You want to get it close to perfect without a USB micro? Easy and not easy but you can do it within a few days of working on it.
Here we go.
Grab one 200 gram record. Something with female vocals. Nothing to crazy in the background,, but details are good. Something like The Wonderful sounds of female vocals.
Start with he's the poetry man and then Son of Preacher man .Her vocals should sound dry on long sustains parts But still have a liquid attribute to them, just slightly .
Son of a precher man should have clear vocals No distortion. Try to get some dryness in there. And when the trumpets kick in, they should cut right through with dynamics. Should make you say god dam! And get you grooving. Not subdued nor distorted at all. You should be looking foward to that part of the song
The grab 4 180 grams. Pink Floyd the wall, complex with but hard hitting drums on spots . Chris Cornell live in Sweden which is acoustic and raw. It's a good record for this because he has a rough dryness at times but because it's live acoustics, you should ahvw some spots with that close microphone sound.
Short lived echo parts if that makes sense. Not deeply piercing . Not the entire time. You'll hear it because 90% of his notes will vibrate your chest if it's too low. The guitar on, Thank you, for instance should have clear note separation and only get thick when he's strumming the chords hard.
And something like Elliott smith which can sound too glassy the moment it's off vocal wise. You should hear the shaking in his voice but never low siblance
And then Stevie Ray Vaughn which you want to hear crack in the drums but the solos should kick in at similar volumes. Solos should hit you but be smooth too.. Not piercing. This is on the recent 180 repress
Then grab some regular presses. 120-150 gram. Oldies. The Beatles, Balled of John and yoko for bass. Pink Floyd Dark side of the moon. Money should crack on the drums, but his vocals shouldn't be drowned out or overly glassy. The drums are key here. They should crack off the walls but not consistently shake, and the highs should not overpower, yet they should be equal in volume to the drums. The sax should sound detailed and float right over the record player with its imaging..But not harsh.
Anyway use something similar to all these examples. Start out with the tonearm level. If you can't see it level because it's tapered Just take pictures with your phone and zoom in from the perfect side angle. Try both with and without a flash. Get a bunch of pics. You can see the angle clearly and tell how much you're off. Get it strait as can be. And listen to all of the records.
You want to end up with all these records sounding right. From acoustic to Stevie ray Vaughn to Floyd
The things to listen for. Start with acoustic. Listen for vocals. Are they glassy sounding and chest rattling? Almost like the mic is too close to thier mouth? Start moving up in . 5-1mm increments Stop and listen. Also the instruments should have a good plucking sound yet fullness. If not, raise again. If you get to the point where the voice is so dry that for a minute you think it's great because it's smooth and easy to listen to. You'll soon realize how boring it sounds that way. And that the instruments lost volume and dynamics. Go back down a tiny bit. You want fullness, yet some dryness to keep it accurate to the recording. You'll hear it. Dynamics have to be there too. Repeat on other acoustic records at 180 gram.
Go to 200 listen to female. Same thing. Details should pop but voices should not be overly liquid. This is the one thing that most don't mention but I've had to deal with. When to low or even just 90 degrees,, the voices can have this microphonic reverb sound with certain carts. You want a mix of that and dryness. You'll hear it eventually.
Get these as close as you can. Move onto Money, or comfortably numb. You want the bass to crack. You still want it to hit the walls. But not the the point where you say Jesus christ this is amazing yet complete overkill. It won't be muddy. Just very present. As soon as that impact leaves, you're too high. You want to hear the guitar transition on comfortably numb. You want to hear the individual acoustic strings right before, there is no pain you are receiving.
Balled of john and yoko should groove and the bass should be fast and plentiful without the vocals drowning out. Bass should still shake you but in faster increments. Drums in transitions should be fast.
Stevie ray Vaughn. New 200 gram. You want that bass to absolutely slam the walls. Hard. But fast. You want the guitar when it comes it to equal that bass volume but not piercing.
Once you gat close to these things. Start moving in smaller increments. Make the ones you liked with a pen on the spindle or whatever that changes VTA. And go from there.
Work on getting the 180-200 gram records perfect. The vocals should be pleasing with a little airyness but without having the background instruments lower in volume. You shouldn't lose dynamics much. If so, only a little.
Once you get these guys perfect at the optimal recommend middle tracking force. Throw on the 120-150s again. They should sound great but possibly a little brighter and maybe a tiny less fullness. Maybe. If so, it's easy, just add .1-.2 tracking force And since you're already in the middle with the recommended tracking force, .2 still keeps you in there recommended, and under max. And I guarantee you they will sound perfect.
Just make sure you don't lose dynamics. Which I found is more related to the perfect spot. You can lose them going to far up or down. Also when you got that sweet spot. Yes the vocals and instruments should snap into place. However the sound stage on them should expand also. It's like a snap into place, then strong parts expand outwards a bit from the middle. Not outwards to inwards. But Inwards out.
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For instance it's 1.5 for my empire 600 lac. With the 120-150s I go to 1.65 TF. And I'm good to go.
My system has never sounding this perfect and while it sounds like alot to do. It's not once you get the hang it. A few days and you'll have it perfect and say to yourself it was all worth it
Now am I at 92 degrees?. Maybe. It looks dam close. Maybe 92.5-93,, but all tips are cut differently. Like my empire the back end is cut further to the front making the tip not centered. Plus Empires similar to mine seem to like a little postive VTA. The point is the sound will tell you when it's right. Too many variables imo for 92 to be the end all be all.
And that's why I don't get involved micro scopes. I have very good ears and I know exactly what I'm listening for. Listening is how I set mine and I wouldn't change this angle for the best micro scope made. I have an angle that now sounds great across all record sizes and recordings.
You want it to sound perfect on the 180-200 gram guys Because on the 150s you'll be able to increase VTF .1-.2, which is nothing and get the same VTA you just had for the 200 gram.
Always reset your 0 tracking force after this and make sure your cart is still aligned.
I'm sorry for tbe long post, but typing out something that is actually simple to explain in person can come out very long. Good luck guys. I've worked on this for weeks strait, and eventually realized how easy it can be when trusting your ears. A variety of genres and record sizes are key.