Being a musician, I have taken the importance of recorded sound very much for granted. I have, in the main, been involved in "live" music. Over the years it has become obvious to me that most people hear music via recordings/TV/Radio. This got me thinking about what a revolution there
has been in the recording industry.
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph on 18th July 1877.
The very first commercial recordings were produced on wax cylinders and had the recording "engraved" on the outside surface. The cylinders were about 4 inches long, 2 1/2 inches in diameter and played for about two minutes! As the recording medium was soft wax, they would often wear out after as little as a few dozen playings! A device which scraped the cylinder clean could be used, and many of the early "phonographs" built in the 1880's and 1890's also had a means of recording sound on to the cylinder! It was this which maintained the popularity of the Cylinder over the early Gramophone records.
Disc record phonographs were first mass produced during the late 1890's, and whilst they were cheaper, they did not have the ability to record. By 1894 Emile Berliner was selling single sided 7 inch discs which ran at a speed 0f "about 70 rpm" (revolutions per minute) Hand cranked machines were gradually replaced by spring drives, and speed governors began to appear which kept the machines turntables revolving at a constant speed. Nobody seems to know why 78 rpm became the norm. A standard 10 inch 78 rpm record would play for between 2.00 and 3.30 minutes per side. (The variation being due to the closeness of the playing grooves). Over the years a 12 inch record became available which played for about 4.00 minutes per side.
I seem to remember my very first 10 inch 78 rpm record was of Bill Hailey and his Comets playing "Rock Around the Clock". The problem with these records was that they broke very easily, and I have none the those 78's left!
Eventually electric motors drove the turntables of these gramophones, and they then became known as record players. The old metal needles were replaced by a stylus (often diamond tipped), and the motors now drove the turntables at a choice of speeds. The early machines still retained the 78 rpm, but added 45 rpm for the latest 7 inch records which were now being produced, and 33 1/3 rpm for the very latest LP's (Long Players) which were recorded on either a 10 inch or a 12 inch record.
As I have previously stated, my first records were of the old 78 rpm variety, but I quickly began to build up a collection of 45's and 33's. The very first LP I purchased was a 10 inch Philips label recording of Karel Ancerl conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on one side, and Smetana's Ma Vlast on the other. Another early purchase was the Sir Malcolm Sargent recording with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Huddersfield Choral Society performing Handel's "Messiah" with Elsie Morrison (soprano), Marjorie Thomas (contralto), Richard Lewis (tenor) & James Milligan (bass). This was a three record set. My pop hero at this time was Lonnie Donegan and I collected quite a few of his recordings. I wonder if you remember "The Battle of New Orleans ", "Puttin' on the Style", or "My old man's a Dustman"?
The very first commercial recordings were produced on wax cylinders and had the recording "engraved" on the outside surface. The cylinders were about 4 inches long, 2 1/2 inches in diameter and played for about two minutes! As the recording medium was soft wax, they would often wear out after as little as a few dozen playings! A device which scraped the cylinder clean could be used, and many of the early "phonographs" built in the 1880's and 1890's also had a means of recording sound on to the cylinder! It was this which maintained the popularity of the Cylinder over the early Gramophone records.
Disc record phonographs were first mass produced during the late 1890's, and whilst they were cheaper, they did not have the ability to record. By 1894 Emile Berliner was selling single sided 7 inch discs which ran at a speed 0f "about 70 rpm" (revolutions per minute) Hand cranked machines were gradually replaced by spring drives, and speed governors began to appear which kept the machines turntables revolving at a constant speed. Nobody seems to know why 78 rpm became the norm. A standard 10 inch 78 rpm record would play for between 2.00 and 3.30 minutes per side. (The variation being due to the closeness of the playing grooves). Over the years a 12 inch record became available which played for about 4.00 minutes per side.
I seem to remember my very first 10 inch 78 rpm record was of Bill Hailey and his Comets playing "Rock Around the Clock". The problem with these records was that they broke very easily, and I have none the those 78's left!
Eventually electric motors drove the turntables of these gramophones, and they then became known as record players. The old metal needles were replaced by a stylus (often diamond tipped), and the motors now drove the turntables at a choice of speeds. The early machines still retained the 78 rpm, but added 45 rpm for the latest 7 inch records which were now being produced, and 33 1/3 rpm for the very latest LP's (Long Players) which were recorded on either a 10 inch or a 12 inch record.
As I have previously stated, my first records were of the old 78 rpm variety, but I quickly began to build up a collection of 45's and 33's. The very first LP I purchased was a 10 inch Philips label recording of Karel Ancerl conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on one side, and Smetana's Ma Vlast on the other. Another early purchase was the Sir Malcolm Sargent recording with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra & Huddersfield Choral Society performing Handel's "Messiah" with Elsie Morrison (soprano), Marjorie Thomas (contralto), Richard Lewis (tenor) & James Milligan (bass). This was a three record set. My pop hero at this time was Lonnie Donegan and I collected quite a few of his recordings. I wonder if you remember "The Battle of New Orleans ", "Puttin' on the Style", or "My old man's a Dustman"?
Around the early 1960's the open reel tape recorder became available. This wonderful machine offered the ability to "home record" live via a supplied microphone, or dub (copy) from the radio or records). The usual size of tape reel was 5 3/4 inches, but some of the more expensive machine would take a 7 inch reel of tape. The standard tape speed was 3 3/4 inches per second (ips) and you could record on one side of this tape for about 45 mins, then turn the reels over and record on the other side of the tape. For lower quality recording some machines would also operate at 1 7/8 ips, which doubled the recording time available, whilst the more expensive machines had the ability to record (and playback) at 7 1/2 ips (halving the standard speed time) or even 15 ips (which gave a quarter of the standard speed time). Commercial machines usually operated at 30 ips, and carried even larger reels of tape than the 7 inch ones available to enthusiasts. Pre recorded tapes could be purchased (usually on 5 3/4 inch reels) from companies like WRC (World Record Club). I remember my very first tape recorder was an Elizabethan which ran at speeds of 7 1/2, 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 inches per second, and was a four track machine, which meant that you could record the equivalent of 3 hours on to a single 5 3/4 inch reel at the standard speed of 3 3/4 ips! My last machine was a Phillips N 4408, which was a four track stereo recorder and capable of recording sound on sound (i.e. you could mix different sources together on to one track, so, for example you could record yourself playing the piano, go back and add yourself singing, go back and add a drum track etc.) The sort of thing that Mike Oldfield does when he records much of his music. (He was the person who recorded the Blue Peter Theme Music and is probably best known through his recording of "Tubular Bells" which featured on the soundtrack of the film "The Exorcist")
Then came the age of the Cassette. Which vastly reduced the size of the recording medium, and increased the length of time available for recording. There was also the ability to "home record" and copy music from other sources. Cassettes became available as C15, C30, C45, C60, C90 and C120's. The number denoted the total time in minutes available for recording on the cassette. Pre-recorded cassettes became available in their thousands, covering all genres of music, and superseding the 45's and LP's.
In October 1982 the first compact discs became available, and these hold up to 80 minutes of recorded sound (700 Mb) on a 120 mm disc.. The age of the computer is upon us! From this followed the CD-ROM. CD-R (a write once only audio and data storage system), CD-RW (A re writable system), SACD (Super Audio CD), and a whole range of photographic and video CD's. The compact disc has now become the standard device on which pre-recorded music and video is stored.
i think you will find that the way most people store music now is via an MP3 player/i pod. It so simple you ought to try it. Buy the tunes off the internet (the i store) is our favourite, and then download them onto the mp3/i pod. Cds are hardly bought now.
ReplyDeletexxxxx