criminal records - vinyl record cutting

Monitor speaker Systems

2009-02-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

I can remember, back in the “good old days” when cutting rooms had pretty average monitor speakers in an untreated room, and later, Studio monitor style speakers in treated rooms. Given the importance of the cutting stage, where, cutting engineers would often apply eq to the master, monitoring accuracy should have arguably been more important here, than even the recording studio itself. In fact, what the cutting engineer sometimes did, was pretty well the modern day equivalent of “mastering”. And, all on speaker systems that maybe didn’t “reveal as much as they could”, even in their day. So, if you accept that “audio monitoring” and the ability to hear what’s really going on is probably the one single most important thing when “mastering” or “cutting” you naturally end up doing a awful lot of listening to an awful lot of systems !!. Precisely what we did !. At “Criminal” we ended up with a system which is a mixture of “pro” and “hi-fi” products, well and truly tweaked and honed to an nicely optimised system. Each component going through individual tests and tweaks, as well as the whole system working together optimised to perfection. We rather like the sound, and agree with the technical principals, of, single point source driver “satellites” and a separate “sub”. The issues of a sub “not integrating well or easily” being issues of room acoustic, and NOT a speaker design flaw, so, acoustic treatment of the listening room to control bass making it “start and stop” as the music intended was fundamental. We opted for Anthony Gallo satellites, along with their (sadly no longer available) passive sub. This gave us complete control over amplification choice, something you don’t get with an active powered sub !. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Our natural instinct for amplification was valve. With their inherent “large soundstage”, excellent detail recovery and extended frequency response, they really do tend to “tell you like it is” !. We chose different amps employing different valve types for High and Low frequency ranges, matching “level and weight” from KT88’s with bass, and “detail” from EL84’s with top end. Further, the valves themselves are not “issued with the amp” little numbers, but cryogenically treated units costing as much as the whole amp again, just for a valve set !. xxxxxxxxxxxx Cryogenic treatment relieves all the stresses in the valve’s components, put there, as a by-product of the manufacture process. Getting rid of those stresses, at molecular level, increases the conductivity to the point where there is a real “night and day” sound quality improvement. And, rather than using an analog cross over to split the low and high frequency signal portions, we use a speaker management unit, which does the filtering in the digital domain, and is therefore free of any analog filter induced “side effects”. Additional to the Anthony Gallo speakers, we employ “supertweeters”. These extend the high frequency range up to around 35Khz, allowing every detail of harmonics to be experienced. I say “experienced” as of course we can’t officially hear that far up !. Actually, Anthony Gallo do make a speaker with a ribbon super tweeter as part of the unit, but, again, we prefer to be in control of, exactly which supertweeter to use, and how it’s driven. We ended up with “retro fit” supertweeters made by Tannoy. The very same people to be one of, if not THE first to introduce supertweeters to Hi-Fi speakers, currently even employing them in sub £500 bookshelf speakers !!. Both, the Anthony Gallo satellites, and the Tannoy supertweeters are further mounted on our own design of “quadratic residue” diffuser, to minimise what would other wise be a hard reflection from their mounting surface: what would have years ago been called “desk splash” when desks were actually great lumps of metal between the engineer and his monitors. For all that work and “optimisation” we get monitoring with enough “image” ability, that on well recorded/produced music, we experience a “phantom rear”. That is, where the image extends far beyond the actual physical speaker positions and rather lovingly “wraps the music all around you”. And all this for a mere 68 watts (total !!!) of power. As is our way, we do of course “cheat” now and again, and also reference on, what could only be described as an “ugly” PA system in a “bit of a barn” of a room. This though, gives us a superb real life, very high level representation of the real world, particularly a “club & venue” like real world.

Cutter head Equalisation

2009-02-25T06:16:00.000-08:00

During all those trials and tests we conducted while optimising our cutter head management electronics, we found a real parallel between: 1) A cutter head and it’s vinyl record.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx &xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 2) A loudspeaker and it’s listening room.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Both the implications and the way this parallel was discovered is all to do with EQ. For loudspeakers, particularly studio monitoring speakers, it has been (rightly so we think) frowned upon to EQ the system to account for, and correct issues that, are more likely born of room acoustics. Indeed, since room acoustic issues are the product of real physical things, any amount of electronically shaping the sound can’t alter things in the “physical domain”, and so, can’t be right !. However, EQ’ing the speaker itself is a different thing. In that, we are trying to get the “best” “flattest” or possibly “most musical” sound quality from a speaker system without any thoughts of what a room (or different rooms) will then do to it. Bose are probably the speaker manufacturer most prolific and experienced at EQ, and prove the point very well. Their many speaker systems based on multiples of small “full range” drivers (802, 502 and so on) employ quite harsh EQ to get the things to sound right. Quite nicely turing accepted speaker design on it’s head, they don’t start from the point of having a “flat” speaker driver, but one which definitely isn’t flat, and which exhibits the other design qualities they are looking for. The way in which this type of speaker corrective EQ is done: analog, digital, active, passive Etc. becomes part of the speaker design, and part of the speaker systems inherent sound. So. lets say, a speaker uses an active analog EQ to correct and extend the speakers high frequency response to a desired level. That EQ electronics may well have “side effects” like, say, a bit of phase distortion, which could adversely affect sound quality, or, become “designed in” as part of a speaker’s “character”. This is, in effect, no different to using an overdriven valve amp to induce “that certain sound character”, so, can in no way be seen as “wrong” or technically incorrect, although most would agree, not exactly “pure as the driven snow” !. The point is, that EQ on “a piece of equipment” is absolutely fine, refines that piece of equipment to the standard, or sound quality the designer was after, and can remove little niggles of unwanted sound character that are often dictated by the “electromechanical” limits of that piece of equipment. Very true in loudspeaker drivers, and equally in record cutting heads !. Attempting to EQ a speaker system in, and to, a room however, is another kettle of fish !. As we’ve already mentioned, EQ can’t change the physical attributes of a room and this fact leads to it being possible to set EQ’s several different ways while still getting the same acoustically measured frequency response. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Here’s an example of 2 EQ settings that both gave a flat response with real time measured pink noise. The RED trace is one setting, the BLUE trace, the second setting. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx A record cutting head is an alarmingly similar beast to a loudspeaker driver, both have driver coils, and where the speaker has a cone, the cutter head has a stylus suspension system. Both cones and suspension systems are physical, so they both have mechanical resonance's and limits. The moral, ethical, and technical acceptability of EQ on a cutter head is then the same as for a loudspeaker: Adjust and “trim” to correct for the cutter head’s own frequency deviations is fine. But, the huge complexities of the fact that the cutter head is just as dynamic a device as a loudspeaker: ever changing it’s electrical and electro/mechanical properties with temperature, closeness to physical limits and so on, along with the physical properties of the actual vinyl being cut, and possibly even the dynamic effects of the cutter lathe’s own mechanical components, makes the “signal in” to “playback from cut vinyl”, as an entire “audio journey” rather like a speaker in a room. Just like a speaker in a room, this gives rise to the situation where, more than 1 EQ setting will get you the same frequency response. Also, just like a speaker in a room, different EQ settings may get you the same measured frequency response, but, every setting, will get you a completely different “sound”. We have several cutter head EQ settings, and, while all “flatten” the response to within very similar limits, the settings are wildly different. When you consider the complexity of all the elecro, and electromechanical dynamics going on in the cutting process (just like a speaker in a room) it’s too be expected !!. The trick is to use the resulting sound differences to every ones advantage, enhancing the already appreciated “vinyl” sound that little bit further if at all possible. We have 2 settings in particular that demonstrate the “chalk n cheese” sound qualities produced by the 2 “chalk n cheese” EQ settings, but which both measure the same ! On a good monitoring system, with decent phase integrity, an adequate frequency response, and reasonable “imaging” we can “sink” a vocal back into the track, or pull it 4 feet forward into the room - just with the choice of EQ setting, nothing more !. This staggering sound quality difference, where not just stereo image, but, even, 3 dimensional image is affected can’t possibly be down to a “bit of tone control” only. More like, the knock on effects that “tone control” has on just about every aspect of recorded sound when your dealing with a highly dynamic electro mechanical recording system. Not something you could ever “design” either, but the subject of informed listening and tweaking !. Our conclusions are:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * It’s ok to EQ bits of equipment individually, or as a system chain to enhance their performance. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * It’s NOT ok to EQ a “room” - that problem should be dealt with “at source” (ie: physically) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * It’s very very ok to listen, tweak and play. It can be fun, musical, creative and uncover things that will make a musical performance nicer, more involving, even sexier ! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Examples of different cutter head EQ and the audio result are in the "Sound Bite" section of www.criminalrecords.eu.com

The GRADO DJ cartridge

2009-02-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

OUR THOUGHTS on the GRADO JD series cartridges. GRADO's an "old" very well respected name in the land of headphones, and more recently, becoming equally interesting for phono cartridges. The DJ series features all the clever, & unique cantilever design elements, as used in their incredibly well spec'd and sensibly priced "hi-fi" cartridges, but, with >3gram tracking weight ability. Pros: Very extended frequency response, both hi & low, leads to MUCH more detail recovery than, say, a Stanton. Far more musical, smooth & kind of "expensive" sound quality than typical spherical tipped cartridges. Elliptical tip stylus, tracks high level/high frequency more accurately resulting in less "S" distortion. (Bare in mind we can cut treble at levels un-trackable by a spherical tip!) Cons: The unique cantilever requires a special tool to get the stylus off the cartridge - not a problem, they give you the tool of course, but this might be an issue "in the heat of the moment" on a Saturday night when you've just bent the bloody stylus back on itself, and you need to get a new one in, in, less than 5 minutes, with low light levels, a degree of alcohol in the blood stream, some daft punter banging on about a Faithless track in your left ear, and the need to cue up the next track. A lower output level than many known and trusted DJ cartridges. You need to be sure your mixer has enough gain, or, that you make up the level somewhere else in the audio chain, to not suffer a sudden "wheres all the volume gone" heart stopping moment. It's not a tchnical problem or impossibility or anything, but you need to be aware. Overall: Cartridges like the Stanton 500, are, (given their frequency response tail off at 18k & a spherical tip) great sounding very "gutsy" beasts, which might well suit some DJ's or even some venues better than the smoother Grado. But, all said, there's something to the Grado "expensive" sound, and, technically, an eliptical tip will allways track high level/high frequency better. As a matter of interest, we use a Stanton 500 to check cuts, but a Grado to "really listen to them".

Listening tests

2009-02-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

The "kings sutton" listening committee (5 guys with an insane interest in getting more and more from audio systems) have just completed a whole rake of blind listening tests and would love to hear from any one with views on: The Chinese valve amp "Music Angel" model XD500. Mana support systems. Super Tweeters (Tannoy ST50 or similar) - actually anything that goes up to 35kHz !. We've had staggering results with the Music Angel (all be it fitted with freeze treated valves that cost as much as the whole amp!), and a serious awakening to harmonic integrity with super tweeters, and, a quite mad, overall improvement in the "performance" of sound systems with Mana supports. Of course, I stand by my www.blackseaaudio.com ethic of the room's acoustic being the 1 single most important thing to affect a sound system's quality, but, valve, super tweeting & Mana are still serious atractions - well, we thought so !