The Full Wiki

78 rpm: Wikis



Did you know ...

More interesting facts on 78 rpm

Include this on your site/blog:


(Redirected to Gramophone record article)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A 12-inch (30-cm) 3313 rpm record (left), a 7-inch 45 rpm record (right), and a CD (above)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

A gramophone record, commonly known as phonograph record (in American English), vinyl record (when made of polyvinyl chloride), or simply record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the centre of the disc. Phonograph records are generally described by their size ("12-inch", "10-inch", "7-inch", etc.), the rotational speed they are played at ("33", "45", "78", etc.), their time capacity ("Long Playing"), their reproductive accuracy, or "fidelity", or the number of channels of audio provided ("Mono", "Stereo", "Quadraphonic", etc.) (See below)

Gramophone records were the primary medium used for commercial music reproduction for most of the 20th century, replacing the phonograph cylinder, with which they had co-existed, by the 1920s. By the late 1980s, digital media had gained a larger market share, and the vinyl record left the mainstream in 1991.[1][2] However, they continue to be manufactured and sold in the 21st century. The vinyl record regained popularity by 2008, with nearly 2.9 million units shipped that year, the most in any year since 1998.[3] They are used predominantly by young adults, as well as DJs and audiophiles for many types of music. As of 2009, vinyl records continue to be used for distribution of independent and alternative music artists. More mainstream pop releases tend to be mostly sold in compact disc or other digital formats, but have still been released in vinyl in certain instances.


Early history

Edison cylinder phonograph ca. 1899

A device utilizing a vibrating pen to graphically represent sound on discs of paper, without the idea of playing it back in any manner, was built by Edouard-Leon Scott of France in 1857. While the mechanism, known as a phonautograph, was intended solely to depict the visual characteristics of sound, it was recently realized that this depiction could be digitally analyzed and reconstructed as an audible recording. Just such an early phonoautogram, made in 1860 and now the earliest known audio recording, has been reproduced using computer technology.

In 1877, Thomas Edison developed the phonautograph into a machine, the phonograph, that was capable of replaying the recordings made. The recordings were made on tinfoil, and were initially intended to be used as a voice recording medium, typically for office dictation.

This phonograph cylinder dominated the recorded sound market beginning in the 1880s. Lateral-cut disc records were invented by Emile Berliner in 1888 and were used exclusively in toys until 1894, when Berliner began marketing disc records under the Berliner Gramophone label. Berliner's records had poor sound quality, however, but work by Eldridge R. Johnson improved the fidelity to a point where they were as good as cylinders. Johnson's and Berliner's separate companies merged to form the Victor Talking Machine Company, whose products would come to dominate the market for many years later.[4]

In an attempt to head off the disc advantage, Edison introduced the Amberol cylinder in 1909, with a maximum playing time of 4½ minutes (at 160 rpm) to be in turn superseded by the Blue Amberol Record whose playing surface was made of Celluloid, an early plastic which was far less fragile than the earlier wax (in fact it would have been more or less indestructible had it not been for the plaster of paris core). By November 1918 the patents for the manufacture of lateral-cut disc records expired, opening the field for countless companies to produce them, causing disc records to overtake cylinders in popularity. Edison ceased production of cylinders in 1929 (reputedly the day before the Wall Street Crash). Disc records would dominate the market until they were supplanted by the Compact Disc, starting from the early 1980s.

78 rpm disc developments

Hungarian Pathé record, 90 to 100 rpm

Early speeds

Early disc recordings were produced in a variety of speeds ranging from 60 to 120 rpm, and a variety of sizes. At least one manufacturer, Philips, produced records that played at a constant linear velocity. As these were played from the inside to the outside, the rotational speed of the record reduced as reproduction progressed (as is also true of the modern Compact Disc).[5]


One standard audio recording handbook describes speed regulators or "governors" as being part of a wave of improvement introduced rapidly after 1897. A picture of a hand-cranked 1898 Victrola shows a governor. It says that spring drives replaced hand drives. It notes that:


Record of Emile Berliner's Gramophone Company (later Deutsche Grammophon). Made 1908 in Hannover, Germany

In America in 1900, the two leading manufacturers of flat records were Columbia, which used 80 rpm as its speed, and Victor, which used 76 rpm. Since one company's records were playable on the other's machines, it is only logical that the eventual standard speed would be in the middle.

