This is an archive of past discussions about Phonograph record. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
The large cover (and inner sleeves) are valued by collectors and artists for the space given for visual expression, especially in the case of 12-inch discs.[citation needed]
==History==
===Predecessors===
Numerous applications for the phonograph were envisioned, but although it enjoyed a brief vogue as a startling novelty at public demonstrations, the tinfoil phonograph proved too crude to be put to any practical use. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a hollow wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device. The wax phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century.[citation needed]
===Lateral-cut discs===
Lateral-cut disc records were developed in the United States by Emile Berliner (although Thomas Edison's original patent included flat disks), who named his system the "gramophone", distinguishing it from Edison's wax cylinder "phonograph" and American Graphophone's wax cylinder "graphophone". Berliner's earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, only in Europe, were 12.5 cm (approx 5 inches) in diameter, and were played with a small hand-propelled machine. Both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality.[citation needed]
In 1894, in the United States, under the Berliner Gramophone trademark, Berliner started marketing records of 7 inches diameter with somewhat more substantial entertainment value, along with somewhat more substantial gramophones to play them. Berliner's records had initially poor sound quality compared to wax cylinders.[citation needed]
The RCA Victor Factory in Montreal on 1001, Lenoir Street in 2021
In 1901, 10-inch disc records were introduced, followed in 1903 by 12-inch records. These could play for more than three and four minutes, respectively, whereas contemporary cylinders could only play for about two minutes. In an attempt to head off the disc advantage, Edison introduced the Amberol cylinder in 1909, with a maximum playing time of 4+1⁄2 minutes (at 80 rpm), which in turn were superseded by Blue Amberol Records, which had a playing surface made of celluloid, a plastic, which was far less fragile. Despite these improvements, during the 1910s discs decisively won this early format war, although Edison continued to produce new Blue Amberol cylinders for an ever-dwindling customer base until late in 1929. By 1919, the basic patents for the manufacture of lateral-cut disc records had expired, opening the field for countless companies to produce them. Analog disc records dominated the home entertainment market throughout the 20th century until they were outsold by digital compact discs in the 1980s, which were in turn supplanted by digital audio recordings distributed via online music stores and Internetfile sharing.[citation needed]
Emile Berliner moved his company to Montreal in 1900.[citation needed]
== 78 rpm disc developments ==
===Acoustic recording===
Lower-pitched orchestral instruments such as cellos and double basses were often doubled (or replaced) by louder instruments, such as tubas. Standard violins in orchestral ensembles were commonly replaced by Stroh violins, which became popular with recording studios.[citation needed]
===Electrical recording===
A 10-inch Decelith blank for making an individually cut one-off recording. A German product introduced in 1937, these flexible all-plastic discs were a European alternative to rigid-based lacquer (acetate) discs.
Electrically amplified record players were initially expensive and slow to be adopted. In 1925, the Victor company introduced both the Orthophonic Victrola, an acoustical record player that was designed to play the new electrically recorded discs, and the electrically amplified Electrola. The mechanical Orthophonic Victrolas were priced from US$95 to $300, depending on cabinetry. However the cheapest Electrola cost $650, in an era when the price of a new Ford Model T was less than $300 and clerical jobs paid around $20 a week.[citation needed]
Gradually, electrical reproduction entered the home. The spring motor was replaced by an electric motor. The old sound box with its needle-linked diaphragm was replaced by an electromagnetic pickup that converted the needle vibrations into an electrical signal. The tone arm now served to conduct a pair of wires, not sound waves, into the cabinet. The exponential horn was replaced by an amplifier and a loudspeaker.[citation needed]
===78 rpm materials===
The earliest disc records (1889–1894) were made of a variety of materials, including hard rubber. Around 1895, a shellac-based material was introduced and became standard. Formulas for the mixture varied by manufacturer over time, but it was typically about one-third shellac and two-thirds mineral filler (finely pulverized slate or limestone), with cotton fibers to add tensile strength, carbon black for color (without which it tended to be an unattractive "dirty" gray or brown color), and a very small amount of a lubricant to facilitate release from the manufacturing press. Columbia Records used a laminated disc with a core of coarser material or fiber.[citation needed]
...but well into the 1960s in others. Less abrasive formulations were developed during its waning years and very late examples in like-new condition can have noise levels as low as vinyl.[citation needed]
Flexible, "unbreakable" alternatives to shellac were introduced by several manufacturers during the 78 rpm era. Beginning in 1904, Nicole Records of the UK coated celluloid or a similar substance onto a cardboard core disc for a few years, but they were noisy. In the United States, Columbia Records introduced flexible, fiber-cored "Marconi Velvet Tone Record" pressings in 1907, but their longevity and relatively quiet surfaces depended on the use of special gold-plated Marconi Needles and the product was not successful. Thin, flexible plastic records such as the German Phonycord and the British Filmophone and Goodson records appeared around 1930, but not for long. The contemporary French Pathé Cellodiscs, made of a very thin black plastic resembling the vinyl "sound sheet" magazine inserts of the 1965–1985 era, were similarly short-lived. In the United States, Hit of the Week records were introduced in early 1930. They were made of a patented translucent plastic called Durium coated on a heavy brown paper base. A new issue debuted weekly and were sold at newsstands like a magazine. Although inexpensive and commercially successful at first, they fell victim to the Great Depression and U.S. production ended in 1932. Durium records continued to be made in the UK and as late as 1950 in Italy, where the name "Durium" survived into the LP era as a brand of vinyl records. Despite these innovations, shellac continued to be used for the overwhelming majority of commercial 78 rpm records throughout the format's lifetime.[citation needed]
In 1931, RCA Victor introduced vinyl plastic-based Victrolac as a material for unusual-format and special-purpose records. One was a 16-inch, 33+1⁄3 rpm record used by the Vitaphone sound-on-disc movie system. In 1932, RCA began using Victrolac in a home recording system. By the end of the 1930s vinyl's light weight, strength, and low surface noise had made it the preferred material for prerecorded radio programming and other critical applications. For ordinary 78 rpm records, however, the much higher cost of the synthetic plastic, as well as its vulnerability to the heavy pickups and mass-produced steel needles used in home record players, made its general substitution for shellac impractical at that time.[citation needed]
===78 rpm disc sizes===
In the 1890s, the diameter of the earliest (toy) discs was generally 12.5 cm (nominally 5 inches). By the mid-1890s, discs were usually 7 inches (nominally 17.5 cm) in diameter.[citation needed]
By 1910, the 10-inch (25 cm) record was by far the most popular standard, containing about three minutes of music or other entertainment on one side.[citation needed]
From 1903 onwards, 12-inch (30 cm) records were produced, mostly featuring classical music or operatic selections, with four to five minutes of music per side. Victor, Brunswick and Columbia also issued 12-inch popular medleys, usually spotlighting a Broadway show score.[citation needed]
An 8-inch (20 cm) disc with a 2-inch (50 mm)-diameter label became popular between 1927 and about 1935<ref>Based on the early records proclaiming use of the new electrical recording method introduced in 1927 and about 1935 when copyright stamps were abolished. All 8-inch discs have such stamps on them.</ref> in Britain, but those records cannot be played in full on most modern record players, because tonearms cannot track far enough toward the center of the record without modifying the equipment. In 1903, Victor offered a series of 14-inch (36 cm) "Deluxe Special" records, which played at 60 rpm and sold for two dollars. Fewer than fifty titles were issued, and the series was dropped in 1906, due to poor sales. Also in 1906, a short-lived British firm called Neophone marketed a series of single-sided 20-inch (50 cm) records, offering complete performances of some operatic overtures and shorter pieces. Pathé also issued 14-inch and 20-inch records around the same time.[citation needed]
78 rpm records were normally sold individually in brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were plain, or sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name. Generally the sleeves had a circular cut-out exposing the record label to view. Records could be laid on a shelf horizontally or stood on an edge, but because of their fragility, breakage was common.
However, the previous year Deutsche Grammophon had produced an album for its complete recording of the opera Carmen. The practice of issuing albums was not adopted by other record companies for many years. One exception, HMV, produced an album with a pictorial cover for its 1917 recording of The Mikado (Gilbert & Sullivan).
