Phonograph record
A phonograph record, also known as a gramophone record or simply a record, is an analog sound storage and reproduction medium consisting of a flat, round disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove that encodes audio signals through variations in the groove's lateral position.[1] The groove is typically cut laterally, allowing a stylus to track its undulations and convert them into electrical or mechanical signals for playback on a turntable.[1] This format revolutionized audio technology by enabling mass duplication of recordings, unlike earlier cylinder-based systems.[1] The phonograph record traces its origins to the late 19th century, building on Thomas Edison's 1877 invention of the cylinder phonograph, which used vertical grooves on wax cylinders for sound capture.[3] Emile Berliner patented the lateral-cut disc record and gramophone in 1887 (U.S. Patent No. 372,786), introducing a flat, reproducible format that allowed for easier manufacturing through stamping from a master disc.[1] Early commercial production began in 1894 with the United States Gramophone Company, using 7-inch hard rubber discs that evolved to shellac by 1895 for greater durability.[1] Edison later developed his own vertical-cut disc system in 1912 using phenolic resin to compete, but Berliner's lateral-cut design became the industry standard.[3] Phonograph records varied in size, speed, and material over time to accommodate different uses.[4] Pre-1950s records were primarily 10- or 12-inch shellac discs played at 78 revolutions per minute (RPM), holding about 3-5 minutes per side and requiring steel or sapphire needles that wore out quickly.[5][6] In 1948, Columbia introduced the 12-inch long-playing (LP) vinyl record at 33 1/3 RPM, using microgrooves for up to 23 minutes per side and finer diamond styluses for reduced wear.[7] RCA Victor followed in 1949 with 7-inch 45 RPM vinyl singles for shorter tracks, creating a "format war" that standardized multiple speeds by the 1950s.[4] Vinyl, a polyvinyl chloride plastic, replaced shellac post-World War II due to its lighter weight, flexibility, and lower cost.[8][6] The phonograph record profoundly shaped modern music and culture by democratizing access to recorded sound, fostering the growth of the recording industry, and preserving performances for education and entertainment.[9] It enabled the mass distribution of genres from classical to jazz and rock, peaking in production during the mid-20th century with millions of units sold annually.[5] Though eclipsed by magnetic tapes and digital formats like CDs in the 1980s, the record experienced a significant revival in the 21st century, driven by audiophile demand for analog warmth, collectibility, and independent music scenes, with sales surpassing 100% growth in some years and US revenues reaching $1.4 billion in 2024 while holding steady through mid-2025.[10][11][12] Today, it remains a cultural icon, supporting vinyl's role in niche markets and heritage preservation.[13]Overview
Definition and Basic Operation
A phonograph record is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc featuring an inscribed spiral groove that encodes audio signals through variations in the groove's lateral position (side-to-side undulations).[14] These variations represent the continuous waveform of sound waves, captured mechanically during the recording process where a cutting stylus vibrates in response to audio input, etching the groove into a rotating blank disc.[15] Unlike digital storage, which discretizes audio into binary samples, the phonograph record maintains an analog representation, allowing for infinite gradations in the signal that mirror the original sound's amplitude and frequency.[16] The basic operation of a phonograph record relies on playback mechanics that reverse the recording process to reproduce sound. The disc is mounted on a turntable, which rotates it at a consistent speed to guide the playback.[8] A tonearm suspends a cartridge containing a stylus (or needle) that is lowered onto the outer edge of the groove, applying a precise tracking force—typically measured in grams—to maintain contact without excessive wear or mistracking.[15][17] As the turntable spins, the stylus traces the spiral groove inward, and the physical undulations cause the stylus to vibrate in correspondence with the encoded sound waves.[14] These vibrations are transmitted through the cartridge, where piezoelectric or magnetic elements convert the mechanical motion into corresponding electrical signals.[8] The signals are then amplified and fed to speakers, recreating the original audio through acoustic transduction.[15] This interplay of rotation, precise stylus pressure, and electromechanical conversion ensures faithful reproduction of the analog sound stored in the groove.[14]Naming Conventions
