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Vinyl: From the Beginning

Vinyl: From the Beginning

            Up until 1857, it was impossible to record any kind of sound. It was a man called Leon Scott who first invented the ‘Phonautograph’, which used a vibrating diaphragm and stylus to record the sound as a visual line. However, 20 years later in 1877, Thomas Edison invented the ‘Phonograph’, which became the first ever device that could record and play back sounds. It consisted of a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil, and a vibrating stylus would imprint the foil as the cylinder rotated. A decade later Edison improved his invention, with a change to a hollow wax cylinder, which produced a better sound and was far more useful. This creation started the market for recorded sound in the late 1880’s, and dominated the business up into the early 20^th century.

            Plate style records came into existence in 1889, originally developed in    Europe by Emile Berliner. These were 5” discs with special players, mainly just used as toys. It was in 1894, in the United States, when Edison developed more sophisticated ‘Gramophones’, which were more suited for entertainment, and along with these came more sophisticated Gramophone players. However the sound quality of these records didn’t supersede that of Thomas Edison’s Phonograph until Berliner’s manufacturing associate Eldridge Johnson improved them. In 1901 these two men joined forces, so to speak, and hence came the Victor Talking Machine Company, whose products dominated the business for many years. In 1903 Edison released a 12” record which could play for 4 minutes, meaning people could record a  single song onto it, but in 1909 Edison reintroduced the cylinder technology in the form of the ‘Blue Amberol Cylinder’, made from durable celluloid, and could play for 4 1/5 minutes. However, the disc style record won this format war, and continued to dominate the market, until 1919 when Edison’s patents ran out and other companies began producing their own plate style records.

           The first mass produced record style was the ‘78’. This span at 78 RPM, which had become a standardized speed at the time, they came in 7”, 10”, 12”, 14”, 16” and 21” diameters, giving up to 8 minutes of recorded sound. Up until 1925 they were recorded acoustically; into a horn whose vibrations carved a groove into the disc, which meant a musician had only one chance to get the first record right, and they only had one input. But then in 1925 came electrical recording. This involved the artist playing into a microphone, and as they did, their music was cut onto a master record. The first ever record made in this way was by Leopold Stokowski; an orchestral piece recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra in a Victor studio at Camden, New Jersey, 29 April 1925.

            The next major leap in disc record technology was the introduction of the Vinyl record. In 1948, Columbia Records introduced a 33 1/3 RPM microgroove vinyl record, or LP (Long Play). This technology gave artists to record whole albums onto one disc, each side holding around 22 minutes of recording space. This gave a total of 44 minutes on one disc, allowing artists to record 10, 4 minute songs on one disc with ease. This revolutionized the music distribution industry, as the record companies were selling so many more songs at once, creating huge income for themselves and the artists. Alongside these 33 1/3 RPM records came 7” 45 RPM records, introduced by RCM Victor in 1949, which generally held one or two songs on either side and was perfect as a ‘sneak peak’ to an upcoming album. These are known as Singles, EP’s (Extended Play) or 45’s. Both of these formats are still produced today, and are a very fashionable means of releasing contemporary music.

            In terms of vinyl record usage as a consumer, and apart from personal listening at home, vinyl began to play a large part in particular genres of music. For example, the phenomenon of ‘scratching’ plays a huge part in the hip-hop scene, and has done since the beginning. This came about when DJ’s who laid down beats for the MC’s and rappers on vinyl records on decks decided to mix up the accompanying music by stopping, starting, and pulling the record back against the stylus, fundamentally rewinding short sections of the sample. For example, “I Got A Love” by Pete Rock & CL Smooth. Also, toasting is a sub-genre of reggae, which generally is a vocalist singing ‘reggae vibes’ over dub-plates (dub reggae songs on small, cheap records which only lasted about 20 plays). A good example of this is “Fist-to-Fist Rub-a-Dub” by Kojak & Liza.

            More modern to this, is the use of vinyl with dance music DJ’s, some of which gather a large collection of their favourite songs on vinyl records and will then mix them as a continuous play in a nightclub or at a festival for example.

            So in conclusion, the vinyl record is a format of music used for almost 150 years now, one which has changed the way we, as consumers, buy and listen to our music over this time. It began as a musical phenomenon, then superseded by tape and compact discs, and is now a very collectable and desirable form of music.