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A gramophone record, (also phonograph record - often simply record) is an analog sound recording medium: a flat disc rotating at a constant angular velocity, with inscribed spiral grooves in which a stylus or needle rides. Analogue audio recording onto a disc was the main technology used for the storing of recorded sound for most of the 20th century. By 1988 digital media such as the compact disc surpassed the gramophone record in popularity, but gramophone records continue to be made (although in very limited quantities) into the 21st century, particularly for DJs doing live remixes and for local acts recording on small regional labels. Edison cylinder phonograph from about 1899 The phonograph, or gramophone, was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the 1870s through the 1980s. ...
It has been suggested that Direct-drive_turntable be merged into this article or section. ...
An analog or analogue signal is any continuously variable signal. ...
A schematic representation of hearing. ...
A recording medium is a physical material that holds information expressed in any of the existing recording formats. ...
A disc (or disk) is anything that resembles a flattened cylinder in shape. ...
Angular velocity describes the speed of rotation. ...
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which turns around some central point or axis, getting progressively closer to or farther from it, depending on which way you follow the curve. ...
Styli used in writing in the Fourteenth Century. ...
The word needle has several meanings: // Sewing Needles used for sewing In sewing, a needle is a long, slender, object with a pointed tip, usually made of metal. ...
(19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
A digital system is one that uses numbers for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous spectrum of values (an analog system) or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons. ...
Interference colors. ...
In calendars based on the Christian Era or Common Era, such as the Gregorian calendar, the 21st century is the current century, as of this writing. ...
DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ...
A remix is an alternate mix of a song different from the original version, made using the techniques of audio editing. ...
 33⅓ LP vinyl record album Analogue LP vinyl record album File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Analogue LP vinyl record album File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Basics The disc is almost always engraved with a single concentric spiral groove on each side of the disc, running from the outside edge towards the centre. (A small number of early phonograph systems and radio transcription discs started the groove from the inside rather than the edge of the disc, and a small number of novelty records were manufactured with multiple separate grooves.) On a very small number of albums, like Goodbye Blue and White by Less Than Jake, a hidden track, or the entire side, will be played from the centre out). Since the late 1910s, both sides of the record have usually been used as playing surfaces. Less Than Jake Less Than Jake is a popular ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida. ...
// Events and trends Technology Gideon Sundback patents the first modern zipper Harry Brearley invents stainless steel Charles P. Strite invents first pop-up bread toaster Science Einsteins theory of general relativity Max von Laue discovers the diffraction of x-rays by crystals Alfred Wegener puts forward his theory of...
Common formats - 12" (30 cm) 33⅓ rpm long-playing (LP) format
- 12" (30 cm) 45 rpm extended-playing (12-inch (30 cm) single, Maxi Single and EP) format
- 7" (17.5 cm) 45 rpm (single) format
rpm or RPM may mean: revolutions per minute RPM Package Manager (originally called Red Hat Package Manager) RPM (movie) RPM (band), a Brazilian rock band RPM (magazine), a former Canadian music industry magazine In firearms, Rounds Per Minute: how many shots an automatic weapon can fire in one minute On...
The 12-inch [30 cm] single gramophone record gained popularity with the advent of disco music in the 1970s. ...
An extended play or EP, is the name given to vinyl records or CDs which are too long to qualify as singles but too short to qualify as albums. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1637x1600, 518 KB)Hot Water Music I was on a mountain (Epitaph Records) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1637x1600, 518 KB)Hot Water Music I was on a mountain (Epitaph Records) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Less common formats - 10" (25 cm) 33⅓ rpm long-playing (LP) format
- 10" (25 cm) 45 rpm extended-playing (EP) format
- 7" (17.5 cm) 33⅓ rpm extended-playing (EP) format
- 16⅔ rpm format for voice recording, and (very rarely) for music too [1] [2]
- 12" (30 cm), 10" (25 cm) and 7" (17.5 cm) picture discs and shaped discs
- Specialty sizes (5" (12 cm), 6" (15 cm), 8" (20 cm), 9" (23 cm), 11" 28 cm), 13" (33 cm))
- Flexidiscs, often square 7"s (17.5 cm)
 A selection of coloured vinyl records The great majority of records are pressed on black vinyl, but a wide range of other colours are available. Sometimes a limited proportion of a record's overall number of manufactured units will be produced on coloured vinyl, making these records of higher value to collectors. Hence, while some enjoy the novelty of coloured records and picture discs, others are more cynical and fail to see the increased cultural or economic value of coloured plastic. In recent years, the release of records on high quality, colour vinyl - often with large inserts that can be used as posters - has been seen as an attempt to make records competitive with compact discs. Flexi disc recordings are a thin format designed to be playable on standard phonograph turntables. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2288x1712, 803 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2288x1712, 803 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Vinyl record standards for the United States follow the guidelines[3] of the RIAA (the Record Industry Association of America). The inch designations are nominal, and are not accurate indications of the diameter. The actual dimension of a 12 inch record is 302 mm (11.89 in), for a 10 inch it is 250 mm (9.84 in), and for a 7 inch it is 175 mm (6.89 in). The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a special interest group representing the U.S. recording industry, and the body responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in the USA. For more information about sales data see list of best selling albums and list of best selling...