The term "phonograph record" originated with Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph in 1877, a device initially designed to record and reproduce sound using cylinders, with the word "phonograph" derived from Greek roots meaning "sound writing." Edison's phonograph laid the foundation for disc-based recordings, leading to the broader application of "phonograph record" to describe flat discs played on such machines. In contrast, "gramophone record" emerged from Emile Berliner's 1887 invention of the gramophone, which utilized flat, lateral-cut discs made of shellac, distinguishing it from Edison's cylindrical format and popularizing the term particularly in Europe.[1] Berliner trademarked "Gramophone" for his disc-playing device, and the associated records became known as gramophone records to emphasize their flat disc shape.[18] Additional terms like "disc record" simply highlighted the flat format as opposed to cylinders, gaining traction alongside Berliner's gramophone in the late 19th century. The shorthand "78" specifically referred to the common rotational speed of early shellac discs, which dominated commercial recording until the mid-20th century and became a colloquial identifier for that era's records. These terms often overlapped, with "disc record" serving as a neutral descriptor across phonograph and gramophone contexts. Regional variations in terminology reflect historical patent and market differences; for instance, "phonograph record" prevailed in the United States due to Edison's influence, while "gramophone record" was more common in the United Kingdom and continental Europe following Berliner's European patents. Abbreviations such as "LP" for long-playing records and "EP" for extended-play records arose in the late 1940s, with Columbia Records introducing the LP in 1948 to denote albums capable of holding more music than previous formats, and RCA Victor adopting EP in 1952 for multi-song releases on smaller discs. Colloquial expressions like "record" as a generic term or "platter" in American slang further simplified references to these objects in everyday language. Following the adoption of microgroove technology in the late 1940s, terminology evolved significantly in the post-1950s period as vinyl replaced shellac, shifting common usage from "78" or "shellac record" to "vinyl record" by the early 1960s, when 78 rpm discs were largely obsolete.[6] This change distinguished the durable, finer-grooved vinyl discs from earlier subtypes, with "record" remaining the overarching generic term encompassing LPs, EPs, and singles without implying specific materials or speeds. The distinction between the broad "record" and subtypes like LP or 78 helped categorize collections as formats transitioned, reflecting both technological and cultural shifts in audio media.Historical Development
Precursors to Disc Recording
The development of disc recording was preceded by several key inventions in sound capture and reproduction during the mid- to late 19th century, which primarily relied on cylindrical formats and laid the groundwork for later advancements.[19] In 1857, French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville created the phonautograph, the first known device to record sound waves visually.[20] This apparatus used a vibrating membrane attached to a stylus that traced sound-induced patterns onto paper or glass coated with lampblack, producing phonautograms intended for scientific analysis of acoustic waveforms rather than playback.[4] Although it captured sound faithfully as graphical representations, the phonautograph lacked any mechanism for reproducing the recorded audio, limiting its practical application to visualization and study.[20] Two decades later, in 1877, Thomas Edison introduced the tinfoil phonograph, marking the first invention capable of both recording and playing back sound.[21] Edison's design featured a cylindrical drum wrapped in tinfoil, rotated by a hand crank at a variable speed, with a diaphragm-and-stylus assembly that etched grooves corresponding to sound vibrations during recording and retraced them for playback.[22] The device demonstrated basic functionality by reproducing spoken words and simple music, but its tinfoil medium wore out after just a few plays, restricting reuse and fidelity.[21] Building on Edison's concept in the 1880s, Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter developed the graphophone at the Volta Laboratory, introducing wax-coated cylinders for enhanced performance.[23] Patented in 1886, the graphophone replaced the fragile tinfoil with a more durable wax surface, allowing multiple recordings and better sound quality while maintaining the cylindrical format and hand-cranked operation.[24] This improvement made the device suitable for dictation and early commercial trials, as the wax resisted wear better than metal foils and preserved audio details more effectively.[23] Emile Berliner's experiments in 1887 represented a pivotal shift toward flat disc recording, addressing inherent drawbacks of cylindrical systems.