needle hopping up...

[bdrummen]

Hey there,

New to doing backspins & I noticed if I get a little aggressive when doing it (sometimes you get caught up in the mix :P that my needles
hop up a bit, which causes my tune to go back some & lose its marked area (so that i know where to go back to). Is the best fix for this
putting more weight on the counter weight or is there some other alternative? And if putting more weight on the counter weight is the solution to this problem, how much more? (I use Ortofon pro concorde needles btw)

[DJVADER]

The main problem is the counter weight, you would probably need to add more since its jumping around with you're backspinning; here a video explaining it to detail. It really important to make sure its correct and it could mess up your vinyls unless you don't care. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynIDWgo2lpo

[bdrummen]

Well I'm using Digital Vinyl, it doesn't matter in that case right? except for maybe the needle itself?

[Conrad Launerts]

i have the same issue! is it supposed to skip wen u scratch!? im using the recommended counter weight for the needle(shure m44-7)

[DJVADER]

Its not suppose to skip. Well you could still scratch and mess up your digital vinyl, but try to check the needle itself if its dusty or any of the connections to the head-shell are loose. If thats not the case check your anti-skating if its too high, other then that it has to be your counter weight.

[2Liter]

Tape a penny to the headshell, put more weight on the tone arm, adjust tonearm angle. Straight tonearms are also really nice for staying in the groove.

[bdrummen]

Really? you can still harm the digital vinyl? i thought i heard somewhere from someone that whatever they use for the stuff that's on the record is undamageable from a needle because it's not designed to wear down like a normal groove i.e. it's made to be read from a computer so no traditional groove is on the record. Do you know anything about how the technology of it works? I already made sure my anti-skating was set right & my arm height control has the tone arm set straight, so those are both good to go. Probably a counter weight issue but I already have it set at 3.5 right now (4 is as high as i can go) Oh, and I can't do the penny thing because I'm using Ortofons, which are really skinny-like. Typical head shells are good for that though. Maybe I could tape a penny to the counter weight? :P

[2Liter]

well, it still produces tones that it sends to the computer through the audio interface that can become cue-burned and distorted like any other vinyl recording. Putting extra stuff on the counterweight would probably do the opposite of what you want to do.

[Ohmega]

Well there are a few things you need to check because this is a matter of tonearm calibration.

First: Make sure your deck platter is level in both front to back and side to side.

Second: Verify that your tonearm is balanced at 0 degree (parallel to platter) with 0-grams of tracking force. If you are balanced and have the counter weight dial at 0-grams you should 9 times out of 10 be able to spin the counterweight inward to 3 to 4.5 grams of tracking pressure. I run at around 3 to 3.5 max. Do not tape a penny to the headshell!

Third: Dont listen to stupid write ups that say anti-skate and tracking force should be set to the same value. In order to calibrate you need a blank vinyl. Simply put the needle on the blank vinyl and adjust the anti-skate till the tonearm does not move inward toward the spindle or outward to the platter. You want it to stay in one position no matter how fast or slow you spin the vinyl. With this done you are 100% sure the groove is not pulling or pushing out of the valley of the groove. The natural inward cut of the vinyl should guide the needle toward the spindle.

Fourth: Make sure the tonearm height is adjusted so the tonearm is parallel to the vinyl. Some DJs like to put it at a slight downward pitch to the vinyl for extra tracking force, but this is only needed in extreme bass situations where the decks are resonating with a lot of vibration. Best sound quality is for it to be parallel.

There is also a groove on timecode vinyl, it is just a sine wave, but you can damage it. However I have had some of my timecode vinyls for years and they work fine.

[DJ BONES]

Make sure ur vinyls are flat and not in a slight bowl shape from warping...

[bdrummen]

Thanks Ohmega; a lot of your advice I have learned from videos on youtube, but one question on the ''first'' step; Do you make sure your platter is level by placing a level (those kind you buy at hardware stores) on top of it & noting the correct setting? Or is there another (better or more practical) way? Coincidentally, after having set my counter weight & anti-skate, they both have turned out to be set at 4. Also, i don't know how many other DJs experience this, but to make my tonearm height parallel, i didn't have to turn my height dial at all; it's set at 0 and the tonearm is perfectly parallel. Is that normal not to have to adjust (turn the dial) at all?

[sense]

make sure the record is not warped, also make sure the record hole fits snug around the spindle if not use a little bit tape to tighten the hole.

[bdrummen]

Record's not warped, already did the tape for the hole thing. No need to use a balance tool on the platter to make sure the platter isn't off-center? Wait, do platters even get off-center?!?

[sense]

are the needles new? if so I usually let mine sit on the records for a day or two to help break em in.

[bdrummen]

nope, had the needles and been scratchin' with'em for awhile now (probably about 8 mos)

[sense]

nope, had the needles and been scratchin' with'em for awhile now (probably about 8 mos)
lol then I guess its time to grab some M-447 and never look back

[DJhalf]

counter weight and need to stop heavy hitting it.

[djslik]

If you have 1200's then you might try battle style setups:

1. Remove that lousy screw on small silver counter weight that goes on the back of the tonearm
2. Reverse your Big Counter Weight and move it more towards the tonearm. IE it makes the needle drop more towards the record.
3. Back in the day with straight vinyl we used to add pennies or even nickels to the tonearm (maybe a little extreme)
4. Buy some really good slipmats like Butter Rugs and Magic Carpets (my personal setup I use both at the same time)
5. The Shure M44-7's are still some of the best battle needles and stick to that groove like glue. I use them all day everyday and I scratch constantly, and hard. I have to really throw the record around to even get them to skip.
6. Maybe ease up on your platter control.