By about 1910,<ref group="note">A catalogue issued in 1911 by Barnes & Mullins, musical-instrument dealers of London, illustrates examples in both 10-inch and 12-inch sizes; one is shown containing two records issued by [[Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd]] no later than 1908, suggesting that the image is several years old.</ref> bound collections of empty sleeves with a paperboard 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-inch and 12-inch 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.[citation needed]
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 three or four records, with two sides each, making six or eight tunes per album. When the 12-inch vinyl LP era began in 1948, each disc could hold a number of tunes similar to that of a typical album of 78s, so they were still referred to as an "album", as they are today.[citation needed]
===78 rpm releases in the microgroove era===
For collectible or nostalgia purposes, or for the benefit of higher-quality audio playback provided by the 78 rpm speed with newer vinyl records and their lightweight stylus pickups, a small number of 78 rpm records have been released since the major labels ceased production. One attempt at this was in 1951, when inventor Ewing Dunbar Nunn founded the label Audiophile Records, which released a series of 78 rpm-mastered albums that were microgroove and pressed on vinyl (as opposed to traditional 78s, with their shellac composition and wider 3-mil sized grooves). This series came in heavy manilla envelopes and began with a jazz album AP-1 and was soon followed by other AP numbers up through about AP-19. Around 1953 the standard LP had proven itself to Nunn and he switched to 33+1⁄3 rpm and began using art slicks on a more standard cardboard sleeve. The Audiophile numbers can be found into the hundreds today but the most collectable ones are the early 78 rpm releases, especially the first, AP-1. The 78 rpm speed was mainly to take advantage of the wider audio frequency response that faster speeds like 78 rpm can provide for vinyl microgroove records, hence the label's name (obviously catering to the audiophiles of the 1950s "hi-fi" era, when stereo gear could provide a much wider range of audio than before). Also around 1953, Bell Records released a series of budget-priced plastic 7-inch 78 rpm pop music singles.[citation needed]
In 1980, Stiff Records in the United Kingdom issued a 78 by Joe "King" Carrasco containing the songs "Buena" (Spanish for "good," with the alternate spelling "Bueno" on the label) and "Tuff Enuff". Underground comic cartoonist and 78 rpm record collector Robert Crumb released three vinyl 78s by his Cheap Suit Serenaders in the 1970s.[citation needed]
A 12-inch LP being played. The stylus is in contact with the surface.Grooves on a modern 33 rpm recordUncommon Columbia 7-inch vinyl 33+1⁄3 rpm microgroove ZLP from 1948
Both the microgrooveLP33+1⁄3 rpm record and the 45 rpm single records are made from vinyl plastic that is flexible and unbreakable in normal use, even when they are sent through the mail with care from one place to another. The vinyl records, however, are easier to scratch or gouge, and much more prone to warping compared to most 78 rpm records, which were made of shellac.[citation needed]
Because of financial hardships that plagued the recording industry during that period (including RCA's own parched revenues), Victor's long-playing records were largely discontinued by 1933.[citation needed]
There was also a small batch of longer-playing records issued in the very early 1930s: Columbia introduced 10-inch longer-playing records (18000-D series), as well as a series of double-grooved or longer-playing 10-inch records on their Harmony, Clarion & Velvet Tone "budget" labels. There were also a couple of longer-playing records issued on ARC (for release on their Banner, Perfect, and Oriole labels) and on the Crown label. All of these were phased out in mid-1932.[citation needed]
Vinyl's lower surface noise level than shellac was not forgotten, nor was its durability. In the late 1930s, radio advertisements and pre-recorded radio programs being sent to disc jockeys started being pressed in vinyl, so they would not break in the mail. In the mid-1940s, special DJ copies of records started being made of vinyl also, for the same reason. These were all 78 rpm. During and after World War II, when shellac supplies were extremely limited, some 78 rpm records were pressed in vinyl instead of shellac, particularly the six-minute 12-inch (30 cm) 78 rpm records produced by V-Disc for distribution to United States troops in World War II. In the 1940s, radio transcriptions, which were usually on 16-inch records, but sometimes 12-inch, were always made of vinyl, but cut at 33+1⁄3 rpm. Shorter transcriptions were often cut at 78 rpm.[citation needed]
Beginning in 1939, Dr. Peter Goldmark and his staff at Columbia Records and at CBS Laboratories undertook efforts to address problems of recording and playing back narrow grooves and developing an inexpensive, reliable consumer playback system. It took about eight years of study, except when it was suspended because of World War II. Finally, the 12-inch (30 cm) Long Play (LP) 33+1⁄3 rpm microgroove record album was introduced by Columbia Records at a New York press conference on June 18, 1948. At the same time, Columbia introduced a vinyl 7-inch 33+1⁄3 rpm microgroove single, calling it ZLP, but it was short-lived and is very rare today, because RCA Victor introduced a 45 rpm single a few months later, which became the standard.
Another size and format was that of radio transcription discs beginning in the 1940s. These records were usually vinyl, 33 rpm, and 16 inches in diameter. No home record player could accommodate such large records, and they were used mainly by radio stations. They were on average 15 minutes per side and contained several songs or radio program material. These records became less common in the United States when tape recorders began being used for radio transcriptions around 1949. In the UK, analog discs continued to be the preferred medium for the licence of BBC transcriptions to overseas broadcasters until the use of CDs became a practical alternative.[citation needed]
On a few early phonograph systems and radio transcription discs, as well as some entire albums, the direction of the groove is reversed, beginning near the center of the disc and leading to the outside. A small number of records (such as The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief) were manufactured with multiple separate grooves to differentiate the tracks (usually called "NSC-X2").[citation needed]
===Speeds===
====Shellac era====
Edison Records Diamond Disc label, early 1920s. Edison Disc Records always ran at 80 rpm.
As the needle moved from the outside to the inside, the rotational speed of the record gradually increased as the groove diameter decreased. This behavior is similar to the modern compact disc and the CLV version of its predecessor, the (analog encoded) PhilipsLaserDisc, but is reversed from inside to outside.[citation needed]
As late as the early 1970s, some children's records were released at the 78 rpm speed. In the United Kingdom, the 78 rpm single persisted somewhat longer than in the United States, where it was overtaken in popularity by the 45 rpm in the late 1950s, as teenagers became increasingly affluent.[citation needed]
Some of Elvis Presley's early singles on Sun Records may have sold more copies on 78 than on 45. This is because of their popularity in 1954/1955 in "hillbilly" market in the South and Southwestern United States, where replacing the family 78 rpm record player with a new 45 rpm player was a luxury few could afford at the time. By the end of 1957, RCA Victor announced that 78s accounted for less than 10% of Presley's singles sales, confirming the demise of the 78 rpm format. The last Presley single released on 78 in the United States was RCA Victor 20–7410, "I Got Stung"/"One Night" (1958), while the last 78 in the UK was RCA 1194, "A Mess Of Blues"/"Girl Of My Best Friend" issued in 1960.[citation needed]
After World War II, these records became retroactively known as 78s, to distinguish them from the newer disc record formats known by their rotational speeds. Earlier they were just called records, or when there was a need to distinguish them from cylinders, disc records.[citation needed]
====Microgroove and vinyl era====
After World War II, two new competing formats entered the market, gradually replacing the standard 78 rpm: the 33+1⁄3 rpm (often called 33 rpm), and the 45 rpm.[citation needed]
The 33+1⁄3 rpm LP (for "long-play") format was developed by Columbia Records and marketed in June 1948. The first LP release consisted of 85 12-inch classical pieces starting with the Mendelssohn violin concerto, Nathan Milstein violinist, Philharmonic Symphony of New York conducted by Bruno Walter, Columbia ML-4001. Also released in June 1948 were three series of 10-inch "LPs" and a 7-inch "ZLP".[citation needed]
RCA Victor developed the 45 rpm format and marketed it in March 1949. The 45s released by RCA in March 1949 were in seven different colors of vinyl depending on the type of music recorded: blues, country, popular, etc.[citation needed]
Both types of new disc used narrower grooves, intended to be played with a smaller stylus—typically 0.001 inch (1 mil, or about 25 µm) wide, compared to 0.003 inch (76 µm) for a 78—so the new records were sometimes described as microgroove. In the mid-1950s all record companies agreed to a common frequency response standard, called RIAA equalization. Before the establishment of the standard each company used its own preferred equalization, requiring discriminating listeners to use pre-amplifiers with selectable equalization curves.[citation needed]
Some recordings, such as books for the blind, were pressed for playing at 16+2⁄3 rpm. Prestige Records released jazz records in this format in the late 1950s; for example, two of their Miles Davis albums were paired together in this format. Peter Goldmark, the man who developed the 33+1⁄3 rpm record, developed the Highway Hi-Fi16+2⁄3 rpm record to be played in Chrysler automobiles, but poor performance of the system and weak implementation by Chrysler and Columbia led to the demise of the 16+2⁄3 rpm records. Subsequently, the 16+2⁄3 rpm speed was used for narrated publications for the blind and visually impaired, and was never widely commercially available, although it was common to see new turntable models with a 16 rpm speed setting produced as late as the 1970s.[citation needed]
The 10-inch LP had a longer life in the United Kingdom, where important early British rock and roll albums such as Lonnie Donegan's Showcase and Billy Fury's The Sound of Fury were released in that form. The 7-inch (175 mm) 45 rpm disc or "single" established a significant niche for shorter-duration discs, typically containing one item on each side. The 45 rpm discs typically emulated the playing time of the former 78 rpm discs, while the 12-inch LP discs eventually provided up to one half-hour of recorded material per side.[citation needed]
The EP lasted considerably longer in Europe and was a popular format during the 1960s for recordings by artists such as Serge Gainsbourg and the Beatles.[citation needed]
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, 45-rpm-only players that lacked speakers and plugged into a jack on the back of a radio were widely available. Eventually, they were replaced by the three-speed record player.[citation needed]
==Sound enhancements==
During the vinyl era, various developments were introduced. Stereo finally lost its previous experimental status, and eventually became standard internationally. Quadraphonic sound effectively had to wait for digital formats before finding a permanent position in the market place.
