Cross talk between songs on acetate reference lp’s

Question for any lacquer test reference acetate experts out there..

I’ve acquired 5 or 6 rare 2 sided 12” test reference acetates from the later 70’s early 80’s, and they sound amazing but when I’m playing i’m I playing them back (using a light tracking weight as possible of course, approx 1.1g) , I get a mild cross talk of the song that about to start a half a second later.

When the song actually starts, the sound is beautiful,clear as a bell, I can’t hear any evidence of cross talk or muttering.

Is it just quirk from cheapness/quickness lacquer pressing process or is it a sign that the groove is getting very worn and I should really avoid playing these again? How can you tell an acetate is dying?

They otherwise sound so damn good. Some mild scratchiness here and there but the overall quality beats the lp any day.

I have a ton of Lps but not a bunch of experience with acetates, so I wanted to see what you guys had to say.

 

I should add that this only happens on
two of the five acetates and that it’s faint and only noticeable at high volumes.

Most likely, the talk back could be happening during the song too and just getting overpowered by the main signal and I’m just noticing between songs. Almost reminds me of my 8 track player has a similar effect, except it’s the song that’s about to start.

Never had this with any real Lps whatsoever. This is a new phenomenon w these two acetates which leads me to believe the grooves just might be getting worn thin on them.

 

What is it that you are actually listening to?

From wikipedia:

An acetate disc is a type of phonograph (gramophone) record, a mechanical sound storage medium, widely used from the 1930s to the late 1950s for recording and broadcast purposes and still in limited use today.

They are also known as a test acetate, lacquer (a technically correct term preferred by engineers in the recording industry), transcription disc (a special recording intended for, or made from, a radio broadcast) or instantaneous disc (because it can be played immediately after recording without any further processing),

Unlike ordinary vinyl records, which are quickly formed from lumps of plastic by a mass-production molding process, a so-called acetate disc is created by using a recording lathe to cut an audio-signal-modulated groove into the surface of a special lacquer-coated blank disc, a real-time operation requiring expensive, delicate equipment and expert skill for good results. They are made for special purposes, almost never for sale to the general public. They can be played on any normal record player but will suffer from wear more quickly than vinyl. Some acetates are highly prized for their rarity, especially when they contain unpublished material.

Are you actually playing a one of a kind acetate or a test pressing? Typically, what you are hearing is called pre-echo and can be caused from tape print through or by a disc cut with the grooves cut either too close together or too loud (or both) causing the portion of the groove previously cut to distort.

Use the forum search engine (or look on line) if you'd like more technical information on both acetates or pre and post echo. There's a lot of reference material out there.

 

It’s a one of a kind Todd Rundgren acetate. It’s stinky smelling, heavy and made of aluminum finished in black lacquer. Yeah, it’s not a final master reference because it’s a different song order and mix. So that might make sense that they were still tinkering w the mastering and such. Ok, I’ll look up pre and post echo in regards to acetates as well. Thank you for that info!

 

"Pre-echo" is common to all records to some degree. When the cutting stylus is cutting the groove, it is not like a hot knife through butter, there is a lot of deformation of the groove and that deformation will be, to some extent imparted on the adjacent, already cut groove. The other possibility with analogue recording is "print through" on the magnetic recording tape. The signal from one layer of tape affecting the other layers of tape that are lying just on top or underneath that layer. Both are so faint that they usually can be heard only in the silent passages between tracks.