Defective pressings

[ii-5-i]

I recently purchased the "Soundtrack from I Want to Live" @ 1959 United Artists label. The "A" side displays an audible haze of hiss and crossover distortion while the "B" side is relatively quiet.

I took my 30X glass (used for examining process offset printing) to compare both sides of the record. I couldn't find any difference in surface/groove quality between the sides. Is the surface noise of side "A" coming from damage to the groove walls? Or does the problem stem from the original pressing process.

I've had a similar problem with another United Artist release so I feel it probably is the latter.

[clifford_thornton]

I've noticed that on various records - both my Fontana UK Ted Curson records have some distortion like this, and I've even run into a few mono BNs with this problem. I thought it might be limited to mono records, but that seems unlikely.

[porcy62]

Once I bought a mono copy of A Love Supreme with a similar problem. It was like a feedback noise. On both sides.

I replaced it.

[Alfred]

I took my 30X glass (used for examining process offset printing) to compare both sides of the record. I couldn't find any difference in surface/groove quality between the sides. Is the surface noise of side "A" coming from damage to the groove walls? Or does the problem stem from the original pressing process.

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All I can say is that my mono copy of this nice Mulligan LP is in excellent shape. No pressing problems here!