Records made in other countries are standardized by different organizations, but are similar in size. The record diameters are typically 300 mm, 250 mm and 175 mm in most countries.
There is usually an area around 1/4" wide at the outer edge of the disk with a wide, silent groove to allow the stylus to be dropped gently onto the record and let it get into the groove whilst minimising the damaging effects of this. Similarly at the end of the record there was a wider run off area where the groove would eventually join itself to allow a user time to get to the player and stop it. In between each track, there is a short gap where the groove is widely spaced. This makes it was easy to seek to an individual track. Automatic turntables rely on the player arm reaching the inner position to trigger the mechanism that lifts the arm.
To allow for auto-changing turntables, records typically have a raised outer edge and label area. This allows records to be stacked onto each other without the grooves coming into contact, reducing the risk of damaging the relatively delicate grooves.
Early history of the medium A sound recording and reproduction device utilizing what were essentially disk records was described by Charles Cros of France in 1877 but never built. In 1878, Thomas Edison independently built the first working phonograph, a tinfoil cylinder phonograph, and the phonograph cylinder dominated the recorded sound market starting in the 1880s. Disc records were invented by Emile Berliner in 1888, and were used exclusively in toys until 1894, when Berliner began marketing disk records under the Berliner Gramophone label. In the mid-1910s, disk records overtook cylinders in popularity, and would dominate the market until the 1990s. Charles Cros (October 1, 1842 - August 9, 1888) was a French poet and inventor. ...
1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...
Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many important devices. ...
The earliest method of recording and reproducing sound was on cylinder phonograph recordings. ...
// Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ...
Emile Berliner (May 20, 1851 - August 3, 1929) was an inventor, best known for developing the disc record gramophone (phonograph in American English). ...
1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ...
1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
Berliner Gramophone was an early record label, the first company to produce disc gramophone records (as opposed to the earlier phonograph cylinder records). ...
// Events and trends Technology Gideon Sundback patents the first modern zipper Harry Brearley invents stainless steel Charles P. Strite invents first pop-up bread toaster Science Einsteins theory of general relativity Max von Laue discovers the diffraction of x-rays by crystals Alfred Wegener puts forward his theory of...
// Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ...
History of the materials Early disc records were originally made of various materials including hard rubber. In the early 20th century earlier materials were largely replaced by a rather brittle formula known as "shellac", actually a mixture of shellac resin (a natural plastic) and cotton or other fiber. The mass production of shellac records began in 1898 in Hanover, Germany. Shellac records were the most common until about 1950. Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ...
Shellac is a secretion of the lac insect Coccus lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand. ...
Cotton is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World. ...
Fiber (American English) or fibre (Commonwealth English) is a class of materials that are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to pieces of thread. ...
1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...
Map of Germany showing Hanover Hanover (German: Hannover [haˈnoËfÉ]), on the river Leine, is the capital of the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ...
1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...
In the 1890s the early recording formats of discs were usually 17.5 cm (~seven inches) in diameter. By 1910 the 25 cm (~10-inch) record was by far the most popular standard, holding about three minutes of music or entertainment on a side. 30 cm 12-inch records were also commercially sold, mostly of classical music or operatic selections, with five minutes of music per side. The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no...
Historically there have beem hundreds of recording media and formats. ...
Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial and U.S. customary unit of length. ...
Entertainment is an amusement or diversion intended to hold the attention of an audience or its participants. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera is an art form consisting of a dramatic stage performance set to music. ...
Such records were usually sold separately, but sometimes in collections held in paper sleeves in a cardboard or leather book, similar to a photograph album, and called record albums. Also, empty record albums were sold that customers could use to store their disc records in. Cardboard (called corrugated paper in the industry) is a heavy wood-based type of paper, notable for its stiffness and durability. ...
Modern leather-working tools Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals, primarily cows. ...
While a 78 rpm record is brittle and relatively easily broken, both the microgroove LP 33⅓ rpm record and the 45 rpm single records are made from vinyl plastic which is flexible and unbreakable in normal use. 78s come in a variety of sizes, the most common being 10 inch (25 cm) and 12 inch (30 cm) diameter, and these were originally sold in either paper or card covers, generally with a circular cutout allowing the record label to be seen. The Long-Playing records (LPs) usually come in a paper sleeve within a colour printed card jacket which also provides a track listing. 45 rpm singles and EPs (Extended Play) are of 7 inch (17.5 cm) diameter, the earlier copies being sold in paper covers. Grooves on a 78 rpm are much coarser than the LP and 45 - roughly as wide as a fingernail is thick. For the Rise Against album, see Revolutions Per Minute (album). ...
In 1930, RCA Victor launched the first commercially-available vinyl long-playing record, marketed as "Program Transcription" discs. These revolutionary discs were designed for playback at 33⅓ rpm and pressed on a 30 cm diameter flexible plastic disc. In Roland Gelatt's book The Fabulous Phonograph, the author notes that RCA Victor's early introduction of a long-play disc was a commercial failure for several reasons including the lack of affordable, reliable consumer playback equipment and consumer wariness during the Great Depression. A good outline of this unsuccessful product launch can be found here. 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...
Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann AG) completed in August 2004. ...
However, vinyl's lower playback noise level than shellac was not forgotten. During and after World War II when shellac supplies were extremely limited, some 78 rpm records were pressed in vinyl instead of shellac (wax), particularly the six-minute 12" (30 cm) 78 rpm records produced by V-Disc for distribution to US troops in World War II. Shellac is a secretion of the lac insect Coccus lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand. ...
World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that engulfed much of the globe...
V-Disc was a record label produced during the World War II era by special arrangement between the United States government and various private U.S. record companies. ...
Beginning in 1939, Columbia Records continued development of this technology. Dr. Peter Goldmark and his staff undertook exhaustive efforts to address problems of recording and playing back narrow grooves and developing an inexpensive, reliable consumer playback system. In 1948, the 12" (30 cm) Long Play (LP) 33⅓ rpm microgroove record was introduced by the Columbia Record at a dramatic New York press conference. 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ...
1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ...
History of the speeds
Backstory Earliest speeds of rotation varied widely, but by 1910 most records were recorded at about 78 to 80 rpm. In 1925, 78.26 rpm was chosen as a standard for motorized phonographs, because it was suitable for most existing records, and was easily achieved using a standard 3600-rpm motor and 46-tooth gear (78.26 = 3600/46). Thus these records became known as 78s (or "seventy-eights"). This term did not come into use until after World War II when a need developed to distinguish the 78 from other newer disc record formats. Earlier they were just called records, or when there was a need to distinguish them from cylinders, disc records. Standard records was also used, although the same term had also been used earlier for two-minute cylinders. 1910 in topic: Arts Architecture- Art- Film- Literature- Music- Television Science and technology Aviation- Rail transport- Radio- Science Other topics Australia- Canada- Ireland- South Africa- Sport Births- Deaths Lists of leaders: State leaders - Religious leaders 1910 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...
rpm or RPM may mean: revolutions per minute RPM Package Manager (originally called Red Hat Package Manager) RPM (movie) RPM (band), a Brazilian rock band RPM (magazine), a former Canadian music industry magazine In firearms, Rounds Per Minute: how many shots an automatic weapon can fire in one minute On...
1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...
rpm or RPM may mean: revolutions per minute RPM Package Manager (originally called Red Hat Package Manager) RPM (movie) RPM (band), a Brazilian rock band RPM (magazine), a former Canadian music industry magazine In firearms, Rounds Per Minute: how many shots an automatic weapon can fire in one minute On...
rpm or RPM may mean: revolutions per minute RPM Package Manager (originally called Red Hat Package Manager) RPM (movie) RPM (band), a Brazilian rock band RPM (magazine), a former Canadian music industry magazine In firearms, Rounds Per Minute: how many shots an automatic weapon can fire in one minute On...
World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that engulfed much of the globe...
The earliest method of recording and reproducing sound was on cylinder phonograph recordings. ...
After World War II, two new competing formats came on to the market and gradually replaced the standard "78": the 33⅓ rpm (often just referred to as to 33 rpm), and the 45 rpm. The 33⅓ rpm LP (for "long play") format was developed by Columbia Records and marketed in 1948. RCA Victor developed the 45 rpm format and marketed it in 1949, in response to Columbia. Both types of new disc used narrower grooves, intended to be played with a smaller stylus, than the old "78s", so the new records were sometimes called Microgroove. In the mid-1950s all record companies agreed to a common recording standard called RIAA equalization; before then each company had used its own preferred standard, requiring discriminating listeners to use preamplifiers with multiple selectable equalization curves. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a mid-20th-century conflict that engulfed much of the globe...
Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ...
Marketing is the collective field of advertising and promotion. ...
1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...
RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson SA, which manufactures consumer electronics like RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related...
1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...
RIAA equalization is a specification for the correct playback of vinyl records, established by the Recording Industry Association of America. ...
The older 78 format continued to be mass produced alongside the newer formats into the 1950s (and in a few countries, such as India, into the 1960s). The Beatles recorded some of the last commercially-released 78's. // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning...
The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ...
The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 as part of their first tour of the United States, promoting their first hit single there, I Want To Hold Your Hand. ...
The commercial rivalry between RCA Victor and Columbia Records led to RCA Victor's introduction of what it had intended to be a competing vinyl format, the 7" (17.5 cm) / 45 rpm Extended Play (EP). For a two-year period from 1948 to 1950, record companies and consumers faced uncertainty over which of these formats would ultimately prevail in what was known as the "War of the Speeds". (See also format war) A format war describes competition between competing, and typically mutually incompatible, media formats, usually very costly to the format-owning parties involved. ...
Eventually, the 12" (30 cm) / 33⅓ rpm LP prevailed as the predominant format for musical albums, and the 7" (17.5 cm) / 45 rpm EP or "single" established a significant niche for shorter duration discs typically containing one song on each side. The EP discs typically emulated the playing time of the former 78 rpm discs, while the LP discs provided up to one-half hour of time per side, but typically 15 to 20 minutes was normal. Extended play was only achieved at the expense of heavy compression or attenuating the bass (as the groove actually visibly followed the wave-form, loud, low frequency sound consumed more width per revolution than quiet sounds).
