A gramophone record
is commonly known as a phonograph record
in American English, vinyl record is the most commonly used after
1950. A record is an analog sound storage medium which is consists
of a flat disc with an inscribed modulated spiral groove. The groove
usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. Furthermore,
phonograph records are generally described by their diameter in inches which
are 12–inch, 10–inch, 7–inch, while the rotational speed at which they are played 33.5 rpm, 78
rpm, and 48 rpm, their time capacity ( long playing ), their reproductive
accuracy, or fidelity ( high fidelity, orthophonic, full range ), and also the
number of channel of audio provided ( mono, stereo, quadraphonic ).
Furthermore, phonograph records were the primary medium used for
music reproduction for most of the 20th century, which was replacing
the phonograph cylinder, with which it had co-existed, by the 1920s. Also,
digital media had gained a larger market share by the late 1980s, and the vinyl
record left the mainstream in 1991. Besides, they continue to be manufactured
and sold in the 21st century. In 2009, 3.5 million units shipped in
the United States of America, including 3.2 million albums which is most in any
year since 1998. Also, the format has continued to slowly regain popularity in
community and they are used especially by DJ`s and audiophiles for many types
of music and continue used to for distribution in 2013.
History and Development
The
story started by Leon Scott in 1857, which was used a vibrating diaphgram and
stylus to graphically record sound waves as tracings on sheets of paper, purely
for visual analysis and without any idea of playing them back. Here, these
tracings can now be scanned and digitally converted into audible sound.
Phonautograms of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as
sound for the first time in 2008. Along with a tuning fork tone and
unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857 and these are the earliest
known recordings of sound. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, and
different with phonautograph which it was capable of both recording and
reproducing sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no documentary
evidence that Edison`s phonograph was based on Scott`s phonautograph. Edison
tried recording sound at first on a wax – impregnated paper tape with the idea
of creating a “telephone repeater” analogous to the “telegraph repeater” that
he had been working on. Later, he used tinfoil as a recording medium that was
wrapped around a grooved metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented
the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. As a result, the recording could be
played back immediately. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved
phonograph that employed a hollow wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This
proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful device. The wax
phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s
and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century. Later,
disc records were developed in the United States by Emile Berliner, who named
his system as the “gramophone” and distinguishing it from Edison`s wax cylinder
“phonograph” and Columbia`s wax cylinder “graphophone”. Berliner`s earliest
discs, was marketed in 1889 but only in Europe with 5 inches in diameter, and
were played with a small hand – propelled machine. Both the records and the
machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity. In the United States,
Berliner started marketing records with somewhat more substantial entertainment
value, along with somewhat more substantial gramophones to play them in 1984
under the Berliner Gramophone trademark. Berliner`s records had poor sound
quality compared to wax cylinder, but, it was improved by manufacturing
associate Eldrige R. Johnson.
In 1901, 10-inch disc records were introduced,
followed by 12-inch in 1903. These inventions could play for more than three
and four minutes rather than the old invention. Furthermore, Edison invented
with Amberol cylinder in 1909 with a maximum playing time of 4.5 minutes which
in turn were superseded by Blue Amberol Records. This superseded had a playing
surface made of celluloid which was an early plastic that far less fragile.
During 1910s, discs decisively won this early format war, although Edison
continued to produce new Blue Amberol cylinders for an ever-dwindling customer
base until late in 1929. Beside, the basic patents for the manufacture of
lateral-cut disc record had expired in 1919 and opening the field for countless
companies to produce them. Moreover, analog disc records would dominate the
home entertainment market until they were gradually supplanted by the digital
compact disc that was introduced in 1983.
No comments:
Post a Comment