← Back to context

Comment by wayvey

5 years ago

Are you saying they could have cut it without RIAA equalisation? That probably wouldn't work as the recording might not fit on the record without it. Quoting from Wikipedia:

> The purposes of the equalization are to permit greater recording times (by decreasing the mean width of each groove), to improve sound quality, and to reduce the groove damage that would otherwise arise during playback.

Dubplates don't always have the RIAA curve. Reason being that they're now mostly used in bass heavy genres and RIAA curve takes away the good stuff.

  • I have a hard time believing this. How is a non-RIAA equalized record supposed to be played? All palyback equipment/setups have built in equalization that converts the RIAA equalized signal from the vinyl back to normal. It's either built in to the vinyl player, or done via a phono-preamp usually in the amplifier or a mixer. This isn't usually explicitly stated anywhere on the equipment as it's an industry standard.

    So if you have a record that doesn't have the RIAA curve applied, what are you supposed to play it on? The RIAA correction is pretty much unavoidable on any standard playback equipment.

    EDIT: I'm willing to believe this if you can reference me to some example of modern non-equalized/non-RIAA vinyls.