boba

doesn't everyone have their own set of secret ninja techniques? anyways, it doesn't involve glue...

not all of them, and i don't want to call them out publicly, but at least two arizona sellers that used to be honest are doing this now. one directly admitted it in response to a message about it, another denied it and said he was going to report me to ebay (for what? getting ripped off by him?) but he wrote some stuff which directly contradicted messages sent over a previous sale he sent me of a polished record.

ballad side is the killer side on it

it does not make the records play better. it makes them look like they are less damaged than they are. it's purely aesthetic.

I have talked to the label owner and I think other people have too. I wasn't even trying to find it, Bobby Brinkley contacted me, I guess because his record was on my playlists, the squires are a white backing band, the backing group on his record was the paramount four.

you also have to make sure you're playing the correct side of the record as well as putting the record onto the turntable vs. trying to insert it into the CD player

I imagine if you're dj'ing at a venue with no pitch control on the decks, that the turntables are also pretty crappy and the cartridge is cheap and old and uncalibrated and broken and the stylus is messing up your records. All of those things also interfere with how the record is "supposed" to sound. Anyways, I think pitching a record up or down can enhance people's experience via providing more continuity across songs (although I understand that on the northern scene that people often talk in between tracks so that it's less of an issue I guess). Also, if it makes a song sound better, and you're not doing +8 but slight changes, it can make a huge difference and make things more enjoyable without "ruining" it for a fan of the song. Also, lots of records were actually pressed at the wrong speed. My friend and I transferred the Newsound "Betcha never even thought about it" from the original tapes and it was actually much slower than the 45. The reason that side is so good is because of the faster speed, it doesn't work as well slower. If it were released with the correct speed it would have been a more forgettable track and pitching up would have greatly improved it. I can think of lots of other records that were screwed up in the mastering / pressing phase. Also, do you disagree with using the EQ on the mixer?

Hi. Last Sunday I did my annual anniversary show where I go back and play my favorite records I played over the year. You can listen to the show using this direct link (if you want to download the mp3, you can right click and use "save as") https://www.sittingin.../4-29-2012.mp3? You can listen to other music shows and all my interviews via links on my main page: https://www.sittinginthepark.com/ I can't believe I've been doing this show for a decade now (apparently I didn't realize it during the show either and kept announcing it as the 9th anniversary...). I really want to thank everyone for their listenership and support. I am going to try to do more with the show in the coming up year, I want to try to put it up on iTunes and/or have an RSS feed. I will try to put up my anniversary shows going back to 2002 and will try to do a "my favorite records of all time" show. Thanks again everyone, playlist follows. Drifters - I need you now - Atlantic Paragents - Soda Shop - 20th Century Fabulous Performers - One little kiss - Blackjack T-99 - We've got everything - Hi Jimmy Dockett - Take a chance - Mystic 4 Young Ladies - I'm tired of running around - Stang Decisions - Color me blue - York Ron Harrington - It happened to me - Hillside Dream Merchants - Can't pull myself away - Jenges Jeff Dale - Don't forget about me baby - Atco My Children Plus Two - Magic Words - Magic Blackblood - Oh how I love you - Blackblood Soulistics - Cotton eyed jo - Liberation Sir Dane and Darius - We shouldn't have to break up - Sir Dane and Darius Production Bob and Gene - I can be cool - Mo Do Cloe Martin - Winter is much too long - Epic Aswads - I'm so proud - The Naturall Organizations Rick St John - One heart hurting - Independent Ahead of our Time - It ain't fair - Wiley WSM Production Sex - Wonders of the world - Super City Sapphire - How've you been gettin' along - Blue Ash Lintons - Come back to me - Lock Degrees - I'll be waiting - Capital City Attractions - Did I do the right thing? - Nationwide Lintons - Lost love - Lock Laurene Lavallis - Key to our love - Tronic Young Divines - What is the true price of love - Adventutre One Prasz - Solid love affair - Southern Sound Mainstream - Got to have your love - Galleon Stage Coach - When you left you did me in - United Sound thanks, Bob

I guess there are a bunch of ways that people do it, but basically it involves removing the top layer of the vinyl / styrene. It does nothing to improve the sound and just makes the record look cleaner -- surface scuffs are gone, the record gets an artificial sheen, and you can see dull half-scratches that used to be deeper scratches. It's a shady practice IMO because it's not cleaning the record any more or helping the play, it just creates an artificial appearance of the record being clean and hides the real condition. Some sellers use it lightly but some sellers grind the record down so there are no visible scratches, even when the record is totally unplayable. I think the sellers that do it think that they're being clever as they're somehow making the record look super clean but it's pretty easy to tell a record has been polished when it has happened, it has a weird shine, there are these weird half-scratches, and it looks wrong. It actually has the weird shine of those RCA dynaflex pressings (and I guess it is difficult to tell if an RCA dynaflex 45 has been polished).

