Here is another cartridge article from from the past (B&O cartridge designer) https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/70s/Audio-1979-03.pdf.
A couple of items to grasp is the amount of pressure (1000's of psi) that the stylus is developing, the elasticity of the record (its deforming) and the incredible torturous path the stylus is tracking in highly modulated grooves (i.e. the high frequency that gives the air/life to the music).
Everything matters. If the 'system' is over-damped, the stylus will not be able to vibrate or change vibration as quickly - for an electrical equivalent consider it slew-rate (uv/sec) - and the sound will be dead and lifeless. Under-damp and stylus can go out of control and you get distortion and record damage. Critically-damped (system dependent) and it sounds great. Of course this is no easy task and @rauliruegas dissertation above and this very post and so many others like this are clear evidence.
I have recently been playing with record mats; a thin leather mat was doing OK, but the suede-side collected lint (visible with UV light) and eventually gave it back to the record. The thin (3mm) Technics rubber mat did not attract lint (must be nitrile rubber - near neutral triboelectric-scale), but was relatively soft (estimate about durometer-50) and sucked the life out of the music (VPI 2" AL platter). I am now testing a 3-layer material as a platter mat (not marketed as a platter mat) that is much stiffer (durometer 85) and the sound is great (and the material may solve static issues - will know more this winter). So the platter mat can have a profound influence because it couples to the record which is not infinitely stiff.
So, everything matters - but unfortunately the devil is in the details; and in many ways that 'can' be the appeal of playing records. There are an near infinite number of ways to achieve success (and of course an equivalent near infinite paths to frustration).
A couple of items to grasp is the amount of pressure (1000's of psi) that the stylus is developing, the elasticity of the record (its deforming) and the incredible torturous path the stylus is tracking in highly modulated grooves (i.e. the high frequency that gives the air/life to the music).
Everything matters. If the 'system' is over-damped, the stylus will not be able to vibrate or change vibration as quickly - for an electrical equivalent consider it slew-rate (uv/sec) - and the sound will be dead and lifeless. Under-damp and stylus can go out of control and you get distortion and record damage. Critically-damped (system dependent) and it sounds great. Of course this is no easy task and @rauliruegas dissertation above and this very post and so many others like this are clear evidence.
I have recently been playing with record mats; a thin leather mat was doing OK, but the suede-side collected lint (visible with UV light) and eventually gave it back to the record. The thin (3mm) Technics rubber mat did not attract lint (must be nitrile rubber - near neutral triboelectric-scale), but was relatively soft (estimate about durometer-50) and sucked the life out of the music (VPI 2" AL platter). I am now testing a 3-layer material as a platter mat (not marketed as a platter mat) that is much stiffer (durometer 85) and the sound is great (and the material may solve static issues - will know more this winter). So the platter mat can have a profound influence because it couples to the record which is not infinitely stiff.
So, everything matters - but unfortunately the devil is in the details; and in many ways that 'can' be the appeal of playing records. There are an near infinite number of ways to achieve success (and of course an equivalent near infinite paths to frustration).