Vinyl Torture Tracks - Inner Grooves, Sibilants, Hotly Cut Tracks, Sudden Volume Bursts, etc.

The tinny 80s production doesn't help.

 

Singles/hits collections like that aren't usually made from the best tapes either. I would guess if you want the best sound on vinyl, a 12'' single would be the best bet for this particular song.

 

It sounds horrible in fact. This is one I am going to sell as I will not play it a 2nd time.
'Sssssseven Sssssseas' is just as bad.
First ask the wife for permission though as it's hers .

 

I generally agree, except for the Mirror Test, which Cherry Red reissued later as Mirror Test Redux, and on which the band felt the need to add some instrumentation to the mix and totally mess with the track order. The original Mirror Test LP doesn't sound great, but I prefer listening to it in its original form over the Cherry Red CD (and it doesn't have the IGD that I'm hearing with FTF). If I ever come across an original MT CD for a reasonable price, I will definitely grab it.

The FTF LP actually does sound superb, though, until you get to the end of "Man of Straw." ("In Flux," which closes side 2, fares better, though it starts to get a bit iffy at times towards the very end.)

 

IMHO Mirror Test should've been reissued as a double disc featuring both mixes. I bought the original mix digitally on FLAC back when the Pono store was open. Most of those old MM CDs are very hard to find and expensive at this point, especially for a cult band like SLAG.

 

It sounded a helluva lot worse with my Nag MP110! Apart from the sibilance I think it's a pretty decent sounding album.

 

I find this song is quite troublesome on my OG copy of the Ocean Rain LP as well. I think wear is a big contributing factor as well. Problem is, in my experience I’ve found this record incredibly elusive in NM condition on my digs in Europe.... I may try US pressings at some point, admit I’ve certainly seen cleaner copies, but over here it’s a more expensive / valuable Lp.

 

Thanks for the reminder.
Found a US Sire SRC EAST Ocean Rain last year at the thrift for a few bucks but never played it, not much of a fan of Sire vinyl.
Skated through Seven Seas without issues. T.G.
Puppy's bright. Stupid Sire.
Dropbox - Seven Sample.wav - Simplify your life

 

First thing I came in here was to post on "So". It's sibilant on most releases I know of and I have a US promo which otherwise sounds good. However the 12" single releases of the album tracks are FAR better in this regard.

NAIHF is not an easy record to track at all. It doesn't help that my LP2 has a slight warp! My current Jico SAS stylus upgrade mitigated a lot of problems that the stock 97xe cart couldn't handle.

In fact my only issue with IGD was on the final track of The Living Daylights soundtrack where the distortion made the vocal crackly at times. After switching to the Jico all of that went away. I do have the Caroline Siamese reissue so I'll give it a whirl but I usually don't play it due to the massive nonfill in that pressing.

 

I don't know if I have a lucky copy, but I've never found it sibilant at all. Plus the bottom end is huge.

JohnK

 

I haven't played it in a long time as it's one of my rare LPs I try and baby-but I will do a fresh playthrough soon.

 

My torture vinyl is Doctor's Cat, Watch Out 1980s import. The screeching jet sound will be a test of how loud can your needle/cartridge can take it.

 

Dead or Alive-Brand New Lover, US 12 inch
Looks like some youtube up's have some issues as well. No problems with the UK cut.

 

Colin Newman - A-Z

The song “B” gives the AT150mlx quite the work out

 

Some decent suggestions here but if you really want to hammer a turntable set up try playing any of the earlier (1950s and 1960s) Sviatoslav Richter LPs. Deutsche Grammophon did some that were just setup killers. I have an LP with him playing Beethoven that is just bombastic and loud. It’s a torture test, especially for tracking and speed stability. I don’t even really use it on my RP6 with an Exact cartridge because it’s just brutal. Outside of some of the nicer Japanese direct drive tables and some expensive VPI and Gerrard setups with some top shelf cartridges I haven’t come across a table that can do the performance justice. Long sustained notes are great for checking speed stability but this guys stuff is just explosive and some of the older stuff was cut pretty hot and had a lot crammed onto one LP.

 

That's interesting. "Life on Deck," on my copy of A-Z, was the first really serious instance of IGD I remember encountering. That song sounded so atrocious on the (admittedly not great) turntable I had at the time that I thought something was wrong with my cartridge.

 

Yeap, that song too. AT carts can handle it OK for me, others carts are bad on the last track.

 

Really surprised to hear that. At which points do you note this the most? I have so many versions, including the Pallas re-issue. Is yours the yellow edition?

 

Yes, I have the 'Yellow Snow' edition.

 

What's in the deadwax? If these are the same analog Chris Bellman remasters as the standard reissue #18 then it's a pressing flaw in the color vinyl. The standard black pressing excellent.

 

New Order-Ceremony UK 7 inch
The song- In A Lonely Place (7 Inch Version)
After a few cart's and set-ups this is the best I'm going to get I think.
Sibilance is baked in on this puppy, comparing it to the only other tubed version, below-

 

Mine-

 

I got out a few early New Order singles the other night—Ceremony 12", Procession 7", Everything's Gone Green 12"—and they all sounded too hot and sibilant. My first time playing them w/ an MC cartridge. They sounded better w/ my old Goldring 1042 MM.

Fantastic singles, though!

 

My own tracking and sibilance torture tests are,

• Supertramp - Crime of the Century, Speakers Corner: Side 1 - Asylum.
• Wagner - Tristan und Isolde: Knappertsbusch, King Super Analogue: Side 1 - Isolde's Liebestodt.
• Respighi - Pines of Rome: Reiner, Classic Records 33rpm: Side 1 - Pines Of The Appian Way.
• Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Vol 1 & 2, Mobile Fidelity: Side 2 - Scenes From An Italian Restaurant.
• Nat King Cole - Love is the thing, Analogue Productions: Side 1 - When I Fall In Love.
• Marvin Gaye - What's Going On, Mobile Fidelity One-Step: Side 1 - What's Going On.

Each has the benefit of being a superb issue mastered and pressed without compromise but very challenging to any system, so if there are issues then it's the system they're coming from.

Another title that just came to mind is the UK 12"inch single of Madonna's Open Your Heart. This had perhaps the most pronounced and extreme sibilance I've ever come across, to the point where on most systems the whole thing is just a mess. The very best analogue setups however show this to be one of the great dance tracks of the '80's.

 

That's a very difficult one it seems...lots of what appears to be baked-in sibilance from the recording.