audio balance on shure whitelabels

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Posted by DJ Intrigue on Apr-25-2004 19:25:

audio balance on shure whitelabels

Hey guys,

Over the past months, I have been upgrading my dj setup from the shitty Numark Battle Pack to professional equipment. A few days ago, my last order came in and my setup is quite amazing now. I got two black Technics MK2's and Whitelabel needles to accompany them. My mixer is the Vestax PCV-275.

My problem lies with the Whitelabels. They are great needles and the sound quality is definitely there. However, the audio balance seems to be off center on both needles. The one on the left table needs to be turned a tad towards the right on the channel balance knob so the audio is centered. The one on the right needs to be turned a tad towards the left to be centered. I tried swapping the cartridges on each table but it is still the same except vise versa from what I said above. I even put one Whitelabel on the Numark table to make sure the Technics were good to go. Same problem. Everything is grounded properly.

It's strange though because the crap needles that came with the Numark pack are balanced perfectly when used, so this rules out any problems with the mixer. I have the tracking force, tone arm height, and anti-skate all set to 2 respectively. The overhang on the needle I adjusted and I lengthened it so the tick mark is set at the fourth line. The overhang settings don't seem to have an impact on this problem. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there is some line interference somewhere? Any suggestions?

I don't like the idea of having to set the balance every time I spin a different track. Is there anything I could do or am missing? Here is my setup if it is necessary.

2x Technics SL-1200 MK2 Tables
2x Shure Whitelabel Needles
Vestax PCV-275 Mixer
Alesis M1 Active MK2 Monitors
Sennheiser HD-280 Pro Headphones

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Posted by vhx1 on Apr-25-2004 20:00:

Interesting. I think i have the same problem. It could be your cabling or the mixer. I notice that when I am recording to my computer. THe left channel is always stronger than the right channel. I have no idea why this happens so i just edit the sound file after i finish recording to fix it

Posted by borron on Apr-25-2004 22:29:

quote:
Originally posted by vhx1
Interesting. I think i have the same problem. It could be your cabling or the mixer. I notice that when I am recording to my computer. THe left channel is always stronger than the right channel. I have no idea why this happens so i just edit the sound file after i finish recording to fix it

Maybe it's a whitelabel problem? I've also noticed when recording that my left channel is a bit stronger than the right one... while mixing, the left channel led is always one more lit up than the right one.

Posted by spit_heron on Apr-25-2004 22:54:

quote:
Originally posted by borron
Maybe it's a whitelabel problem? I've also noticed when recording that my left channel is a bit stronger than the right one... while mixing, the left channel led is always one more lit up than the right one.

ditto, on whitelabels

Posted by WeasiL on Apr-26-2004 02:20:

i can say this is not a problem that are only on the whitelabels. i had a pair of stanton trackmaster II's and my left channel was always lower then the right on both tables. i actually just upgraded to whitelables and it seemed to have cured the problem. although on some vinyl's one channel is stronger then the other. i'm using a djm500 but have seen the problem on a djm600 and a few vestex mixers.

Posted by dj chex on Apr-26-2004 04:42:

i honestly don't think it's the whitelabel's problem. I don't see that problem when using virgin vinyl or new records. Since the stylus wants to go twords the inside of the groove, it may eventually cause playback problems.

Posted by khemfusion on Apr-26-2004 04:47:

I have the same problem with my Shure M44-Gs

Posted by dj chex on Apr-26-2004 04:56:

i think this problem happens w/ all needles. its more of a vinyl problem thing i guess.

Posted by D Dubya on Apr-26-2004 07:08:

I get that problem too with my Ortofon Concordes. I think it's more the records than anything else though. I adjust the balance on my mixer accordingly and it varies from song to song. Always just a little stronger on the left....

Posted by cryo on Apr-27-2004 21:26:

Yea i was just mixing and recording today and i noticed that i have the same problem with my mk5 w/ whitelabel on the left side that the left has a tad higher signal making it off center.

Posted by wrzonance on Aug-11-2004 20:31:

im restarting this thing...
i got my whitelables,
i have 1200 mk3 techs
all the settings are tuned in just right as per directions... unforuntaly i don't have any other needles to compare it to. All i know is that I am using brand new vinyls with brand new whitelables on used decks... there's nothing wrong with the mixer even if it has a weak efx processor (DJX700)

Gar. Why won't it work.

Any ideas on what the deal is.... again?

Posted by tu_face on Aug-11-2004 21:18:

quote:
Originally posted by Dirk W.
I get that problem too with my Ortofon Concordes.

ditto, with both my current white labels, and my old ortofon concorde pro S carts.

i honestly have no idea why this happens as i am using decks and mixer which are under a year old, and carts under a month old. its always happened with every deck & cart i have used.

to be honest though, there really isn't that much to complain about. they do the same in a club environment and you can't tell.

i seriously doubt that anyone would master a record with one channel stronger than the other, which leads me to believe that it is something about decks/carts/the way mixers take in analogue sound.