By 1925, the speed of the record became standardised at a nominal value of 78 rpm. However, the standard was to differ between America and the rest of the world. The actual 78 speed in America was 78.26 rpm, being the speed of 3600 rpm synchronous motor (run from 60 Hz supply) reduced by 46:1 gearing. Throughout the rest of the world, 77.92 rpm was adopted being the speed of a 3000 rpm synchronous motor powered by a 50 Hz supply and reduced by 38.5:1 gearing.[5]

Acoustic recording

Early recordings were made entirely acoustically, the sound being collected by a horn and piped to a diaphragm which vibrated the cutting stylus. Sensitivity and frequency range were poor, and frequency response was very irregular, giving cylinder recordings an instantly recognizable tonal quality. A singer practically had to put his face in the recording horn. Cellos and double basses were completely unrecordable. Standard Violins were barely recordable, so Stroh violins became popular with recording studios.


"Electrical" recording

German electrical record of the Carl Lindström AG

During the 1920s, engineers including Orlando R. Marsh, as well as those at Western Electric, developed technology for capturing sound with microphones, amplifying it with vacuum tubes, and using the amplified signal to drive an electromagnetic recording head. A wide frequency range could now be recorded with a big increase in playback volume limited only by the pitch of the grooves in the record.

Although the technology used vacuum tubes and today would be described as "electronic", at the time it was referred to as "electrical". A 1926 Wanamaker's ad in The New York Times offers records "by the latest Victor process of electrical recording".[10] It was recognized as a breakthrough; in [1930], a Times music critic stated:


Peter Carl Goldmark (Hungarian: Goldmark Péter Károly) was a Hungarian engineer who, during his time with Columbia Records, was instrumental in developing the long-playing (LP) microgroove 3313 rpm vinyl phonograph discs which defined home audio for two generations.

Example of Congolese 78 rpm records

Electrical recording preceded electrical home reproduction (much as digital recording preceded digital home reproduction), because of the initial high cost of the electronics. In 1925, the Victor company introduced the groundbreaking Victor Orthophonic Victrola, an acoustical record player that was specifically designed to play electrically recorded discs, as part of a line that also included electrically-reproducing "Electrolas." The acoustical Orthophonics ranged in price from US$95 to $300 (about US$1140 to $3600 in year 2007 dollars), depending on cabinetry; by comparison, the cheapest Electrola cost US$650 (about US$7500 in year 2007 dollars).


"The audience broke into applause... John Philip Sousa [said]: 'Gentleman [sic], that is a band. This is the first time I have ever heard music with any soul to it produced by a mechanical talking machine.' ... The new instrument is a feat of mathematics and physics. It is not the result of innumerable experiments, but was worked out on paper in advance of being built in the laboratory.... The new machine has a range of from 100 to 5,000 frequencies[sic], or five and a half octaves.... The 'phonograph tone' is eliminated by the new recording and reproducing process."[12]

Gradually, electrical reproduction entered the home. The clockwork motor was replaced by an electric motor; the 'needle' and diaphragm (the 'sound box') was replaced with a 'pickup' using either a steel or sapphire stylus, and a transducer to convert the groove vibrations into an electrical signal. The exponential horn became an amplifier and loudspeaker.[citation needed]

