This article details a comparison of audio recording media.
Comparison
The typical duration of a vinyl album is about 15 to 25 minutes per side. Classical music and spoken word recordings can extend to over 30 minutes on a side. If a side exceeds the average time, the maximum groove amplitude is reduced to make room for the additional program material. This can cause hiss in the sound when the volume is turned up to compensate for the lower recorded level. An extreme example,
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...
's ''
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...
'' LP, with 36 minutes of music on one side, has a "technical note" at the bottom of the inner sleeve: "if the sound does not seem loud enough on your system, try re-recording the music onto tape." The total of around 40–45 minutes often influences the arrangement of tracks, with the preferred positions being the opening tracks of each side.
Although the term
EP is commonly used to describe a 7" single with more than two tracks, technically they are not different from a normal 7" single. The EP uses reduced dynamic range and a smaller run-off groove area to extend the playing time. However, there are examples of singles, such as
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' "
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' fir ...
" or
Queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
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Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''A Night at the Opera (Queen album), A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by Queen's lead si ...
", which are six minutes long or more. (In 1989, RCA released 'Dreamtime' by the band
Love and Rockets, which clocks at 8:40). These longer recordings would require the same technical approach as an EP. The term EP has also been used for 10" 45 rpm records, typically containing a reduced number of tracks.
Vinyl albums have a large 12" (30 cm)
album cover
An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to:
* the printed paperboard covers typically used to package:
** sets of a ...
, which also allows cover designers scope for imaginative designs, often including fold-outs and leaflets.
See also
*
Audio format
An audio format is a medium for sound recording and reproduction. The term is applied to both the physical recording media and the recording formats of the audio frequency, audio content—in computer science it is often limited to the audio file ...
*
Audio storage
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, Mechanical system, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of ...
*
CardTalk
*
Comparison of analog and digital recording
Sound can be recorded and stored and played using either digital or analog techniques. Both techniques introduce errors and distortions in the sound, and these methods can be systematically compared. Musicians and listeners have argued over th ...
*
DJ
*
Hard drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
*
Magnetic cartridge
A magnetic cartridge, more commonly called a phonograph cartridge or phono cartridge or (colloquially) a pickup, is an electromechanical transducer that is used to play phonograph records on a Phonograph, turntable.
The cartridge contains a re ...
*
RCA
RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...
*
Record changer
A record changer or autochanger is a device that plays several phonograph records in sequence without user intervention. Record changers first appeared in the late 1920s, and were common until the 1980s.
History
The record changer with a steppe ...
*
Record press
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
*
Sound recording
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, Mechanical system, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of ...
*
Unusual types of gramophone records
The overwhelming majority of records manufactured have been of certain sizes (7, 10, or 12 inches), playback speeds (33, 45, or 78 RPM), and appearance (round black discs). However, since the commercial adoption of the gramophone record (cal ...
*
Voyager Golden Record
The Voyager Golden Records are two identical phonograph records, one of each which were included aboard the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. The records contain sounds and data to reconstruct raster scan images selected to portray the di ...
*
Vinyl Emulation Software
A close-up of a time-coded vinyl record
Vinyl emulation allows a DJ to physically manipulate the playback of digital audio files on a computer using turntables as an interface, thus preserving the hands-on control and feel of DJing with vinyl. ...
References
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*Lawrence, Harold; "Mercury Living Presence." Compact disc liner notes. Bartók, Antal Dorati, Mercury 432 017-2. 1991.
*International standard IEC 60098: Analogue audio disk records and reproducing equipment. Third edition,
International Electrotechnical Commission
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; ) is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronics, electronic and related technologies. IEC standards cover a va ...
, 1987.
*College Physics, Sears, Zemansky, Young, 1974, LOC #73-21135, chapter: Acoustic Phenomena
Further reading
*''From Tin Foil to Stereo — Evolution of the Phonograph'' by Oliver Read and Walter L. Welch.
*''Where have all the good times gone? — the rise and fall of the record industry'' Louis Barfe.
*''Pressing the LP record'' by Ellingham, Niel, published at 1 Bruach Lane, PH16 5DG, Scotland.
External links
Creating a vinyl recordYouTube — Record Making With Duke Ellington (1937)
A look at how early 78 rpm records were made.
Kiddie Records Weekly
— Recordings and case images from children's records of the 1940s and 1950s.
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Recorded music
Technological comparisons