Since getting my turntables, I’ve had some questions. Sometimes I forget what those are are so I’m posting a thread for current and future questions. Please bare with me.
I noticed that when I catch the first beat on one tt, and for lack of a better word, scratch/juggle that first beat, the needle moves and I have to re-adjust the needle to the beginning of the record. So I basically have to catch that first beat and hold it; I can’t mess with the record or the needle moves out of place. Any idea what’s causing this?
Beat matching is a lot tougher than on CDJs. I find myself riding the pitch for 3 to 4 minutes. Any tips on perfecting this skill (aside from practice)?
Have you set the counterweight properly for the cartridge you have? There should be instructions on what the counterweight should be set at for your given cartridge. Sounds like it’s “slipping” due to that potentially.
Practice. Takes a while on decks. I think because it’s a mechanical item and the tracking of the record can cause slight differences, it makes it much different than digital. (I’ve found that even using DVS with turntables and digital files seems a lot easier than straight vinyl) I still screw the pooch mightily on some transitions.
Using vinyl. I figured it was a weight issue. Also, how can I tell if I need a new needle, aside from crackling? I’m working with Shure Whitelabels now. Are those any good?
Going back to beatmatching, it’s a little getting used to. Any small movement on the pitch fader affects the tempo. It is kinda fun though. Not gonna lie.
as for the beatmatching , practice “throwing” the record in from the same place each time while adjusting the pitch some each time and noticing how long it stays on.
an old trick is to start with the pitch at -8 or +8 and slowly zero in on the correct pitch, while re-cueing
Ok, so I adjusted the weight accordingly on each turntable (between 1.3-1.5). Still having the issue on that one tt though. If I scratch the record just a little bit, it jumps about 8 bars are so.
Should be about 2-3g for whitelabels.
They say zero anti skate in the manual but I prefer to set the anti skate with a blank vinyl myself, as per 1 of viperfrank’s videos
Swapping the carts and styli around might help ID a problem but I’d just buy new styli if you don’t know how old or used (and abused) they are. You can clean them up with a good soak in some iso alcohol and a few cycles in an ultrasonic cleaner or gentle brushing but I still wouldn’t trust 2nd hand ones unless you’ve got a scope to have a good look at the tips tbqh.
My recommendation to everyone is to watch out for cheap needles. I got a pair of needles with my Stanton turntables that worked really great. Then one of them worn out and I had to buy a new one.
I searched and found a replacement stylus (people said it was an exact copy of the Stanton stylus) which was cheap and I bought a few ones. Lesson learned - these needles are crackling so my ears hurt even on low volume. I never noticed crackles with the first needles, even if the records are a bit dusty. They are also very loud on the record, meaning you can hear the song from the turntable very loudly compared to the good needles. I imagine this is pretty bad for the record.
I have also always had skipping issues when scratching. Shure M447 has dampening which will prevent the skipping, so that’s really the way to go.
As for riding the pitch - that just takes a lot of practice. About every third time I practice I focus on beat matching only. I only choose kinda similar songs, ride the pitch and don’t mix at all. Usually I just do this for an hour with headphones on.
What I’ve noticed from this practice is that after a while I’m much more “aggressive” on the pitch. Meaning I drag it from top to bottom and then in smaller intervals until I find the correct pitch. Sometimes I can now do this like 4 times up and down and then have an almost perfect pitch. Small nudges can be harder since it can be hard to hear if the cued song is slightly faster or slightly slower.
