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Why are the hits frequently the last (most distorted) track on the side??
From: R. Totale
Date: 5/6/2004 5:48 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:
On Thu, 6 May 2004 08:28:13 -0400, "Powell"
wrote:
"Doc" wrote
I just got an LP of the classic 70's album "Chase" by
the late Bill Chase, and find that as often seems to be
the case, they put the hit single "Get It On" on the last
track of side one. The inner tracks of course always
have the most distortion. Surely the record companies
knew this, is there a reason they so frequently put the
hits on the inner tracks? At least this is my observation.
Exactly how would a record company know what
tracks, if any, the public would come to consider
"hits"? Do you think record producers are psychic
or what? How come some albums don't have any
hits... didn't they know that, too?
In the olden days, they sometimes used to release a single or two
before the full album came out, and knew they were hits.
That is true. In fact in many cases albums were only afterthoughts and the
singles were the real focus of the record companies.
They also
made turntables which operated correctly, and when you played a record
on one of those the inner tracks had no more distortion than the outer
tracks, and repeated plays did not spoil the grooves on the innermost
tracks. They still make them today. But, then and now, turntables
which work correctly are more expensive and harder to set up.
This is completely wrong. It isn't a question of turntables operating correctly
or incorrectly. It is all matters of degree. The fact is turntable technology
had been improving over the years. The best turntables in the world were
designed and built well after the early days of LPs. Inner groove distortion
has never been eliminated. It's effects can be greatly reduced with a well
designed inear tracking pickup arm but the only solution to inner groove
distortion is to not cut the records so close to the label. A number of
audiophile ressue companies have been doing this. By the way, some of the
better tables are harder to set up while some are not.
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