Introduction To Vinyl Records

Cleaning vinyl records to ensure the best sound and least amount of wear on your records it is essential that they are kept clean.

Introduction to vinyl records.

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

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. Most major labels stopped producing records and turned to digital downloads. 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 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.

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. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. While this was popular with the mainstream djs and music aficionados still liked the vinyl record sound. 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.

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. Apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the.