Vinyl Records
By 1930 it was becoming clear that the shellac 78rpm record (the standard format since the 1890s) was an inadequate medium for recording music. The material was rough, creating noise.* It was fragile, making things difficult for the clumsy music lover and record shop worker. But worst of all, it can record so little on so much material – one side of a 12in disc can only record about 4.5 minutes of audio, so forget recording entire symphonies. Then came polyvinyl chloride (PVC, or “vinyl”). First made useful in 1926 (thanks to Waldo Semon), it was found to be an ideal material for records. It was smooth, reducing noise. It was highly durable. And it was soft, allowing for more detailed and louder grooves – which can be cut closer together – allowing about 22 minutes per side on a 12in record. It paved the way for stereo and high-fidelity sound for the consumer. By 1970 the shellac 78 was history.
*The records were made rough on purpose to wear down the needle pressing on top of it as it played. It was to reduce wear on the record’s grooves, increasing their play life.
“The 331/3 speed had been established before work began, and it already had become clear that a very narrow groove, something like the .003 inch groove finally adopted, would be necessary to record 22 minutes of music to a side." - Martin Mayer, High Fidelity Magazine (1958)
The 331/3 speed was first applied to records in 1925 in the Vitaphone movie sound system. Developed by Warner Brothers, this system used 16in shellac records with the same size groove as 78s (except it played inside to out). The speed was slowed down from 78rpm to increase record length to 11 minutes (enough to equal the time to project a 1,000ft reel of film).
Speed Matters!
In recording technology speed is everything. The faster the disc spins the more you can record in a single moment - therefore more accurate reproductions of what was recorded. However, physical space limits how much can be recorded on a surface, so the slower the spin the more you can record timewise – but with less quality. It’s a compromise between quality and quantity. And it’s true on tape and paper, as well as disks.
Vinyl’s False Start
The first attempt to make vinyl records was launched by RCA on 17th September 1931. These “program-transcription discs” were 12in 331/3 records, capable of recording 15 minutes per side. With grooves the same size as 78s, turntables could use the same stylus to play both formats. This was the first format to record a whole orchestral piece on a single disc. But the vinyl they were made from proved too soft for the heavy pick-ups at the time, ruining them after a couple of plays. Although it was pulled off the consumer market (partly thanks to the Great Depression), it survived as a format used in radio stations – they didn’t play them as much to wear them out completely.
“…when I became general manager of the Victor Division of
RCA on July 1, 1933, my first act was to take them off the market. The idea was
good and they might have sold, but there were technical problems. Most of the
records were made from Victorlac, a vinyl compound developed by Jim Hunter; the
pickups available at that time were so heavy they just cut through the material
after several plays. The complaints from customers all over the U.S. were so
terrific that we were forced to withdraw the LPs. If you could get a new
pressing of one of these records today and play it with a modern lightweight
2-mil pickup, it probably would sound pretty good.
In 1933 records had fallen into disuse to such an extent that the problem was to find some way to get people to listen to them again. RCA developed at Camden the Duo Jr. player, which could be attached to your radio. There were by this time 20 million radios in the U.S., and it seemed to me that this was our big hope in trying for a comeback of the business that had shrunk nationally to probably only $10 million. It worked beautifully, and the little attachment, which was sold at our cost, $9.95, was instrumental in revitalizing the industry. Years later I was able to use this idea again with the LP.” – Edward Wallerstein
The RCA Victor Duo Jr of 1934 was the first component turntable. Before this, all record players were complete machines, with amp and speaker included. The Duo Jr was made for those who already had an amp and speaker in the form of a radio.
In 1932 Columbia Records issued a finer-grooved 10-in 78 “Longer Playing Record,” capable of recording up to five minutes per side. It was made to compete against RCA’s long players by making them compatible with pre-existing record players. But it was canned within a year.
