2:44
Playing a record upside down
On YouTube this video is called Dj help, Play a record upside down on your technics sl1200
What this lesson teaches
A short video with two completely separate pieces of content, and the first one is the practically valuable half.
The buzz
A buzzing noise from the speakers on a turntable setup. Two likely causes, in order.
The earth cable. His verdict on the frequency of this one is blunt: quite often it is because you idiots, including me, forget to put the earth in the back.
A turntable has a thin separate earth wire that goes to the earth post on the mixer or amplifier, in addition to the audio leads. Without it you get mains hum. Covered in the cabling course; worth saying again because it is the first thing to check and it is free.
The head-shell contacts. The second cause, and less well known. The cartridge connects to the arm through four small contacts, and if they are dirty or oxidised - particularly on a turntable where head shells get swapped between people, one with Ortofons, one with Stantons - the connection is intermittent and you get noise.
His cleaning method: unscrew the head shell, blow into it to clear the dust, and - his words, and he admits it sounds dodgy - lick the contacts for a little moisture, then refit.
The diagnosis is right and the mechanism is right: you are after a clean, slightly conductive contact. The modern version of the same job is a drop of isopropyl alcohol or proper contact cleaner on a cotton bud, which does not put saliva on metal that is about to be screwed into an expensive arm. Same idea, better executed.
Playing a record upside down
The second half, and it is pure showmanship - how to play a record backwards on a turntable with no reverse button.
What he uses: a cotton reel, a chopstick, and some gaffer tape or a weight.
1. Record off the platter. 2. Cotton reel on the spindle, record placed upside down on top of it, chopstick through the middle to keep it centred. 3. Something on top to weight it down. 4. Counterweight moved as far back as it will go. 5. Head shell off, turned upside down and refitted, so the stylus now faces upwards. 6. Press play.
The record now turns the other way relative to the stylus, and it plays backwards.
Is it worth doing
He answers his own question: what looks more impressive, playing a record upside down or pressing a button?
Fair. It is a party piece and it is no use to anybody mid-set - you cannot set this up between records. But it says something true about the equipment: a turntable is a mechanical thing with no opinion about which way round the record goes, and knowing that is the difference between operating gear and understanding it.
Two warnings he does not give. The stylus is pointing up at a record held on a cotton reel, so take care. And a cartridge inverted with the counterweight racked back is being asked to track in a way it was not designed for, so use something you can afford to break.
Contents of the video
Alright folks, how do you play a record backwards on a Technix turntable that hasn't got the little buttony thing that makes it go backwards? I will show you in a minute. Firstly though, do you ever get that problem where you've got a buzzing noise at your speakers? Okay, it could be one of two, well it could be a lot of things but quite often it's because you idiots, including me, forget to put your earth cable in the back. Always make sure you do that. But occasionally it could be the head shell. Sometimes the contacts in the head shell don't connect correctly, okay? Especially if you're knocking about and changing head shells. Your mates want to come in and use their autophones but you like Stantons. You know what I mean? This is what you do. Make sure it's clipped on. Unscrew, okay? Blow inside there. Two reasons. One is because you get rid of all the rubbish in there and the other one...
When you blow, sorry, there's a bit of moisture in the air, okay? And that will just lie on the top of the contacts. Also there you've got four contacts here. What I do, sounds a bit dodgy and looks a bit dodgy, but I lick them, okay? So you've got a bit of moisture there as well. And then what you do is you put it back in and hopefully better contact and no buzzing, okay? Now then, how do you play a record backwards, okay? What do you need? A cotton reel.
One of those from the local Chinese that I've broken, chopstick, and something to put on the top. Duct tape, gaffer tape, I'll show you now. Okay, first of all what you do, take your record off, cotton reel, record upside down, that in the middle, keeps the record in place, and then anything on the top to weight it down. Okay, and then what we do is we move the weight as back as far as it will go. We take the head shell off. We turn the head shell upside down, so now the actual styli is facing upwards. Screw it back on, unplug it from there and put it in a position wherever. Press play and bingo backwards. And if you are good and if you listen correctly and you can do this quickly, it looks good but mainly you can actually bring it in the mix, alright? Now let's be honest.
What looks more, this may look a bit silly, but what looks more impressive? Playing a record upside down or just pressing a button. I'll leave that up to you. Cheers.
This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.