[1] Berliner patented a gramophone that used a flat, rotating disc—initially made of zinc or glass coated with acid-resistant material—where a stylus cut lateral grooves spiraling from the outer edge inward, enabling playback via a needle that followed the undulations.[25] Unlike cylinders, which required playback to begin at a fixed starting point and offered limited storage per unit, Berliner's discs allowed easier indexing of multiple tracks on both sides and facilitated mass duplication through electroplating masters, overcoming the one-off nature of cylinder production.[26] These early technologies faced significant hurdles that constrained their viability, including limited recording duration of about 2 minutes per cylinder, which restricted content to short phrases or snippets; inherent fragility of materials like tinfoil and early wax, leading to frequent breakdowns and inconsistent playback; and the absence of efficient mass duplication methods, requiring live re-recordings for each copy and hindering commercial scalability.[21]Invention and Early Commercialization
The invention of the flat disc phonograph record is credited to Emile Berliner, a German-American inventor who developed the gramophone as an alternative to cylindrical recordings. On November 8, 1887, Berliner received U.S. Patent No. 372,786 for his "Gramophone," which utilized a lateral-cut groove on a flat disc, where the recording stylus moved side-to-side rather than up-and-down, allowing for more durable and reproducible sound.[1] The process involved coating a glass disc with a mixture of beeswax and gasoline, etching the groove laterally with a stylus connected to a diaphragm, and then immersing the disc in acid to etch the sound waves into a zinc master for duplication.[27] This acid-etched zinc master enabled mass production through electroplating to create negative molds, from which discs could be stamped, marking a significant advancement in scalability over earlier methods.[1] Commercialization began in Europe in 1889, with Berliner licensing his technology to German firms like Kämmer & Reinhardt, who produced the first 5-inch hard rubber discs for toy gramophones, primarily featuring simple tunes and spoken words. In Europe, the Gramophone Company was founded in 1898 to license and produce Berliner's discs, expanding the format globally.[1][1] In the United States, the United States Gramophone Company launched in 1894, but widespread market entry occurred in 1895 when Berliner introduced single-sided shellac discs, measuring about 5 to 7 inches in diameter and played at variable speeds around 60-80 rpm, offering roughly 2 minutes of playback per side.[27] Shellac, derived from the resin secreted by the female lac bug (Kerria lacca) harvested from trees in India and Thailand, replaced earlier materials like hard rubber for its superior durability and acoustic properties, comprising about 27% of the compound mixed with fillers such as slate dust and cotton fibers.[5] A pivotal figure in advancing commercialization was Eldridge R. Johnson, a machinist who partnered with Berliner in the late 1890s to improve disc reproduction. In 1901, Johnson co-founded the Victor Talking Machine Company, which adopted and refined Berliner's technology, including a spring-motor mechanism adapted from sewing machines that helped standardize playback speeds to 78 rpm for consistency across records.[28] This standardization facilitated broader adoption, as Victor's gramophones and discs became household items, driving market growth in the 1900s; annual U.S. record sales surged from approximately 3 million units in 1900 to over 27 million by 1910, transforming music distribution from live performances and sheet music to affordable, portable home entertainment.[29][30] The rise of disc records sparked intense legal battles, particularly between Berliner and Thomas Edison, whose National Phonograph Company championed vertical-cut cylinders as superior for fidelity and longevity. Edison's firm sued Berliner multiple times in the 1890s over patent infringements related to recording mechanisms and duplication processes, leading to protracted litigation that temporarily limited Berliner's U.S. operations and forced licensing agreements.[1] Despite Edison's resistance—continuing cylinder production until 1929—the disc format ultimately prevailed due to its advantages in mass production, stackability, and lower cost, effectively ending the cylinder era by the early 1910s.[1]The 78 rpm Era