From the mid-1950s through the 1960s, in the U. S. the common home "record player" or "stereo" would typically have had these features: a three- or four-speed turntable (78, 45, 33-1/3, and sometimes 16-2/3 rpm); a combination cartridge with both 78 and microgroove styluses; and some kind of adapter for playing the 45s with their larger center hole. The large center hole on 45s allows for easier handling by jukebox mechanisma. Deliberately playing records at the wrong speed was a near-universal childhood amusement. A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that can play specially selected songs from self-contained media. ...
Progress, and the War of the Speeds About the same time the most common substance for making 33 rpm disc records became vinyl, while most 45 rpm discs were made from polystyrene. All speeds of records were made in various sizes, mainly 17.5, 25, 30 cm (~7, 10 and 12 inches diameter; the 17.5 cm (~7-inch) being most common for the 45 rpm, the 25 cm (~10-inch) for the 78 (and the first few years of 33⅓ production), and the 30 cm (~12-inch) for the 33 from the mid 1950s on. The sound quality and durability of vinyl records is highly dependent on the quality of the vinyl used. Most vinyl records are pressed on recycled vinyl. New "virgin" or "heavy" (180-220 g/m²) vinyl is commonly used for classical music, although it has been used for some other genres. Today, it is increasingly common in vinyl pressings that can be found in most record shops. Even modern albums like Shellac's and Mission of Burma's latest are pressed on 180 g/m² vinyl, though most are reissues of classic albums, like The Clash's series of reissues. These albums tend to withstand the deformation caused by normal play better than regular vinyl. Vinyl siding Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a widely-used plastic. ...
Styrofoam redirects here. ...
Mid-19th century tool for converting between different standards of the inch An inch is an Imperial and U.S. customary unit of length. ...
// Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning...
A vinyl is an organic molecule containing a vinyl group: H R / C = C / H H where R represents a functional group such as a hydrocarbon or halogen. ...
The gram or gramme, symbol g, is a unit of mass, and is defined in the SI system of units as one one-thousandth of a kilogram (i. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
A genre is any of the traditional divisions of art forms from a single field of activity into various kinds according to criteria particular to that form. ...
Shellac is a secretion of the lac insect Coccus lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand. ...
Mission of Burma Vs LP cover Mission of Burma is a post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts comprised of guitarist Roger Miller, bassist Clint Conley and drummer Peter Prescott, with Bob Weston (originally Martin Swope) as tape manipulator and sound engineer. ...
The Clash in 1978. ...
While most vinyl records are pressed from metal master discs, a technique known as lathe-cutting was introduced in the late 1980s by Peter King in Geraldine, New Zealand. A lathe is used to cut microgrooves into a clear polycarbonate disc. Lathe cut records can be made inexpensively in small runs. However, the sound quality is significantly worse than proper vinyl records, and lathe cut records tend to degrade further in quality after repeated playing. Geraldine is a town in the Canterbury region on the South Island of New Zealand. ...
 45 rpm records, like this one from 1955, often held a single - one especially popular tune from a particular artist - with a flip side, a bonus for owners. 45 rpm record The image itself is copyright ©2004 by Daniel P. B. Smith and released under the terms of the Wikipedia license. ...
45 rpm record The image itself is copyright ©2004 by Daniel P. B. Smith and released under the terms of the Wikipedia license. ...
Stereo and beyond In 1958 the first stereo two-channel records were issued – by Audio Fidelity in the USA and Pye in Britain, using the Westrex "45/45" single-groove system. On stereo records the stylus moves vertically as well as horizontally. Stereophonic sound, commonly called stereo, is the reproduction of sound, using two independent audio channels, through a pair of widely separated speaker systems, in such a way as to create a pleasant and natural impression of sound heard from various directions as in natural hearing. ...
One could envision a system in which the left channel was recorded laterally and the right channel was recorded with a "hill-and-dale" vertical motion, and such systems were actually proposed, but not adopted. In the Westrex system, each channel drives the stylus at a 45 degree angle to the vertical. During playback, the combined signal is sensed by a left channel coil mounted diagonally opposite the inner side of the groove, and a right channel coil mounted diagonally opposite the outer side of the groove [4].
It is, however, helpful to think of the motion in terms of the vector sum and difference of the two channels. Effectively, horizontal stylus motion carries an L+R sum signal, and vertical stylus motion carries an L-R difference signal. The advantages of the 45/45 system are:
- greater compatibility with monophonic recording and playback systems. A monophonic cartridge will reproduce an equal blend of the left and right channels instead of reproducing only one channel. Conversely, a stereo cartridge reproduces the lateral grooves of monophonic recording equally through both channels, rather than one channel.
- a more balanced sound, because the two channels have equal fidelity (rather than providing one higher-fidelity laterally recorded channel and one lower-fidelity vertically-recorded channel);
- higher fidelity in general, because the "difference" signal is usually of low power and thus less affected by the intrinsic distortion of hill-and-dale recording.