78 rpm materials


The mass production of shellac records began in 1898 in Hanover, Germany, and continued until the end of the 78 rpm format in the late 1950s. "Unbreakable" records, usually of celluloid on a pasteboard base, were made from 1904 onwards, but they suffered from an exceptionally high level of surface noise. "Unbreakable" records could be bent, broken, or otherwise damaged; but not nearly as easily as shellac records. Vinyl was first tried out as a 78 rpm material in 1939, as a cigarette radio commercial mailed to stations, as vinyl was less breakable in the mail. On the record, mention is made of the Lucky Strike exhibit at the 1939 NY World's Fair.[13] Decca introduced vinyl "Deccalite" 78s after the Second World War. During the war, the US Armed Forces produced thousands of V-Discs for the soldiers to play overseas, as well as giant 16-inch War Department radio transcriptions, all of which were made of vinyl.[14] Victor made some vinyl 78s, but other labels would restrict vinyl production to the special DJ copies of 78s, which were also commonly issued in vinyl to be mailed to radio stations, during the late 40s and early 50s.[15]

78 rpm disc size

In the 1890s, the early recording formats of discs were usually seven inches (nominally 17.5 cm) in diameter. By 1910 the 10-inch (25.4 cm) record was by far the most popular standard, holding about three minutes of music or entertainment on a side. From 1903 onwards, 12-inch records (30.5 cm) were also sold commercially, mostly of classical music or operatic selections, with four to five minutes of music per side. (Victor, Brunswick and Columbia also issued 12" popular medleys, usually spotlighting a Broadway show score.) However, other sizes did appear. 8 inch discs with a 2 inch diameter label became popular for about a decade in Britain, they cannot be played in full on most modern record players because the tone arm can't reach far enough without modification to the equipment.

78 rpm recording time






This limitation on the length of both popular-music and jazz numbers persisted from 1910 until the invention of the LP, in 1948.



Record albums



By about 1910[note 1] bound collections of empty sleeves with a cardboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as "record albums" that customers could use to store their records (the term "record album" was printed on some covers). These albums came in both 10" and 12" sizes. The covers of these bound books were wider and taller than the records inside, allowing the record album to be placed on a shelf upright, like a book, suspending the fragile records above the shelf and protecting them.

Starting in the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78 rpm records by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums, typically with artwork on the front cover and liner notes on the back or inside cover. Most albums included 3 or 4 records, with 2 sides each, making 6 or 8 songs per album. When the 12-inch vinyl LP era began in 1949, the single record often had the same or similar number of songs as a typical album of 78s, which gave rise to the tradition of the term "album" being given to the LP.

New sizes and materials






Beginning in 1939, Dr. Peter Goldmark and his staff at Columbia Records undertook efforts to address problems of recording and playing back narrow grooves and developing an inexpensive, reliable consumer playback system. In 1948, the 12-inch (30 cm) Long Play (LP) 33⅓ rpm microgroove record album was introduced by the Columbia Record Company at a New York press conference on June 21, 1948. In February 1949, RCA Victor released the first 45 rpm single, 7 inches in diameter, with a large center hole to accommodate an automatic play mechanism on the changer, so a stack of singles would drop down one record at a time automatically after each play. Early 45 rpm records were made from either vinyl or polystyrene.[24] They had a playing time of eight minutes.[25]






However a few unusual systems were deployed. The Dutch Philips company introduced records whose rotational speed varied such that the reproducing "needle" ran at a constant linear velocity (CLV) in the groove. These records, also unusually, played from the inside to the outside. Both of these features were later to be found in the modern day compact disc, which itself was also invented by Philips. The London Science Museum displays a Philips CLV record marked as "Speed D".


Columbia and RCA's competition extended to equipment. 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.[26] Shown is one popular design in use for many years.


While stroboscopic speed checkers can be used to correctly adjust a turntable speed to 45 rpm in the US where the stroboscope disc is illuminated by a lamp run from a 60 Hz supply, most strobes are slightly inaccurate where there is a 50 Hz supply. Using a conventional single segment per pulse, the nearest that can be achieved is 45.112+ rpm which requires a disc with 133 segments. The difference amounts to the record sounding sharp by about a twenty fifth of a semitone (i.e. practically unnoticeable). To construct a 50 Hz stroboscope disc that appears stationary at exactly 45 rpm is possible, and would require 400 segments advancing by 3 segments on each pulse of light.