Posted by Cheetah86 on Aug-11-2004 21:20:

I have this problem with one of my Shure M44-G's as well, the other seems to be balanced.

Posted by wrzonance on Aug-11-2004 23:27:

I think i figured it out. For me anyway. The ****** that sold me his decks, sold me some tech1200mk3s WITHOUT the little weights at the end of the tone arm... hmmm

when i brought over the whitelables to my friends house with the EXACT same decks; we had NO channel problems and superb sound quality.

bah!

Posted by KiNeTiC ENeRgY on Aug-12-2004 04:07:

quote:
Originally posted by DJFreaq
I think i figured it out. For me anyway. The ****** that sold me his decks, sold me some tech1200mk3s WITHOUT the little weights at the end of the tone arm... hmmm

when i brought over the whitelables to my friends house with the EXACT same decks; we had NO channel problems and superb sound quality.

bah!

bro, you don't need the little weights at the end of the tonearm with Whitelabels. You need to re-set your decks and make sure you have them balanced properly. 1.8 grams is plenty to use on a home set up with no bass vibrations.

Posted by dj chex on Aug-12-2004 04:26:

True, true, the screw on weights for the sl1200 tonearm is for use w/ really heavy cartridges. The only time i would need them is if im using a stanton 890sa mounted all the way up front w/ a additional weight AND a 4gram weight. So if you can zero your tonearm w/o the weight then there is no need for it.

Posted by djmc on Aug-12-2004 05:22:

yup yup... same thing happened to me... with my old stantons
and my shure whitelabels

Posted by dj chex on Aug-12-2004 05:42:

hey djmc, what's a good record shop in manila? Im heading down to the philippines next summer

Posted by Zack Roth on Aug-12-2004 05:54:

i didn't even read the thread through, but Whitelabels are horrendous carts, IMO. I have had 4, and 3 out of the 4 have sucked in a major way. Skipping while back-cueing, straight skipping every beat, on the whole I hate them. I just replaced my two carts with with the blue Ortofons which are awesome.

Posted by tu_face on Aug-12-2004 07:48:

quote:
Originally posted by zizack
i didn't even read the thread through, but Whitelabels are horrendous carts, IMO. I have had 4, and 3 out of the 4 have sucked in a major way. Skipping while back-cueing, straight skipping every beat, on the whole I hate them. I just replaced my two carts with with the blue Ortofons which are awesome.

you didn't break them in by the sounds of it.

you need to leave them sat on a record over night before you use them, otherwise they fly all over the place.

on a side-note.. Nou: can you replace the s shaped tone-arms on 1200's for straight ones? that would solve all your anti-skate problems because you don't need it.

Posted by cryo on Aug-12-2004 08:09:

i have a pair of whitelabels and a mk5s and they dont skip or anything anymore. i've had one since march and the other since june. i use 0 antiskate and 2.5grams of weight and they dont skip or anything

Posted by xmotleyx on Aug-12-2004 09:13:

i think it is one of two things or a combo ...

i have whitelabels and they are great ... that one dude needed to break them in that is for sure.

1) the vinyl .. sometimes my balance is off and sometimes it is on without touching anything

2) it is a skate problem ... remember there are postive and negative forces. the antiskate only works for one of the forces. If this is fixed then you know it is the vinyl.

this should help:

http://www.djforums.com/tutorials/t...maintenance.php

and this:
http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/sl1200.html#6.1

Posted by djmc on Aug-12-2004 11:01:

quote:
Originally posted by dj chex
hey djmc, what's a good record shop in manila? Im heading down to the philippines next summer

there arent any up to date record shops here... i order mine online.
they have a trance selection at (MEGAMIX in SM Megamall)
but the vinyls they sell there were like released early this
year...

Posted by Liam on Aug-12-2004 18:49:

I am having the same problem with whitelabels on my MK5's. I know my weight is dialed in properly... The only thing I am unsure of is tone arm height. Could this be throwing off the balance?

When I record, the left channel is consistantly louder than the other. It doesn't matter which deck the sound is coming from.

Its kind of frustrating, but other than this issue, the whitelabels are awesome.

Posted by Rememberence_ on Aug-12-2004 22:30:

I have the same balance issues with my setup, I use MK5s and Whitelabels. In my opinion this is a calibration issue that involves mainly the stylii, their connection to the tonearm, and the vinyl you are playing. It's inevitable that out of the factory all of these factors likely will not 'line up', and all I do to compensate is adjust the balance for each deck on my mixer. I find that it doesn't vary that much between the different vinyls I play, so I can just leave the balance settings on my mixer at a certain position to keep each of the stereo channels balanced. No biggie really