Introduction To Vinyl Records

The cutthroat rivalry between rca victor and columbia records led to the introduction of another competing format by rca the 7 45 rpm extended play ep.

Introduction to vinyl records.

Apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the. The lp from long playing or long play is an analog sound storage medium a phonograph record format characterized by a speed of 33 1 3 rpm a 12 or 10 inch 30 or 25 cm diameter and use of the microgroove groove specification introduced by columbia in 1948 it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry. Similarly the introduction of high quality but expensive quadraphonic four channel reel to reel tapes and 8 track tape cartridges in 1970 led to the introduction of quadraphonic vinyl records which arrived on the market in 1972. Today s vinyl records aren t that much different from those that were introduced in the 1940s.

A phonograph record also known as a gramophone record especially in british english or simply a record is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove. However starting in 1939 columbia records continued to develop vinyl technology and in 1948 introduced the 12 long play lp 33 1 3 rpm microgroove record. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. Most major labels stopped producing records and turned to digital downloads.

The styles of music and the artists have changed and a few refinements have improved their sound quality most notably the introduction of stereo sound in the late 1950s but the basic record has not. While this was popular with the mainstream djs and music aficionados still liked the vinyl record sound. Complemented by promotional copies test pressings and acetates contemporary adverts and reviews not always too kind we aim to cover each variation of the discs and sleeves available. My rule of thumb is to never play an album until it has been sufficiently cleaned.

At first the discs were commonly made from shellac with earlier records having a fine abrasive. Because of the collectibility of the vinyl record a lot of record labels started to bring back vinyl and sales have been incredible.