The 78 rpm shellac record dominated the phonograph industry from the early 1920s through World War II, establishing itself as the primary format for commercial music distribution. By the mid-1920s, the rotational speed of 78 revolutions per minute had become the global standard for disc records, selected for its compatibility with existing playback equipment and ease of mechanical reproduction using simple motors.[6] This standardization facilitated mass production and interchangeability across manufacturers. The most common sizes were the 10-inch disc, offering approximately 3 minutes of playback per side, and the 12-inch disc, providing 4 to 5 minutes per side, which accommodated popular songs and shorter orchestral pieces while limiting longer works to multiple discs.[31] During the acoustic recording era, which prevailed until 1925, sound capture relied on large exponential horns to amplify and direct vibrations to a mechanical cutting stylus, imposing severe technical constraints. These horns distorted low frequencies below about 100 Hz and high frequencies above 4,000 Hz, resulting in a narrow bandwidth with a pronounced mid-range emphasis and poor reproduction of subtle timbres.[32] Volume levels were equally limited; performers had to position themselves rigidly around the horn, suppressing loud passages and exaggerating quiet ones to avoid stylus overload, which compressed dynamic range and favored mid-sized ensembles over full orchestras or solo instruments with wide expressiveness.[32] Despite these shortcomings, acoustic 78s captured a vast array of early jazz, blues, and vaudeville performances, preserving cultural snapshots through their raw, immediate sound. The introduction of electrical recording in 1925 marked a pivotal refinement, dramatically enhancing fidelity and versatility. Western Electric's system, licensed to major labels like Victor and Columbia, employed condenser microphones to convert sound waves into electrical signals, which were then amplified via vacuum tubes before etching the groove.[33] This allowed for a broader frequency response—extending to 8,000 Hz or more—greater volume without distortion, and natural studio acoustics, enabling fuller orchestrations and clearer vocals on 78s.[33] Victor released its first electrical records in May 1925, followed by Columbia in June, quickly supplanting acoustic methods and revitalizing the format's appeal for diverse genres.[33] To address the 78's short playing time for extended compositions, the "album" concept emerged in the 1930s, particularly for classical music, where multiple discs were packaged in bound booklets resembling photograph albums, complete with illustrated sleeves and liner notes. Labels like Musicraft and Technichord produced such sets, including five-disc collections of early cantatas or multi-record anthologies of Baroque concerti, allowing consumers to acquire cohesive symphonic or operatic works.[34] These albums, often featuring ensembles like the Manuel & Williamson Harpsichord Ensemble performing Bach and Vivaldi, catered to niche audiences and elevated the perceived prestige of shellac records beyond single pop releases.[34] By the 1940s, 78 rpm production had peaked globally, with the U.S. industry alone manufacturing approximately 127 million units annually in 1941 to meet surging demand for jazz, blues, and international folk music. These records immortalized swing-era jazz by artists like Duke Ellington and blues pioneers such as Bessie Smith, disseminating African American innovations worldwide through affordable, portable media.[35] Shellac's durability suited jukeboxes and radio play, fueling cultural exchange in genres from New Orleans jazz to Mexican corridos. World War II disrupted this dominance through acute shellac shortages, as supplies from India—where the resin was harvested from lac insects—were curtailed by wartime shipping blockades and competing military uses like insulation and adhesives.[36] U.S. production dropped significantly by 1942 to around 50 million units, prompting experiments with alternatives such as recycled phonograph records, glass-based discs, and early synthetic resins like ethyl cellulose.[36][37] These improvisations sustained limited output for morale-boosting V-Discs sent to troops, but accelerated the search for postwar substitutes, foreshadowing the format's eventual decline.[36]Post-WWII Innovations
Following World War II, the phonograph record industry underwent significant transformations driven by the need for longer playing times, improved durability, and enhanced audio quality, marking the transition from the brittle shellac-based 78 rpm format to more versatile vinyl alternatives. These innovations addressed limitations in playback duration and material fragility, fostering the modern album and single formats that dominated popular music consumption. In June 1948, Columbia Records introduced the long-playing (LP) record, a 12-inch disc rotating at 33⅓ rpm and utilizing microgroove technology to achieve approximately 23 minutes of playback per side, far exceeding the 4-5 minutes typical of 78 rpm records.[7] This format, initially targeted at classical and longer-form music, enabled the release of complete symphonies or albums on a single disc, revolutionizing how extended musical works were distributed and consumed.[38] In response, RCA Victor launched the 7-inch 45 rpm single in 1949, designed specifically for pop and short-form tracks, offering about 4 minutes per side with a central spindle hole for automated changers and jukeboxes.