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Cueing help... the needle falls out of the groove
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xCxStylex
I'm pretty good mixing with my cd decks, but today was the 3rd time I've spun vinyl.

I have a problem when cueing... when I am moving the vinyl back and forth to find the exact point where the beat comes in, the needle often falls out of the groove and goes backwards a bit... I panic and this happens again.

Given that my vinyl is brand spanking new and unplayed (except when I just played it), what can I do to correct this? Am I moving the vinyl too fast? Too hard? Could there be a problem with the tonearm? Is this a skill that just takes time to learn, like beat matching?

thanks

Kevin
dartman
this happens to me sometimes too, i was wondering the same thing. i have stanton trackmasters. i didnt think that they sounded too good and this is happening, so i got some groovemaster II-rm styli, they sound ten times better but this still happens. i just orderd some shure m44g carts, hoping this will solve the problem and from what i hear they dont wear your records too much. i just got a level to make sure that my decks were level. they were off alittle, but not too much.
i would like to hear other peoples opinions on this
TwiloThunder
Sounds like a: you're rubbing the record back and forth too hard or b: you haven't got enough tracking force on your carts and you should set the weights to be a bit heavier.

I know some people who rub the out of their records over the beat they want to drop into. You don't need to do this, all it does is put excessive wear on the record.
dartman
yeah, i noticed that adding more tracking weight helped out abit but i had 4+ grams on my groovemasters and this still happened sometimes. i might be alittle rough on my cueing motion, because the needle didnt always jump out but i still ordered the shures because i am not too comfortable about all that weight on my needle, ripping up my records, and i've read that the shures dont need nearly as much
VIO
make sure your stuff is clean and have a light touch. the needle is much more likely to jump out of the track if you're cueing at the very beginning of the record. if you're cue point is a bit further into the track the needle will stay in the groove better. just be gentle, you'll learn to handle it. i've been mixing for 4 years and the needle still jump out of the groove some of the time when i'm cueing at the beginning of the record. if you move the record back and forth slowly when cueing at the beginning you'll notice that the needle tends to wobble back and forth when you hit the cue point. this happens mostly on tracks that start out with the first sound being a kick drum. this is because there is no sound in the groove so the groove before it is completely smooth. the transition from a smooth groove to a textured groove is what causes that wobble. it's just something you have to learn to deal with. don't turn up your weight because that will just wear your records quicker and cause cue burn. just learn to be easy and have a light, gentle touch. cheers.
dartman
quote:
Originally posted by VIO
make sure your stuff is clean and have a light touch. the needle is much more likely to jump out of the track if you're cueing at the very beginning of the record. if you're cue point is a bit further into the track the needle will stay in the groove better. just be gentle, you'll learn to handle it. i've been mixing for 4 years and the needle still jump out of the groove some of the time when i'm cueing at the beginning of the record. if you move the record back and forth slowly when cueing at the beginning you'll notice that the needle tends to wobble back and forth when you hit the cue point. this happens mostly on tracks that start out with the first sound being a kick drum. this is because there is no sound in the groove so the groove before it is completely smooth. the transition from a smooth groove to a textured groove is what causes that wobble. it's just something you have to learn to deal with. don't turn up your weight because that will just wear your records quicker and cause cue burn. just learn to be easy and have a light, gentle touch. cheers.


thanks for the tip. when the needle jumps out of the groove for me it is always at the begining of the record, like you described. i got my M44gs today and i have to say that i love them (so far). i cant make the needle just out. its freaking awesome and i only have 1.5grams of weight on them. leveling my tables up might have helped out a bit too (couldnt hurt), they werent too far off though
sPiRiT FiNgErS
Use some blue-tak with a penny. It works when the needles wear down.
As for an opinion with carts- Ive tried shure/stanton and ortophons-'nightclub'. Whilst expensive go with the 'nighclubs' with yellow tips. They produce a nice crisp sound in my opinion. They do a least on my Technic sl1200s (m2).

Goodluck
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