1959 Seeburg 16 rpm record


The older 78 format continued to be mass produced alongside the newer formats until about 1960 in the US, and in a few countries, such as India (where some Beatles recordings were issued on 78), into the 1960s. For example, Columbia Records' last reissue of Frank Sinatra songs on 78 rpm records was an album called "Young at Heart", issued November 1, 1954.[29] As late as the 1970s, some children's records were released at the 78 rpm speed. In the United Kingdom, the 78 rpm single lasted longer than in the United States and the 45 rpm took longer to become popular. The 78 rpm was overtaken in popularity by the 45 rpm in the late 1950s, as teenagers became increasingly affluent, although some of Elvis Presley's early singles sold more copies on 78 than on 45. The last new 78 rpm singles in the UK were released in March 1960 and production ceased in 1961.



A stroboscopic disc for 33⅓ and 45 rpm (actually 44.77 rpm as it has the wrong number of segments on the 45 ring) at 50 Hz




RCA 45s were also adapted to the smaller spindle of an LP player with a plastic snap-in insert known as a "spider".[26] These inserts, commissioned by RCA president David Sarnoff and invented by Thomas Hutchison,[31] were prevalent starting in the 1960s, selling in the tens of millions per year during the 45 rpm heyday. In countries outside of the US, 45s often had the smaller album-sized holes (e.g. Australia and New Zealand), or otherwise a pseudo-spider was "built-in" to the record, which could be punched out if desired (ie the United Kingdom, especially before the 1970s).

Deliberately playing or recording records at a higher speed gave an antic quirkiness to voices; doing so at a slower speed changed music and voice to an ominous, growling tone. Canadian musician Nash the Slash also took advantage of this speed/tonal effect with his 1981 12-inch disc Decomposing, which featured four instrumental tracks that were engineered to play at any speed (with the playing times listed for 33⅓, 45 and 78 rpm playback).

Sound enhancements


High fidelity

The first of these was the attempt to develop high fidelity, or hi-fi, sound.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, since vertical modulation was considered the higher fidelity medium due to its immunity of picking up common lateral turntable rumble, caused by the rubber puck driving the edge of the turntable rim, an earlier version of the Cook binaural system (described below in Stereo) was experimented with as well, but for high-fidelity, not for stereo (at least not yet).

This system utilized vertical modulation in the smaller space near the center of the disc for the bass portion of the program, starting from halfway through the disc going to the label avoiding inner-groove distortion, and used lateral modulation for the treble portion of the program in the larger space from the edge of the disc to halfway through for the treble portion of the program. This meant that the lateral turntable rumble could be filtered out of the treble electronically by a crossover network and the crackle and static of the treble could be filtered out of the bass by the same process.[citation needed]

Since vertical pickups were harder to come by and took up more space than their lateral counterparts, experiments were soon underway to record both the bass and the treble portions of a high-fidelity program in their own separate grooves in a lateral fashion on the same side of the disc. Utilizing a two-channel amplifier and speaker system, with one channel driving the wide-range woofer, and one channel driving the combination wide-range midrange and tweeter, true wide-range high-fidelity would be achieved. The format was only experimental, but it wasn't long before this system was adapted once again for early stereo (see below).

People who were concerned with hearing all the quality sound now embedded in the new LPs began to buy separate turntables, amplifiers, speakers and woofers to get the best sound possible.

  • Stan Freberg satirized these fans in his 1956 radio show with a skit about a man who turned his whole house into a speaker.
  • Flanders & Swann also poked fun at installing the components necessary for high fidelity in their Song of Reproduction.

(In 1931, Victor experimented with a high-fidelity microphone recording system and a number of records issued in the 22900 and 24000 series were surprisingly "hi-fi." However, the records were too loud and 'blasty' on most home reproducers, and after getting complaints from their dealers, Victor stopped using this equipment in their New York and Camden studios around mid-1932 and sent it to their Chicago studio, where it continued to be used until about 1934.)

