old 70s/80s vinyl digitizing ... any insights?

[xalama qo]

Hi guys,
I've got a side project going on where I'm digitizing a guy's old record collection. Hours of good listening! This is work? hehe!
He's provided an old Pinnacle/Steinberg Clean Plus 5 bundle which includes a USB powered turntable preamp and sound card in one unit. Cool!

It's all working fine, and he's not too fussed about quality, just a nostalgia trip for him, so I haven't tried to clean any audio yet... I thought I'd complete the mammoth task of digitizing first, then clean a little afterwards.

I've been noticing the strangest thing... if there's any consistent crackle on the album it's always in the left ear (wearing headphones ) Occasional crackle and pops happen on both sides, but typically the vinyl crackle is either left ear only, or really attenuated in the right... so let's say it sounds like it's been panned left.

Is this normal? I've been trying to figure out the possible reason for the left side preference. It's definitely not cables, or clipping, or mains hum, or any of that, and the needle itself is fine. It also varies from album to album, and on some portions of some songs there is no crackle at all.

So I've concluded that it must be from the vinyl groove itself, not any of the hardware chain involved in playback. (sounds obvious )

Now the record/turntable turns clockwise, and the needle reads the outer edge of the groove as the left-channel... is that correct? Or is there mid/side I'm not taking into account? Anyway, assuming this guy cleaned his records with a sponge or chamois cloth or whatever the method was, and wiped them down in a more or less circular motion from centre to outer edge, that could possibly leave a residue on the left side of the groove, which may be the cause of the crackle being more prevalent on the left side... (in my humble estimation and understanding of these things.)

Please shout if I'm sprouting nonsense!

Then, regarding the audio cleaning, I'll probably address the big pops and clicks manually, because there aren't really that many. But I was thinking that I should probably split the stereo wave into separate left and right channels, and then just process the left through Clean's de-crackler, or perhaps a more modern algorithm... but I'm not gonna lay out huge dosh on iZotope or Sony Spectra Layers for this!
My thinking is that processing the problematic left channel instead of both will result in fewer overall artifacts from the de-crackler. Anyway, I'll do a few tests using different methods, I just don't want to get that typical noise-profile hollowness as a result.

BUT my main question is... why the crackle in the left ear, with substantially less-to-no crackle in the right ear? (yes, I clean both my ears every morning, lack of personal hygiene is not a factor here )

Anyone else experienced this?
Thanks!

[osiris]

Soundforge was how I did it. You have to manually take out pops, software can really mess up the sound. With SF you can zoom in so much to select what to remove it doesn't affect sound and also Noise Removal tool was aces for turntable hum.
Then get a Statistic on it and use a Maximizer. The old songs were not loud, at all.

[BertKoor]

the needle reads the outer edge of the groove as the left-channel... is that correct? Or is there mid/side I'm not taking into account?

No, that's not how it works. Stereo records are mono compatible. So it's mid-side encoded indeed. Needle movement up/down is the amplitude or mono signal, movements sideways is the side (stereo encoding) channel.

The theory of some residue on one side of the groove however sounds interesting. You could try to clean one record thoroughly with some water and a drop of whashup liquid and a gentle brush, see weather that helps. It could also be physical damage (dent of needle dropping) then nothing helps.

Be careful with automatic de-clicking. I lost the cowbell on one record once

[xalama qo]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I really don't want to mess with the records at all, so I won't try to clean them physically. There's just too much risk for damage, and cleaning 100 odd records is way too time consuming!

I'm using Vegas for manual cleaning. Its audio editing is superb, and just splitting a clip on a pop or click creates a split with auto fade out and fade in, so it's super quick, and the split second volume drops are inaudible.

I've read in various places online and know from experience that with corrective processing 'less is more'. So I'll be very careful with the crackle
threshold levels, and I think splitting the track into separate left and right channels for processing will be a good method to experiment with to lessen overall artifacts.

I'm not looking for perfection, but if there's a quick and simple enough way to minimize distraction from the music then I'll use it. Otherwise if it causes phasing or loss of cowbells I'll just leave it as is.

IMO the crackle is part of the charm! So I'll give him the albums uncleaned, and then a cleaned version a bit later on. He can decide which he prefers to listen to.

[osiris]

There's also a very low tech trick that will stop some skips. Tape a penny on top of the needle. I know it sounds weird. I don't know where you are or what currency you have, but a nickel and quarter is too much, dime not enough. A penny is just enough weight for good playback and actually stops some skips.
As far as cleaning - some alcohol mixed with distilled water in a spray bottle wiped off with a microfiber cloth.
Most of mine were 12" singles that had been used in clubs and you wouldn't believe how much tobacco smoke and drinks were spilled on them.

