AET 1380 Lecture 13

The LP

The Long Playing Record (LP)

Remember, Berliner invented disc record in 1888, made of shellac which was easily broken

1910, 78 rpm becomes standard.

1930s, vinyl records released, more durable.

In 1948 Columbia introduced the 33⅓ rpm LP records (used in 1930s by movie theaters and transcription machines), followed soon after by the 45 rpm records from RCA Victor.

The Long Playing Record (LP)

1940’s

In 1948 Columbia introduced the 33⅓ rpm LPrecords (used in 1930s by movie theaters and

transcription machines) = 25-30 min per side.

The 331/3-rpm disc was first introduced in 1931

for use in movie theaters but failed to replace

the 78.

The Long Playing Record (LP)

1940’s The LP was followed by the release of 45 rpm records

from RCA Victor = 4 min side.

Both new discs (LP & 45) used narrower grooves,

played with a smaller stylus than the old 78s.

These records were called microgrooves.

78 shellac record

12" 331/3 rpm long-playing (LP)

format

7" 45 rpm (single) format

The Long Playing Record (LP)1950-1960’s The older 78 continued to be mass produced along with newer

formats.

The Beatles recorded some of the last commercially released 78’s in 1958.

In 1957, a system of cutting and playing back stereorecords was devised and generally accepted by the industry.

Listening: “Let the Good Times Roll”(1959), Early stereo big band recording…

The Long Playing Record (LP)

1950-1960’s

Remember from AOR, the stereo LP system was invented by Blumlein at EMI in 1931, but not commercially utilized until the 1957.

In early stereo recordings released between 1962 and 1965, where some instruments are “hard panned” to one side and other instruments are “hard panned” to the other side, producers used this mixing technique to maintain isolation between the instruments so that the listener could easily hear each singer or instrument.

Now the home record player of stereo had three to four speeds (78, 45, 33 1/3, and sometimes 16 2/3) to accommodate the different types of records.

Origins of The LP

Peter Goldmark got mad that he could not listen

to Brahms' "Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor,

opus 15” at a dinner party without flipping the

disc over every 4 minutes (78 rpm discs made of

shellac stored 4 minutes per side with 12 discs

for the entire symphony).

Origins of The LP

Goldmark vowed to change this. He discovered

that 90 percent of all his favorite classic works

were less than 45 minutes.

Goldmark’s team at CBS failed but a team at

Columbia led by William Bachman started work

on a system that would allow up to twenty-five

minutes of uninterrupted listening.

Origins of The LP

One of the reasons it was so difficult to develop a successful “Lp” disc was because of its slower speed

(33 vs 78) it was forced to hold a narrower bandwidth than 78s. This new technology also provided for better sound than earlier 78s.

Sarnoff at RCA had to compete. He didn't believe in putting songs together on one piece of vinyl. He liked individual songs on each side, just like the old 78, so RCA made 45 rpm.

The 45 rpm had a giant hole in the so that RCA could control the future development of turntables. Unfortunately it didn’t work and turntables have ran at 2 speeds ever since.

Origins of The LP

Dispute was settled in 1951 when the LP became the

industry standard for the album package, while the

45rpm 7” record was for used for singles.

The “Lp” disc changed the record business because it It

shifted the focus from the individual song to the album collection. Also opened up foreign markets.

How do you think this effected songwriting and studio

technology?

Origins of The LP

1949 – South Pacific Soundtrack was first LP hit.

1953 - The first “concept” album, based on Arthur

Godfrey’s “TV Calendar Show,” featured 12 songs, one

for each month. The album was so successful because

it was one of the first where the label negotiated a reduced royalty rate with the publishers, thereby

lowering the albums cost to the public.

Origins of The LP

Inventors found that an LP record with more than 5

songs (40 min or less) started to lose quality. Still

enough to contain a symphonic movement.

The LP was 12 inches wide. However there was also a

33 1/3rpm 7-inch, known as an EP, or extended play,

with 2 or 3 even 4 songs per side.

Are these conventions still around today?

Reading:

AES: Birth of the LP handout