[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif The distortion or " odd breathing effect" Todd R described it probably has to do with the fact that I tested the Burwen mostly with electronic music, which is more akin to a barrage of test tones than anything acoustically recorded. I expect it's exactly the same effect you experienced on the sopranos, jus tmore pronounced because the source material is more taxing. I wonder how you connected the Burwen. When you say 'in line' do you mean you had a phono pre-amp with two outputs, one feeding the device and the other feeding directly into a passive pre-amp to facilitate A/B switching? I couldn't hear any audible difference just pushing the bypass button on the unit. Rather I could hear a difference between the unit connected to a tape return, as they prescribe, A/Bing between the tape and phono source switches directly. I tried this on two different integrated amps and got similar results. I didn't try it 'in-line' because I don't have a dedicated phono pre-amp with twin outputs....

I connected RCA Y-connectors to the outputs of the phono pre-amp. I then connected one of the ICs from the Y-connectors to one input of my regular preamp, and the second ICs from the Y-connectors, to the input of the Burwen unit. The output of the Burwen unit was then connected to a second input of my regular preamp. Comparison was done by switching the selector knob of my regular pre-amp, back and forth.

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg /img/forum/go_quote.gif bigshot - Do you prefer to use vinegar, or a mix of isopropyl alcohol & water containing a bit of photoflo, for cleaning vinyl records?

I use vinegar, but I don't see anything wrong with the other formula if the alcohol is in very small amounts.

See ya
Steve

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif "Breathing" is an artifact of broadband dynamic filters, not transient noise gates. The Burwen DNF1201A creates that sort of thing, not the TNE7000A. The TNE doesn't apply the filter for longer than a tiny fraction of a second. There's no time to breathe. The artifacting on the TNE sounds like clusters of tiny pops. If anyone is hearing breathing as an artifact, they are using a different model of noise reduction unit than the one we are discussing. See ya Steve

Your mention of "sounds like clusters of tiny pops" is an exact description of the distortion that results when I turn the right hand knobs of both units exessively clockwise (i.e., when I use too much sensitivity).

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yotacowboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Careful with the PhotoFlo. What you're looking for is a wetting agent - also known as a surfactant. Some are harmless, some will not play nicely with vinyl... you're also not looking to use more than a 1/4 of a teaspoon with a gallon of solution. You'll likely find that most photo chemistry supplies are pretty pricey, and only available in larger quantities. fwiw, i use a 4 to 1, distilled water and 99% isopropyl alcohol with a drop or two of plain jane Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent. seems to work pretty well. This is reported to be exactly the same recipe as good 'ol Discwasher fluid.

yotacowboy - Is a water rinse needed, following cleaning with this water/alcohol/detergent mixture?

 

[yotacowboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg /img/forum/go_quote.gif yotacowboy - Is a water rinse needed, following cleaning with this water/alcohol/detergent mixture?

I keep two squeeze bottles next to the TT, one with the cleaning solution and one with plain distilled water to rinse. once it's dried, i use a cheapo carbon fiber brush to pick up any remaining lint. Another cheap cleaning tip is to use a small piece of Magic Eraser to clean the needle. Just drop the needle (gently) onto the foam a couple times. DO NOT move the foam or the cartridge back and forth or side to side.

 

[mikeg]

I applied bigshot's suggestion of using vinegar for cleaning vinyl LPs, to the use of vinegar as record cleaning fluid with my VPI 16.5 record cleaning machine. I first called the VPI company and asked whether the machine would be damaged by this, and the person to whom I spoke said that he did not think so. I then soaked the VPI machine's vacuum tube, and a Disc Doctor's Miracle Record Brush, in undiluted distilled white vinegar for several hours. After rinsing with distilled water, I carefully examined these items, and found that no damage occurred to the velvet strips/surfaces of these devices, or to the adhesive that retains the velvet. Following these tests, I cleaned 20 newly purchased (for 25 cents each) jazz records, using undiluted distilled white vinegar, followed by a distilled water wash. I dispensed the vinegar from a small plastic squeeze bottle onto the rotating record in the VPI 16.5 machine. I used the Disc Doctor's Miracle Brush to vigorously brush the record throughout 10 rotations of the RCM platter (although 5, or even fewer) rotations may have sufficed. I then vacuumed up the wash fluid. I then dispensed distilled water from a second plastic squeezed bottle onto the rotating record, and using a second brush, I brushed the record throughout several rotations. I then vacuumed up this wash water. I have now played 10 of these vinergar cleaned records, and they sound wonderful. Although a little surface noise remains, as you might expect from old 25 cent library records, they all sound wonderfully clear, and full bodied. And, needless to say, the cost of vinegar is inconsequential (i.e., 1/2 gallon costs < $2) when compared to the usual commercial concoctions.

 

[bigshot]

Glad it worked out well for you.

See ya
Steve

 

[jsaliga]

I decided to give white vinegar a try as well. I had a couple of classical LPs that I was about to write off and throw in the trash. I threw everything I had at them: Bugtussel Vinylzyme, Disc Doctor Record Cleaner, SMART Potent...I thought they were beyond help.

