Let’s take a step back in time, to a time that was much simpler. 1948, welcome to the world’s first LP (Long Play) Record. Created by Peter Goldmark, this vinyl record had a capacity of around 21 minutes per side. The vinyl was 12 inches wide and played at a speed of 33 â…“ RPM.
The vinyl changed the face of music and the music industry to the album-centric formar we all still abide by today. Shortly after, RCA Victor introduced their own Longplay which turned at 45 RPM and was just 7 inches in size. These record formats are the very same that we use today.
Any music lover will tell you a record is hailed as the optimum in sound quality and listening pleasure. Many challengers have come and gone but the record has endured the test of time like no other.
As they years went on, we saw the cassette tape and CD, all made for convenience. 71 years since the vinyl record was first created and we find ourselves still racing to the store to get ourselves a vinyl album.
But the record player and vinyl did not just drop out of the sky, there were a few things that came before this amazing invention. Some that did not quite stand the test of time. As any music enthusiast will you, there is something about listening to an album on a vinyl that just can not be mimicked. Despite living in a world right now that is a part of a subscription based streaming where access to music is at your fingertips, there is still a growing movement of music lovers out there who balk at the audio quality of anything other than virgin vinyl spinning on a finely calibrated record player.
Across the Western world, vinyl records have made such a come back. Independent labels, some of which had never stopped pressing vinyl were quick to spot the changing tide and drive the need for a new era of short run vinyl pressing services. Once this major label followed suit it was clear that the vinyl resurgence would be here to stay.
New vinyl manufacturing plants continue to pop up, some recommissioning Soviet- era record presses to help meet the growing demand.
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But where did it ALL BEGIN?
Let us bring it back, back to the The Edison-Scott Years. The year is 1857, a brilliant French inventor by the name of Edouard-Leon Scott created an incredible device which utilized a vibrating pen which graphically represented sounds onto a small paper disc. The device was known as a Phonograph and it was primarily created to help us get a better understanding of the characteristics of sound. It was not until Thomas Edison began showing an interest in this device that really got interesting. However, in 1878 Edison took this concept and turned it into a machine that was capable of replaying sounds that had been recorded. The device was then utilized a stylus that was designed to cut grooves of sound onto cylinders and discs made of tinfoil. Incredible, I know! Crazy to even think there was a time without easily accessible music.
Okay now let’s fast forward a decade or so. German born US inventor Emile Berliner patented the very first vinyl record player. Something you may know as The Gramophone. Now, when the gramophone was invented it had to be manually operated at 70 RPM and it functioned by playing a rubber vulcanite disc, 7 inches in size with small lateral grooves cut into the exterior.
Over the next thirteen years, vinyls would undergo a series of material alterations and formatting changes. Until 1901, Victor company released its Red Seal Line record player that was capable of playing vinyl records in the form of the 10 inch, 78 Rpm records. In terms of formatting, 78 Rpm format proved to be the most superior for the next 47 years.
It is fair to say that over the course of more than 100 years, music and the way we listen to it has come a really long way. In the year 2021 we are able to listen and enjoy all of our favorite music, not just from the last 20 years but from the last 50 years and more. Not only are we able to listen to whatever we want, whenever we want, we are able to enjoy it in the way that it was intended. On a vinyl Record.
If you are an avid vinyl lover and have a rather great collection here at KITHE Furniture we pride ourselves on the space we provide for our precious music. We make custom made furniture to fit and store your vinyls in the exact same way we would in our own home.