[4] This microgroove vinyl format competed directly with the LP by appealing to the singles market, providing comparable fidelity in a compact, affordable package that became the standard for hit songs.[39] The shift to vinyl, primarily polyvinyl chloride (PVC), accelerated from 1949 onward as both Columbia and RCA adopted it over shellac, yielding records that were more flexible, shatter-resistant, and capable of quieter playback with reduced surface noise.[38] This material change, combined with finer grooves, not only improved durability for everyday handling but also supported the higher fidelities of the new speeds, making vinyl the industry norm by the early 1950s.[40] To optimize dynamic range and minimize noise on these finer grooves, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) established a standardized equalization curve in 1954, which attenuated low frequencies during recording and boosted them during playback, allowing for closer groove spacing without distortion.[41] This "New Orthophonic" curve became the global de facto standard for LP and 45 rpm discs, ensuring compatibility across manufacturers and enhancing overall audio clarity. Early experiments in stereophonic recording emerged in 1957-1958, with Audio Fidelity releasing the first commercial stereo LP—a demonstration disc of railroad sounds—on December 13, 1957, followed by additional titles in 1958 using the 45/45° lateral cutting system.[42] RCA Victor concurrently advanced stereo technology, issuing their first stereo LPs in 1958 and contributing to the industry's adoption of a unified standard later that year.[39] These efforts built on monaural foundations, providing spatial audio depth that would expand in subsequent decades. By 1958, the 78 rpm shellac format had been largely phased out in the United States as major labels like Columbia and RCA fully transitioned to LPs and 45s, driven by the superior playtime, durability, and consumer appeal of vinyl media.[43] This market shift, completed amid the rise of rock and roll, solidified the dual-format ecosystem of albums for full-length releases and singles for chart-toppers.Formats and Specifications
Standard Sizes and Speeds
Phonograph records adhere to a set of conventional diameters and rotational speeds that have evolved to balance audio fidelity, playing duration, and manufacturing practicality. These standards primarily encompass diameters of 7 inches (17.8 cm), 10 inches (25.4 cm), and 12 inches (30.5 cm), with rotational speeds measured in revolutions per minute (rpm). The interplay between size, speed, and groove characteristics dictates the record's capacity, typically ranging from short single tracks to full album sides. The 7-inch record, often employed for singles, rotates at 45 rpm and accommodates approximately 3 to 5 minutes of audio per side, making it ideal for popular music releases.[8] In contrast, the 10-inch format, common in earlier eras, supports 10 to 15 minutes per side depending on speed and groove density, while the 12-inch standard, prevalent for long-playing records, yields 20 to 25 minutes per side at slower speeds.[44] These durations stem from the physical groove length—derived from the record's radius and circumference—divided by the rotational speed, with finer groove pitch enabling more revolutions before reaching the inner limit. Rotational speeds include 78 rpm, the dominant standard from the early 20th century through the 1940s, which limited 10-inch records to about 3 to 5 minutes per side due to its faster pace and coarser grooves.[6] The 33⅓ rpm speed, introduced for extended play post-World War II, revolutionized capacity by allowing longer sessions on larger discs.[45] Complementing this, 45 rpm became the norm for 7-inch singles to preserve audio quality in shorter formats, while the rare 16⅔ rpm variant was used for spoken-word or children's records, extending playtime to over 30 minutes on 12-inch discs but at reduced fidelity.[8] Playing time varies with groove pitch, the spacing between adjacent grooves, where lateral cuts—modulating side-to-side—dominate modern standards, and vertical cuts—varying in depth—affect duration in early formats by permitting tighter packing in some cases.[46] The shift to microgroove technology, with widths around 0.001 inches (25 micrometers), contrasted with standard grooves of about 0.003 inches (76 micrometers), doubling the number of grooves and thus extending playtime without enlarging the disc.[46] Regional differences influenced adoption; in Europe, the 25 cm (approximately 10-inch) diameter prevailed for 78 rpm shellac records before the 1950s, aligning with local manufacturing norms.[6]| Size (Diameter) | Common Speeds (rpm) | Typical Playing Time per Side | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 inches (17.8 cm) | 45 | 3–5 minutes | Singles |
| 10 inches (25.4 cm) | 78, 33⅓ | 3–5 minutes (78 rpm); 10–15 minutes (33⅓ rpm) | Early albums, EPs |
| 12 inches (30.5 cm) | 33⅓, 78, 16⅔ | 20–25 minutes (33⅓ rpm); 3–5 minutes (78 rpm) | Long-playing albums |