New Re-Issue Vinyl: Surface Noise, Ticks, Pops....

Vinyl is and as always been a crap shoot. Of the three brand new LPs I bought yesterday the one with the best music has lousy surfaces (Cleanhead Vinson on Muse), the one I had the most hope for is a lousy recording and the pressing dismal, the hole is undersize and the surfaces are atrocious (Otis Rush on Delmark)and the one I paid $7.99 for, for which I had the lowest expectations, turns out to be quite good musically, the recording is all right and the pressing quality good (Lucky Peterson on Alligator).

So one out of three ain't good.

Unfortunately it's par for the course.

And if you think that expensive heavy vinyl means all that much better, think again.

Just happy the most expensive album of the three only cost me $14.99 + taxes

It was mentioned to me over the phone speaking with Kevin at KAB, that vinyl pre 80s and before was the best in terms of quality at the pressing level. Back then he said, the pressing machines were run 24 hours a day - allowing for more consistent production runs resulting in much higher quality pressings. These days pressings are an 'event' and every time they start from scratch.

When demand for records deteriorated from CD sales, demand went down, volume of productions went down, thus quality went down.

I remember when I started buying records in 1978, my own rather than my father's collection. Records were around 7 dollars, as a kid with a part time job, I always managed to save for a weekly addition to my collection. Getting a warped record was very rare, and the record store would always take it back with out question and give me a new one. But that was rare.

I think it must depend somewhat on what one buys. I mostly buy classical, and have had very good luck with the European pressings from Speakers Corner. Out of about 30, I sent two back. My luck was not as good with Classic Records--out of about 20 I sent about 4 back. On the jazz side, with both Speakers Corner, Classic Records, and Cisco, I've bought fewer, but I've sent none back.

On the 2nd hand side, I've gotten to where I just expect some minor surface noise and a short scratch here or there. Given that we're dealing with vinyl discs made mostly 25 or more years ago, to expect more is unrealistic, it seems to me.

I clean almost all of my records before play, with VPI and MoFi fluids.

Wow. as I read this thread, I am listening to Brian Wilson Smile. not a reissue but a new 180g pressing on rhino. Bought it "used" but looked mint to me. ran it through the vpi 16.5 before playing it the first time. terrible! pops and clicks throughout. ran it through the vpi again. better but not good. ran it through the vpi a third time, with a 15 minute soak per side on the enzyme step. better but still not great. don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic piece of music, recored extremely well. I bought the cd when it first came out and was floored by how it sounded. I thought the lp would really take it over the top, and it does . . . but . . .

seriously. I have bought records at salvation army that are 70s/80s vintage and not very clean. with a little effort many clean up and sound great. this album should be "audiophile" all the way but the pressing does not do it justice. I don't know what causes these pops but if 3 cleanings doesn't get it off, I think it ain't coming off. it's embedded in the vinyl somewhere, imho. not just one spot but throughout 3 sides. eh, for 20 bucks what can you expect these days I guess.

Pbb's assertion that vinyl is a crap shoot doesn't ring completely true.

Regarding current releases, I totally agree. As a matter of fact I stopped buying new albums and reissues. Occasionally you'll get a record that is not warped and sounds decent but for the most part, they stink. At $30, $40, $50, and more per pop, it's downright silly not to seek out nice pre-owned original copies.

However, it is disingenuous to lump all vinyl under the "crap shoot" umbrella. In days gone by, the golden ear of vinyl if you will, there were very few quality problems.

At least in my experience spanning back to the late 50's.