Thread: What needles do you use for archiving?

I have just recently started to archive my old school records. It seems like the highs have really started to fade out, and the lows are still there. It also sounds a little bit muffled, but I assume that is because I am so used to digital downloads from beatport etc.

Anyway, I am using 1210's with ortofon blue dj needle > mixer > into maudio fast track pro > adobe soundbooth.

I think I could probably get a better needle, it must be my biggest bottleneck.

Any suggestions?

It probably is your needle, also, you would be better off ripping tunes with a standard belt drive turntable as direct drives give a lot of feedback (What a record player does is convert physical vibration (of the needle in the groove) to an electrical signal that can drive an amplifier. The problems arise from the fact that the groove might not be the only thing vibrating the stylus - motors and mechanical instability can be huge noise culprits. Furthermore, frequency stability in the motor is extremely important to reduce wow and flutter.)

More Tips Here

Thanks for the feedback! I'll probably keep working with my 1200's, but I will look into a new needle. The ones I have are not cheap by any means but they are for clubs, not archiving.

Thanks for the link.

heres another tip for people that rip tunes

Press in your Quarts Lock button
"this guarantees that the recording will be done at the proper recording speed "

also ive had quite alot lately where the recording seem to be maximized to fuck !
no good for playback and especially your ears ! Peaking to deaf almost

when recording you want to be just under 0 db no red and then you dont need to normalize or put gay limiters or maximizers on the track !


Hot and in the red is only good for analog gear on todays digital gear is not a good option.

I use the Grado DJ100 Cart & stylus, excellent sound but really prone to skipping. No good for anything other than archiving imo.