Stereo sound

In 1957 the first commercial stereo two-channel records were issued on translucent blue vinyl by Bel Canto, the first of which is a highly-collectible multi-colored-vinyl sampler featuring `A Stereophonic Tour of Los Angeles' narrated by Jack Wagner on one side, and a collection of tracks from various Bel Canto albums on the back.[citation needed]


While the stylus moves horizontally when reproducing a monophonic disk recording, on stereo records the stylus moves vertically as well as horizontally. In fact, prior to the full development of the 45/45 system, the first stereo cutting heads were made by bolting together one lateral cut head and one vertical cut head sharing a common stylus holder. Feeding the driving coils with suitably phased material, a practice which would later give rise to the matrices used in quadraphony, achieved the 45/45 groove.

See also

rill with sound only on left channel

One could envision a system in which the left channel was recorded laterally, as on a monophonic recording, with the right channel information recorded with a "hill-and-dale" vertical motion; such systems were proposed but not adopted, due to their incompatibility with existing phono pickup designs (see below). Prior to these experiments, the lateral and vertical portions of the groove were experimented with in a discrete twin-groove system described below.

However, before this lateral-vertical single-groove system was experimented with for stereo reproduction, its components were adopted for other uses, namely many radio station music transcriptions used the vertical modulation portion with its higher fidelity and lower susceptibility to rumble, and lateral portion for speech, as the rumble could be filtered out electronically and not affect the program.

Also by the mid-1950s, an audio engineer by the name of Mintner grew tired of the incompatibility of the vertical portion of stereo records and their susceptibility of damage when played with a mono vertically-noncompliant cartridge and stylus and came up with a way to have both channels recorded laterally and in the same groove.

Due to the frequency limitations of cutting heads of the period, the disc needed to be mastered at 16-2/3 RPM for playback at 33-1/3 RPM, a practice which would later be adapted and improved in the 1970s, coupled with 180 gram virgin vinyl to create Half Speed Mastered audiophile LPs.

Similar to lateral-vertical stereo played through a 45/45 stereo system, Mintner left the normal mono signal in the normal frequency range of 20Hz-20KHz, ensuring compatibility with normal mono players of the period, and then moved the difference signal up to a supersonic band of 20KHz-45KHz by modulating a 30KHz carrier signal engraved on the disc. A carrier detector and de-matrix circuit, similar to what would later be used for FM multiplex stereo, sensed the carrier wave, stripped it off, retrieved the signal, and then matrixed it with the original mono signal to create stereo.

Unfortunately, the development of lightweight pickup arms was still many years away, so the heavy weight of pickup arms in the 1950s caused the carrier wave on the record to be completely destroyed after only a few plays. But, both the modulated carrier wave and matrix-encoding systems used herein would later be multiplied by two and used as CD-4 and SQ/QS respectively in quadraphonic.[citation needed]

Another early-stereo experiment engraved the left channel of the program on the left (top) side of the disc running conventionally in a clockwise format, and the right channel on the right (bottom) side of the disc in a counterclockwise fashion. This was accomplished simply by flipping the stylus around front-to-back in the recording head, and introducing a figure-8 flip in the lathe drive belt, causing the recording to still be made outside-in, but in reverse.

To play the disc, a pedal was depressed to separate the twin gramophone heads which faced one another across the turntable and load the disc vertically as in a jukebox. Then the pedal was very carefully released again in order to set the heads upon the disc for play. As the pedals were spring loaded, most of the records were destroyed by the two heavy gramophone heads crashing into the disc when the load pedal was released.

The format died mainly because of the brittleness of 78s as described above, and also because some discs were produced in an offset format for players with heads at opposite sides of the turntable, while others were produced for playback on machines with gramophone heads on the same side. Playing a disc made for one on a player made for the other would induce a half-revolution difference in the program, similar to trying to play a manual-sequence album on a changer where the sides would be out of sequence.[citation needed]

Utilizing another technique borrowed from vintage Vitaphone recordings which accompanied sound films in the 1920s before the advent of sound-on-film, arrows were inscribed on the master indicating the start of the lead-in groove. Stampers could then be either aligned with or staggered from one another for production, which, due to the exacting care needed for stamper alignment was accomplished at the long-dormant Vitaphone disc production facilities which produced the originals.

