Talk:LP record

Format advantages

Only the microgroove standard was new, as both vinyl and the 33+1⁄3 rpm speed had been used for special purposes for many years, as well as in one unsuccessful earlier attempt (by RCA Victor) to introduce a long-playing record for home use.^{[citation needed]}

Although the LP was suited to classical music because of its extended continuous playing time, it also allowed a collection of ten or more pop music recordings to be put on a single disc. Previously such collections, as well as longer classical music broken up into several parts, had been sold as sets of 78 rpm records in a specially imprinted "record album" consisting of individual record sleeves bound together in book form. The use of the word "album" persisted for the one-disc LP equivalent.

Soundtrack discs

The prototype of the LP was the soundtrack disc used by the Vitaphone motion picture sound system, developed by Western Electric and introduced in 1926. For soundtrack purposes, the less-than-five minutes of playing time of each side of a conventional 12-inch 78 rpm disc was not acceptable. The sound had to play continuously for at least 11 minutes, long enough to accompany a full 1,000-foot (300 m) reel of 35 mm film projected at 24 frames per second. The disc diameter was increased to 16 inches (40 cm) and the speed was reduced to 33+1⁄3 revolutions per minute. Unlike their smaller LP descendants, they were made with the same large "standard groove" used by 78s.^{[citation needed]}

Unlike conventional records, the groove started at the inside of the recorded area near the label and proceeded outward toward the edge. Like 78s, early soundtrack discs were pressed in an abrasive shellac compound and played with a single-use steel needle held in a massive electromagnetic pickup with a tracking force of five ounces (1.4 N).^{[citation needed]}

Radio transcription discs

From 1928 onward, syndicated radio programming was distributed on 78 rpm discs. The desirability of longer continuous playing time soon led to the adoption of the Vitaphone soundtrack disc format. Beginning in about 1930, 16-inch 33+1⁄3 rpm discs playing about 15 minutes per side were used for most of these "electrical transcriptions". Some transcriptions were, like soundtrack discs, pressed with the commencement at the center of the disc and the needle moving outward (in the era of shellac pressings and steel needles, needle wear considerations dictated an 'inside start' for such a long recording); conversely, some commenced at the edge.^{[citation needed]}

Longer programs, which required several disc sides, pioneered the system of recording odd-numbered sides inside-out and even-numbered sides outside-in so that the sound quality would match from the end of one side to the start of the next. Although a pair of turntables was used, to avoid any pauses for disc-flipping, the sides had to be pressed in a hybrid of manual and automatic sequencing, arranged in such a manner that no disc being played had to be turned over to play the next side in the sequence. Instead of a three-disc set having the 1–2, 3–4 and 5–6 manual sequence, or the 1–6, 2–5 and 3–4 automatic sequence for use with a drop-type mechanical record changer, broadcast sequence coupled the sides as 1–4, 2–5 and 3–6.^{[citation needed]}

Some transcriptions were recorded with a vertically modulated "hill and dale" groove. This was found to allow deeper bass (because turntable rumble was laterally modulated in early radio station turntables) and also an extension of the high-end frequency response. Neither of these was necessarily a great advantage in practice because of the limitations of AM broadcasting. Today users enjoy the benefits of those higher-fidelity recordings, even if the original radio audiences could not.^{[citation needed]}

Initially, transcription discs were pressed only in shellac, but by 1932 pressings in RCA Victor's vinyl-based "Victrolac" were appearing. Other plastics were sometimes used. By the late 1930s, vinyl was standard for nearly all kinds of pressed discs except ordinary commercial 78s, which continued to be made of shellac.^{[citation needed]}

Beginning in the mid-1930s, one-off 16-inch 33+1⁄3 rpm lacquer discs were used by radio networks to archive recordings of their live broadcasts, and by local stations to delay the broadcast of network programming or to prerecord their own productions.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1940s, magnetic tape recorders were adopted by the networks to pre-record shows or repeat them for airing in different time zones, but 16-inch vinyl pressings continued to be used into the early 1960s for non-network distribution of prerecorded programming. Use of the LP's microgroove standard began in the late 1950s, and in the 1960s the size of discs was reduced to 12 inches, becoming physically indistinguishable from ordinary LPs.^{[citation needed]}

RCA Victor

However, many of the subsequent issues were not new recordings but simply dubs made from existing 78 rpm record sets. The dubs were audibly inferior to the original 78s. Two-speed turntables with the 33+1⁄3 rpm speed were included only on expensive high-end machines, which sold in very small numbers, and most people had little money to spend on groceries, let alone phonograph records in the depths of the Great Depression. Record sales in the US had dropped from a high of 105.6 million records sold in 1921 to 5.5 million in 1933 because of competition from radio and the effects of the Depression Few if any new Program Transcriptions were recorded after 1933, and two-speed turntables soon disappeared from RCA Victor's phonographs. Except for a few recordings of background music for funeral parlors, the last of the issued titles had been purged from the Victor record catalog by the end of the decade. The failure of the new product left RCA Victor with a low opinion of the prospects for any sort of long-playing record, influencing product development decisions during the coming decade.^{[citation needed]}

Columbia

There have been three repressings of this LP, one on Columbia's budget reissue Odyssey label in 1977 honoring Edison's invention of recorded sound in 1877, one from Classic Records to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the LP in 1998 and one from HMV (England) celebrating the 70th anniversary of the LP in 2018. There is also a CD copy of ML 4001. As of 2021, the original ML4001 is quite scarce and a few have sold on Ebay for $200 to $500.^{[citation needed]}

Public reception

For this reason, major labels in the United States ceased manufacturing of 78s for popular and classical releases in 1956 with the minor labels following suit, with the final US-made 78 being produced in 1959.^{[citation needed]}

Canada and the UK continued production into 1960, while India, the Philippines, and South Africa produced 78s until 1965, with the last holdout, Argentina, continuing until 1970.^{[citation needed]}

Competing formats

The LP was soon confronted by the "45", a 7-inch (180 mm) diameter fine-grooved vinyl record playing at 45 rpm, introduced by RCA Victor in 1949. To compete with the LP, boxed album sets of 45s were issued, along with EP (extended play) 45s, which squeezed two or even three selections onto each side. Despite intense marketing efforts by RCA Victor, the 45 ultimately succeeded only in replacing the 78 as the preferred format for singles.^{[citation needed]}

The "last hurrah" for the 78 rpm record in the US was the microgroove 78 series pressed for the Audiophile label (Ewing Nunn, Saukville, Wis.) in the early 1950s. This series was labeled AP-1 through about AP-40, pressed on grainless red vinyl. Today AP-1 through AP-5 are very scarce. By very tightly packing the fine groove, a playing time of 17 minutes per side was achieved. Within a couple of years Audiophile switched to 33+1⁄3.^{[citation needed]}

Playing time

Economics and tastes initially determined which kind of music was available on each format. Recording company executives believed upscale classical music fans would be eager to hear a Beethoven symphony or a Mozart concerto without having to flip over multiple, four-minute-per-side 78s, and that pop music fans, who were used to listening to one song at a time, would find the shorter time of the 10-inch LP sufficient. As a result, the 12-inch format was reserved solely for higher-priced classical recordings and Broadway shows. Popular music continued to appear only on 10-inch records. Ten-inch records briefly reappeared as mini-LPs in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States and Australia as a marketing alternative.^{[citation needed]}

Exceptions

In 1952, Columbia Records introduced "extended-play" LPs that played for as long as 52 minutes, or 26 minutes per side.^{[citation needed]} These were used mainly for the original cast albums of Broadway musicals, such as Kiss Me, Kate and My Fair Lady, or to fit an entire play, such as the 1950 production of Don Juan in Hell, onto two LPs. The 52-minute playing time remained rare, however, because of mastering limitations, and most LPs continued to be issued with a 30- to 45-minute playing time.^{[citation needed]}

...side two of Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother and both sides of the Division Bell and Wings' Greatest all exceed 28 minutes. Finally, several recordings of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony were reissued on single discs; these LPs contained about 35 minutes on each side, with the third movement split into two parts.^{[citation needed]}

Spoken word and comedy albums require a smaller dynamic range compared to musical records. Therefore, they can be cut with narrower spaces between the grooves. The Comic Strip, released by Springtime Records in 1981, has a side A lasting 38 min 4 s, and a side B lasting 31 min 8 s, for a total of 69 min 12 s.^{[citation needed]}

Changers

Turntables called record changers could play records stacked vertically on a spindle. This arrangement encouraged the production of multiple-record sets in automatic sequence. A two-record set had Side 1 and Side 4 on one record, and Side 2 and Side 3 on the other, so the first two sides could play in a changer without the listener's intervention. Then the stack was flipped over. Larger boxed sets used appropriate automatic sequencing (1–8, 2–7, 3–6, 4–5) to allow continuous playback, but this created difficulties when searching for an individual track.^{[citation needed]}

Disadvantages

Vinyl records are vulnerable to dust, heat warping, scuffs, and scratches. Dust in the groove is usually heard as noise and may be ground into the vinyl by the passing stylus, causing lasting damage. A warp can cause a regular "wow" or fluctuation of musical pitch, and if substantial it can make a record physically unplayable. A scuff will be heard as a swishing sound. A scratch will create an audible tick or pop once each revolution when the stylus encounters it. A deep scratch can throw the stylus out of the groove; if it jumps to a place farther inward, part of the recording is skipped; if it jumps outward to a part of the groove it just finished playing, it can get stuck in an infinite loop, playing the same bit over and over until someone stops it. This last type of mishap, which in the era of brittle shellac records was more commonly caused by a crack, spawned the simile "like a broken record" to refer to annoying and seemingly endless repetition.^{[citation needed]}

Records used in radio stations can suffer cue burn, which results from disc jockeys placing the needle at the beginning of a track, turning the record back and forth to find the exact start of the music, then backing up about a quarter turn, so that when it is released the music will start immediately after the fraction of a second needed for the disc to come up to full speed. When this is done repeatedly, the affected part of the groove is heavily worn and a hissing sound will be noticeable at the start of the track.^{[citation needed]}

The process of playing a vinyl record with a stylus is by its very nature to some degree a destructive process. Wear to either the stylus or the vinyl results in diminished sound quality. Record wear can be reduced significantly by the use of a high-quality, correctly adjusted turntable and tonearm, a high-compliance magnetic cartridge with a high-end stylus in good condition, and careful record handling, with non-abrasive removal of dust before playing and other cleaning if necessary. Wear from playback is eliminated by using an optical record player, as no needle comes into contact with the record.^{[citation needed]}

Groove

The average LP has about 1,500 feet (460 m; 0.28 mi) of groove on each side. The average tangential needle speed relative to the disc surface is approximately 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h; 0.45 m/s). It travels fastest on the outside edge, unlike audio CDs, which change their speed of rotation to provide constant linear velocity (CLV). (By contrast, CDs play from the inner radius outward, the reverse of phonograph records.)^{[citation needed]}

This problem could also appear as post-echo, with a ghost of the sound arriving 1.8 seconds after its main impulse. Pre- and post-echo can be avoided by the use of direct metal mastering.^{[citation needed]}

The first LP records introduced used fixed pitch grooves just like their 78 predecessors. The use of magnetic tape for the production of the master recordings allowed the introduction of variable pitch grooves. The magnetic tape reproducer used to transfer the recording to the master disc was equipped with an auxiliary playback head positioned ahead of the main head by a distance equal to one revolution of the disc. The sole purpose of this head was to monitor the amplitude of the recording. If the sound level from both the auxiliary and main magnetic heads was loud, the cutting head on the disc recording lathe was driven at its normal speed. If the sound level from both magnetic heads was quieter, however, then the disc cutting head could be driven at a lower speed reducing the groove pitch with no danger of the adjacent grooves colliding with each other. The playing time of the disc was therefore increased by an amount dependent on the duration of quieter passages.^{[citation needed]}

The record manufacturers had also realised that by reducing the amplitude of the lower frequencies recorded in the groove, it was possible to decrease the spacing between the grooves and further increase the playing time. These low frequencies were then restored to their original level on playback. Furthermore, if the amplitude of the high frequencies was artificially boosted on recording the disc and then subsequently reduced to their original level on playback, the noise introduced by the disc would be reduced by a similar amount. This gave rise to an equalization frequency response applied during record coupled with an inverse of the response applied on playback. Each disc manufacturer applied their own version of an equalization curve (mostly because each manufacturer's equalization curve was protected by interlocking patents). Low-end reproduction equipment applied a compromise playback equalization that reproduced most discs reasonably well. By contrast, amplifiers for audiophile equipment were equipped with an equalization selector with a position for most, if not all, disc manufacturers. The net effect of equalization is to allow longer playing time and lower background noise while maintaining full fidelity of music or other content.^{[citation needed]}

In 1954, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) introduced a standard equalization curve to be used by all record manufacturers. Consequently, both low-quality and audiophile reproducers alike could replay any recording with the correct equalization. There are two versions of the reproduction RIAA equalization curve. The first curve is the inverse of the recording curve designed for cheaper equipment using crystal or ceramic reproduction cartridges. The second curve is intended for equipment fitted with magnetic reproduction cartridges where the output voltage is dependent on the frequency of the recorded signal (the voltage output is directly proportional to the frequency of the recorded signal; that is: the voltage doubles as the recorded frequency doubles).^{[citation needed]}

The audio quality of LPs has increased greatly since their 1948 inception. While early LP recordings were monophonic, stereophony had been demonstrated in 1881 and Alan Blumlein had patented Stereophonic sound in 1931. Unsuccessful attempts were made to create stereophonic records starting in the 1920s, including Emory Cook's 1952 "binaural" LPs using two precisely spaced tracks on the record (one track for each channel) that had to be played with two monaural pick-ups on a tuning-fork-shaped tonearm. The modern system ultimately released by Audio Fidelity Records in November 1957 uses two modulation angles, equal and opposite 45 degrees from vertical (and so perpendicular to each other.) It can also be thought of as using traditional horizontal modulation for the sum of left and right channels (mono), making it essentially compatible with simple mono recordings, and vertical-plane modulation for the difference of the two channels.^{[citation needed]}

Fidelity and formats

Quad never escaped the reputation of being a gimmick, and the various (mutually incompatible) discrete surround solutions required an ultrasonic carrier signal that was technically difficult to capture and suffered degradation with playing. With the advent of DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, multi-channel recordings once favored and championed by artists like Leopold Stokowski and Glenn Gould. have made a modest comeback. In addition, new surround recordings have been made for these formats and Blu-ray Audio.

• In the later 1970s, engineers Gerry Block and Burgess Macneal devised a preview system of mastering vinyl that allowed about 10–20% more music per disc while not sacrificing dynamic range. The preview tape head was positioned far enough before the program tape head to allow the disk computer enough time to measure the peaks in low frequency and thereby expand the feed appropriately for the greater excursions of groove modulation they produce. The Compudisk system was unveiled at the 1980 AES Convention, alongside the Zuma Disk Computer (made by John W. Bittner) and the Neumann VMS-80 lathe, which had its own advanced disk computer.^{[citation needed]}

Other experiments included reducing the thickness of LPs, leading to warping and increased susceptibility to damage. Using a biscuit of 130 grams of vinyl had been the standard. Compare these to the original Columbia 12-inch LPs (ML 4001) at around 220 grams each. Besides the standard black vinyl, specialty records are also pressed on different colors of PVC/A or picture discs with a card picture sandwiched between two clear sides. Records in different novelty shapes have also been produced.^{[citation needed]}

Use by disc jockeys

Disc jockeys (or DJs) in clubs still frequently use vinyl records, as cueing tracks from cassette tapes is too slow and CDs did not allow creative playback options until the advent of the CDJ-1000 turntable in 2001. The term "DJ", which had always meant a person who played various pieces of music on the radio (originally 78s, then 45s, then tape cartridges and reels; now cuts from CDs or tracks on a computer) – a play on the horse-racing term "jockey" – has also come to encompass all kinds of skills in "scratching" (record playback manipulation) and mixing dance music, rapping over the music or even playing musical instruments, but the original dance club (non-radio) definition was simply somebody who played records, alternating between two turntables. The skill came in subtly matching beats or instruments from one song to the next, providing a consistent dance tempo. DJs also made occasional announcements and chatted on the side with patrons while songs were playing to take requests, similar to what radio disc jockeys have been doing since the 1940s.^{[citation needed]}