This system was invented by Alan Blumlein of EMI in 1931, and patented the same year. EMI cut the first stereo test dics using the system in 1933. However it was not exploited commercially until a quarter of a century later. Alan Dower Blumlein was an electronics engineer who made a great many inventions in telecommunications, sound recording, stereo, television and radar. ...
The EMI Group is a major record label, based in Hammersmith, London, in the United Kingdom and with operations in over 25 other countries. ...
Stereo sound provides a more natural listening experience where the spatial location of the source of a sound is, at least in part, reproduced.
The development of quadraphonic records was announced in 1971 - which recorded four separate sound signals. This was achieved on the two stereo channels by electronic matrixing, where the additional channels were combined into the main signal. When the records were played, circuits in the amplifiers were able to decode the signals into four separate channels. There were two main systems of matrixed quadrophonic records produced, confusingly named SQ (by CBS) and QS (by Sansui). They proved commercially unsuccessful, but were an important precursor to later 'surround sound' systems, as seen in SACD and home cinema today. A different format, CD-4 (by RCA), encoded rear-channel information on an ultrasonic carrier, which required a special wideband cartridge to pick it up. Typically the high-frequency information wore off after only a few playings, and CD-4 was even less successful than the two matrixed formats. Quadraphonic sound uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at all four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of each other. ...
CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) is a major television network and radio broadcaster in the United States. ...
Sansui 9090DB amplifier Sansui is a Japanese manufacturer of audio and video equipment. ...
RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson SA, which manufactures consumer electronics like RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related...
Other developments In 1951, under the direction of C. Robert Fine, Mercury Records initiated a minimalist single-microphone monaural recording technique named “Mercury Living Presence.” In 1961, Mercury enhanced this technique with three-microphone stereo recordings using 35mm magnetic film instead of half-inch tape for recording. The greater thickness and width of 35mm magnetic film prevented tape layer print-through and pre-echo and gained in addition extended frequency range and transient response. Reference: Lawrence, Harold; "Mercury Living Presence." Compact disc liner notes. Bartók, Antal Dorati, Mercury 432 017-2. 1991. 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...
1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...
In 1973, on Monty Python's Matching Tie and Handkerchief LP, they made a record that (sort of) had three sides. One side was perfectly normal (labelled "Side 2"). The other side (also labelled "Side 2", but with SB written on it) had two parallel grooves, so that depending on where the needle was dropped, one of two different tracks would be played. 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ...
The Monty Python troupe in 1970. ...
Categories: Album stubs | Monty Python albums ...
During the early 1970s, a cost-cutting move towards use of lightweight, flexible vinyl pressings. Marketed by RCA Victor as the Dynaflex process, much of the industry adopted a technique of reducing the thickness and quality of vinyl used in mass-market manufacturing. In many cases, this included using "regrind" vinyl as a means of cutting manufacturing costs.
During the late 1970s, an audiophile-focused niche market for "direct-to-disc" records, which completely bypassed use of magnetic tape in favor of a "purist" transcription directly to the master lacquer disc.
During the late 1970s, an audiophile-focused niche market for "half-speed mastered" and "original master" records, using expensive state-of-the-art technology.
During the early 1980s, an audiophile-focused niche market for "DBX-encoded" records, which were completely non-compatible with standard record playback preamplifiers, relying on a sophisticated DBX noise reduction encoding/decoding scheme to virtually eliminate playback noise and increase dynamic range. A similar and very short-lived scheme involved using the CBS-developed "CX" noise reduction encoding/decoding scheme.
During the late 1970s and 1980s, the use of highly advanced disc cutting equipment to improve the dynamic range and reduce inner-groove distortion of mass-produced records, using techniques marketed as the CBS Discomputer and Teldec Direct Metal Mastering.
The record mastering and pressing process
Recording the disc For the first several decades of disc record manufacturing, sound was recorded directly on to the master disc (also called the matrix, sometimes just the master) at the recording studio. From about 1950 on (earlier for some large record companies, later for some small ones) it became usual to have the performance first recorded on audio tape, which could then be processed and/or edited, and then dubbed on to the master disc. Audio storage refers to techniques and formats used to store audio with the goal to reproduce the audio later using audio signal processing to something that resembles the original. ...
In sound recording, dubbing is the transfer of recorded audio material from one medium to another of the same or a different type. ...
A record cutter would engrave the grooves into the master disc. Early on these master discs were soft wax, later on a harder lacquer was used.
The mastering process was originally something of an art as the operator had to manually allow for the changes in sound which affected how wide the space for the groove needed to be on each rotation. Sometimes the engineer would sign his work, or leave humorous or cryptic comments in the run-off groove area, where it was normal to scratch or stamp identifying codes to distinguish each master.
Mass producing records The soft master would then usually be electroplated with a metal, commonly a nickel alloy. When this metal was removed from the master, it would be a negative master (in some companies' terminology, this was called the master; note difference from master disc above). In the earliest days the negative master was used as a mold to press records sold to the public, but as demand for mass production of records grew, another step was added to the process. Electroplating is the coating of an electrically conductive item with a layer of metal using electrical current. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number nickel, Ni, 28 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 4, d Appearance lustrous, metallic Atomic mass 58. ...
