The man with the magic EQ
This is a video I enjoyed making, perhaps because it’s really just about having fun playing about with stuff, yet somehow I also managed to learn things along the way and listen to some different music.
https://youtu.be/VnnpiK7FvrI
There are two pieces of tech featured in the video - as Patrons you may recall the CerMag briefly appearing in an Oddcast a couple of months ago, but the TC-778 is new to all of us.
The video title will make more sense after you’ve watched it.
Remember….
I will return again…
The man with the magic EQ.
Enjoy your weekend.
UPDATE: Made a couple of quick fixes (removed a flash frame, added in the price I paid for the TC-778 [£31.89] & adjusted the timing of a still).
UPDATE 2: Fixed the end credits - The last page was missing.
Comments (74)
Please Mat, I’ve subscribed to you for a decade+. Do not feature AI in your videos. Its bad enough they are building data centers everywhere they can, sucking up our water and accelerating the climate catastrophe, but I don’t want to have to stop supporting my favourite youtuber as well.
There’s more than one video that wouldn’t exist without AI tools from Adobe being used to recover damaged audio. If I never used AI tools I’d have no income that week and there’d be no video on the channel.
Interesting that you mention KAB. I got my Numark TT-100 from them with a 78rpm mod and a Stanton 500 cartridge with a proper 78rpm stylus. I also have the TEC-778. So, one turntable does double-duty, but requires a cartridge swap and tracking force adjustment, in addition to flipping the switch on the TEC-778. Now I need to get a SugarCube 🙂
The title didn't fill me with confidence but I was proven wrong: my inner nerd found the whole EQ history fascinating, and hearing how amazing a record that's surely around 80 years old can sound (with the right speed, stylus, EQ, and benefiting from the Sugar cube). Maybe those audiophiles have a point... when they're not shaving their CDs.
I had heard of RIAA EQ ... actually, probably from you, Mat ... but didn't realize that it was the industry trying to bring order from chaos. I'm sure once all the turntables and new-fangled micro-groove, long-play records were using the same EQ, *everyone* made a lot more money. Big difference on the 78s, to my ear at least, when the EQ was corrected.
Just Another Excellent Video, good sir. The sound that I heard on this end was definitely 'brighter' with the correct EQ setting. Absolutely fascinating subject! I Also agree it would be very nice to get a clean recording of the Tefifon 'tape' you were playing. I don't understand a lick of German, but I'd love to hear the whole thing..... ...properly EQ'd, of course.....
Weirdly, listening on Apple iPods, the Bert Weedon record played with the correct EQ had the double bass coming predominantly from the left channel. Maybe it’s my ears… Fascinating video, Mat. I think the biggest take away is that played on the right equipment, shellac records can sound very good.
Finally, we can hear Cuba Baion the way Kurt Drabek intended.
For that you’d be better of with the vinyl record release. Here you get a slightly faster chirpier version.
"Do you want a Dolby with it?" "Well, in a way, yes - about a hundred of them."
23:20 CAT
I could definitely hear increased treble with the TEC pre-amp in the 78 setting, just as the frequency response graph printed on it indicates. But that really only applies to pre-WWII 78s. Post-war, the EQ most of them used was already pretty similar to what eventually became the RIAA curve (which those Elvis 78s you have do use, since they're post-1954).
Seems to me the piezo would be better tech than the magnet/coil system. I wonder why they stopped using piezo styli Ok that's now my next rabbit hole. Thanks, Mat! (really)
Ah... the piezo doesn't just have higher voltage... also required more tracking force, is less responsive to stereo records therefore due to it's stiffness, and also has it's own very different frequency response curve that isn't going to like the RIAA preamp stage. Basically it already has an EQ that is close to the inverse of the RIAA EQ curve. So when you run it through an RIAA preamp, its like taking a regular modern record player with magnet coil and running it through two serially connected phono preamps. Distorts everything.
Hoho, it’s magic!