For a good visual of the early problems associated with Vitaphone, see the recording scene and the movie-preview scene of Gene Kelly in MGM's Singin' in the Rain. Unlike most phonograph discs, the needle on Vitaphone records moved from the inside of the disc to the outside, a practice which would be half-borrowed by live recording engineers of those pre-tape days, recording odd sides of a live performance conventionally outside-in, and even sides of a program inside-out back and forth between twin disc recording lathes. When plated and pressed, these discs were produced with a hybrid of manual-operator and automatic-changer sequence called "DJ disc sequence," so that an operator would never have to flip a disc over in order to continue.

This inline/staggered heads idea from twin-sided stereo shellac 78s would later be utilized in competing home-stereo tape recording formats of the early 1950s, once again, one machine being unable to play stereo recordings made on the other. This time, however, one format, Inline, won out.

After lying dormant for over 40 years, the idea of having one head on the front of a disc and one head on the back was picked up in the 1970s by Sharp Electronics and used in a space-saving turntable design to play both sides of a vertically-oriented LP in sequence without having to move the stylus from one side to the other (as in a two-sided LaserDisc player where the pickup travels from bottom to top to play the other side). Each side had its own cartridge and stylus, and the three-inch platter could spin in either direction, allowing for as much as 45 minutes of uninterrupted music.

The Cook twin-groove stereo system borrowed from this but put both grooves on the same side of the disc, engraving the left channel of the groove beginning near the edge of the disc and the right channel beginning near a point halfway through the recording and concluding near the label. A twin-lateral pickup was used for playback.

In the Westrex system, the lateral-vertical system described above is tilted 45 degrees, allowing each channel to drive the cutting head at a 45 degree angle to the vertical, sharing equally in both the lateral and vertical modulations and eliminating the need for a matrix when encoding from a stereo source.



The advantages of the 45/45 system are:




Other enhancements






Laser turntable

ELPJ, a Japanese-based company, sells a laser turntable that uses a laser to read vinyl discs optically, without physical contact. The laser turntable eliminates record wear and the possibility of accidental scratches, which degrade the sound, but its expense limits use primarily to digital archiving of analog records; and the laser does not recognize colored vinyl or picture disks. Various other laser-based turntables were tried during the 1990s, but while a laser reads the groove very accurately, since it does not touch the record the dust that vinyl attracts due to static electric charge is not mechanically pushed out of the groove, worsening sound quality in casual use compared to conventional stylus playback.

In some ways similar to the laser turntable is the IRENE scanning machine for disc records, which images with microphotography in two dimensions, invented by a team of physicists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories. IRENE will retrieve the information from a laterally-modulated monaural grooved sound source without touching the media itself, but cannot read vertically-modulated information. This excludes grooved recordings such as cylinders and some radio transcriptions which feature a hill-and-dale format of recording, and stereophonic or quadraphonic grooved recordings which utilize a combination of the two as well as supersonic encoding for quadraphonic.


Before final playback in the computer to convert to digital audio files in real-time, it is possible to remove many of the sonic imperfections in the media while still in the video domain, by utilizing the same tools as major motion picture studios in restoring their films.[citation needed]



Types of records

See also

As recording technology evolved, more specific terms for various types of phonograph records were used in order to describe some aspect of the record: either its correct rotational speed ("16⅔ rpm" (revolutions per minute), "33⅓ rpm", "45 rpm", "78 rpm") or the material used (particularly "vinyl" to refer to records made of polyvinyl chloride, or the earlier "shellac records" generally the main ingredient in 78s). Other terms such as "Long Play" or L.P. and "Extended Play" or E.P. describe multi-track records that play a lot longer than the single-item-per-side records, which typically don't go much past 4 minutes per side. An L.P. can play for about thirty minutes per side. The 7" 45 rpm format normally contains one item per side but a 7" EP could achieve recording times of 10 to 15 minutes at the expense of attenuating and compressing the sound to reduce the width required by the groove. EP discs were generally used to make available tracks not on singles including tracks on LPs albums in a smaller, less expensive format for those who had only 45 rpm players. The large center hole on 7" 45 rpm records allows for easier handling by jukebox mechanisms. The term "album," originally used to mean a "book" with liner notes, holding several 78 rpm records each in its own "page" or sleeve, no longer has any relation to the physical format: a single LP record, or nowadays more typically a compact disc.