Process (lat. ...
The negative master mold is used to create metal positive discs, each called a mother or matrix. These mothers would then in turn be used to make more negatives, each called a stamper. The stampers would be used as the molds for the discs sold to the public. The advantages of this system over the earlier more direct system included ability to make more records more quickly by having multiple stampers pressing records at the same time, more records could be pressed from each record since much used molds would eventually wear out, and spare mothers as back ups.
Disc limitations Shellac 78s were extremely brittle and would break into several pieces if dropped. Typically, they would break into several wedge-shaped pieces; if the glued label did not tear, they might remain loosely connected by the label. In some cases, they are actually still playable if the label holds the pieces together, although there is a loud 'pop' with each pass over the crack, and breaking off the needle is highly likely. Shellac is a secretion of the lac insect Coccus lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand. ...
Breakage was a very common accident, but one that usually induced a sharp pang of loss. Even careful owners usually lost some records to breakage. In the 1934 novel, Appointment in Samarra, the protagonist—admittedly drunk— 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Appointment in Samarra, published in 1934, is the first novel by John OHara. ...
- broke one of his most favorites, Whiteman's Lady of the Evening... He wanted to cry but could not. He wanted to pick up the pieces. He reached over to pick them up, and lost his balance and sat down on another record, crushing it unmusically. He did not want to see what it was. All he knew was that it was a Brunswick, which meant that it was one of the oldest and best.
A poignant moment in J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye occurs after the adolescent protagonist buys a record for his younger sister because "I knew it would knock old Phoebe out." But "I dropped the record, and it broke into pieces... I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible, but all I did was, I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket." Paul Whiteman (March 28, 1890 - December 29, 1967) was a popular United States orchestral leader. ...
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. ...
Jerome David Salinger (born January 1, 1919) is an American author best known for The Catcher in the Rye, a classic coming-of-age story that has enjoyed enduring popularity since its publication in 1951. ...
1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...
The Catcher in the Rye book cover The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger. ...
Vinyl records were less subject to breakage. However, the vinyl material was an effective insulator and very prone to acquiring a static charge and attracting dust, which was very difficult to remove completely. The soft material was easily scratched. Dust and scratches caused audio clicks and pops. In extreme cases, they could cause the needle to skip over a series of grooves, causing the player to skip over a segment of the audio track; or, worse yet, cause the needle to skip backwards, creating a "locked groove" that would repeat the same portion of track over and over again. Locked grooves were not uncommon and were even heard occasionally in broadcasts. Locked grooves formed the subject of jokes ("Machines never make a mistake... make a mistake... make a mistake...") and became a common metaphor (a repetitious complainer might be accused of being "a broken record" or "a stuck gramophone record"). For the fictional fundamental particle in Philip Pullmans His Dark Materials, see Dust (His Dark Materials). ...
Locked grooves are a special case of groove skipping, in which groove damage or dirt lodged in the groove causes the stylus to skip to an adjacent groove.
Vinyl records could be warped by heat, improper storage, or manufacturing defects such as excessively tight plastic shrinkwrap on the album. A small degree of warp was common, and allowing for it was part of the art of turntable and tonearm design. "Wow" (once-per-revolution pitch variation) could result from warp, or from a spindle hole that was not precisely centered. A red-hot iron rod cooling after being worked by a blacksmith. ...
Shrinkwrap is a material made up of polymer plastic, usually PVC with a mix of polyesters. ...
Wow is a (once-per-revolution pitch variation) occurring when playing a Gramophone record which could result from warp, or from a spindle hole that was not precisely centered. ...
In music, pitch is the perception of the frequency of a note. ...
A spindle (sometimes called a drop spindle) is a wooden spike weighted at one end with a wheel and an optional hook at the other end. ...
As a practical matter, records provided excellent sound quality when treated with care. They were the music source of choice for radio stations for decades, and the switch to digital music libraries by radio stations has not produced a noticeable improvement in sound quality. Casual ears cannot detect a difference in quality between a CD and a clean new LP played on good equipment. Audiophiles take great care of their records, playing them on expensive equipment to get the best sound and impart the least wear to the disc. However, even with the best of care, keen ears can detect the inherent surface noise. Nevertheless some aficionados believe that under the very best conditions LP sound is superior to CD (see Analog vs. Digital sound argument). The limitations of recording and mastering techniques had a greater impact on sound quality than the limitations of the record itself, at least until the 1980s. A radio station is a sound broadcasting service. ...
Alternative meanings: Library (computer science), Library (biology) Modern-style library In its traditional sense, a library is a collection of books and periodicals. ...
An audiophile (literally, one who loves sound) is one who is concerned with achieving high-quality results in the recording and playback of music. ...
A left human ear. ...
Since the first publication of digital sound recordings listeners have disagreed over the respective sound quality of analog and digital sound. ...
// Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...
A further limitation of the record is that with a constant rotational speed, the quality of the sound differs across the width of the record: the inner tracks play back at a significantly lower speed than the outer tracks. The result is that inner tracks have distortion that can be particularly noticable at higher recording levels. CDs resolve this issue by using a variable rotational speed, giving a constant bit-rate.