War Time Vinyl
Vinyl only began to replace shellac when it came into short supply during World War II. US troops demanded music from home to boost morale, but the American Federation of Musicians union went on strike over royalties in 1942. Members were banned from recording commercial releases until it ended in 1944. But sound engineer George Robert Vincent had an idea – recordings made especially for overseas forces that can’t be released commercially. The resulting “V-Discs” were 12in 331/3 records that had up to 136 grooves per inch - capable of containing over six minutes of music per side. First shipped 1st October 1943, they were an instant hit with bored troops. Intended to be destroyed after the project ended in 1949, surviving V-Discs are now very valuable collector’s items
First Vinyl Record
The first practical record made from vinylite was a de-luxe edition of Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. Released by RCA Victor in October 1945, this album consisted of two red vinyl 12-in 78 records, retailing for £3.50.
Columbia’s “Long Playing Microgroove nonbreakable
Vinylite” Record
When Edward Wallerstein became chief of Columbia Records in
1938, he started the ball rolling for the creation what became the LP. In many
tellings of the invention of the LP, credit is mostly given to Peter Carl
Goldmark.
“Peter Goldmark was more or less the supervisor, although he
didn't actually do any of the work. I want to emphasize that the project was
all a team effort. No one man can be said to have "invented" the LP,
which in any case was not, strictly speaking, an invention, but a development.
The team of [Vin] Liebler, [William S.] Bachman, [Bill] Savory, [Jim] Hunter,
and [Ike] Rodman was responsible for it. If one man is to be singled out, it
would have to be Bachman, whose work on the heated stylus, automatic variable
pitch control, and most especially the variable reluctance pickup was a
starting point for a great deal of what was to come.” - Edward Wallerstein
There was also Rene Snepvangers, who developed the lightweight pickup arm for the players.
Work stalled because of World War II. Then started up again. By the end of 1946 they got 7-8 minutes on a side. But Edward said “That’s not a long-playing record.” This continued until Edward “… timed I don't know how many works in the classical repertory and came up with a figure of seventeen minutes to a side. This would enable about 90% of all classical music to be put on two sides of a record.” By 1947 a 17-minute per side disc was achieved.
The LP was introduced at a press conference at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York on 18th June 1948. “By this time. [William] Bachman and the rest of the team had managed to lengthen the LP to about twenty-two minutes. As I stopped up to the podium to address the fifty-odd representatives of the press, on one side of me was a stack of conventional 78-rpm records measuring about eight feet in height and another stack about fifteen inches high of the same recordings on LP. After a short speech I played one of the 78 rpm records for its full length of about four minutes, when it broke, as usual, right in the middle of a movement. Then I took the corresponding LP and played it on the little Philco attachment right past that break. The reception was terrific. The critics were struck not only by the length of the record, but by the quietness of its surfaces and its greatly increased fidelity. They were convinced that a new era had come to the record business.”
Columbia freely shared the format with others who may be interested. The format invented little that could be patented. The only thing that could be subject to IP law was the term “LP.” Everyone else can make LPs, but they couldn’t call them “LPs.” This may explain how the term “album” (originally meaning a collection of records in a binder) survived well into the digital music era, while “LP” remained a term used to describe 12-in vinyl records.
At launch, Columbia had 132 albums ready to sale – all mastered for the format. It was an advanced decision by Edward. “Thinking ahead to the longer record, I insisted that our setup be built so that everything that was recorded at 78 rpm was also done at 33 rpm on 16-inch blanks. This gave Columbia a tremendous advantage over its competitors, who, when LP finally appeared, were forced to make copies from their old, noisy shellac records for any material predating tape. RCA issued many of these old records with words of apology for their poor quality printed on the jackets. Columbia had masters of good quality going back almost ten years, and this made a great deal of difference in our early technical superiority.” It also helped that, from 1947, Columbia were recording masters on tape, instead of cutting discs. About 40% of those first releases were mastered on tape.
The grooves on a 78 (before the 1940s) can be between 63.5 to 101.6μm wide – or more, depending on who made it and how the sound was recorded. The “microgrooves” on an LP are between 40-80μm wide, packing 224 to 300 grooves per inch, compared to 90 on a 78. Uncoiled, a 20-minute recording would be 427m long.