Really interesting thanks. Also cute kitty sleeping.
Do you want slimline salad dressing?
Did you try running the Tefifon through the Sugar Cube now that you have the converter? I know in a previous video the Sugar Cube didn't help the Tefi, but maybe it would make a difference now?
I haven’t tried again. As it’s wired into the preamp it’s on a different switchbox to the Sugarcube and the two things can’t connect to each other at the moment.
Late to the game commenting this one. But the cleaned up result of that one was pretty amazing. My father had a bunch of 78s left, he apparently had a quite large collection in his youth, but he got rid of most of them in a move. He also got a record player in then 1970ies that can play all kinds of record, 78s by flipping the needle around, as many could in that era. Around 30 years ago I bought a semi decent sound card for my computer, and I had access to an early CD-rom burner at work. I borrowed that record player, and my father picked out a number of records for me to digitize and put on CD. I used a pretty good software to record, dont recall the name, but Adobe bought it and turned it into Adobe Audition, and it had a built in filter for noise and pop removal. But I could never make any of those 78s sounds as clear as this one though. It would be interesting to do another go at equalizing them. I think I had to use the speaker output to connect to the computer, as the casette output wouldn't output a signal loud enough. I also had to boost it pretty much to get a decent record level.
CoolEdit! That was a great piece of software back then.
Great sound on the Tefifon a very interesting piece. I also loved the stuff on 78s very interesting. Excellent video
19:19 You could record the input and output simultaneously, that way you can subtract the waveforms and see if it's doing anything to the audio.
It's undoubtedly doing something to the audio, so seeing some change from the input to output would not answer any interesting questions. The interesting question is to compare what the EQ box does on the 78 setting vs the RIAA setting. Do to that with a bit-by-bit comparison in audacity, you need to compare outputs from the same identical input waveform. There are a couple of ways I can imagine doing that: The easiest would be to buy two of the magic EQ devices and connect the phono output to both of them with a splitter. You'd have some attenuation from the splitter, and the results wouldn't be perfect. But it would be the same attenuation to both units so you'd get identical inputs and you could then directly compare the two output tracks. Of course you'd need two PCM recorders. The other way I could imagine is to just get a high quality digital recording of the phono stage output itself and then play back that recording as a single standard input signal for the device on its two different settings. I could imagine plenty of technical hurdles with this strategy (like amplifying the voltage levels without clipping etc.). Nah, the splitter feeding two separate EQ devices seems the easiest and most scientifically rigorous way to do this test. But I think Mat did a pretty good test here. Followed the scientific method: Observed existing published data. Made a hypothesis that there would be a difference with the right EQ. AI predicted the best testing methodology would be to try it on a Brunswick record. Mat tested that hypothesis on Brunswick records. A difference was observed. Mat drew conclusions, considered confounders, and published his results online for others to devise further experiments. Proper science, that. I'm gonna say AI probably got it right. At least it identified something close enough to Brunswick that any EQ method similar to Brunswick would probably get the boost.
Very interesting dive into 78 rpm EQ--something that I knew nothing about before and now know a little something more. The end credit playback sounded pretty awesome, but also quite wowy & fluttery. I assume it was due to the Mr. Weedon bending the strings on his magic guitar.👍🎸
Yes that’s one reason I’d have preferred to use a different track, something a bit more conventional.
We inherited a RadioGram from my Grandad in the 1980s. The stylus was reversible, one side for 78 and one for 33/45. I remember as a kid being blown away how good these "old fashioned" 78 records sounded. With the right equipment, they were far higher quality than you'd thing for such an ancient technology.
I think that first Tefi cart should be the new puppet music!
There’s only one Cuba Baion…it’s on this cart too. I’ve made a nice copy of this whole cart now. I need to get around to recording the other carts when I get the chance.
