Post #105871 by TikiGardener on Mon, Aug 2, 2004 8:14 PM

On 2004-08-02 20:07, Kono wrote:
A couple more questions:

I read on the Tiki Finds thread that you can pretty much obliterate the pops and static by putting a film of water on the album while recording. Yet this is apparently very bad for the record.

Does this really work that well? And how damaging is it to the record? Would using distilled water be better?

I'm using Diamond Cut software to filter the pops and hisses but obviously it would be preferrable to not have to use the filters at all with a nice source signal. The continuous noise filter does the best job but you can hear some compression effect in the final product, even if it is minor.

I'm shooting for optimal sound quality. Do you put the water on the LP and clean up the signal knowing that you're damaging the vinyl (and just how damaging is water anyway?)? Or do you prefer to let the software do the cleaning and leave the vinyl, crappy as it may be, as is?

Anyone else using Diamond Cut?

I've done this for years, and haven't found any problems. So long as you clean your records properly. AFter all you're probably doing this once, to get a better recording for digital. So clean the record after recording it.

I will say that while it does reduce pops and clicks it won't eliminate the really bad ones. It will tone down a really bad pop to a dull thuck. But this method will pull off some high end response.

That said, I'm glad the idea came to me one day when I was recording a bunch of worn Yardbirds records. I played the resulting tapes until they wore out. And then repeated the whole process. Two plays in about a decade made good tapes until I could find better originals and re-issues.

Try it out, see if you like the results.
TG