===Stereophonic sound===
Stereophonic sound recording, which attempts to provide a more natural listening experience by reproducing the spatial locations of sound sources in the horizontal plane, was the natural extension to monophonic recording, and attracted various alternative engineering attempts. The ultimately dominant "45/45" stereophonic record system was invented by Alan Blumlein of EMI in 1931 and patented the same year. EMI cut the first stereo test discs using the system in 1933 (see Bell Labs Stereo Experiments of 1933) although the system was not exploited commercially until much later.
The combined stylus motion can be represented in terms of the vector sum and difference of the two stereo channels. Vertical stylus motion then carries the L − R difference signal and horizontal stylus motion carries the L + R summed signal, the latter representing the monophonic component of the signal in exactly the same manner as a purely monophonic record.[citation needed]
The advantages of the 45/45 system as compared to alternative systems were:
complete compatibility with monophonic playback systems. A monophonic cartridge reproduces the monophonic component of a stereo record instead of only one of its channels. (However, many monophonic styli had such low vertical compliance that they ploughed through the vertical modulation, destroying the stereo information. This led to the common recommendation never to use a mono cartridge on a stereo record.) Conversely, a stereo cartridge reproduces the lateral grooves of monophonic recording equally through both channels, rather than one channel;
equally balanced reproduction, because each channel has equal fidelity (not the case, e.g., with a higher-fidelity laterally recorded channel and a lower-fidelity vertically recorded channel); and,
higher fidelity in general, because the "difference" signal is usually of low amplitude and is thus less affected by the greater intrinsic distortion of vertical recording.
Following in 1958, more stereo LP releases were offered by Audio Fidelity Records in the US and Pye Records in Britain. However, it was not until the mid-to-late 1960s that the sales of stereophonic LPs overtook those of their monophonic equivalents, and became the dominant record type.
===Quadraphonic records===
The development of quadraphonic records was announced in 1971. These 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, phase-detection circuits in the amplifiers were able to decode the signals into four separate channels. There were two main systems of matrixed quadraphonic 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, Compatible Discrete 4 (CD-4; not to be confused with Compact Disc), was introduced by RCA. This system encoded the front-rear difference information on an ultrasonic carrier. The system required a compatible cartridge to capture it on carefully calibrated pickup arm/turntable combinations. CD-4 was less successful than matrix formats. (A further problem was that no cutting heads were available that could handle the high frequency information. This was remedied by cutting at half the speed. Later, the special half-speed cutting heads and equalization techniques were employed to get wider frequency response in stereo with reduced distortion and greater headroom.)
===Noise reduction systems===
The mid-1970s saw the introduction of dbx-encoded records labelled "dbx disc" for the audiophile niche market. They were first introduced in 1973/1974, but only got some following starting 1978. The disks were incompatible with standard record playback pre-amplifiers, relying on the dbx compander encoding/decoding scheme to greatly increase dynamic range by up to 30 dB(A). Encoded disks were recorded with the dynamic range compressed by a factor of two: quiet sounds were meant to be played back at low gain and loud sounds were meant to be played back at high gain, via automatic gain control in the playback equipment; this reduced the effect of surface noise on quiet passages.
Aiming at the lower cost mass market instead, CBS released the CX 20 vinyl noise reduction encoding/decoding scheme in 1981, which was met with some success. Since the system was designed with playback compatibility of records on equipment without a CX decoder in mind, the maximum achievable noise reduction was limited to about 20 dB(A). A total of about 150 CX-encoded disks were produced internationally.
... in limited quantities around 1989. The German reunification put an end to the further introduction of the system in 1990.
===Other enhancements===
Under the direction of recording engineer C. Robert Fine, Mercury Records initiated a minimalist single microphone monaural recording technique in 1951. The first record, a Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, conducted by Rafael Kubelik, was described as "being in the living presence of the orchestra" by The New York Timesmusic critic. The series of records was then named Mercury Living Presence. In 1955, Mercury began three-channel stereo recordings, still based on the principle of the single microphone. The center (single) microphone was of paramount importance, with the two side mics adding depth and space. Record masters were cut directly from a three-track to two-track mixdown console, with all editing of the master tapes done on the original three-tracks. In 1961, Mercury enhanced this technique with three-microphone stereo recordings using 35 mm magnetic film instead of 1⁄2-inch tape for recording. The greater thickness and width of 35 mm magnetic film prevented tape layer print-through and pre-echo and gained extended frequency range and transient response. The Mercury Living Presence recordings were remastered to CD in the 1990s by the original producer, Wilma Cozart Fine, using the same method of three-to-two mix directly to the master recorder.
Through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, various methods to improve the dynamic range of mass-produced records involved highly advanced disc cutting equipment. These techniques, marketed, to name two, as the CBS DisComputer and Teldec Direct Metal Mastering, were used to reduce inner-groove distortion. RCA Victor introduced another system to reduce dynamic range and achieve a groove with less surface noise under the commercial name of Dynagroove. Two main elements were combined: another disk material with less surface noise in the groove and dynamic compression for masking background noise. Sometimes this was called "diaphragming" the source material and not favoured by some music lovers for its unnatural side effects. Both elements were reflected in the brandname of Dynagroove, described elsewhere in more detail. It also used the earlier advanced method of forward-looking control on groove spacing with respect to volume of sound and position on the disk. Lower recorded volume used closer spacing; higher recorded volume used wider spacing, especially with lower frequencies. Also, the higher track density at lower volumes enabled disk recordings to end farther away from the disk center than usual, helping to reduce endtrack distortion even further.
Also in the late 1970s, "direct-to-disc" records were produced, aimed at an audiophile niche market. These completely bypassed the use of magnetic tape in favor of a "purist" transcription directly to the master lacquer disc. Also during this period, half-speed mastered and "original master" records were released, using expensive state-of-the-art technology. A further late 1970s development was the Disco Eye-Cued system used mainly on Motown 12-inch singles released between 1978 and 1980. The introduction, drum-breaks, or choruses of a track were indicated by widely separated grooves, giving a visual cue to DJs mixing the records. The appearance of these records is similar to an LP, but they only contain one track each side.
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 play back colored vinyl or picture discs. 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.[citation needed]
In some ways similar to the laser turntable is the IRENE scanning machine for disc records, which images with microphotography, invented by a team of physicists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories. VisualAudio, developed by the Swiss National Sound Archives and the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg, is a similar system.
An offshoot of IRENE, the Confocal Microscope Cylinder Project, can capture a high-resolution three-dimensional image of the surface, down to 200 µm. In order to convert to a digital sound file, this is then played by a version of the same 'virtual stylus' program developed by the research team in real-time, converted to digital and, if desired, processed through sound-restoration programs.
==Formats==
The protective cover of the one-off Voyager Golden Record, containing symbolic information on how it is to be played on the top-left of the label
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 ("16+2⁄3 rpm" (revolutions per minute), "33+1⁄3 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).
Terms such as "long-play" (LP) and "extended-play" (EP) describe multi-track records that play much longer than the single-item-per-side records, which typically do not go much past four minutes per side. An LP can play for up to 30 minutes per side, though most played for about 22 minutes per side, bringing the total playing time of a typical LP recording to about forty-five minutes. Many pre-1952 LPs, however, played for about 15 minutes per side. The 7-inch 45 rpm format normally contains one item per side but a 7-inch 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 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. The term EP is still used for a release that is longer than a single but shorter than an album, even if it is not on vinyl format.
