The Joy of Vinyl

Have you ever tried to place a new record on your turntasble only to find the center hole is too tight?  There's a fix for that. Written &Produced by: Rick Coste  

Is it possible to play a record so much that you wear the grooves out?   Written &Produced by: Rick Coste

Why do we care about the lives of little PVC biscuits that look like hockey pucks? They are the caterpillars that turn into those wonderful butterflies we know as vinyl records! Written &Produced by: Rick Coste

For years, I swore that the second side of any record I played was louder than the first side. I knew it had to be in my head. It wasn't. When I began to delve deeper into the anatomy of records and the manufacturing process, I felt somewhat vindicated. I hadn't been wrong after all. It's all about the grooves. Written &Produced by: Rick Coste

I feel it's about time we had a little talk about something I've been avoiding - the RIAA equalization curve. Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

Master tapes are beyond priceless. So imagine if something happened to them? What if the master tapes to Nirvana's "In Utero" were somehow lost? Or, and this is a horrific thought, destroyed? And what if it wasn't the only one? What if something terrible were to happen that destroyed thousands of master tapes? Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

Preamps take a weak, thin, and tinny sound and turns it into something exceptional. Written & Produced by: Rick coste

You’ll often see this on hype-stickers and ad copy promoting a reissue of a previously released album. Reissues are often “remastered from the original masters”. But what does this mean? What’s so special about the original masters, anyway?   Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

Whether you’re buying your first turntable or upgrading your present one, you’ll face many decisions. For every great review, there’s a bad one. For every reason to choose a model, there’s a reason to cross it off the list. Today we'll look at one of those decisions - should you look at automatic or manual turntables?   Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

Record Players or Turntables? Many consider the terms interchangeable. That's what we're going to talk about today. What differentiates a record player from a turntable? Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

Have you ever wondered about the hirsute behind that vinyl record spinning on your turntable? Well, today, you are in for a treat. That's what we're here to look at - the history of vinyl records and the so-called "vinyl revival". Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

Imagine this horrific scenario. You’ve settled down to listen to your favorite David Bowie album. For me, that would be Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. As you’re listening, you notice something. It doesn’t sound as clear as it used to. The high-end isn’t as high. You think at first it must be your ears. It’s been a long day, and you’re tired. Hopefully, it’s not your speakers. You get up to check. The moment you stand up, it happens. The needle skips. Now you’re in full motion. You run to your turntable and lift the tonearm from your record. What just happened? Then it hits you. When was the last time you changed the stylus?   Written & Produced: Rick Coste

In a previousepisode, I looked at the different types of turntable styli. If you recall, your stylus sits at the end of a cantilever. The other end of the cantilever disappears into a little magic box called the cartridge. There are two types of cartridges. One is called the Moving Magnet cartridge, or MM, and the other is the Moving Coil cartridge or MC. It’s all in their names, and once you know the difference, you’ll always know the difference. Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

With all passions or hobbies comes debate. If you’re a fly-fisher, it will be the type of fly for different situations or the materials used. If you play guitar, it might be the Fender vs. Gibson debate. It could even be who is stronger - the Hulk or Superman. As with any great debate, there’s often no solution. Opinions are subjective, and subjectivity comes in many flavors, as do passions. The question today is, should you buy a direct or belt driven turntable?   Written & Produced by: Rick Coste

If you’ve collected vinyl records for a few years, especially used records, you’re bound to have come across the ominous sound of a record skip. It makes my heart jump when it happens. And then I learned of a clever solution. I call it  “The Jeweler’s loupe and the Toothpick”. It sounds like an episode of a murder mystery.   Written & Produced by: Rick Coste