Another problem arises because of the geometry of the record arm. To be cost-effective, they pivot at a fixed point and the stylus describes an arc over the record. This means that the stylus may be presented at an angle to the groove and this introduces a distortion. A number of manufacturers introduced solutions to this issue by creating players with parallel tracking arms (for example Bang & Olufsen and the Beogram 8500) which used a servo system to power the arm across the player. Bang & Olufsen (B&O) is a Danish company that designs high end audio products, television sets, and telephones. ...
Records were easy and inexpensive to manufacture, so they could be mass-produced. Also, with the advent of long-playing records, the album cover became more than just packaging and protection, and album cover art became an important part of the music marketing and consuming experience. An album cover is a printed cardboard cover that was typically used to package 12 gramophone records from the 1960s through to the 1980s when the 12 record was the major format for distribution of popular music. ...
 Columbia and RCA duked it out in the center of the record. Some turntables included spindle size adapters, but other turntables required snap-in inserts like this one to adapt RCA's larger 45 rpm spindle size to the smaller spindle size available on nearly all turntables. 45 rpm record insert Image copyright ©2004 by Daniel P. B. Smith and released under the terms of the Wikipedia license. ...
45 rpm record insert Image copyright ©2004 by Daniel P. B. Smith and released under the terms of the Wikipedia license. ...
RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson SA, which manufactures consumer electronics like RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related...
Recording medium comparison *Approximate, maximum, and per side, if applicable.
**Generally in the several hundred hour range. Can be calculated by [Total storage capacity]/[Bit Rate]. Typical values for capacity are 1 GB for flash memory based players and 5 to 60 GB for hard-drive based devices, which allows for the storage of 17 to over 1000 hours of 128 kbit/s encoded audio. 78 (seventy-eight) is the natural number following 77 and followed by 79. ...
45 is the natural number following 44 and followed by 46. ...
For the meaning of cassette in genetics, see cassette (genetics). ...
Interference colors. ...
A digital audio player (DAP) is a device that stores, organizes and plays digital music files. ...
A USB Flash Memory Card Flash memory is a form of EEPROM that allows multiple memory locations to be erased or written in one programming operation. ...
The typical duration of a vinyl album was about 15 to 20 minutes per side, except classical music which could extend to over 30 minutes on a side. The total of around 40–45 minutes often influenced the arrangement of tracks, with the preferred positions being the opening and closing tracks of each side. With the advent of compact discs, the available time became 74 or 80 minutes in a single block, which reduced the previous constraints. Interference colors. ...
Although the term EP was commonly used to describe a 7" single with more than two tracks, technically they were not different from a normal 7" single. The EP used reduced dynamic range and a smaller run-off groove area to extend the playing time. However, there are examples of singles, such as Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody which were six minutes long or more. These longer recordings would require the same technical approach as an EP. The word Queen ultimately derives from an Indo-European root *gwena (woman) via Old English cwén (woman, wife, queen). ...
Bohemian Rhapsody is a song written by Freddie Mercury, originally recorded by his band Queen for their 1975 album A Night at the Opera. ...
Vinyl albums had a large 12" album cover, which also allowed cover designers scope for imaginative designs, often including fold-outs and leaflets. An album cover is a printed cardboard cover that was typically used to package 12 gramophone records from the 1960s through to the 1980s when the 12 record was the major format for distribution of popular music. ...
Beyond the 1990s: Records versus the digital media Groove recordings, first designed in the final quarter of the 19th century, held predominant sway for an impressive amount of time - just about a century. Even the technologies designed to supersede the record - reel tapes, the 8 track and the audio cassette - could not fully kill it. Only now, in the age of the CD and the MP3 player, has the record been fully replaced on a commercial level. The 8-track cartridge is a now-obsolete audio storage magnetic tape cartridge technology, popular during the 1960s and 1970s. ...
For the meaning of cassette in genetics, see cassette (genetics). ...
However, there are holdouts...
Arguments about sound fidelity Vinyl records continue to be manufactured and sold today, although it is considered to be a niche market comprised of audiophiles, collectors, and disc jockeys (DJs). Punk and hardcore bands also often produce their albums and singles on vinyl. Niche marketing is the process of finding small but potentially profitable market segments and designing custom-made products for them. ...
An audiophile (literally, one who loves sound) is one who is concerned with achieving high-quality results in the recording and playback of music. ...
Collector - in electronics, the amplified terminal on a Bipolar junction transistor (PNP) or (NPN) list of collectors- People with note-worthy collections. ...
DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ...
Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ...
Hardcore punk (or hardcore) is an intensified version of punk rock usually characterized by short, loud, and often angry songs with exceptionally fast tempos and chord changes. ...
In the early days of compact discs, vinyl records were still prized by audiophiles because of better reproduction of analog recordings; however, the drawback was greater sensitivity to scratches and dust. Early compact discs were perceived by some as screechy, distorting sounds on the high end, and not as "warm" as vinyl especially in recordings that require a wide dynamic range (e.g. classical recordings). This resulted in a slower acceptance of digital music in its early years by some listeners. Interference colors. ...
