Why do picture discs sound so bad?

What is it about picture discs that make them sound so bad? lots of surface noise.

 

Because they're not for playin'.....they're just for lookin' through.....

 

"Does she show pleasant enthusiasm when you mount her?"

 

Cardboard covered in clear vinyl is not the optimal format for the audiophile who likes listening to records.

 

Isn't it because the vinyl's thinner because of the picture layer added to it?? That's what I was always told.

Philip

 

If you are adding a picture layer on top of the grooves, then it's probably not going to sound great. But really, they aren't for playing.

 

The image is not always on top of the grooves.
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In some instances "Picture Discs" have been the superior technology of the time.
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Don't count on it tho!

 

Our host mentioned something about a special agent used in the black vinyls that makes them smoother and quieter in this thread.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/are-colored-vinyl-lps-and-picture-disc-lps-inferior.103196/

 

Steve Hoffman also made a very interesting post a couple of years back about how some picture discs had a unique mastering due to them being in a different part of the "chain" from the regular vinyl. That inspired me to dig a few out, and I found a superior (or preferred to me, at least) version of a Bauhaus LP I had several other LPs/CDs for over the years. The picture disc was better! Albeit with the bloody surface noise which is enough to make me not play it often, but still.. very interesting. I don't know where the thread was though..

 

Is that actually how they're made?

 

Not sure if this is the standard manufacturing process but this video might give you some idea why.



Back in the 80's there was an alternative form of picture disc that appeared to be made from clear vinyl with a picture in the middle. Usually these were used for the shaped picture discs you could get and generally sounded superior to the multi layer version above. Unfortunately over the years a lot of this alternative sort have discoloured, I own several that have turned a lovely shade of brown, totally obscuring the picture and ruining their value.

 

Glad someone has brought this topic up, lol - I'm only 19 and purchased my first picture disc a few years ago at my local antique store not knowing anything about what it would sound like. Took it home and it sounds like total crap, haha

But here's the awesome kicker - its a 45 of Megadeth's Wake Up Dead and, If I remember at the moment, Devil's Island

It's a copy of Vic Rattlehead's head from the cover of Peace Sells.... blown up into a picture disc. It. Is. AWESOME.

 

" ... Oh Little Big Man ... I'll be your wife .. "

 

I have the shaped 7" of "Rock Of Ages" by Def Leppard (shaped like Steve's guitar of course!) and not does it look awesome, but the SQ is great too! So you may be onto something there.

 

The vinyl's half as thin as a normal record, then glued to a piece of paper and another super thin record. Even a 180 g pic disc would be 2 90 g records glued together.

 

I was desperate to get hold of Tool Lateralus on that picture disc, and noticed that only a small portion of the vinyl has a picture on...would this make any difference?