AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
Ya, she has a name, sheesh..............
Gotta warp, these members can help. [Vinyl Flat]
- Thread starter AnthonyI
- Start date
kvetcha
Well-Known Member
I call it a Fancy Flat.
This is acceptable. But barely
I call it the Warp Field Vinyl Correctional Facility...
kvetcha
Well-Known Member
I rarely need to use the VF myself these days, but it’s incredibly reassuring that when I receive yet another dish-warped Polyvinyl release, I can have it flat as a pancake in a couple hours.
Ok everyone I need to get this off my chest.
As stated in the OP, everyone is doing this out of pure generosity, this process takes time and effort if it's done right. Which brings me to my comment, I don't think any of us go into this wanting to screw up someones albums, I'm sure everyone involved has done their homework on their own albums, worked out times and heat and so on. But please understand this is still a machine, things can go wrong........knock on wood, I've had no issues and I don't believe anyone else has.
But if you inquire about getting an album worked on, we, I, can't give you an iron clad guarantee no matter how much you push for one. My advice to those who are worried about what "Might" happen, don't do it. There is no point in stressing yourself out that much because you can't stop yourself from worrying about your album being damaged.
So again, I, and I'm sure all the others, truly enjoy "helping", but if your sending us an album to work on you're just going to have to give us a certain degree of trust, or like I said, this might not be the solution for you.
Also, for those who have had albums taken care of by anyone of the "crew" here, please continue to post your "testimonials" to help ease the anxiety for others
Thanks
I actually have a flat - but I'm very reluctant to be added to this list, not because I don't want to help others. I'm very afraid that I'll end up screwing up someone's record and feel like shit for doing so. I was hoping to get good at it but still not 100% with my own abilities with this thing.
I've had a pretty good track record with black vinyl and slightly lower on color vinyl but I have terrible luck with translucent color vinyl - I'd not been able to do a translucent perfectly yet... Vinyl Flat veterans - any tips with those? They seem to be more easy to track noise after flattening. Something about it being translucent or with color makes the sound more easily changed or something.
kvetcha
Well-Known Member
I’ve found translucent vinyl is noisier in general, are you doing before/after checks? do you wash the records beforehand?
Yeah I usually do a wipe down before putting it between the clamp. The issue seems to be the point where the warp originally was will flatten but gains some noise in the process. Sometimes even a light woosh.
kvetcha
Well-Known Member
I’ve generally read you should use a lower temperature with translucent vinyl. I tend to put everything on medium, which is just around 130, and then bake longer for thicker/more stubborn vinyl formulations.
I've generally done medium for an hr half. I've tried that on low but doesn't seem to do much even after a few tries. Having trouble finding the sweet spot. I guess these pouches do vary in temp from one another. I probably just need some more test runs.
kvetcha
Well-Known Member
Maybe do 45-60 minutes with translucent vinyl and give it a lengthy cool down.
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced whooshing on records that weren’t warped enough to whoosh to begin with.
AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
Everything I do is at medium (130-140 degrees) for an 1 hour and 15 min, the only slight adjustment is based on the warp. If it's an edge warp I make sure to put the warp at the seem of the pouch (where it folds over). Then I don't touch it until it's absolutely back to room temperature, usually takes a few hours, but this is important because warps will "remember" and go back to that state if the vinyl is free to "move", so don't take it out of the plates prematurely.
My best rule of thumb is to never turn up the heat, just extend the cook time. All that being said, bad warps, or pinches/creases in the vinyl might not ever come out. Outside of that, make sure the vinyl is clean, CLEAN, before baking it, anything left on the surface will bake right into the vinyl and that's going to be the cause of noise.
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AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
This took a while only because I've been feeling under the weather a bit and have had a lot on my mind, but yesterday I had time to work on these 2 for @moohoohahaha.
A couple of things on these LPs I noticed, very thin, so thin they have some chips on the edges, and to clarify, non of this is throwing shade at the LPs owner
We started off getting them clean, then pressed. After the 1st one was done, I did notice a really strong "oil" smell from the vinyl when I took it out of the pouch, looking at the results it looked flat, but I tossed it on the TT to double check. It had a very small wave left on the edge, so my initial thought was to toss it back in to try and get that edge cleaned up. Before doing that I wanted to drop a needle on it to see if there was any obvious distortion or whatever...........well, within that "wave" there seems to be a ripple, really tight peeks and valley's causing the stylus to hop all over the place. Those aren't going to come out no matter what you do, so I advised @moohoohahaha and between the smell, how thin these are and the ripples it was decided to leave it be.