What an amazing video! I am so glad this channel exists. The Tefifon was an absolute revelation - how amazing did that sound? It really was ahead of its time. The 78 at the end of the credits sounds amazing too. Now all I have to do is work harder / longer to earn enough for one of those magical "Sugar Cube" machines!. (I'm guessing they are expensive - I can't find a price on their website.). Thanks for a great episode, once again.
From what little I understand the chaps making the Sugar Cube were having difficulties getting the little PC they needed, I think it might have been discontinued. My video then put the cat amongst the pigeons as they got a load more orders in for it. If I remember correctly they’re hoping/planning to migrate the whole thing to another architecture at some point.
Can't imagine the time and effort that went into this little half-hour production -- thanks for the cool and informative video!
Yes it was a bit of a worry when the best part of a week had elapsed and there wasn’t any video to show for it all.
This is why I love this channel. Obscure experiments into things that 78% of the population don’t care about, but we find fascinating.
Excellent video! I’m odd enough that I probably would collect 78s if I got started. I guess luckily for me, my turntable doesn’t have a 78 setting which is a good excuse to stay out of the rabbit-hole. I’m reminded a bit of my playing around with some professional analog video equipment and the impression I got is there’s a bunch of extra boxes you need to get the absolute best quality, but I’m happy with my “good enough” set up. As a Gen Z AI skeptic, I suspect it’s doing some confident guessing based on the file names, but I don’t know much about audio analysis so maybe that’s something ChatGPT is actually good at!
Guten tag! I can't get back to sleep (5 AM here) so I took the opportunity to watch the video just prior to your update and was going to mention the millisecond of erroneous editing but now I don't have to. I really enjoyed this one. I love the Tefifon, and your efforts to improve its sound quality really paid off - it's less harsh-sounding. The 78 at the outro sounded amazingly clean without the snap-crackle-pop. I learned a lot as well about the disadvantages of incorporating old equipment into newer setups. This is nicely done and informative. Take care 🤍
Thanks - cheers, now have a nap.
Isn't the CerMag just an expensive attenuator (resistor)?
I've no idea how it works - but like with many things when I have no clue how to make a good one myself, I buy one from someone who knows what they're doing.
I bet you if you went to a Brunswick shop, the salesman would show you how much better their player was than a Parlophone, by playing the same record on each player... the record being pressed with the Brunswick curve!
I think you’re bob on there.
The 78 at the end sounded pretty well! It's never sounding that great when using period-correct mechanical playback equipment... (but of course, you use that because it's just cool to have music coming out of a device you have to wind up and doesn't need any electricity ;-)) The whole thing with the EQs: the same BS as people keep on telling on the internet: "my cassette deck cannot play back metal tapes"...
I really enjoyed that video. I like to come accross things I never realised or even thought about. with 78's I think of Gramophones with big horns and of course my first stereo system (and I am older than you are) had a setting for 78's but in my mind I immediately thought back to the horns and old people in stately homes sitting around and maybe dancing to these things. And the stylus I get but with codec-formats being that old, very interesting. I was also thinking with those small programmable esp32's you must be able to make these decoders fairly easily. Thanks for this nice start to my Saturday morning.
Interesting. How did you submit it to ChatGPT? Did you upload the recorded wav? That's the only way I can imagine it figured it out, likely written a small Python script in the background, which did a frequency analysis. Honestly the ending quality was not bad at all. I heard much worse official digital transfers.
I just uploaded the two .WAVs and added it to see if there was any tonal difference between them. It’ll allow you to upload files and ask a question in the same prompt.
I was actually quite impressed with that answer from our great AI overlords!
It’s either quite sophisticated or a good liar.
Great video Matt! Fallen in love with thr Bert Weedon track, and YouTube Music found it. Added it to my playlist.
*Pushes up glasses* 1/3 octave analog equalisers are cheap as chips nowadays... and you only need one! I know, I know. Fun and interesting video as always, Mat.
To me, there is a LOT more HF presence on the 78 mode. But my ears are lot younger than yours!