Though digital audio technology has improved over the years, some audiophiles still prefer what they perceive as the warmer and more detailed sound of vinyl over the harsher sound of CDs. Some listeners were also disappointed by what they considered to be unfaithful remastering of analog recordings. The advent of higher-quality digital formats, notably SACD, offers the tantalizing possibility of combining the high-quality sound of the best analog recordings with the convenience and durability of the CD. Many artists still release recordings, in limited pressings, on vinyl. Digital audio describes sound recording and reproduction systems which work by using a digital representation of the audio waveform. ...
Super Audio CD (SACD) is a new audio recording format aimed at providing higher fidelity audio reproduction than the compact disc. ...
The arguments about the superior quality of vinyl records are wide-ranging. Proponents of analog audio argue that, unlike CD audio, it is not affected by the sharp frequency cutoff and phase characteristics, including group delay, near the Nyquist frequency and the quantization noise of 16-bit linear quantization, but that analog recording has a more gradual frequency cutoff, and what they consider to be a more natural descent into the analog noise floor. The Nyquist frequency, named after the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem, is half the sampling frequency for a signal. ...
Quantization noise is a noise error introduced by the analogue to digital conversion (ADC) process in telecommunication systems and signal processing. ...
In signal theory, the noise floor is the measure of the signal created from the sum of all the noise sources and unwanted signals within a measurement system. ...
Proponents of digital audio state that these differences are generally inaudible to normal human hearing, and the lack of clicks, hiss and pops from digital recordings greatly improved sound fidelity. They also state that more modern anti-aliasing filters and oversampling systems used in modern CD recordings greatly reduce the problems observed with early CDs.
The "warmer" sound of analog records is generally believed on both sides of the argument to be an artifact of the dynamic harmonic distortion characteristic of vinyl recording. It is thought by supporters of digital audio that the fans of vinyl got so used to it they think it is actually a more "faithful" to the real sound, when it is actually the other way around. (This phenomenon of a preference for the sound of a beloved lower-fidelity technology is not new; a 1963 review of RCA Dynagroove recordings notes that "some listeners object to the ultra-smooth sound as ... sterile... such distortion-forming sounds as those produced by loud brasses are eliminated at the expense of fidelity. They prefer for a climactic fortissimo to blast their machines...")
Nevertheless, critics of compact disc audio have observed that more recent digital audio systems are being designed to use higher sampling rates (for example, 96kHz) and finer quantization (for example 24 rather than 16 bits per sample), and state that this would not be being done if it did not bring some audible improvement to the output.
Deejays For DJs, mostly in the electronic dance music or hip hop genres, vinyl has another advantage over the CD: the direct manipulation of the medium. While with CDs or cassettes one normally has only indirect manipulation options (the play/stop/pause etc. buttons), with a record one can put the needle a few tracks farther in- or outwards and accelerate/decelerate the spinning or even reverse the direction (if the needle and record player is built to withstand it). However some professional CD players now have this capability. DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ...
Electronic music is a loose term for music created using electronic equipment. ...
Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban African American youth in New York and has since spread around the world. ...
For the meaning of cassette in genetics, see cassette (genetics). ...
Edison cylinder phonograph from about 1899 The phonograph, or gramophone, was the most common device for playing recorded sound from the 1870s through the 1980s. ...
ELP, a Japanese-based company, has developed a player that uses a laser instead of a needle to read vinyl discs. In theory, it eliminates the possibility of scratches and attendant degradation of the sound, but its expense limits use primarily to digital archiving of analog records.
Preservation of disk recordings Due to the nature of the recording medium, playback of disks can cause degradation of the recording. In some cases, the equipment for playback of certain formats (e.g. 16 and 78 RPM) is manufactured only in only small quantities, leading to increased difficulty in finding equipment to play the recordings.
In an attempt to preserve the historic content of the recordings, disks can be read optically, processed with software that calculates the velocity that the stylus would be moving in the mapped grooves and converted to a digital recording format. The resulting sound clip in most cases sounds better than stylus playback from the original disk. Having an electronic version of the original recordings enables archivists to open access to the recordings to a wider audience. This technique also has the potential to allow for reconstruction of damaged or broken disks. (Fadeyev & Haber, 2003) In digital recording, the analog signal of a sound is converted into a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure through time; thus making an abstract template for the original sound. ...
See also
 The Voyager Golden Record DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ...
Download high resolution version (893x817, 393 KB)NASA picture of the Golden Record that was attached to Voyager from: http://voyager. ...
Download high resolution version (893x817, 393 KB)NASA picture of the Golden Record that was attached to Voyager from: http://voyager. ...
The Voyager Golden Record. ...
// Old School Turntablism is a subgenre of pop music which emerged from hip hop. ...
Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ...
A magnetic cartridge is the most common modern form of pickup used for the playback of gramophone records using a turntable or phonograph. ...
Further reading - From Tin Foil to Stereo -- Evolution of the Phonograph by Oliver Read and Walter L. Welch
- Where have all the good times gone? -- the rise and fall of the record industry Louis Barfee
References Established in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, manufacturers and other organisations and individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. ...
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