The second LP was exactly the same, flat out of the press, but with a "wave" left over.........again, within the wave, a ripple. I'm not sure where these were pressed but I can't even imagine what would cause that ripple on the edge. It must be happening while the vinyl is still hot and it seems like something like a fork might be used to pull these off the press, not really sure, but it''s identical on both LPs so I have to assume its coming from the pressing plants "process".
Anyway, dropping the needle just passed the ripple (1/4" in) everything sounds fine and there's no warp or hop it's just this very small 1/2 or less edge that has this compressed "bumpty-bump", these are the things that I mentioned before that just won't come out.
Vids:
A couple of things on these LPs I noticed, very thin, so thin they have some chips on the edges, and to clarify, non of this is throwing shade at the LPs owner
We started off getting them clean, then pressed. After the 1st one was done, I did notice a really strong "oil" smell from the vinyl when I took it out of the pouch, looking at the results it looked flat, but I tossed it on the TT to double check. It had a very small wave left on the edge, so my initial thought was to toss it back in to try and get that edge cleaned up. Before doing that I wanted to drop a needle on it to see if there was any obvious distortion or whatever...........well, within that "wave" there seems to be a ripple, really tight peeks and valley's causing the stylus to hop all over the place. Those aren't going to come out no matter what you do, so I advised @moohoohahaha and between the smell, how thin these are and the ripples it was decided to leave it be.
The second LP was exactly the same, flat out of the press, but with a "wave" left over.........again, within the wave, a ripple. I'm not sure where these were pressed but I can't even imagine what would cause that ripple on the edge. It must be happening while the vinyl is still hot and it seems like something like a fork might be used to pull these off the press, not really sure, but it''s identical on both LPs so I have to assume its coming from the pressing plants "process".
Anyway, dropping the needle just passed the ripple (1/4" in) everything sounds fine and there's no warp or hop it's just this very small 1/2 or less edge that has this compressed "bumpty-bump", these are the things that I mentioned before that just won't come out.
Vids:
moohoohahaha
Well-Known Member
A marked improvement @AnthonyI ...glad I could provide a challenge for your top notch flattening skills
I’m guessing these might have bees pressed somewhere in Australia where the up and coming artist resides (Hieronymus Dros).
Are there any discernible etchings?
I received my replacements, but away from the house now.
I’m guessing these might have bees pressed somewhere in Australia where the up and coming artist resides (Hieronymus Dros).
Are there any discernible etchings?
I received my replacements, but away from the house now.
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moohoohahaha
Well-Known Member
It’s Hieronymus Dros - The Age of Hieronymus.
I just listened to the audio...which I agree doesn’t sound like Hieronymus Dros.
I just listened to the audio...which I agree doesn’t sound like Hieronymus Dros.
I just listened through the album, yeah must just be that one track, the rest doesn't sound like Morphine really, but the vocals and sax on whatever track that is are dead on.
AnthonyI
Well-Known Member
Hmmm, didn't notice anything.
jaycee
Well-Known Member
I've had this happen twice. Once when I forgot to take something out and once when I just wasn't careful enough and put something in for an hour and a half when I probably should've tested it with less time. I think the record has 'melted' just enough to deform the grooves. In my case, the woosh wasn't present prior to going through the flattening process.
This is pretty much what I do. I never turn it up above medium. Although I will give it a preheat on high especially in the winter. An hour to an hour and a half seems to be the sweet spot. If it's clear (which i tend not to buy) I don't put it in over an hour. I tend to run mine in the evening when i get home from work. Home, clean, into vinyl flat, and i just leave it in until the next day. If I have an edge warp or a wave I try to put the wave towards the warmer part of the pouch. I'll sometimes leave things sit in the pouch for a few days (heat off) just to keep them from deforming again or if i have a bad bowl warp. Leaving it cool is key. I'd say 9 out of 10 records I get have some kind of minor warp. I'm a little too perfectionist about it and basically make my decision to put something in the vinyl flat if if i can see space between the platter and the vinyl while spinning.