...with larger holes on singles in the USA being 1.5 inches (38.1 mm). Many 7" singles pressed outside the US come with the smaller spindle hole size, and are occasionally pressed with notches to allow the center part to be "punched out" for playing on larger spindles.
==Structure==
The normal commercial disc is engraved with two sound-bearing concentric spiral grooves, one on each side, running from the outside edge towards the center. The last part of the spiral meets an earlier part to form a circle. The sound is encoded by fine variations in the edges of the groove that cause a stylus (needle) placed in it to vibrate at acoustic frequencies when the disc is rotated at the correct speed. Generally, the outer and inner parts of the groove bear no intended sound (exceptions include The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Split Enz's Mental Notes).[citation needed]
The majority of non-78 rpm records are pressed on black vinyl. The coloring material used to blacken the transparent PVC plastic mix is carbon black, which increases the strength of the disc and makes it opaque.[citation needed]Polystyrene is often used for 7-inch records.[citation needed]
Some records are pressed on colored vinyl or with paper pictures embedded in them ("picture discs"). Certain 45 rpm RCA or RCA Victor Red Seal records used red translucent vinyl for extra "Red Seal" effect. During the 1980s there was a trend for releasing singles on colored vinyl—sometimes with large inserts that could be used as posters. This trend has been revived recently with 7-inch singles.[citation needed]
Records made in other countries are standardized by different organizations, but are very similar in size. The record diameters are typically nominally 300 mm, 250 mm and 175 mm.[citation needed]
There is an area about 3 mm (0.12 in) wide at the outer edge of the disk, called the lead-in or run-in, where the groove is widely spaced and silent. The stylus is lowered onto the lead-in, without damaging the recorded section of the groove.[citation needed]
Between tracks on the recorded section of an LP record there is usually a short gap of around 1 mm (0.04 in) where the groove is widely spaced. This space is clearly visible, making it easy to find a particular track.[citation needed]
The inch dimensions are nominal, not precise diameters. 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).[citation needed]
A macro photo of the innermost part of the groove of a vinyl record. Stored sound in the form of variations in the track is visible, as is dust on the record.Magnified groove. Dust can be seen. Red lines mark one millimeter.Electron micrograph of vinyl record grooves
Towards the center, at the end of the groove, there is another wide-pitched section known as the lead-out. At the very end of this section the groove joins itself to form a complete circle, called the lock groove; when the stylus reaches this point, it circles repeatedly until lifted from the record. On some recordings (for example Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, Super Trouper by ABBA and Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd), the sound continues on the lock groove, which gives a strange repeating effect. Automatic turntables rely on the position or angular velocity of the arm, as it reaches the wider spacing in the groove, to trigger a mechanism that lifts the arm off the record. Precisely because of this mechanism, most automatic turntables are incapable of playing any audio in the lock groove, since they will lift the arm before it reaches that groove.[citation needed]
The catalog number and stamper ID is written or stamped in the space between the groove in the lead-out on the master disc, resulting in visible recessed writing on the final version of a record. Sometimes the cutting engineer might add handwritten comments or their signature, if they are particularly pleased with the quality of the cut. These are generally referred to as "run-out etchings".[citation needed]
When auto-changing turntables were commonplace, records were typically pressed with a raised (or ridged) outer edge and a raised label area, allowing records to be stacked onto each other without the delicate grooves coming into contact, reducing the risk of damage. Auto-changers included a mechanism to support a stack of several records above the turntable itself, dropping them one at a time onto the active turntable to be played in order. Many longer sound recordings, such as complete operas, were interleaved across several 10-inch or 12-inch discs for use with auto-changing mechanisms, so that the first disk of a three-disk recording would carry sides 1 and 6 of the program, while the second disk would carry sides 2 and 5, and the third, sides 3 and 4, allowing sides 1, 2, and 3 to be played automatically; then the whole stack reversed to play sides 4, 5, and 6.[citation needed]
==Limitations==
=== Shellac ===
Shellac 78s are fragile, and must be handled carefully. In the event of a 78 breaking, the pieces might remain loosely connected by the label and still be playable if the label holds them together, although there is a loud pop with each pass over the crack, and breaking of the stylus is likely.[citation needed]
Breakage was very common in the shellac era. In the 1934 John O'Hara novel, Appointment in Samarra, the protagonist "broke one of his most favorites, Whiteman's Lady of the Evening ... He wanted to cry but could not." 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 but drops it and "it broke into pieces ... I damn-near cried, it made me feel so terrible." A sequence where a school teacher's collection of 78 rpm jazz records is smashed by a group of rebellious students is a key moment in the film Blackboard Jungle.[citation needed]
By the time World War II began, major labels were experimenting with laminated records. As stated above, and in several record advertisements of the period, the materials that make for a quiet surface (shellac) are notoriously weak and fragile. Conversely the materials that make for a strong disc (cardboard and other fiber products) are not those known for allowing a quiet noise-free surface.[citation needed]
===Vinyl===
Vinyl records can be warped by heat, improper storage, exposure to sunlight, or manufacturing defects such as excessively tight plastic shrinkwrap on the album cover. 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. Standard practice for LPs was to place the LP in a paper or plastic inner cover. This, if placed within the outer cardboard cover so that the opening was entirely within the outer cover, was said to reduce ingress of dust onto the record surface. Singles, with rare exceptions, had simple paper covers with no inner cover.[citation needed]
Locked grooves are not uncommon and were even heard occasionally in radio broadcasts.[citation needed]
Distortion towards the end of the side is likely to become more apparent as record wear increases.[citation needed]
Another problem arises because of the geometry of the tonearm. Master recordings are cut on a recording lathe where a sapphire stylus moves radially across the blank, suspended on a straight track and driven by a lead screw. Most turntables use a pivoting tonearm, introducing side forces and pitch and azimuth errors, and thus distortion in the playback signal. Various mechanisms were devised in attempts to compensate, with varying degrees of success. See more at phonograph.[citation needed]
===Frequency response and noise===
In 1925, electric recording extended the recorded frequency range from acoustic recording (168–2,000 Hz) by 2+1⁄2 octaves to 100–5,000 Hz. Even so, these early electronically recorded records used the exponential-horn phonograph (see Orthophonic Victrola) for reproduction.[citation needed]
CD-4 LPs contain two sub-carriers, one in the left groove wall and one in the right groove wall. These sub-carriers use special FM-PM-SSBFM (Frequency Modulation-Phase Modulation-Single Sideband Frequency Modulation) and have signal frequencies that extend to 45 kHz. CD-4 sub-carriers could be played with any type stylus as long as the pickup cartridge had CD-4 frequency response. The recommended stylus for CD-4 as well as regular stereo records was a line contact or Shibata type.[citation needed]
Gramophone sound includes rumble, which is low-frequency (below about 30 Hz) mechanical noise generated by the motor bearings and picked up by the stylus. Equipment of modest quality is relatively unaffected by these issues, as the amplifier and speaker will not reproduce such low frequencies, but high-fidelity turntable assemblies need careful design to minimize audible rumble.
