noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
I always used to think that this was a bleed-through effect on the tape that the records were mastered from but I'm sure I've noticed it with music that was most likely never on tape.
Sometimes on records you can hear the music faintly just before it starts properly
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noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
It does and it could be. But how would that happen?
Maybe it's got something to do with the cutting process, or it's some kind of quantum temporal effect where the vinyl molecules extend slightly into the future.
swears
preppy-kei
I always assumed this was the tape head picking up the faint signal from the section of tape that hadn't passed over it yet. Either from the studio tape used in mastering old pre-digital records, or from actually listening to cassette tapes myself. The effect is very noticable at the beginning of Japan's Ghosts. Can't say I've ever noticed it on a recent CD release.
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
I don't think it happens with CDs. But I'm fairly sure it does happen with records that are not mastered from analogue tape.
It happens on several dubstep records I have that have been mastered at Transition. I wonder if they run them on to analogue tape at any point.
It happens on several dubstep records I have that have been mastered at Transition. I wonder if they run them on to analogue tape at any point.
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
I know, it's still a mystery in the age of Google.
Google amateurs!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pre-echo+vinyl+ghost+sounds
My first result gave this which wasn't convincing, frankly:
"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)
"
result 2, a lot more convincing:
"One school of thought on tape winding for storage suggests playing the tape through from end-to-end and leaving it unrewound. Assuming the machine is properly adjusted and aligned, this should result in a smooth and uniform tape pack with even tension throughout. Leaving the tape in this tails out orientation means that should there be print through of the signal, that problem will be audible as an echo with the ghost signal following the strong signal. If left heads out and print through develops, it will be a precho (this is a made-up word, a contraction for “pre-echo”) with the ghost signal heard before the strong signal which is more distracting to the human ear and human mind."
result 3, warmer?:
"On vinyl cutting process, excessive amplitudes could produce ghost sounds on the neighboring grooves."
(Blissblogger turned up at no. 5!?)
Still not conclusive though.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pre-echo+vinyl+ghost+sounds
My first result gave this which wasn't convincing, frankly:
"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)
"result 2, a lot more convincing:
"One school of thought on tape winding for storage suggests playing the tape through from end-to-end and leaving it unrewound. Assuming the machine is properly adjusted and aligned, this should result in a smooth and uniform tape pack with even tension throughout. Leaving the tape in this tails out orientation means that should there be print through of the signal, that problem will be audible as an echo with the ghost signal following the strong signal. If left heads out and print through develops, it will be a precho (this is a made-up word, a contraction for “pre-echo”) with the ghost signal heard before the strong signal which is more distracting to the human ear and human mind."
result 3, warmer?:
"On vinyl cutting process, excessive amplitudes could produce ghost sounds on the neighboring grooves."
(Blissblogger turned up at no. 5!?)
Still not conclusive though.
I think dHarry's googling makes it quite clear, there are 2 causes of this effect:
It's most commonly caused by magnetic interference between adjacent layers of tape wound on a reel.
Also in these days of incredibly loud vinyl cuts you get the same effect on vinyl - the information in a vinyl groove is translated into left/right movement of the needle. So the louder you cut the grooves, the more left/right movement there is - the more deviation there is i the groove from a pure spiral.
So if the grooves are close together on a record and it is very loud then as you cut the lacquer, your will slightly interfere with what you cut on the last revolution - causing this "pre-echo" of about 1.8 seconds on a 33rpm record.
It's most commonly caused by magnetic interference between adjacent layers of tape wound on a reel.
Also in these days of incredibly loud vinyl cuts you get the same effect on vinyl - the information in a vinyl groove is translated into left/right movement of the needle. So the louder you cut the grooves, the more left/right movement there is - the more deviation there is i the groove from a pure spiral.
So if the grooves are close together on a record and it is very loud then as you cut the lacquer, your will slightly interfere with what you cut on the last revolution - causing this "pre-echo" of about 1.8 seconds on a 33rpm record.