Sizes of records in America and the UK are generally measured in inches, usually represented with a double prime symbol, e.g. a 7-inch or 7" record which are generally 45 rpm records. LPs were 10" records at first, but soon the 12" size became by far the most common with 78s generally being 10" but also 12" and 7" and even smaller—the so called 'little wonders.'[33]

Common formats

Diameter Revolutions per minute Time duration
12 in. (30 cm) 33⅓ rpm 45 min Long play (LP)
10 in. (25 cm) 33⅓ rpm Long play (LP)
78 rpm 3 minutes
7 in. (17.5 cm) 45 rpm Single, and Extended play (EP)
  • The maximum time per side for an LP is only achievable with special playback styli, so cutting engineers often dislike cutting such grooves[citation needed].

Less common formats


A standard wide-hole 7" vinyl record from 1978 on its respective sleeve.


Since the late 1910s, both sides of the record have been used to carry the grooves. Occasionally, records were issued in the 1920s with a recording on only one side. In the eighties Columbia records briefly issued a series of less expensive one-sided 45 rpm singles.

The majority of non–78 rpm records are pressed on black vinyl. The colouring material used to blacken the transparent PVC plastic mix is [[carbon black], which increases the strength of the disc and makes it opaque. Polystyrene is often used for 7-inch records. In 2008 reissue label Classic announced their future releases would all be on clear vinyl after technicians determined that the carbon black itself has magnetic properties that detrimentally affect proper playback from the cartridge[citation needed].






A macro photo of the innermost grooves of a vinyl record. Stored sound in the form of variations in the tracks is clearly visible, as is dust on the record.
Magnified grooves. Dust can be spotted. Red lines mark one millimeter




Vinyl quality













Solution: (according to the same period-advertisements) put strength in the core (with a fibre centre) and quality on the surfaces (with some of the newly developed forms of shellacque). Because the noise floor on the disc was so much lower, this would allow a greater dynamic range to be recorded than could be accomplished on the old shellacque-only discs.[citation needed]









Frequency response and noise


The frequency response of vinyl records may be degraded by frequent playback if the cartridge is set to track too heavily, or the stylus is not compliant enough to trace the high frequency grooves accurately, or the cartridge/tonearm is not properly aligned. The RIAA has suggested the following acceptable losses: down to 20 kHz after one play, 18 kHz after three plays, 17 kHz after five, 16 kHz after eight, 14 kHz after fifteen, 13 kHz after twenty five, 10 kHz after thirty five, and 8 kHz after eighty plays. While this degradation is possible if the record is played on improperly set up equipment, many collectors of LPs report excellent sound quality on LPs played many more times when using care and high quality equipment. This rapid sound degradation is not usually typical on modern Hi-Fi equipment with a properly balanced tonearm and well balanced low-mass stylus.



Room vibrations will also be picked up if the pedestal—turntable—pickup arm—stylus system is not well damped.



Another method, introduced by the Lenco company is playing the disk "wet". Using a special dispenser the groove is wetted ahead of the stylus passing by and dries up afterwards. This certainly reduces hiss, but when it became clear that any disk once played wet, should forever be played this way because of residue left behind, people did not change over in great numbers. With normal cleaning this problem does not occur (this also seems to remove Lenco residue if present).















In 1989, many Eastern European recording labels and Russian recording labels such as Melodiya were still using their own CCIR equalization. Hence the RIAA curve only truly become a global standardization not until late the 1980s.

Further, even after officially agreeing to implement the RIAA equalization curve, many recording labels continued to use their own proprietary equalization even well into the 1970s. Columbia is one such prominent example in the USA, as are Decca, Teldec and Deutsche Grammophon in Europe. To further cloud the picture, some labels even saw different equalization curves arise from differently located pressing plants.