[xalama qo]

Thanks osiris. I haven't experienced any skips yet, thank goodness. the turntable I'm using is an old Sansui from the 80s, and it has an adjustable counterweight on the stylus arm, so if I come across any tracks that make the needle take off for a bit I'll adjust the counterweight first, then if that fails I'll dig in my pockets for some coins!

I assume that an LCD screen cleaning kit would pretty much do the trick re diluted alcohol and microfibre cloth?

Thanks for the tips!

[osiris]

That's what I used - the one with what looks like a scraper. Quick and easy, just spray and wipe it off.

[Teezdalien]

The wood glue method will give you the best results, but yeah you can't be bothered.
Also I wouldn't recommend sticking any coins to your headshell unless you want to wear out both your records and styli, you shouldn't need to if it's weighed properly.

[xalama qo]

The wood glue method will give you the best results, but yeah you can't be bothered.
Also I wouldn't recommend sticking any coins to your headshell unless you want to wear out both your records and styli, you shouldn't need to if it's weighed properly.

Wood glue method? What's that? Cover the vinyl with a thin film of wood glue then peel it off when it's dried?
I might try something like that with one or 2 of my own records, but not with another guy's babies! He might object quite strongly! But a cool tip, thanks.

I'm sure sticking a coin to the headshell with blue tack/prestik would be fine as a workaround for skips if they are in one particular track, but not something you'd want to have there permanently.

Thanks

[Teezdalien]

The wood glue method will give you the best results, but yeah you can't be bothered.
Also I wouldn't recommend sticking any coins to your headshell unless you want to wear out both your records and styli, you shouldn't need to if it's weighed properly.

Wood glue method? What's that? Cover the vinyl with a thin film of wood glue then peel it off when it's dried?
I might try something like that with one or 2 of my own records, but not with another guy's babies! He might object quite strongly! But a cool tip, thanks.

I'm sure sticking a coin to the headshell with blue tack/prestik would be fine as a workaround for skips if they are in one particular track, but not something you'd want to have there permanently.

Thanks

Yeah, that's pretty much the procedure in a nutshell. I was a bit skeptical myself when I first heard about it, but after trying this with a few old unimportant records I can assure you it works really well and removes much of the dirt etc. embedded deep in the grooves. I don't think it's a good idea to repeat the process multiple times on the same record as I think it will eventually lead to some degradation of the actual grooves.

Are you digitizing these records?

Sure adding extra weight to the headshell will prevent skipping, but if you're wanting to restore the records to as good a condition as possible it kind of defeats the purpose of restoring them as it will wear out both the grooves in the record and the styli much more rapidly.

[xalama qo]

Yup, digitizing them, just as a side project for my dad's friend. So no glue methinks!

My main "huh?" was why the heck the vinyl crackle is consistently way more prevalent on the left side only. Wondering if anyone else has experienced 'biased' crackle.

I might try the glue trick on my old Kylie record, see if I can lube the tracks for the 'Loo-loo-locomotion'

In my defense, I was young, I had a crush, ok? Sheesh! Don't judge me

[xalama qo]

or Matt Bianco...all the people on the left, what's that sound? All the people on the right, boogaloo! Wap bam boogie...or something like that.

Jeez, I forgot that even existed! I need to find the old record stash. It might help me remember some of my childhood. That there just reminded me of buying ice creams at the beachfront pool.

Good times

[xalama qo]

I just changed the thread title to 'vinyl digitizing' instead of 'vinyl restoration', just to be clear that I'm not trying to restore the actual physical records themselves, I just had some observations and questions re one-sided crackle and how best to approach cleaning the digitized audio.

IMO, the best bet would be to separate the stereo track into left and right channels, de-crackle the left channel, then bounce back down to stereo master (normalized). There's no point in de-crackling the right channel if there's no crackle on it... right?

Anyhoo, more insights into this strange phenomenon are welcome!

[xtp]

My main "huh?" was why the heck the vinyl crackle is consistently way more prevalent on the left side only. Wondering if anyone else has experienced 'biased' crackle.

I assume you have checked it is the actual record causing the crackle you are hearing, and not a faulty wire for the channel in question, connecting to the stylus.

I would agree with the others who have cautioned against weighting the stylus. Setting the weight correctly is the key, as well as any anti skate devices.

You might want to try posting your question here. Turntable Forum

[osiris]

I wouldn't do it on every track, but I had a deadly skip at the start of one single, and when I put the penny on it, it played through. This is ONLY to try for an bad skip. Might work, might not.