I like the invictus material a lot

https://www..co.uk/product_detail.asp?id=11836

Plus his listings wouldn't interest you because he doesn't sell many aretha franklin and otis redding 45s. ... just kidding! I care a lot about condition, some very rare records you have to take them as they come. Plus I'm really good at cleaning records, I can generally tell from the clip how it will sound after cleaned. I remember the first auctions he did, there was all sorts of crazy stuff that nobody had seen for sale before. I remember it was the first time I saw the Honey B's 45, I think I was like the second bidder at around $40. I wish I could have my collection but skip to ebay 10 years ago.

I use the pitch when DJing, not to make specific records sound better but to better match the tempos of adjacent records (this is for live DJing, not the radio show). I don't actually blend the records like a "real" DJ would do though.

he has mint copies of the store stock he got in detroit.

I'm very sorry, I confused your earlier post about the price of the record with thinking you won it, I'm really sorry. It definitely is a different copy though, this one played worse than the previous one. Thanks.

I'm not saying to use a low quality stylus. I'm saying that a mono vs. stereo cart ride differently in the groove and some records will sound better with one vs. the other, especially if damaged and how they're damaged. There isn't a universal one that will make everything sound better. Additionally, a mono cart is much better than a stereo one for recording mono records. Additionally, you're recommending a stereo cart for someone who wants to record mostly mono recordings.

I don't think there isn't one generic stylus that will sound better on mono AND stereo recordings as well as mono or stereo recordings that have been damaged by a mono or stereo cart.

I'm surprised you can't make a mono mp3 but if you wanted to do this in cooledit, you would just do stereo->mono and then do mono->stereo and you will end up with a left and right channel that are identical. I guess this is tedious if the box does it for you.

The buyer did not return the one a month ago, George Gell won it (and posted about it here I think). This is a different copy. I was the second bidder both times. I heard the soundclip but I am very good at cleaning records and can usually make them sound better. I do not polish records, that is one of my biggest peeves.

I mentioned the atlantic 45 that was a hit in Chicago. I agree with you about "the last girl", it actually sounds way ahead of his time, almost like a 70s philly record. I'm not on the "northern scene" but I don't think they have that many records that are played as northern records compared to, say, the impressions. Maybe you meant the most prolific soul artists in general?

new sweet soul collectors are crazy. I still need this as a stock copy (or either of the UA Bingham titles for that matter) if someone has one to trade. I think Bingham was lead singer in the group five flights up.

I think it's pretty much abandoned, and the creator was looking for someone to take it over but didn't find anyone.

on ebay there was a promo of 020 recently with the unique side only but i was the second bidder

yes, the 020 title is what I'm missing. what do you think the value is on the 015? I don't think there's any northern demand for it, and I would have thought it would have been "discovered" by now if it was northern. If you have a trade we can maybe worth something out over that sterphonics on cha-tok I have a double of. I have a double of the 019 number also. It's not in discographies for some reason but 018 came out with two flipsides and there is a skye-distributed released of "hip squeeze" with a totally different number (4519 -- if you search ebay the only copies are this release).

I don't know what advantage of your stereo-mono converter box is, it doesn't do anything that mixing stereo to mono in cooledit won't do. If anything, it's one more stage of recording that could lessen the fidelity. A real mono cartridge / stylus will make a real difference. You should have a stereo one and a mono one on hand so you can switch easily. Use the mono one in general and test with a stereo one on recordings that don't sound good (esp styrene burned records). I haven't bought a stylus / cartridge online in a while, I used to use garage-a-records.com . They will mount the cartridge into the headshell and wire it up for you which is like an impossible task for me (I don't understand how anyone manages to do it actually). You can email them and ask for advice as to what you should get in your price range, etc. There is also needledoctor.com which I think is a popular site but I don't think I've used them. Mixing stereo to mono for both stereo and mono recordings will generally reduce crackle / pops as crackles and pops are generally louder in one of the two channels, so you're cutting the gain on the crackle. I don't know how it would fix distortion though.