Room vibrations will also be picked up if the connections from the pedestal to/from turntable to the pickup arm are not well isolated.[citation needed]
Tonearm skating forces and other perturbations are also picked up by the stylus. This is a form of frequency multiplexing as the control signal (restoring force) used to keep the stylus in the groove is carried by the same mechanism as the sound itself. Subsonic frequencies below about 20 Hz in the audio signal are dominated by tracking effects, which is one form of unwanted rumble ("tracking noise") and merges with audible frequencies in the deep bass range up to about 100 Hz. High fidelity sound equipment can reproduce tracking noise and rumble. During a quiet passage, woofer speaker cones can sometimes be seen to vibrate with the subsonic tracking of the stylus, at frequencies as low as just above 0.5 Hz (the frequency at which a 33+1⁄3 rpm record turns on the turntable; 5⁄9 Hz exactly on an ideal turntable). Another reason for very low frequency material can be a warped disk: its undulations produce frequencies of only a few hertz and present day amplifiers have large power bandwidths. For this reason, many stereo receivers contained a switchable subsonic filter. Some subsonic content is directly out of phase in each channel. If played back on a mono subwoofer system, the noise will cancel, significantly reducing the amount of rumble that is reproduced.[citation needed]
High frequency hiss is generated as the stylus rubs against the vinyl, and dirt and dust on the vinyl produces popping and ticking sounds. The latter can be reduced somewhat by cleaning the record before playback.[citation needed]
===Equalization===
Due to recording mastering and manufacturing limitations, both high and low frequencies were removed from the first recorded signals by various formulae. With low frequencies, the stylus must swing a long way from side to side, requiring the groove to be wide, taking up more space and limiting the playing time of the record. At high frequencies, hiss, pops, and ticks are significant. These problems can be reduced by using equalization to an agreed standard. During recording the amplitude of low frequencies is reduced, thus reducing the groove width required, and the amplitude at high frequencies is increased. The playback equipment boosts bass and cuts treble so as to restore the tonal balance in the original signal; this also reduces the high frequency noise. Thus more music will fit on the record, and noise is reduced.[citation needed]
The current standard is called RIAA equalization. It was agreed upon in 1952 and implemented in the United States in 1955; it was not widely used in other countries until the 1970s. Before that, especially from 1940, some 100 different formulae were used by the record manufacturers.[citation needed]
====History of equalization====
In 1926 Joseph P. Maxwell and Henry C. Harrison from Bell Telephone Laboratories disclosed that the recording pattern of the Western Electric "rubber line" magnetic disc cutter had a constant velocity characteristic. This meant that as frequency increased in the treble, recording amplitude decreased. Conversely, in the bass as frequency decreased, recording amplitude increased. Therefore, it was necessary to attenuate the bass frequencies below about 250 Hz, the bass turnover point, in the amplified microphone signal fed to the recording head. Otherwise, bass modulation became excessive and overcutting took place into the next record groove. When played back electrically with a magnetic pickup having a smooth response in the bass region, a complementary boost in amplitude at the bass turnover point was necessary. G. H. Miller in 1934 reported that when complementary boost at the turnover point was used in radio broadcasts of records, the reproduction was more realistic and many of the musical instruments stood out in their true form.[citation needed]
West in 1930 and later P. G. A. H. Voigt (1940) showed that the early Wente-style condenser microphones contributed to a 4 to 6 dB midrange brilliance or pre-emphasis in the recording chain. This meant that the electrical recording characteristics of Western Electric licensees such as Columbia Records and Victor Talking Machine Company in the 1925 era had a higher amplitude in the midrange region. Brilliance such as this compensated for dullness in many early magnetic pickups having drooping midrange and treble response. As a result, this practice was the empirical beginning of using pre-emphasis above 1,000 Hz in 78 rpm and 33+1⁄3 rpm records.[citation needed]
Over the years a variety of record equalization practices emerged and there was no industry standard. For example, in Europe recordings for years required playback with a bass turnover setting of 250–300 Hz and a treble roll-off at 10,000 Hz ranging from 0 to −5 dB or more. In the US there were more varied practices and a tendency to use higher bass turnover frequencies such as 500 Hz as well as a greater treble rolloff like −8.5 dB and even more to record generally higher modulation levels on the record.[citation needed]
Evidence from the early technical literature concerning electrical recording suggests that it wasn't until the 1942–1949 period that there were serious efforts to standardize recording characteristics within an industry. Heretofore, electrical recording technology from company to company was considered a proprietary art all the way back to the 1925 Western Electric licensed method used by Columbia and Victor. For example, what Brunswick-Balke-Collender (Brunswick Corporation) did was different from the practices of Victor.[citation needed]
Broadcasters were faced with having to adapt daily to the varied recording characteristics of many sources: various makers of "home recordings" readily available to the public, European recordings, lateral-cut transcriptions, and vertical-cut transcriptions. Efforts were started in 1942 to standardize within the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), later known as the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (NARTB). The NAB, among other items, issued recording standards in 1949 for laterally and vertically cut records, principally transcriptions. A number of 78 rpm record producers as well as early LP makers also cut their records to the NAB/NARTB lateral standard.[citation needed]
The lateral cut NAB curve was remarkably similar to the NBC Orthacoustic curve that evolved from practices within the National Broadcasting Company since the mid-1930s. Empirically, and not by any formula, it was learned that the bass end of the audio spectrum below 100 Hz could be boosted somewhat to override system hum and turntable rumble noises. Likewise at the treble end beginning at 1,000 Hz, if audio frequencies were boosted by 16 dB at 10,000 Hz the delicate sibilant sounds of speech and high overtones of musical instruments could survive the noise level of cellulose acetate, lacquer–aluminum, and vinyl disc media. When the record was played back using a complementary inverse curve, signal-to-noise ratio was improved and the programming sounded more lifelike.[citation needed]
When the Columbia LP was released in June 1948, the developers subsequently published technical information about the 33+1⁄3 rpm microgroove long playing record. Columbia disclosed a recording characteristic showing that it was like the NAB curve in the treble, but had more bass boost or pre-emphasis below 200 Hz. The authors disclosed electrical network characteristics for the Columbia LP curve. This was the first such curve based on formulae.[citation needed]
In 1951, at the beginning of the post-World War II high fidelity (hi-fi) popularity, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) developed a standard playback curve. This was intended for use by hi-fi amplifier manufacturers. If records were engineered to sound good on hi-fi amplifiers using the AES curve, this would be a worthy goal towards standardization. This curve was defined by the time constants of audio filters and had a bass turnover of 400 Hz and a 10,000 Hz rolloff of −12 dB.[citation needed]
RCA Victor and Columbia were in a market war concerning which recorded format was going to win: the Columbia LP versus the RCA Victor 45 rpm disc (released in February 1949). Besides also being a battle of disc size and record speed, there was a technical difference in the recording characteristics. RCA Victor was using "new orthophonic", whereas Columbia was using the LP curve.[citation needed]
Ultimately, the New Orthophonic curve was disclosed in a publication by R.C. Moyer of RCA Victor in 1953. He traced RCA Victor characteristics back to the Western Electric "rubber line" recorder in 1925 up to the early 1950s laying claim to long-held recording practices and reasons for major changes in the intervening years. The RCA Victor New Orthophonic curve was within the tolerances for the NAB/NARTB, Columbia LP, and AES curves. It eventually became the technical predecessor to the RIAA curve.[citation needed]
As the RIAA curve was essentially an American standard, it had little impact outside the USA until the late 1970s when European recording labels began to adopt the RIAA equalization. It was even later when some Asian recording labels adopted the RIAA standard. 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 did not truly become a global standard until the late 1980s.[citation needed]
At the time of the introduction of the compact disc (CD) in 1982, the stereo LP pressed in vinyl was at the highpoint of its development.[citation needed]
Overall sound fidelity of records produced acoustically using horns instead of microphones had a distant, hollow tone quality. Some voices and instruments recorded better than others; Enrico Caruso, a famous tenor, was one popular recording artist of the acoustic era whose voice was well matched to the recording horn. It has been asked, "Did Caruso make the phonograph, or did the phonograph make Caruso?"[according to whom?]