So I took an empty SMART 8oz spray bottle and cleaned it thoroughly and rinsed it out with distilled water. Then I filled it with distilled white vinegar. I put the record on my VPI machine, sprayed the record. Then gave it a light scrubbing with my VPI cleaning brush...then vacuumed it dry. Then I did a rinse and again vacuumed the records dry.

I was stunned by the results. The records sounded great! This is now my cleaning method from here on out.

Thanks Steve! I wish had taken this advice a lot sooner.

--Jerome

 

[ComfyCan]

That's pretty cool. Naturally, I just bought several bottles of various MFL potions & rinses, which of course cost 1,000 times more than a bottle of vinegar. I must say I have been really impressed with my new (used) VPI 16.5 though. I had a hard time believing this thing would actually be worth the money, but it definitely is if you buy used records. The difference is huge on some of these lps.

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ComfyCan /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's pretty cool. Naturally, I just bought several bottles of various MFL potions & rinses, which of course cost 1,000 times more than a bottle of vinegar. I must say I have been really impressed with my new (used) VPI 16.5 though. I had a hard time believing this thing would actually be worth the money, but it definitely is if you buy used records. The difference is huge on some of these lps.

I hardly ever paid more than 25 cents for an LP, with most sounding fine, to essentially perfect. My collection includes about 1,000 25 cent LPs, mostly classical, and some jazz. BTW, that's >16 LPs for the price of one CD.

 

[CatHouse]

Assuming you are wanting real time  . I would suggest Cedar  rack mount Duo  but the cost is some what high a cheaper solution would be to purchase  IZO. RX 4 , down load a free VST hoist and place the Plugins in the hoist  Although the incoming signal is important (AD) the output signal (DA) should be flawless which a lot of computers fail at Again by purchasing  a DAC that up samples and corrects Jitters and so forth you will be surprised at the  analog sound it will produce . Some DAC may be used as a pre-amp if so make sure the volume control is on the Analog side some DAC run at 32bit 384 . BY having a system as such you may have to purchase a external burner  or use another  computer . Although it is possible to add a 2nd sound card and record with out monitoring The load will cause a lost in sound quality . Which brings me to the last a computer use for serious recording should be Striped of all software and hardware not associated with audio and a power supply that will not differ under any condition is a must . The great part is the RX 4 you can further restore and save at high resolution file or simple master to a external device . Most DAC require that the input signal be digital so do you research  . This system is less accurate than the Cedar  but has unlimited options and with a little experimentation you can even create a filter that will greatly  reduce groove distortion  not to mention EQ , compressor , surround sound ,  Limiting, and on an on ...................
 
Good luck          

 

[Shaffer]

FWIW, I use Record Time for regular cleaning, and Disc Doctor 2-step along with Mo-Fi's enzyme compound for dirty LPs with a VPI 16.5. I've owned the machine for ~20 years, have tried most of the DIY fomulas and these products are the best I've found. The vinegar will be used for salad dressing.

BTW, if you buy beat LPs, virtually nothing will save them. Try to hold on to your shekels for a mint copy. It's really worth it.

 

[abby normal]

I have been doing some form of digital restoration of analog media for the better part of two decades, and from experience I can say nothing can touch the CEDAR DCX Declicker and the CEDAR CRX Decrackler, you must use them both in that order, either one used alone is insufficient [causes unpleasant audio artifacts]. you set the declicker sensitivity control at about 9-10 o'clock, that enables it to catch the coarse clicks/crackle without cutting into brasses/saxes/brassy-sounding human voices. then you adjust the decrackler by setting the detector section on "detect" [push button depressed] and turn up the detection level until the high frequency portion sounds like it is under water [a sort of burbling effect] and the crackle is masked- then you hit the detect button again to activate decrackle mode, then turn up the sensitivity control to about 12:00 at which point the fine crackle will disappear. when adjusted this way, the system is virtually artifact-free, except on the most aggressively mic'd trombones in which case the declicker sensitivity must be turned down to 8-9 o'clock dynamically in rhythm with the music. the algorithm seems less disturbed by trumpets than trombones and lower-pitched saxes. the way the decrackler works, is it splits the music into "mostly music" and "mostly crackle, works on just the latter [steering around the music with the high-frequency damping which masks the detector from lower-frequency musical signals as best it can], then recombines the decrackled portion of music in with the "mostly music" portion seamlessly. for what it's worth, CEDAR calls this a "baysian statistical technique" of crackle detection/correction.
aside from CEDAR, the only thing that I can think of that can decrackle [as opposed to declicking] without too much audible damage to the music, would be the Sonnox depopper/declicker/decrackler combo that you can buy individually or as part of wavelab elements 8.
EDIT- after much experimentation with iZotopeRx5, I can say its declicker/decrackler exceeds the performance of both Sonnox as well as CEDAR declick/decrackle, [in terms of freedom from artifacts as well as impulse noise reduction performance] for a fraction of the price. but it requires a hot-rod gaming computer to work properly, no less than quad-core 3GHZ and 8G of fast RAM, anything less will bog down and overheat your CPU. for some reason iZotope will not tell you this part about the hardware requirement.