RETURN II SPACE

[herbalicious]

to all those with skippping records - do you actually know the correct procedure for setting up your turntable??

If you don't have the weight & anti-skate set up properly, and you don't know how this should be done, I suggest you sort that out before you start claiming this record skips. There are plenty of tutorials on youtube etc.

Also, remember that stylii should in theory be replaced every 6 months if you use your decks regularly.

In my defence, i was never aware of any of this before I've had the problem with this record, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I appreciate that people that were aware of this may find it suprising that others aren't, but that's the way it is...

I don't think anyone has complained about the skipping since the weight issue has been brought up (not that I;ve had a chance to fiddle yet, and won't bother till I buy a new turntable with weights..), and thus people getting cranky at us non DJ types is a little harsh...

That side, This release is absolutely incredible.

[egres]

Ok the press of Living Differnt is SHIT! really sux as its my favorite tune which was my dedication to my baby which is about to be born any day now. Im soooo pissed bout this. Been a dj for 17 yrs and I know my shit so please don't come to me with your needles blah blah blah...

WHAT CAN I DO?

[JFK]

Ok the press of Living Differnt is SHIT! really sux as its my favorite tune which was my dedication to my baby which is about to be born any day now. Im soooo pissed bout this. Been a dj for 17 yrs and I know my shit so please don't come to me with your needles blah blah blah...

WHAT CAN I DO?

Nothing. Youre fucked.

[kastor]

Is it correct that some copies are picturedisc and some are regular black vinyl?

[wooda916]

to all those with skippping records - do you actually know the correct procedure for setting up your turntable??

If you don't have the weight & anti-skate set up properly, and you don't know how this should be done, I suggest you sort that out before you start claiming this record skips. There are plenty of tutorials on youtube etc.

Also, remember that stylii should in theory be replaced every 6 months if you use your decks regularly.

The thing is, i know how to set up my turntables, my anti-skate, tone arm weight and height are set up exactly, and my needles are ~ 3 months old, my copy still skips in places and has yet to make it through the track without doing so.

No other record in my collection skips without there being a scratch, in my opinion it is a poor press, the bass has clearly been pushed a tad to much which is causing these skipping issues. There is no denying that if a particular record skips while others don't, it is obviously the fault of the record not the equipment. Its a shame but i guess we'll have to live with it. The other tracks on the LP are fantastic, eyez in particular is seriously loud and weighty so Mala / Jason @ Transition have clearly done a top job on this release, they have just missed the mark slightly on Livin Different.

On a side note, people need to stop taking such an aggressive / patronising tone to those who are having problems.

[wilson]

Exactly. Thank you wooda.

[mala]

I really appreciate the feedback.

The few issues concern me as I know all parties involved Myself, Transition Mastering, S.T Holdings and Optimal (which is one of the best vinyl pressing plants) have all gone the extra mile to make this record the high quality record that I expect.

Not to bore you but to give some back ground info:

I had the Test Pressings (TP's) for DMZLP001 since January 2010 and played all tracks out continuously for the past 7 months. The TP's have always played fine. I make 10 TP's of everything and give them to other heads to check and play. I had no bad reports back. I triple check everything thoroughly and certainly wouldn't let something so major slip by without been fixed. For example MEDi 015 had 4 TP's made before it was perfect! The same happened to my record called 'Level Nine'. ( I think that was TP's)
I think its safe to say that most people know that I'm a freak when it comes to vinyl. I play records pretty much everyday of my life.
When the finished LP was in my hand, its was checked again before I gave it the all clear to be shipped out.
Since then I have listened to maybe 8 copies of both versions of DMZLP001 at home and in the studio they are exact reproductions of the TP's. There was no issues. I used Technics 1200's and have standard Statons, Shure N44-7 and Shure White Labels.
I also played Mountain dread, Eyez and Return II Space at dmz this saturday, play was the same.

Below is an email from Optimal (the Pressing Plant) to S.T Holdings (Distributor) regarding the issue for anyone interested.

"I've pulled the record from our archive and played it twice:

1st) Technics MK2, regular DJ pickup at 2g tracking force instead of default 3.4g and anti-skating set to zero: no skips
2nd) same turntable, hifi pickup at nominal tracking force of 1.5g and anti-skating = 0: no skips

The music itself has a lot of very low frequencies in it, almost subsonic. I really liked it.

It is important to understand that skipping is in many cases a result of resonance, sort of a resonance catastrophe. The mechanical system made up of pickup, headshell and tone-arm has its own resonance frequency and the movement (in fact the music) coming from the grooves introduces oscillation into this tone-arm system. Depending on the individual setup of each turntable, this can lead to various kinds of interference, including resonance mode. If the oscillation of the tone-arm becomes too strong it will skip.
Therefore it's hard to predict whether a record will skip or not since it depends a lot of the turntable components at the user's side. In order to have an early indication, our QC turntables are all set-up to zero anti-skating and we issue a warning when we suspect skipping.
You were right assuming that all pressing from one laquer family are the same. So the tps of DMZ017 should exhibit the same behavior as the DMZLP001."

Please keep me posted with your feedback as its extremely important to me.. and if you do have a bad record I'd like to sort it.

Thank you to everyone who has brought my record. Its been another learning curve and something I really enjoying putting together.

Respect

Mala

[babylonburn]

I really appreciate the feedback.

The few issues concern me as I know all parties involved Myself, Transition Mastering, S.T Holdings and Optimal (which is one of the best vinyl pressing plants) have all gone the extra mile to make this record the high quality record that I expect.

Not to bore you but to give some back ground info:

Please keep me posted with your feedback as its extremely important to me.. and if you do have a bad record I'd like to sort it.