8:20 Would recommend putting the “before” and “after” sound clips next to one another So… before, after, before, after
Knew that player was out for a reason. I use to own a wind up Gramophone- you would use three types needle soft medium hard that was your volume control and they sounded awful. Nice to hear singing the blues in another language
RETURN TO THE TEFIFON!!!???!!! 😁
This was fascinating and I absolutely love it! The track at the end sounds surprisingly good. I’m glad the space time continuum isn’t going to be wrecked since you sorted it #HUMOUR 😂
Holy shit. The Tefifon is an absolute revelation. You have got to rerecord that stuff if you have time. It's great.
Cracking but no popping vid. Fun messing about with hifi stuff.
Fascinating. I learnt something new today (78 EQs) and that’s always a good day. I think your enjoyment comes across in the video, which is great!
Haha, yes Bert weedon, guitar book writer, nice brief cameo from the cat too! Really entertaining video mat!
I’m amazed by how good the tefifon sounds! It sounded quite good already with its line level output but the cermag made it come to life! Also never thought 78’s would sound this good and had so much clarity in them still.
I'd argue that your argument that people back in the day didn't worry too much about the exact EQ of their 78s would apply equally to listening to them in RIAA EQ. Plenty of people from the late 50s through the 60s would've listened to their old 78s on a record player with RIAA EQ...it's not like there's anything wrong with that, either. I guess I see more value in paying $500 for a Waxwing with all the EQ settings you'd ever want and more features besides or paying $0 for just RIAA (assuming you already have a preamp) than paying $60 for one additional EQ setting. Great video, though, and I love hearing you talk about 78s! You really should do a video on the Waxwing sometime...it'd be interesting to hear you compare the noise removal settings to the Sugarcube, and having a DSP in a phono chain seems like the right flavor of iconoclastic for your channel.
I'm not sure I follow what's being argued against as it seems that you're agreeing with me when I say it doesn't matter that much. There's a section in the video about using Bass and Treble controls to get 'pretty close'.
That's a fascinating video, Matt. I hadn't considered the EQ bias being different with the 78s. Well done, sir. The starkest difference to me was the crystal adapter for the Tefifon. That was amazing, the presence of the performance was so much richer with the adapter on. Now, what they need to invent is a plug-in adapter that masks the content match for YouTube. Oh, I couldn't help but notice the cat was not impressed.
Next we need to find the proper EQ box to play Edison cylinders.
Further proof that the Sugar Cube de-crackler is amazing. I just wish they'd make an upgraded version where the dial went up to 11, or even 12. Just imagine how much better that would be?
It might get rid of fret buzz and uneven tire wear
No wonder they wouldn't tell him what to do with his old 78s, they'd be there all day!
Great Video. So much I never knew about 78s and their many eq options. Much better sound than I expected from the 78 to be honest. Shame the Thorens is past it's best. I can remember when Thorens was a top name in turntables. When I was a child in the 80s, a chap up the road showed me his system which had a Thorens turntable and Quad amp (don't know which models and it was about 40 years ago).
Wow - this was right up my alley. I'm a member of a jazz appreciation group that meets to listen to 78s AND my sugarcube is due to arrive within the week. It certainly does an amazing job with that 78! Despite that, like you, I'm not going to set myself up to play 78s. I have very little space, not only for an additional turntable, but also for the discs. Fascinating to learn about the EQ standards back in the day - thanks for doing all that research (and putting out this video)!
Pretty amazing result from the 78 in the end (through the whole audiochain). It does make sense that a record spinning that fast should be able to reproduce high frequencies well, yet I also associated 78 with a more hornlike eq kind of sound.
Very interesting, Mat!
"We are normal and we dig Bert Weedon." I'm assuming this video took longer than to "Play In A Day"
Yay! Another section about the ever-popular Tefifon! 😊
I came here to say this too 😂 -Randall
The name's Moan.... Techmoan