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.

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. 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. At first the discs were commonly made from shellac with earlier records having a fine abrasive. 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.

Because of the collectibility of the vinyl record a lot of record labels started to bring back vinyl and sales have been incredible. Our aim has been to produce for the first time a fully illustrated guide to the uk vinyl records released by status quo. Between high profile artists and indie groups re embracing the format and hugely popular events like record store day giving mainstream audiences an excuse to enter the warm world of wax vinyl. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc.

Cleaning vinyl records to ensure the best sound and least amount of wear on your records it is essential that they are kept clean. While this was popular with the mainstream djs and music aficionados still liked the vinyl record sound. 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. Most major labels stopped producing records and turned to digital downloads.

Today s vinyl records aren t that much different from those that were introduced in the 1940s. My rule of thumb is to never play an album until it has been sufficiently cleaned.