Delicate sounds and fine overtones were mostly lost, because it took a lot of sound energy to vibrate the recording horn diaphragm and cutting mechanism. There were acoustic limitations due to mechanical resonances in both the recording and playback system. Some pictures of acoustic recording sessions show horns wrapped with tape to help mute these resonances. Even an acoustic recording played back electrically on modern equipment sounds like it was recorded through a horn, notwithstanding a reduction in distortion because of the modern playback. Toward the end of the acoustic era, there were many fine examples of recordings made with horns.[citation needed]
Electric recording, which developed as early radio became popular (1925), benefited from the microphones and amplifiers used in radio studios. The early electric recordings were reminiscent tonally of acoustic recordings, except there was more recorded bass and treble as well as delicate sounds and overtones cut on the records. This was in spite of some carbon microphones used, which had resonances that colored the recorded tone. The double button carbon microphone with stretched diaphragm was a marked improvement. Alternatively, the Wente style condenser microphone used with the Western Electric licensed recording method had a brilliant midrange and was prone to overloading from sibilants in speech, but generally it gave more accurate reproduction than carbon microphones.[citation needed]
It was not unusual for electric recordings to be played back on acoustic phonographs. The Victor Orthophonic phonograph was a prime example where such playback was expected. In the Orthophonic, which benefited from telephone research, the mechanical pickup head was redesigned with lower resonance than the traditional mica type. Also, a folded horn with an exponential taper was constructed inside the cabinet to provide better impedance matching to the air. As a result, playback of an Orthophonic record sounded like it was coming from a radio.[citation needed]
Eventually, when it was more common for electric recordings to be played back electrically in the 1930s and 1940s, the overall tone was much like listening to a radio of the era. Magnetic pickups became more common and were better designed as time went on, making it possible to improve the damping of spurious resonances. Crystal pickups were also introduced as lower cost alternatives. The dynamic or moving coil microphone was introduced around 1930 and the velocity or ribbon microphone in 1932. Both of these high quality microphones became widespread in motion picture, radio, recording, and public address applications.[citation needed]
Over time, fidelity, dynamic and noise levels improved to the point that it was harder to tell the difference between a live performance in the studio and the recorded version. This was especially true after the invention of the variable reluctance magnetic pickup cartridge by General Electric in the 1940s when high quality cuts were played on well-designed audio systems. The Capehart radio/phonographs of the era with large diameter electrodynamic loudspeakers, though not ideal, demonstrated this quite well with "home recordings" readily available in the music stores for the public to buy.[citation needed]
There were important quality advances in recordings specifically made for radio broadcast. In the early 1930s Bell Telephone Laboratories and Western Electric announced the total reinvention of disc recording: the Western Electric Wide Range System, "The New Voice of Action". The intent of the new Western Electric system was to improve the overall quality of disc recording and playback. The recording speed was 33+1⁄3 rpm, originally used in the Western Electric/ERPI movie audio disc system implemented in the early Warner Brothers' Vitaphone "talkies" of 1927.[citation needed]
The newly invented Western Electric moving coil or dynamic microphone was part of the Wide Range System. It had a flatter audio response than the old style Wente condenser type and didn't require electronics installed in the microphone housing. Signals fed to the cutting head were pre-emphasized in the treble region to help override noise in playback. Groove cuts in the vertical plane were employed rather than the usual lateral cuts. The chief advantage claimed was more grooves per inch that could be crowded together, resulting in longer playback time. Additionally, the problem of inner groove distortion, which plagued lateral cuts, could be avoided with the vertical cut system. Wax masters were made by flowing heated wax over a hot metal disc thus avoiding the microscopic irregularities of cast blocks of wax and the necessity of planing and polishing.[citation needed]
Vinyl pressings were made with stampers from master cuts that were electroplated in vacuo by means of gold sputtering. Audio response was claimed out to 8,000 Hz, later 13,000 Hz, using light weight pickups employing jeweled styli. Amplifiers and cutters both using negative feedback were employed thereby improving the range of frequencies cut and lowering distortion levels. Radio transcription producers such as World Broadcasting System and Associated Music Publishers (AMP) were the dominant licensees of the Western Electric wide range system and towards the end of the 1930s were responsible for two-thirds of the total radio transcription business. These recordings use a bass turnover of 300 Hz and a 10,000 Hz rolloff of −8.5 dB.[citation needed]
Developmentally, much of the technology of the long playing record, successfully released by Columbia in 1948, came from wide range radio transcription practices. The use of vinyl pressings, increased length of programming, and general improvement in audio quality over 78 rpm records were the major selling points.[citation needed]
The complete technical disclosure of the Columbia LP by Peter C. Goldmark, Rene' Snepvangers and William S. Bachman in 1949 made it possible for a great variety of record companies to get into the business of making long playing records. The business grew quickly and interest spread in high fidelity sound and the do-it-yourself market for pickups, turntables, amplifier kits, loudspeaker enclosure plans, and AM/FM radio tuners. The LP record for longer works, 45 rpm for pop music, and FM radio became high fidelity program sources in demand. Radio listeners heard recordings broadcast and this in turn generated more record sales. The industry flourished.[citation needed]
====Evolution====
Manufacturing vinyl records in 1959
Technology used in making recordings also developed and prospered. There were ten major evolutionary steps that improved LP production and quality during a period of approximately forty years.[citation needed]
Electrical transcriptions and 78s were first used as sources to master LP lacquer–aluminium cuts in 1948. This was before magnetic tape was commonly employed for mastering. Variable pitch groove spacing helped enable greater recorded dynamic levels. The heated stylus improved the cutting of high frequencies. Gold sputtering in vacuo became increasingly used to make high quality matrices from the cuts to stamp vinyl records.[citation needed]
Decca in Britain used high-quality wide range condenser microphones for the Full Frequency Range Recording (FFRR) system c. 1949. Wax mastering was employed to produce Decca/London LPs. This created considerable interest in the United States, and served to raise the customer's overall expectations of quality in microgroove records.[citation needed]
Tape recording with condenser microphones became a long used standard operating procedure in mastering lacquer–aluminium cuts. This improved the overall pickup of high quality sound and enabled tape editing. Over the years there were variations in the kinds of tape recorders used, such as the width and number of tracks employed, including 35 mm magnetic film technology.[citation needed]
Production of stereo tape masters and the stereo LP in 1958 brought significant improvements in recording technology.[citation needed]
Limitations in the disc cutting part of the process later generated the idea that half-speed mastering would improve quality (in which the source tape is played at half-speed and the lacquer–aluminium disc cut at 16+2⁄3 rpm rather than 33+1⁄3 rpm).[citation needed]
Some 12 inch LPs were cut at 45 rpm claiming better quality sound, but this practice was short-lived.[citation needed]
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 was neither a widespread success nor long lasting.[citation needed]
Efforts were also made to simplify the chain of equipment in the recording process and return to live recording directly to the disc master.
Noise reduction systems were also used in tape mastering of some LPs, as well as in the LP itself.[citation needed]
As video recorder technology improved it became possible to modify them and use analogue to digital converters (codecs) for digital sound recording. This brought greater dynamic range to tape mastering, combined with low noise and distortion, and freedom from drop outs as well as pre- and post-echo. The digital recording was played back providing a high quality analogue signal to master the lacquer–aluminium cut.[citation needed]
====Shortcomings====
Factory problems involving incomplete flow of hot vinyl within the stamper can fail to accurately recreate a small section of one side of the groove, a problem called non-fill. It usually appears on the first item on a side if present at all. Non-fill makes itself known as a tearing, grating or ripping sound.[citation needed]
A static electric charge can build up on the surface of the spinning record and discharge into the stylus, making a loud "pop". In very dry climates, this can happen several times per minute. Subsequent plays of the same record do not have pops in the same places in the music as the static buildup isn't tied to variations in the groove.[citation needed]
An off-center stamping will apply a slow 0.56 Hz modulation to the playback, affecting pitch due to the modulating speed that the groove runs under the stylus. The effect becomes gradually more acute during playback as the stylus moves closer to the center of the record. It also affects tonality because the stylus is pressed alternately against one groove wall and then the other, making the frequency response change in each channel. This problem is often called "wow", though turntable and motor problems can also cause pitch-only "wow".[citation needed]
Tracking force of the stylus is not always the same from beginning to end of the groove. Stereo balance can shift as the recording progresses.[citation needed]
Outside electrical interference may be amplified by the magnetic cartridge. Common household wallplate SCR dimmers sharing AC lines may put noise into the playback, as can poorly shielded electronics and strong radio transmitters.
Loud sounds in the environment may be transmitted mechanically from the turntable's sympathetic vibration into the stylus. Heavy footfalls can bounce the needle out of the groove.[citation needed]
Because of a slight slope in the lead-in groove, it is possible for the stylus to skip ahead several grooves when settling into position at the start of the recording.[citation needed]
The LP is delicate. Any accidental fumbling with the stylus or dropping of the record onto a sharp corner can scratch the record permanently, creating a series of "ticks" and "pops" heard at each subsequent playback. Heavier accidents can cause the stylus to break through the groove wall as it plays, creating a permanent skip that will cause the stylus to either skip ahead to the next groove or skip back to the previous groove. A skip going to the previous groove is called a broken record; the same section of 1.8 seconds of LP (1.3 s of 45 rpm) music will repeat over and over until the stylus is lifted off the record. It is also possible to put a slight pressure on the headshell causing the stylus to stay in the desired groove, without having a playback break. This requires some skill, but is of great use when, for instance, digitizing a recording, as no information is skipped.[citation needed]
;;;===LP versus CD===
The LP's drawbacks, however, include surface noise, less resolution due to a lower Signal to Noise ratio and dynamic range, stereo crosstalk, tracking error, pitch variations and greater sensitivity to handling. Modern anti-aliasing filters and oversampling systems used in digital recordings have eliminated perceived problems observed with very early CD players.[citation needed]
By contrast, hearing damage from loud noise exposure typically makes it more difficult to hear lower frequencies, such as three kHz through six kHz.[citation needed]
==Preservation==
The equipment for playback of certain formats (e.g. 16+2⁄3 and 78 rpm) is manufactured only in small quantities, leading to increased difficulty in finding equipment to play the recordings.[citation needed]
For the first several decades of disc record manufacturing, sound was recorded directly on to the "master disc" 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 or edited, and then dubbed on to the master disc. A record cutter would engrave the grooves into the master disc. Early versions of these master discs were soft wax, and later 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 that affected how wide the space for the groove needed to be on each rotation.[citation needed]
==Current status==
Many popular new albums are given releases on vinyl records and older albums are also given reissues, sometimes on audiophile-grade vinyl.{{fact|date=May 2022}
...briefly reversing the downward trend seen during the 1990s.[citation needed]
In the United States, new vinyl releases often have a larger profit margin (per individual item) than do releases on CD or digital downloads (in many cases), as the latter formats quickly go down in price.[citation needed]
Many electronic dance music and hip hop releases today are still preferred on vinyl; however, digital copies are still widely available. This is because for disc jockeys ("DJs"), vinyl has an advantage over the CD: direct manipulation of the medium. DJ techniques such as slip-cueing, beatmatching, and scratching originated on turntables. With CDs or compact audio cassettes one normally has only indirect manipulation options, e.g., the play, stop, and pause buttons. With a record one can place the stylus a few grooves farther in or out, accelerate or decelerate the turntable, or even reverse its direction, provided the stylus, record player, and record itself are built to withstand it. However, many CDJ and DJ advances, such as DJ software and time-encoded vinyl, now have these capabilities.[citation needed]
I tried to restore ([1]) the previously good article contents deleted by Nightscream ([2]) and was about to reincorporate the good changes of the past month but was almost immediately interrupted and reverted by Nightscream ([3]). The article was previously quite good and comprehensive (except for that more sources would be needed) but it is now basically trashed (as was this talk page before I fixed it) and left without most of the good contents.
