what in the WORLD is this clicking noise on 'rocket man' on my US gr hits LP????

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bigmikerocks, Nov 29, 2011.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    Nah...it's not damage to the record.

    I just found a copy of Honky Chateau (UNI 93153) that does not have the clicking.

    My other copy of Honky Chateau says this on the back...
    MCA-2017
    (Formerly 93135)
    All Selections previously released on UNI album old number 93135
    entitled HONKY CHATEAU.

    This copy does have the clicking.

    When Music Corporation of America consolidated all of its labels under the MCA brand (UNI being one of them)...this album and Elton's earlier UNI albums were reissued on MCA. That's when I think something happened during the process for this album...and subsequently, when the Greatest Hits album was being put together...they used these jacked up masters.
     
  2. bigmikerocks

    bigmikerocks Forum Resident Thread Starter

    are there any other clicking tracks on your MCA honky chateau besides rocket man?
     
  3. empirelvr

    empirelvr "That's *just* the way it IS!" - Paul Anka

    Location:
    Virginia, USA
    I'll see what I can do (the vinyl isn't where I live ATM.)

    It doesn't surprise me so many others are finding the same problem. The combination of a "hot" mastering with boosted highs and a loud level, a track that has tons of sharp, very high frequency transients, and the prevelant type of equipment in common use at the time (consoles with heavy tracking ceramic cartridges that were new in the early 1960's and never upgraded) assures a lot of damaged discs floating around. It wouldn't surprise me that many of those initial pressings were returned as defective because of too hot mastering. (I worked in a record store in the mid 1980's as a teenager and every case of someone returning a record because it skipped was because they were using..to be blunt...crap equipment that couldn't track the disc, so it skipped. And that scenario happened a LOT!)

    Normally, mistracking is on sibilants, where the damage subsequently is heard as a distorted "shhhh" sound on better equipment. The stylus couldn't follow the modulations so it lost control and "skated" on the groove causing gouging and tearing of the vinyl in that spot. When such a piece of equipment was faced with a sudden transient that it couldn't cope with, it still lost control, but very sharply and regained composure quickly (because the trouble spot was so short in duration,) leaving a short gouge behind that a better cartridge will read as a "click." It literally tore a chunk *just* at the spot of the transient (which those hi-hat hits in the song are) and no more.

    I notice that a few of the people claiming issues with this LP (and Honky Château) bought it used. Who knows what kind of Yorx, Soundesign, or department store branded record shredders had it's way with the disc beforehand?

    It also makes sense that it disappears as the song ends. As the song fades, it becomes less of a challenge to track, so the damage becomes less and less as the song goes down in level.
     
  4. bigmikerocks

    bigmikerocks Forum Resident Thread Starter

    what i meant is that it the noise quits with rocket man (first song on the side) and doesn't show up at all for the next songs on the LP.

    i could see the highs causing problems like you mention, but what seems strange is the cymbal hits on this song are so mellow and quiet


    it would be good for others who have found this on their gr hits or MCA honky chateau to note if they are the original owner, or if they think wear is evident or if they are the original owners, etc
     
  5. empirelvr

    empirelvr "That's *just* the way it IS!" - Paul Anka

    Location:
    Virginia, USA

    None of the other songs on the album feature anything as challenging as "Rocket Man" to track transient wise. And remember, the cymbal hits may be soft, but they are laid over hi-hat hits because the drums were double tracked for the song.

    Simultaneous ride cymbal + close miked Hi-Hat strikes = a recipie for tracking unpleasantness.
     
  6. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    My AR XA, and Shure M 91 ED would not track this cut when this was a new release LP. And set up correctly at that. Hardly a poor quality setup.
     
  7. Bought that HC used but looks NM.

    Other "clicking" tracks: "Slave", "I think I'm Going to Kill Myself" (NOT the tap dance bit; see previous post)...
     
  8. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    There are other poor sounding tracks like Hercules, and I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself....but the clicking isn't as blatantly obvious as it is in Rocket Man. The high end on this record has just been so jacked up around 10-12kHz, and it's even brighter on this pressing. I think the master/copy got messed up on the transition I spoke of earlier...and everything pressed after that point was made with the clicking intact....until they started pressing CD's and went back and used the original. That's why there's no clicking on any CD version.
     
  9. Yes, "Hercules" also.

    Thanks for the explanation.
     
  10. jpgettes

    jpgettes Senior Member

    Location:
    Atlanta
  11. bigmikerocks

    bigmikerocks Forum Resident Thread Starter

    if that's the case then that would mean that they re-mixed this track for the greatest hits comp to add the clicking track in, but then only put it on certain pressings of the greatest hits album, and then also only on some re-issues of honky chateau

    that makes no sense to me
     
  12. renderj

    renderj Forum Resident

    I can also hear a similar clicking on "Crocodile Rock" which is the last track on Side 2. I don't hear it on the original 45.
     
  13. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I just picked up an early MCA reissue of this album, no clicking.

    Deadwx is 93135-A-W3 on side one, and the same with "B" rather than "A" on side two. 93135 was the UNI catalog #, so perhaps they were still using original UNI stampers at this point.
     
  14. bigmikerocks

    bigmikerocks Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Yes it's on my copy too, doesn't seem as pronounced as on rocket man though
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine