The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Monkees. Does the mention of these musicians make you picture a round black record? A vinyl record? The vintage vinyl is almost as much of a classic as the bands themselves.
These vinyl records are commemorated annually on August 12. Vinyl records are also known as a gramophone record, phonograph record or a record. It is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc which has an inscribed, modulated spiral groove.
Vinyl records are referred to based on rotational speed The RPM’s, or revolutions per minute of the more popular vinyls are:
- 45
- 33 1/3
- 78s
Other features of vinyl records included reproductive accuracy or “fidelity” (High Fidelity or Hi-Fi, Orthophonic and Full-Range), their time capacity (long playing or single), and the number of channels of audio provided (mono, stereo or quadraphonic).
Vinyl records were also sold in different sizes such as:
- 12 inch
- 10 inch
- 7 inch
Vinyl records left the mainstream in 1991. They continued to be manufactured and have started to become increasingly popular with collectors and audiophiles.
- Perhaps the most famous records in the universe are the two copies of the Golden Record placed aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts. The Golden Records feature musical selections from different cultures and eras, spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and other messages. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and how the record is to be played. Today, Voyager is nearly 12 billion miles away from Earth.
- Da-da-da daaaaah: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, performed by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, was the first 12-inch recording released by RCA Victor in 1931.
- On June 21, 1948, Columbia Records put the needle down on history’s first successful microgroove plastic, 12-inch, 33-1/3 LP in New York. According to the Wired.com article“Columbia’s Microgroove LP Makes Albums Sound Good,” engineer Peter Carl Goldmark “set out with his staff to evolve the 78-rpm record to 33-1/3 rpm” in an effort to “extend playback time to more than 20 minutes per side and shrink vinyl grooves to an accessible, acceptable millimeter size.”
- When a record is played, the sound can be different on the outer edge than the inner edge. This is caused because the tracks on the inside are closer together than the outer tracks.
- Vinyl recordings have been around longer than you think- they have been traced back to the early 19th century in France, as well as to a man named Emile Berliner. Emile invented the flat disc record in 1888, produced from vulcanized rubber between 12.5cm-18cm thick.
- 2017’s Top 10 vinyl sellers
- 1. The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. The Beatles: Abbey Road
3. Various artists: Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1
4. Ed Sheeran: ÷
5. Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
6. Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain
7. Bob Marley and The Wailers: Legend
8. Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
9. Various artists: La La Land movie soundtrack
10. Michael Jackson: Thriller2016’s top 5 vinyl were:
1. Twenty One Pilots: Blurryface
2. Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
3. Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool
4. The Beatles: Abbey Road
5. Adele: 25
From Visually.
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