Thank you to everyone who has brought my record. Its been another learning curve and something I really enjoying putting together.

Respect

Mala

Thanks for this - much respect on the release, I for one am really enjoying it

[robbiej]

well i hope that ends all the complaints..

and to Mala... the tunes are tremendous and sound as good as any vinyl ive ever bought. respect to you and all involved in getting this out.

[freeze]

plays fine, sounds lovely. cracking LP

[egres]

Sorry Mala,

my record - Living Different, Still skips in arious places and NO other record I own does so (2,500 of them). I have my turntables balanced and I own Q-Bert Ortofons which are obviously very anti-skipping. I also have my needles well balanced.

I think its a case of the record press. I see other people having problems with other records and I don't at all. Does anybody else here have a good press for Living diffeent? Do you particularly not like the record? If you don't are you willing to change up with me? the other side to living different sounds great.

[swiftguyver]

big up Mala!

obviously this is THE release of the year...all 6 tracks are straight dope...it will go down in history...

however there is an issue...on 'Livin' Different' there is a tiny, slight mark...almost like an air bubble or something deep in the groove near the start of the tune...if your needles are set to a heavy weight (like my mate's who has his set up for scratching...) it picks up on this mark and skips (only once and then carries on fine...) but if you adjust the weight on your needle and make it lighter it plays through fine with no skips...

now i wouldn't have noticed a problem either if i hadn't taken it round my mate's house to play...on my decks at home all 6 tracks played through fine no problems...but on his setup (designed for scratching) 'Livin' Different' had one skip...the other 5 tracks all still played fine though even on this setting...and then when he adjusted the weight on his setup all 6 tracks played fine...

some people are noticing a skipping issue and some aren't but i'm guessing that that tiny little air bubble/mark deep in the groove on 'Livin' Different' is there on every copy as all copies are meant to be the same and this has been confirmed by Red Eye Records and even Mala himself...it is just some people's needles are set heavy and so they noticed the skip and others' setups were light enough for them not to notice anything...

there are ways round it (adjusting needle weight) but the fact remains there is a fault...if the other 5 tracks play fine but you then have to adjust the needle weight specifically for 1 track then there is clearly a problem...that is not normal...no disrespect to Mala or Jason and the guys at Transistion or S.T. Holdings or Optimal...they are all top professionals and produce pure quality on a regular basis...but sometimes in life problems and errors occur and some forum members need to chill out and stop jumping down people's throats when they say there is an issue with their copy...nobody is questioning Mala's talent or how amazing the tunes on this release are...people are just upset because they have been looking forward to this LP for so long...

i don't think the whole LP needs a repress...far from it...but maybe just the DMZ017 plate...

[Cillit Bang]

Sorry Mala,

my record - Living Different, Still skips in arious places and NO other record I own does so (2,500 of them). I have my turntables balanced and I own Q-Bert Ortofons which are obviously very anti-skipping. I also have my needles well balanced.

I think its a case of the record press. I see other people having problems with other records and I don't at all. Does anybody else here have a good press for Living diffeent? Do you particularly not like the record? If you don't are you willing to change up with me? the other side to living different sounds great.

Does it skip in the same spot and at different speeds?

[egres]

you hit ir right spot on- swiftguyver

I need me MALA choonz but as he is a perfectionist I think he needs to hear it from us. I will only ever expect the best from these guys as that is what it all is about to begin with, no fooling round, just plain proper music on good ol vinyl!

[JFK]

I am willing to swap my perfect "Living Different" for any of the following:

DMZ001
DMZ002
DMZ003
DMZ004
DMZ005
DMZ006
DMZ007

Cheers

[HamCrescendo]

I dont have a set of decent DJing turntables anymore, just an old belt driven number for listening to stuff on, and they dont have weights or anti skating, so I'm hoping that when I do get a pair of decent ones this problem WILL disappear, but for now it's just making me nervous that if I leave it til I get some technics or whatever it will continue skipping and the record would have sold out by then.

I dont think anyones trying to be rude by saying that the records skipping, it's just a suprise and an annoyance to alot of people who have never had this problem before.

[herbalicious]

I dont have a set of decent DJing turntables anymore, just an old belt driven number for listening to stuff on, and they dont have weights or anti skating, so I'm hoping that when I do get a pair of decent ones this problem WILL disappear, but for now it's just making me nervous that if I leave it til I get some technics or whatever it will continue skipping and the record would have sold out by then.

I dont think anyones trying to be rude by saying that the records skipping, it's just a suprise and an annoyance to alot of people who have never had this problem before.

Mate, I have exactly the same problem...but am gonna exchange the turntable I bought last week (just for this release) for a Project one with weights on Friday. So, I'll let you know.

[lojik]

Sorry Mala,

my record - Living Different, Still skips in arious places and NO other record I own does so (2,500 of them). I have my turntables balanced and I own Q-Bert Ortofons which are obviously very anti-skipping. I also have my needles well balanced.

I think its a case of the record press. I see other people having problems with other records and I don't at all. Does anybody else here have a good press for Living diffeent? Do you particularly not like the record? If you don't are you willing to change up with me? the other side to living different sounds great.

Does it skip in the same spot and at different speeds?

Mine skips in the same place every time, at any speed.

I tried adjusting the weight and the only way to get it to not skip is to make the needle REALLY light, so much so that the record sounds distorted. I'll go and have another fiddle this evening but I hope I can get it sorted!

[oli number 2]

I've had no problem with mine and my needles are fucking terrible!

Huge release, BIG UP MALA!!!

[brasco]

no problems here at all. worth every second of the wait