Wondering if anyone has some record player advice..

I have a record player hooked up to this awesome sound system and have been playing records on it for about a year now, and it wasn't till last night I noticed the songs are played in a slightly higher sounding tempo. I noticed it on Gaslight Anthem's sink or swim, but then I tried a few others such as Against Me!, NOFX, Cancer Bats and Johnny Cash and it's the same every time. It's on 33rpm like it should be, so it this a problem with my record player, or does this just happen?

Short answer: yes. But depending on what kind of record player you have, you might be able to fix it.

There SHOULD be a knob/dial/slider you can move to adjust the pitch. If you are using one of those Ion or newer Crosley ones, I don't know if they have them. But any decent player should have one.



With this player, you have 60 and 55 Hz. One of them will be the right option to use, and it depends on how the turntable was set up. The lines on the side of the turning part match up with the 45 and 33 rpm things for each Hz.

If you want the proper pitch on 60 Hz at 45 RPM, then adjust the knob until the top line on the spinning part stops moving.

There is a way to get in there and actually adjust the pitch if you don't have a knob/slider, but I haven't done it before. You might need to refer to a user manual for the player or something, assuming its possible.

Here is a video I just made showing how much the pitch will alter the speed. This one is 33 RPM at 60. Sorry, forgot to turn the phone sideways. Full screen makes it easier to see though.

When the speed goes up, it sounds like Brian did on some of the old This Charming Man demos haha.

Mine doesn't have the knob. Oh, well. I'll dig out the instructions. If it comes to it, I'll just buy a new one. Mine isn't the best. I'd prefer my old one, but my old one isn't capable of hooking into this awesome setup I have.

Anyway, thanks. I'll check it out.

Ugh it sounds so good hearing it normally. I'm gonna have to fix this up haha.

Lame, thats too bad. What about the old player is incompatible with the new system?

The old one was this awesome little player with built in speakers, but it also was capable of two external speakers being connected into it, but it did use the red and white audio cables, it used the ol' wire into the hole style. So when I got this new amp and five speakers added to the two big ones I already had, I decided a new record player was in order and my parents got me this one that connects into the amp, but I can also connect it into my computer and record the records. Not that I have a use for that option..

It's all good though. I gave that little one with the built in speakers to my father, so he had no need for his record player. So I dug around and found his old one and set it into my amp, and now everything sounds right on. Loving this.