"On the Loose" - Saga

Here's a link to the CD you're looking for on Amazon, but it's out of stock: http://www.amazon.com/Rock-1983-Vol-2-Various/dp/B000N0QXU8/ ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1207577119&sr=8-4

I'd describe the sound quality as fair. In a side-by-side comparison with the Worlds Apart CD it sounds a bit more muddy. The dynamic range is great, however, so there isn't any extra compression/maximization on that track. (There is maximization on "Down Under", "Hot Girls In Love" and "Goody Two Shoes" on the very same disc - quite a hodge podge of sources...) Of course, if you're currently using a 45, then the sound will be a substantial improvement!

Still don't know why Portrait chose to shorten such a perfectly constructed song. To my ears, they cut out the coolest part! Portrait did the same thing with Aldo Nova's "Fantasy" around the same time, and it always seemed unnecessary to me. That song also had a unique guitar solo on the 45, so it, too, couldn't be pieced together from the 45...

Todd Ireland wrote: I rely on Aaron to help me out with situations involving "vinyl splicing" since he has the right equipment and the expertise.

Hey Aaron, no question regarding your expertise, but what is the special equipment that you use? Just curious.

Cheers,
Jody Thornton

Jody - I agree with Aaron. I also use a Technics 1200 MKII turntable, only my cartridge is Ortofon, and I also use a really old version of Cool Edit Pro.

I have an early-'80s vintage Realistic receiver, so I use the phono input for the turntable, and the line in/line out jacks, which were designed for a tape deck, to feed the inputs/outputs of the soundcard on my motherboard. (It's an old motherboard, and newer ones may not have the 1/8-inch jacks for input/output anymore. I haven't played with newer USB-driven soundcards.) Basically, the computer is hooked up as if it were a cassette deck.

A few points:

- Make sure your vinyl is fairly clean. I have collector friends who own liquid/vacuum cleaning machines. It really does get rid of a lot of the snap/crackle/pop from dirty records. For 7" singles that need serious cleaning, you can wash them in the sink with dishwashing liquid. Make sure that the water temperature is fairly close to room temperature, or the vinyl may warp a little due to thermal shock. Let the vinyl air-dry as much as possible, and use a lint-free cloth to dry the rest.

- Make sure that your equipment doesn't distort or clip at any point in the chain. You can usually tell from the waveforms if there's clipping. If one side of the waveform is consistently much smaller than the other, then you should check your settings.

- I would take issue with any noise reduction at all. I used to use some of the NR features in Cool Edit to reduce the background noise, but I found that it distorts the music, or sucks the life out of it. (There's endless discussion of noise reduction and audiophiles' objections to it at the mastering forum at stevehoffman.tv) I'd rather hear the track as my turntable played it, warts and all.

- If you can, leave a little silence at the beginning and end of the track. I leave 0.2 seconds at the intro and 2 seconds at the end. Not sure where I got these numbers, but I've been using them for 10 years, and they work nicely.

I'm sure there are other tips, but a good turntable and some digital editing tools (like the free Audacity) will get you pretty far.

Aaron - I never had any luck with getting the right settings to work without artifacts, so I just gave up on NR completely. I kinda like the gentle turntable rumble, or a little bit of surface noise, so it was no great loss.

I know the important thing for NR is a very gentle touch, and it sounds like you've pretty well figured out where that is. Good tool to have!