reason is commercial! A record pressing plant wants to sell a lot of records but only a few complaints. Therefore, the master in the pressing plant is forced to set EEQ (monobass) to over 300Hz, low-cut at 40 to 60Hz and hi-cut at 12-14kHz. This means that the record can be played on any turntable from the gumball machine without skipping.

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Re: Embossed records plays or don’t plays on turntables.

Post: # 65383Unread post C-Pilote
Thu Jul 18, 2024 7:50 pm

Yep ,you(Thomas) and Mike are both right!
One of my friend call me today to say that
One test cut I did play well on he’s turntable so I guess it’s a question of the quality of the
Turntables, needle etc…
But one thing’s good for sure it’s they play well
On My 4 turntables at home and at the studio and it’s a Pleasure to my ears after all the headaches I had lol!🤣 so the rest it’s
Like Mike says on one of is post before for newbies.
It’ an investment of time ,money and lots of passion! And patience!!
I have a great time doing this and Konstantin Tokarev will modified my stereo TKV with new
Drivers ! While I’ll be gone to Europe so I’m exited to go back on my lathe in August and
Pushing another limit!!!
Cheers
Everyone’s
And thank you for your share of infos!

Peace!
✌️🩻
☢️

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