Let’s take a flashback to the far away time of four days ago, when I posited this question to my readers:
“Anyone care to recommend a good direct-drive turntable? I’m finding more and more problems with my Audio Techinca. Any advice would be appreciated.”
The sole comment in reply said:
“Search far and wide for used Technics turntables. There’s really no substitute.”
I already knew that, of course, but it’s nice to get independent verification.
What’s even better to get, however, is a used Technics SL-1210 MK2 for $200.
Woot!
I saw the post on Craigslist and agreed to buy it on sight. I didn’t even need to see if it worked. Thankfully, it does work. It works wonderfully in fact.
My old turntable was an Audio-Technica ATLP-120. It was decent enough, but had some substantial problems. The most noteworthy being that its anti-skate was literally worthless, leaving the turntable prone to skips. This doesn’t have that problem. It has no problems. It’s an amazing, epic piece of hardware that I highly doubt I will ever replace.
I also bought this on Amazon the same day:
That is a an ART V2 USB Phono Plus DJ Preamp. It’s an all in one USB soundcard and phono preamp. It delivers amazing sound, especially considering that you can currently get it at Amazon for about $80. If you plan on hooking up a turntable to a computer, this is THE way to go.
Between the two I have noticed a sharp increase in quality in my recordings. No more hum and no more radio interference. The stereo seperation is much finally even, and many of the minor distortion problems I was battling in the past have been nearly eliminated. It’s happy times in Lost Turntable land.
That being said, I already had a hefty backlog of recordings from on old turntable, and they sound perfectly serviceable. So it might be a few days or weeks before you all get to reap the rewards of my new equipment. I’ll let you know.
Also, when I do start posting stuff recorded with this new set-up, don’t expect perfection. Most of the record I record from are used 12″ singles, many are not gently used, and even the best-quality 12″ single from the 80s isn’t a very well-made record.
Until then, here’s some random 80s wackiness to start your week.
Dan Hartman
I Can Dream About You (Extended Mix)
This classic piece of light-rock 80s glory is from the Streets of Fire soundtrack. I’ve never seen Streets of Fire, which makes me a bad 80s fanboy. Â I heard it has a fight that involves giant railroad hammers – I really have to Netflix that puppy.
This extended mix is not the version from the soundtrack and not the version from Dan Hartman’s album, it’s exclusive to the 12″ single. It belongs on your 7th grade mixtape.
Prince
La, La, La, He, He, Hee (Highly Explosive)
This is a song about a dog and a cat getting it on. No metaphor. It’s literally about a dog and a cat engaging in some cross-species freaky-deaky.
Prince is weird.
There are actually two versions of this song. The shorter three-minute version is on Prince’s Hits/B-sides collection. This crazy-long (over 10 minutes!) version is exclusive to the 12″ single and I’m fairly certain that it has never been released on any legal CD in America or Europe.
Aztec Camera
All I Need Is Everything (Remix)
I am not anything close to an authority on Aztec Camera (unlike my friend and hardcore Aztec Camera fan Anna Hegedus, for whom I share this track) but I’m going to venture to say that this is my favorite track by them that I’ve heard that doesn’t feature Mick Jones or a remix by Fatboy Slim. This is from a 12″ single.
Hohokam
King (Long Version)
The American Way
King (Short Version)
Bought this in a flea market for a buck. With it I know own everything Hohokam ever released, an easy feat considering that they only put out three singles and nothing else. They were on Gary Numan’s extremely short-lived Numa label. Not suprisingly, they are somewhat derivative of Numan’s work at the time. Still, they’re not bad, pity that these dudes never got the chance to release a proper album. It could have been interesting.
I’m so glad about your awesome new turntable! Congrats!
Prince has too much free time.lol
what capture software are you using on your computer?
I use Audacity. I capture at 96kkhz in 32-bit audio and then downgrade to 44.1khz when I convert to MP3.
After I record something in Audacity i usually use its noise removal feature to get ride of record noise, then I process the file through clickrepair to remove other audio defects. If any others remain, I fix them manually in Sony Sound Forge before I convert them to MP3.
I’ll have to give that a try. Thanks!
Care to elaborate any further on the Audio Technica? I had my eye on that particular model myself…
The audio-technica is a good enough turntable if you just want to listen to records, but then again, so are turntables that are far cheaper. While it does have a quiet motor and looks sturdy enough, it cut some pretty big corners. The biggest being the anti-skate. It literally does nothing. It’s not connected to anything and is there just for show. This results in more skips and uneven distribution of audio across the left and right channels. Furthermore, it’s internal pre-amp is shit so you’ll never want to use it. I liked it at first, but the more i found out about audio the less I wanted this turntable. I do not recommend them.