"Scratch" vs "Crackle"

[Craig Maier]

Recently, a customer complained that it is unclear what the difference between "Scratch" and "Crackle" is in the EZ Clean Filter.

The difference between the two is carefully articulated in the Users Manual on page 115 and 116.

In short summary, "Scractch" are very large impulsive events and "Crackle" are very small ones. See the manual for details.

[sus4chord]

Hi, Craig -

I may be wrong, but I just always viewed a scratch as that which cuts across the tracks, as in, "oh no, the tonearm just slipped out of my fingers and skittered across the tracks causing quite a visible scratch."

And likewise, "better use a quality cleaner to get all the dust out of tracks, or there will be a lot of crackle when you play it."

Overly simplified, I know, but it works for me.

Of course, the weird thing for me was when I started getting some CDs to replace my records (which with DC6 and its predecessors I don't have to do anymore), I found that I missed hearing some of the scratches at certain places, because I had gotten so used to them being there from listening to the album so often.

[Craig Maier]

Yeah, that is right. I agree with your definition(s). As for missing the Scratches and Crackle, there are some presets and a procedures to put impulsive noises back onto recordings in the presets sharing section of the forum. People involved in the theatrical arts sometimes need to do that to modern recordings to obtain that "period" feel.