1mil (thousandths of an inch) grooves were not a new innovation from Columbia. “When I was at RCA, engineer Fred Barton asked me if he could cut some I-mil records. That was in 1935 or '36. He did a number of sessions, … But the records wouldn't stand up after he made them, because he didn't have the proper equipment to play them on.” - Edward Wallerstein
Philco made the first LP-playing turntables for Columbia. The Philco M-15 of 1948 is considered the first turntable to play LPs.
10 inch LPs
The 10-in LP was introduced by Columbia at the same time as the 12-in LP. These smaller discs, capable of recording about 14 minutes per side, was initially used to record popular music, compared to the classical and musical stuff released on the 12-in. By the mid-1950s it lost out to the 45, only reappearing occasionally in some places as a vessel for mini-albums.
How much can you record on an LP?
Although originally made to record below 45 minutes, it didn’t stop some trying to squeeze as much music as possible on an LP – mostly to make greatest hits albums. But the resulting records can be quiet and easily ruined if one is not careful with their turntable.
“Due to the amount of music on this disc (over one hour),
two points must be emphasized. Firstly, if your needle is worn or damaged, it
will ruin the disc immediately. Secondly, if the sound does seem not loud
enough on your system, try re-recording the music onto tape.” – a note on the
inner sleeve of Todd Rundgren’s Initiation (1975)
The Crystal Needle
The key component to the vinyl record is the diamond/sapphire tipped stylus. The tiny rounded crystal tip (with a radius of up to 25.4μm) vibrates in the groove. These movements (which can happen up to 10,000 times per second) move an electromagnet in the cartridge (the replaceable part of the pick-up arm). This generates an electrical signal that is amplified and operates the speaker(s). This is why you may have trouble playing a vinyl record on a non-electric gramophone and vice versa (needles for 78s require a tip that has a radius of 63.5μm – the grooves are 3 to 4 times wider than that on a vinyl record).
The only difference between diamond and sapphire as a
record stylus is that sapphire is cheaper but diamond takes longer to wear out.
RCA’s 45rpm “doughnut disc”
RCA was bitter when they were shown Columbia’s new format.
As their then boss David Sarnoff famously said "I don't pay royalties, I
collect them." RCA had history of making new stuff to avoid paying
royalties to others – and the 45rpm single was an example of this.
As a starting point, they dusted off a prototype record changer they made back in 1938, which they canned then due to the fragility of shellac. From this they made a singles only format – a 7in vinyl record with a large hole for the changer. They made its speed 45rpm because it allowed them to squeeze a 5-minute song onto a disc at a high quality – as well as making them incompatible with LP turntables. RCA imagined customers would like (according to a 1949 press ad) the “Convenient 7-inch size! - More than 150 single records or 18 symphonic fit in one foot of bookshelf space.” RCA sold “albums” (collections of singles in small boxes) allowing users to choose which tracks they wanted to play in any order on their record changers. It’s a concept familiar to anyone who streams music online today.
Columbia had released 331/3 7in singles in January 1949. But then, RCA announced their new format launched the 45 on 31st March 1949, stealing Columbia’s thunder. Columbia could have succeeded, if it weren’t for a decision made by in 1947. The team discussed developing smaller records for pop songs, to go with the large classical music discs that were the main focus of the project. Edward Wallerstein “… was in favor of waiting a year or so to solve these problems and to improve the original product. We could have developed a 6- or 7-inch record and equipment to handle the various sizes for pops. But [Bill] Paley felt that, since we had put $250,000 into the LP, it should be launched as it was. So we didn't wait and in consequence lost the pops market to the RCA 45s.” -
The 1.5in hole was an attempt to make this format incompatible with Columbia’s LP system. The larger spindle was used in jukeboxes and record changers. In some territories (like the UK) 45s had the default 0.25in hole for multi-speed turntables. Some of those also had a push-out section to allow them to be adapted for RCA’s larger spindle. But if you want to play a larger-holed single on your 025in spindle, you can get an array of adaptors to plug that hole. Many turntables even come with one as standard.
