Pre-echo

[Guest eddyw]

When I used to play certain vinyl records I wondered what caused the opening bars(about 2secs) of the music to sound, very quietly, before the music actually started. I termed it a pre-echo. I could understand it better if it came after the music had begun (maybe immediately at the end of a track, I wouldn't be able to hear it otherwise). It doesn't happen on CD's and I can't remember it happening on tape. Can anyone explain this.

eddyw

[blike]

I'm not quite sure, since that was before my day.

 

Was it the needle making the sound? I know that if you turn the volume down you can hear the music faintly coming from the needle...its pretty neat. That would be my guess.

 

Maybe someone else who has more experience with that format of music can answer ;x

[daisy]

Aahhh!!!....the days of vinyl........sorry I have no explanation because it sound suspiciously like physics to me, but I grew up with vinyl and I miss it sorely!!!!

[blike]

Pour yourself a nice bowl of rice krispies and enjoy the sound of vinyl records... (if you've never had rice krispies, you won't get the joke. their slogan is "snap, crackle, pop")

[Guest eddyw]

It could be the stylus making the sound but surely that would occur at the same time as the actual music, so you wouldn't hear it, or maybe the stylus angle may make the delay between the two sounds. I don't know. As far as I remember I only heard the sound at the beginning of the record but not at the start of each track. Thanks for your replies, I'll have a ponder.

PS In the days of vinyl we called them LPs not Albums didn't we?

eddyw

[Sayonara]

The only feasible explanation is that the fabrication technique used to cut or press the vinyl left two imprints of the track on the record, one of which had a 'pre-lag' but was merely a ghost of the actual track.

 

It's probably only noticeable on old or cheaply made records.

[daisy]

Well...I always called them albums:) I loved my old vinyls anyway - great cover art in those days.

[Guest eddyw]

I think Sayonara gives a good possible answer for the phenomemon. Looking back I think it happened mainly on recordings of piano music but not only on the cheaper labels (of course the price of the record prolbably had little bearing on the production price)

 

Talking of vinyl did you hear of that person who could identify the music on a classical record simply by looking at the tracks? He couldn't do the same with a CD of course.

At least if you had a dodgy LP you could usually see where the fault was.

I also miss the vinyl and am convinced they had a better sound coverage. I also got more of a thrill buying a new LP than I do with the CD.

As far as the artwork goes, there was much more room on the cover for it. The only advantage of a CD is their smaller size for storing and that there is no background noise.

eddyw

[YT2095]

Imagine the needle being in a valley made of Vinyl.

that walls of this valley are uneven, as the needle moves through the gloove in the valley it creates tiny movements in it that it then transferes to a small crystal and converted to electrical signals that is then amplified. Ok back to the valley... since the edges of the valley are uneven appropriate to the sound is produces, and it also runs in a spiral, with the leading track being smooth, while the needle makes the transition from the smooth to the uneven part of the track, the outside of the valley peak will be slightly uneven too because of the pressing of the proper ridges on the other side or the peak, it`s the nature of the vinyl. a dent on the one side will be a tiny bump on the other (not much! but enough to be picked to picked up by the needle)

 

hope that helps

[Guest eddyw]

That sounds a good explanation. It also gives a reason why the same thing didn't happen on tapes.

Thankyou everyone.

eddyw