This is an example of highly disruptive editing, and it is discouraging to continue any useful work on the article until the former contents has been restored (and ideally, but not necessarily, some sources have been added).
I have reverted the changes. @Nightscream has promptly reversed this and similar reverts from at least three different editors so I guess I should expect the same will happen here. It may be time for someone to take this to WP:ANI or something. ~Kvng (talk) 23:31, 18 August 2022 (UTC)
Thanks for giving it a try - and I encourage other editors to restore the bulk-deleted contents as well, so that those positively-minded people being here to build an encyclopedia can continue to work on the article and seek for sources.
WP:V means that the contents must be verifiable, not that all the sources have to be in the article already. We all want this to happen eventually, but locating and preparing good sources for inclusion takes time, so realistically this is a task for years to come, not for a mere month as Nightscream seems to think he can dictate. We don't have a deadline. Also, most of the deleted contents has been stable for years, so problematic contents would have been deleted long ago by the hundreds of knowledgeable editors who read the article in the meantime - the fact that content is (or was) still in the article indicates that it topically belongs and there is implicit consensus to include it. The little remaining risk that minor inaccuracies were not spotted and corrected by the community already does not justify the article to be trashed as a whole just because one fanatic individual comes around and thinks he must be WP:POINTY - such individuals need to be brought to reason or, if not possible, removed from the project. Working towards our goal to build an encyclopedia, it is much better to live with some imperfections (like potentially remaining minor inaccuracies or some missing sources) than to not have the article contents at all. Nightscream's bulk deletions in this and other articles are detrimental to the project because they leave the article(s) in a lesser state than before and are sand in the gear of ongoing article work.
Since all work on the remaining article fragment is likely to be a waste of time when the deleted contents will have to be restored eventually (which will have to happen), I for one will not work on the article until the former contents will have been restored, so that all constructive editors, those who contribute contents, those who add sources, those who make corrections and those who wordsmith the prose, can again work on a single version of the article in parallel (as we usually do and are highly productive in doing so).
Yeah, it is pretty awkward to try and improve material once it has been moved from the article. I'm not interested doing the extra work required to negotiate that. Nightscream has destabilized the article which means that any improvements anyone makes now may need to be merged back in once it is stable again. I can't see how this is not disruptive. ~Kvng (talk) 03:10, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
It is, it is violating several of our conduct & editing policies and guidelines and is causing significant damage to the project.
As Nightscream exhibits this disruptive pattern not only here, but also in many other articles, thanks for starting the (currently still very incomplete) list at: User talk:Nightscream#Articles involved
Just registering another objection to this editing practice. I ended up editing part of this article because of a dubious source tag that had been in place since Feb. 2019. The statement seemed accurate, but biased. Quick check showed that it was WP:UGC and not valid, so I tracked down a better source and expanded it some based on that. Then I saw one of these en masse moves, checked and saw that there was content that had been removed from the paragraph I'd been working on. It balanced the original content (which still needed a better source) and added context that my edit had not added. I've restored, amended and sourced that text, but think this shows a few flaws in indiscriminately removing material simply for lacking an inline source. 1) It left in place without examination a WP:UGC source. 2) Content that balanced a prior statement was cut, creating a possible WP:NPOV issue. Beyond that, as an editor attempting to address a flagged problem, I had no indication there was additional good content that could have been drawn upon in fixing the problem. (And had I not been aware of Nightscream's practice, I wouldn't have ever thought to look on the talk page to see if there was material cut.) Yeah, I sorted it out, but had there simply been CN tags on the text (even if they were older than the maintenance tag I was addressing), it would have been better for both readers and editors. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 23:45, 14 September 2022 (UTC)
The article states "Since most vinyl records contain up to 30% recycled vinyl, impurities can accumulate in the record and cause even a brand-new record to have audio artifacts such as clicks and pops". But I don't see a citation. It certainly sounds plausible, and I've had many people tell me that 'virgin vinyl' is better, but I have yet to find a substantiated claim as to why. It seems all opinion based at this time. Is there a reason recycled would have more impurities than virgin (as far as I know, recycled plastics are cleaned of impurities just as virgin plastics are)? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:8:bb01:7427:c90a:283a:ac96:4845 (talk) 17:10, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
Not a B article
I recommend that this be demoted to a C-Class article. Its recent edits and a lot of its inconsistent content have produced an average article at best. I like to saw logs! (talk) 05:29, 6 February 2023 (UTC)
WP:ORES does predict a B rating but there are a couple of maintenance tags that should be addressed before the article gets a clean B rating. I have demoted to C for now. ~Kvng (talk) 16:00, 11 February 2023 (UTC)
This article refers to all recordings made on discs, not just LPs and 45s. Prior to 1947, phonograph records were almost invariably pressed on shellac, a very different material from vinyl. Because of that, it would be inaccurate to refer to all phonograph records as "vinyl records". —CurryTime7-24 (talk) 18:11, 25 March 2023 (UTC)
Comment: There is more than 50 years of commercial history of phonograph records before vinyl records came along (some earlier experimentation, but not commercially mass produced until after WWII). Please note that "vinyl record" is not synonymous with LP records either - in 1948/1949 vinyl pressings of two new formats hit the market, the 45 rpm single backed by RCA Victor and the 33 LP backed by competitor Columbia. Both are vinyl records (the term refers to what the record is made from, and is not a single format nor catch all term for disc audio records) - as are some late examples of what were formerly called "standard" records (78 rpm). -- Infrogmation (talk) 19:41, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
Deepest thanks for your comment! Would it be better if I redirected "vinyl record" to a disambiguation page instead of an article? —CurryTime7-24 (talk) 20:59, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
Looking at the article, I think some rewriting of the section at and around the header "New sizes and materials", as commercial switch to vinyl and the new 45 single and 33 LP were all late 1940s developments (the earlier experiment with LPs in the 1930s is perhaps given misleading undue weight here, as it was not a commercial success, and is more of an interesting temporary dead end - like the Edison Disc Long Play records of the 1920s). Let me look and think for a day. I don't think we have a need for a separate "vinyl record" article, but showing it more prominently in the late 1940s history section might be good. Cheers, -- Infrogmation (talk) 21:43, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
I've been "bold" and gone ahead and done a quick rewrite, and retargeted "Vinyl record" to a rewritten subheader of this article, "New sizes and materials after WWII: 45 rpm singles, LPs, and vinyl records". Name is a bit long, but section deals with various related significant changes. -- Infrogmation (talk) 22:23, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
Improving the article
I've moved the section on the "World" brand variable speed records to Unusual types of gramophone records (where it was already mentioned). Such tangents are interesting and should be covered somewhere - but in examples such as this, which were a commercial failure that did not contribute to future development of the form, I don't think it should be detailed in this article, which I think should be an overview of the topic. Further improvements can certainly be made; parts of the article are by chronology, parts by topics, and IMO still with some material that seems tangential to a general overview. More thoughts? -- Infrogmation (talk) 22:34, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
Discussion of why I undid a recent Nightscream revert
I have undone a well meant revert by Nightscream, which the the user addressed on my talk page at User_talk:Infrogmation#phonograph_record. I think it would be more useful to have all discussion here, where others interested in improving this article can also see it and if they wish add their opinions/suggestions. -- Infrogmation (talk) 17:08, 17 April 2023 (UTC)
The Phonoautograph has it's own article, and is also discussed in the history of recorded sound article. A long detailed discussion of it, duplicating material already covered elsewhere, was an irrelevant tangent in an article that was supposedly about something else. -- Infrogmation (talk) 16:54, 17 April 2023 (UTC)
I was at first going to move the tangential material en bulk elsewhere, but looking at the other articles I made sure nothing was lost that wasn't already duplicated elsewhere. -- Infrogmation (talk) 17:05, 17 April 2023 (UTC)
At my user talk page I was chided for lack of citation for what I mistakenly thought was a very well known fact for people who know a bit of the history of recordings; I added it back with a reference quickly found in a web search. If anything I have written seems to be in need of citation, I would prefer it be tagged with a a request for citation, rather than be unilaterally removed without warning. Thanks much. Cheers, -- Infrogmation (talk) 17:01, 17 April 2023 (UTC)
Nightscream was correct to remove the uncited material. All claims require citations. WP:V is a fundamental pillar of Wikipedia policy.
