Re: [ARSCLIST] Question re DuoDisc records

["Scott D. Smith" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just happened to have done a couple of these recently (cira 1942) I got 3
passes with various styli running at 1/2 speed before I began encountering
problems. I considered myself lucky!

They were both recorded under-speed (around 73 RPM, as best as I can 
determine),
and have significant rumble (although fairly quiet surface noise when using a
stylus that rides towards the top of the groove wall).

Scott D. Smith

Chicago Audio Works, Inc.

Quoting David Lewis <davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Yes - I am familiar with DuoDiscs. These are cheaply made, instantaneous-cut
> discs. The first "homemades" I ever owned were a pair of these given to me
> by a family friend thirty years ago. What the correspondent calls "vinyl" is
> actually the lacquer coating on the outside of the aluminum center, and if
> it is already peeling there is little hope for it.
>
> This is a pity - Duodiscs have fairly quiet surfaces for homemades, but it
> appears most of the ones I see nowadays are on their way out - it appears 90
> per cent of them are flaking off. And these always seemed so durable, unlike
> steel-base Carr-O-Tones and others which rust and usually prove unplayable
> anyway. As there are no established standards for handling these records, it
> is hard to know what to do to preserve them. The standards may well arrive
> too late for most DuoDiscs.
>
> My advice - record the non-flaked-off portions at a very slow speed 2 or 3
> times, speed up the results and edit what's left together. You may get
> different grooves to play on different passes.
>
> David N. Lewis
> Assistant Classical Editor, All Music Guide
>
> "Contemporary composers, and at least a considerable number of them, explain
> what system they used, in what way they arrived at something. I do not do
> that. I think that the matter of the way by which one arrived at something
> is, for the listeners, unimportant. What matters is the final result, that
> is the work itself." -Grazyna Bacewicz, 1964
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Joel Ackerman
> Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2006 11:47 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Question re DuoDisc records
>
> Am asked the following question:
>
> Are you familiar with those "DuoDisc" type records?  They have an aluminum
> center (substrate) and a thin coat of vinyl (I think) on top of the
> aluminum.  I believe they are records people made home recordings on.
> Anyway I have two (or three) of them and the vinyl is peeling off the
> aluminum.  I was wondering if you knew anything about, perhaps, repairing
> the peel?
>
> Looking at photos, it appears that the vinyl is coming apart - cracking and
> heading towards eventual peeling off,.
>
> Suggestions welcome.
>
> Joel Ackerman



Scott D. Smith

Chicago Audio Works, Inc.