To further complicate matters, identical equalization curves existed but were named differently by different recording labels. Some small recording labels advertised their special curves which were the same as Columbia/RCA Ortophonic curves.

Sound fidelity

Enrico Caruso with a phonograph c.1910s












Evolutionary steps

Technology used in making recordings also developed and prospered. Basically there were ten major evolutionary steps that improved LP production and quality during a period of approximately forty years.

  4. Production of stereo tape masters and the stereo LP in 1958 were quantum level improvements in recording technology.
  7. Efforts were made in the 1970s to record as many as four audio channels on an LP ("Quadraphonic") by means of matrix and modulated carrier methods. This development, though another quantum level improvement, was neither a widespread success nor long lasting.




LP versus CD


Though digital audio technology has improved over the years, some audiophiles still prefer what they perceive as the superior sound of vinyl over CDs.

Proponents of digital audio state these differences are generally inaudible to normal human hearing, and the lack of clicks, hiss and pops from analog recordings greatly improves sound fidelity. Modern anti-aliasing filters and oversampling systems used in digital recordings have reduced 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 harmonic distortion and signal compression. 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 ..."

The theory that vinyl records can audibly represent lower frequencies that compact discs cannot (making the recording sound "warmer") is disputed by some and accepted by others. According to Red Book specifications, the compact disc has a frequency response up to 22,050 Hz. The average human auditory system is sensitive to frequencies from 20 Hz to a maximum of around 20,000 Hz.[43] The upper and lower frequency limits of human hearing vary per person.








Current status



In the United Kingdom, sales of new vinyl records (particularly 7 inch singles) have increased significantly in recent years,[52][53] somewhat reversing the downward trend seen during the 1990s.

In the United States, annual vinyl sales increased by 85.8% between 2006 and 2007,[54] and by 89% between 2007 and 2008.[55]


Vinyl is also more and more popular in other musical genres such as hardcore punk, alt-metal or indie rock. Limited vinyl editions of new albums or EPs are prized by fans even though the music is not related in any way to DJing or audiophiles.


See also


Explanatory notes

  1. ^ A catalogue issued in 1911 by Barnes & Mullins, musical-instrument dealers of London, illustrates examples in both 10" and 12" sizes; one is shown containing two records issued by The Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd no later than 1908, suggesting that the image is several years old.


  3. ^ 2008 R.I.A.A. 2008 Year-End Shipment Statistics
  5. ^ a b History of Vinyl Music Records
  9. ^ A photograph of the Gennett Records studio is available here, from
  12. ^ New York Times (1925-10-07). "New Music Machine Thrills All Hearers At First Test Here". The New York Times, October 7, 1925, p. 1.
  15. ^ The Amazing Phonograph, Morgan Wright, p/65
  21. ^
  22. ^
  26. ^ a b c The 45 Adaptor from
  29. ^ Soderbergh, p.194
  30. ^
  31. ^ "Stereo disc recording". Retrieved 4 October 2006. 
  32. ^ Little Wonder Records and Bubble Books.
  34. ^ "Record Collectors Guild on Dynaflex". The Record Collectors Guild. 
  36. ^ How LP record is made from
  37. ^ BBC Music - 1940s Vinyl (accessed 22/06/2008)
  38. ^ Official UK Charts Co. - Album info (accessed 22/06/2008)
  39. ^ Audacity Team Forum: Pre-echo when recording vinyl record
  40. ^ Comparative tables for 30 cm LP Standards
  41. ^ Nichols, Roger. I Need a Digital Shrink
  43. ^ Prima Voce. Nimbus Records, Accessed 2 November 2006.
  46. ^ Sources vary on the actual dates.
  52. ^ Chris Hastings (2006-09-17). "Why singles are top of the pops again". Retrieved 4 October 2006. 
  55. ^ Zuel, Bernard (January 24, 2009). "Just for the record". Retrieved 2009-02-07. 



Further reading


External links


Got something to say? Make a comment.
Your name
Your email address