Per WP:BURDEN, The burden to demonstrate verifiability lies with the editor who adds or restores material, and it is satisfied by providing an inline citation to a reliable source that directly supports the contribution.
The proper way to proceed is to find a reliable secondary source for information before adding it. We should be using sources to determine what belongs in articles — not writing articles and then finding sources later. Popcornfud (talk) 15:01, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
Be aware that there is a slow moving unresolved disagreement regarding this editing pattern. If anyone with ample free time is interested, I can link to past discussions. My feeling is that there is not a policy consensus that WP:BURDEN allows editors to summarily delete unsourced material in the first place. These deletions are arguably disruptive and they do not improve the encyclopedia. ~Kvng (talk) 15:14, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
I invite other editors to remind themselves of our WP:VERIFY policy: All material in Wikipedia mainspace, including everything in articles, lists, and captions, must be verifiable ... Any material that needs an inline citation but does not have one may be removed.
Also ...any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged, must include an inline citation. The editing pattern under dispute is editors who "challenge" unsourced statements simply because they're unsourced. The argument about this goes circular and I won't waste any more time going around it again here. ~Kvng (talk) 19:15, 20 April 2023 (UTC)
Although the recent additions of sources are appreciated, they don't appear to be high-quality sources. For example, what makes this a great source for Wikipedia? We can't simply throw in any website that has the info. There's a list of reliable music-related sources at WP:RSMUSIC that could be a good starting point. Popcornfud (talk) 16:45, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
"The Phonoautograph has it's own article, and..."
It doesn't matter. You can't add or leave material in an article without citations. Period. If you wanted to leave a summarized version of that info, that doens't mean that WP:V/WP:NOR/WP:CS does not require citations.
"there is a slow moving unresolved disagreement regarding this editing pattern."
A lie. It was resolved last year. A group of policy violators implemented a series of four failed attempts to get away with their policy violations by reporting me to various WP talk pages, the last of which was closed on Septmber 8, 2023 by an administator who wrote in their closing comment "Further relitigation of the same points is unlikely to be helpful, and the relevant policies have been repeatedly explained." Looking through that discussion will show that members of the community who participated in it upheld my position, which is that policies state that uncited material cannot be added/restored to articles, a point that none of you even addressed, let alone falsified. Popcornfud also seems to understand this.
Your refusal to accept this, and to falsely claim that it's "unresolved", is not a statement of truth, but of your the arrogance with which you behave as if you do not have to follows the rules set forth by the community here, and the mendacity with which you attempt to get away with this. Nightscream (talk) 19:37, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
OK, I guess I'm an arrogant liar in your eyes. It was quiet for a while but we're apparently back to unpleasant interactions. This is not a productive discussion. ~Kvng (talk) 19:57, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
Nightscream: Thanks for your feedback. Kvng: Please try to keep discussion civil and not personal. As for me, I am not well versed in the history of policy discussions on this point. However in the short term for this particular article I'd like to request use of the "citation needed" or similar as a flag for what specific details others think needs a reference. (I have been trying to improve the article including in matters of basic readability and avoiding long tangents on matters already better addressed elsewhere.) The history of audio technology is a topic I have worked with and read multiple books, articles etc about for decades; while this makes me familiar with some details, at the same time might make me unaware of if a detail is pretty much common knowledge or not. I'm assuming there are some things I don't need to include inline references to, for example that the records are round and mostly flat - or is even something so basic in need of citation? If I make a single sentence summary of a tangential topic, with a link to the article about that topic which discusses it in detail with multiple references, do I need to copy those references here as well? Suggestions for further improvements? Thanks, all! Recordially, -- Infrogmation (talk) 20:23, 21 April 2023 (UTC)
@Infrogmation, you don't need to include references you find in references you cite. Readers can, on their own, drill down as deeply as they like. WP:BLUE is a well-circulated essay pertaining to your common-knowledge question. You may not be aware that on Wikipedia we generally prefer WP:SECONDARY sources. These sources often lack detail found in the WP:PRIMARY sources but they offer perspective and balanced coverage that is usually lacking in the primary sources. ~Kvng (talk) 21:42, 24 April 2023 (UTC)
Thanks much for the reply and thanks for the links. I try to keep up with changing guidelines, but never get all of it. One of the problems in my attempt to improve the article, is when "the sky is blue" rule kicks in - I was including some things I thought were common knowledge by those with some basic familiarity with 20th century audio history, but had them removed as uncited, original research, and disruptive, with angry threats on my talk page. That's why I've asked for feedback before unilateral removal - being personally long fairly familiar with a subject, I may not always know what others think needs citation. Cheers, -- Infrogmation (talk) 03:14, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
As my attempts at article improvement were smacked down while in progress, I am somewhat surprised to see that Wikipedia:Be bold is still a guideline, apparently not yet depreciated, and lacking warnings that acting on it can result in being labeled as disruptive & acting in bad faith, as well as being unilaterally blocked. @Nightscream: perhaps you could give more guidance on how I can thread these shoals? -- Infrogmation (talk) 03:26, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
Kvng: "you don't need to include references you find in references you cite."
I have no idea what this gibberish means, but the passage/paragraph in question most certainly requires citations. the history of phonoautograph and phonograph are not akin to "the sky is blue", and this was sort of thing was confirmed by other editors and admins in that discussion we had last autumn at Talk:Radio. I and others, most notably Daniel Case, also debunked your numerous delusions in depth in the discussion on my talk page that followed that.
As for WP:BLUE, essays are not policies. In fact, that page flat-out states:
"Note that this essay should never be cited in a dispute about whether or not a certain fact is true or not and should not be considered a replacement for the core content policies."
Indeed, distorting the relationship of policies to community consensus was another thing you exhibited mendacity with in that discussion from last year, as with this inane comment, which I had to refute. You ended up retreating from that ill-informed statement, and even tried to cover this up with another poorly-thought-out lie. Now you're back to exhibiting twisting or selective adherence to policy. The other editors and admins told you in that dicussion that material like this needs citations. What part of this are you not understanding? Was NinjaRobotPirate, who closed that discussion in favor of my correct adhernece to sourcing policies wrong? Was Daniel Case, another admin who debunked your fallacy-ridden arguments on my tp, also wrong? Is everyone who points out to you that you're wrong about not needing citations wrong?
Second, the history of phonoautograph and phonograph are not akin to "the sky is blue", as it is not, as WP:BLUE says, "common knowledge". Again, you tried this crap last year when you falsely claimed that "Only disputed facts must be verified with a citation," which I then debunked. Why are you continuing to trot out this debunked idea of yours? What does it take for you to get the point that the community has had discussion with you, and told you that you're wrong?
Lastly, even if the two of you believed newly-added material doesn't require citations to be added to it, why was it justified for Infrogmation to remove the ones that were already there? Nightscream (talk) 17:51, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
I've been through this before with you. My conclusion is that we disagree and we both think we're right. Is there something new on the table this time? ~Kvng (talk) 15:13, 16 May 2023 (UTC)
.jpg)
Comment: There is more than 50 years of commercial history of phonograph records before vinyl records came along (some earlier experimentation, but not commercially mass produced until after WWII). Please note that "vinyl record" is not synonymous with LP records either - in 1948/1949 vinyl pressings of two new formats hit the market, the 45 rpm single backed by RCA Victor and the 33 LP backed by competitor Columbia. Both are vinyl records (the term refers to what the record is made from, and is not a single format nor catch all term for disc audio records) - as are some late examples of what were formerly called "standard" records (78 rpm). -- Infrogmation (talk) 19:41, 26 March 2023 (UTC)
