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Turntable quality

F

Frank72

Guest
I program a CHR that airs a few mix shows, mostly done from our turntables. Is there a special needle/catridge that is specifically built for broadcast? I find the ones our mixers prefer sound hollow on the air but they swear by them. I also find most mixers have tin ears from a life in working in the clubs!
 
The Stanton model 500ALII is an excellent cartridge intended for broadcast use. They're cheap, too, and if you do a google you can find a twin-pack for around $50.

Lots of interesting and pertinent info at this link:

http://www.kabusa.com/

> I program a CHR that airs a few mix shows, mostly done from
> our turntables. Is there a special needle/catridge that is
> specifically built for broadcast? I find the ones our mixers
> prefer sound hollow on the air but they swear by them. I
> also find most mixers have tin ears from a life in working
> in the clubs!
> <P ID="signature">______________
"...How can you be deaf, with ears like that??"</P>
 
Your station's processing should compensate for any imbalance.

I use Ortofon Nightclub S needles. I think they actually sound warmer when you reverse the weight on the tone arm and crank up the antiskate.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
The 500’s are OK but when it comes to broadcasting the Stanton 680 seems to be the standard.

R

> The Stanton model 500ALII is an excellent cartridge intended
> for broadcast use. They're cheap, too, and if you do a
> google you can find a twin-pack for around $50.
 
Most DJ-oriented cartridges use spherical needles which faciliate heavy scratching and back-cueing, albeit sacrificing a bit of sound quality along the way.

I'll second Sam's recommendation - Ortofon is a brand that's hard to beat when it comes to both scratching ability and sound quality. I've used several models for my own mixshows over the years and I've always been pleased with the end result. Only drawback is that they're not cheap; a pair will set you back $240-$300 depending on which model you buy.

I would NOT recommend Stanton cartridges. Having owned/used several of their needles in the past, they're good for mixing and all, but their sound quality strikes me as somewhat flat/muddy compared to other brands.

Whatever you buy, make sure the needles are indeed spherical - elliptical needles sound much better, but they're not suited for mixing applications (in fact, they'll shred the vinyl if used repeatedly for scratching, etc).

- M
 
> Most DJ-oriented cartridges use spherical needles which
> faciliate heavy scratching and back-cueing, albeit
> sacrificing a bit of sound quality along the way.

An even greater sacrifice is from the completely straight tone arms that pro DJ turntables typically use. This is supposedly the best for "scratching", but introduces a large tracking error that grows more and more worse as you approach the inner tracks on the record. This tracking error causes increased distortion and surface noise (pops and crackles), which a radio station's audio processing will make even more audible on the air.

Tone arms that are either S-shaped or straight with an angled cartridge have much more accurate tracking across the record, but aren't as good for "scratching".

<P ID="signature">______________
noiboc.jpg

"This is the New York Emergency Broadcast System satellite channel. They took the crosstown bus."</P>
 
> Tone arms that are either S-shaped or straight with an
> angled cartridge have much more accurate tracking across the
> record, but aren't as good for "scratching".

Interesting... Most DJ’s I’ve seen scratching records, use the Technics 1200 t-tables. These babies have S-shaped tone arms.
 
> > Tone arms that are either S-shaped or straight with an
> > angled cartridge have much more accurate tracking across
> the
> > record, but aren't as good for "scratching".
>
> Interesting... Most DJ’s I’ve seen scratching records, use
> the Technics 1200 t-tables. These babies have S-shaped tone
> arms.
>

Actually most of the ones that I am familiar with have straight tonearms. I have seen some Stantons and Gemini's with S-curved ones, but never a 1200. I think they are available, though, or are easy to switch out.
 
> The 500’s are OK but when it comes to broadcasting the
> Stanton 680 seems to be the standard.
>
> R
>
> > The Stanton model 500ALII is an excellent cartridge
> intended
> > for broadcast use. They're cheap, too, and if you do a
> > google you can find a twin-pack for around $50.
>

Most scratch DJ's swear by Shure M-447 Needles, and many of my friends use them, as for me, I spin CD..basically, I have no needles to worry about. thank you Denon :) (DN-S3000), most of my music comes off vinyl though, and I've gotten some horrible rips....heh
 
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