The Stackable Single
If you look at a “45” sideways, or brush its surface, you’ll notice that it has a thick ring under the label. This 2.0828mm “special Shoulder Construction” is to allow singles to be stackable (like on a record changer, for example) without the recording surfaces touching. This was big selling point for RCA’s format, who envisioned people buying singles and playing stacked playlists of them on their purpose-made record changing players.
In the early years, RCA made their 45s in multiple colours
to form a “unique new “easy identification” system.”
Black – Popular
Red – Classical
Midnight blue – Popular Classical
Yellow – Children’s
Green – Country and Western
Sky Blue – International
Orange – Blues and Rhythm
How long can a song be on a 45?
Although originally made to record only about five minutes, some later managed to squeeze more record space onto a 45, allowing the recording of songs over 10 minutes long. But it really depends on the dynamic range of a song. In 1952, RCA introduced the 7-in 45rpm “Extended Play” record. By using narrower grooves, sacrificing volume, the EP was able to record 7.5 minutes per side. They usually contain 3-6 tracks total per disc, usually as companion singles or album samples.
“ … we had a good bunch of engineers. We asked how long a 45 could be. They said that four minutes was about all you could squeeze into the grooves before it seriously started to lose volume and everyone had to turn the sound up. But they did some very clever stuff, squeezing the bit that didn’t have to be loud, then allowing the rest more room. Somehow, they got seven minutes on there, which was quite an engineering feat.” – George Martin, on how ‘Hey Jude’ was recorded in 1968. From Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin - The Later Years, 1966 – 2016 by Kenneth Womack (2018)
The (brief) “War of the Speeds”
The format war between Columbia and RCA only last about two
years, with both winning in some way. To begin with, the public and the record
industry were bewildered that they were now three formats - and they didn’t
want the hassle to get three separate machines to play them. Fortunately, they
didn’t need to. As early as 1949, manufacturers were making turntables that can
play 33s and 45s, as well as 78s. But this war did damage sales. Record sales
fell in 1948-9 and didn’t reach 1947 levels again until well into the 50s. This
was partly due to people waiting for a victor in the war.
In January 1950 RCA (after a loss of $4.5million) announced
they were issuing their "great artists and unsurpassed classical library
on new and improved Long Play (33 rpm) records,” as well as 45s. In 1951
Columbia began issuing 45s. After spending a lot on launching the 45 and a
further $5million publicizing it, RCA could have made an expensive mistake and
the format could have died quickly. But things turned out okay for them in then
end. Thanks to their perseverance with the format in the US market, the 45 soon
became the default format for singles in the US, surpassing sales of 78s in
1955, and killing it in 1959. If it hadn’t, it couldn’t have had the popularity
needed to succeed outside the US when the LP went global.
Europeans were introduced to LPs in 1952. Some places the
late-50s. The 45 took longer, but wouldn’t have made if it weren’t so popular
in the US. But some places held out. The Soviet Union, for example used 331/3
7in singles.
Meanwhile, RCA’s 45 only players were discounted, and a lot of them ended up in the procession of teenagers – just when (in 1955) they acquired the record contract of Elvis Presley.
Phasing out the 45?
Amazingly, in 1961 RCA introduced a 331/3 single format called “Compact 33” to slowly phase out the 45. But their sales were poor, forcing them to abandon it in 1962.
“At first we thought the compact 33 single was a good idea inasmuch as it would cut down on the possibility of getting a record on the wrong speed when playing mixed shows using both singles and albums. However, we have fast changed our minds. Actually, we can see no advantage whatsoever in changing from the present 45’s to anything! Since the compact 33 is the same diameter, it does not offer any advantage in filing. There doesn’t seem to be any noticeable improvement in fidelity. The 45 is so much easier to handle, since you can stick a finger through the holes in a whole stack of records and pick them up without dropping half of them. Both in picking out records for an air show and in using them on my record hops, I find 45’s handy as a pocket in a shirt, while the compact 33 is a pain in the neck. One 33 in the stack fouls up the shole stack or rack of disks.” - Dale Brooks, production manager of radio station WBUC, Buckhannon, West Virginia, to Billboard Magazine (19th June 1961)
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