[78-L] Story of the LP (queries)

[Michael Biel]

P G C wrote:
>   
>> Are LP always 12" or the 10" (8 melodies) aslo LP?
>>   
>>     

From: "Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr." <citroenid19 at sbcglobal.net>

> No. I've seen them in most any size you can imagine, including square. 
> Remember the recordings found in National Geographics? One of my 
> favorites was on Winston Churchill's death and funeral.
>   

But that was not a "real" record.  It was an Eva-Tone SoundSheet.  
Regular records cut into shaped discs was a big fad in the 70s and 80s.  
The first major release was a red heart shaped disc on Motown.  There 
were four leaf clover shaped discs in green with Irish songs, and 
picture discs that were cut out in the shape of what the picture was.  
The best was Toto's Rosanne which was a picture and shaped Grammy disc.
>> When the name Hi-Fi started?
>>     
RCA Victor used the term High Fidelity in the 1930s.
>> When Stereo Recordings Started?
>>   
>>   
>>     
There was the Columbia Graphophone Grand in 1899 with three horns and 
three recorders or reproducers.  Then in 1927 Arthur C. Keller at Bell 
Labs recorded stereo tests at the Capitol Theater in NYC with the 
Capitol Theater Orch.  He also recorded Stokowski and the Phila in 
stereo in 1931 and 32 and some of these have been released by Bell Labs 
on two very rare LPs.  Blumlein at EMI in England only thought of it 
after Keller had already done it.  The Germans recorded stereo tapes 
during WW II.  Of about 90, 8 or 9 still exist.  Bert Whyte and Robert 
Oaks Jordan in Chicago both did experimental stereo tapes around 1950 of 
5l.  Emory Cook released several dozen stereo discs in 1953 to 55 using 
a two-groove system, and Atlantic Records released one or two jazz 
records using this system.  I have one of those as well as many of the 
Cook discs.  Many companies started recording masters in stereo in 1953 
or 54 and some were releasing them on pre-recorded open reel tape.  
Westrex offered to cut stereo lacquers for record companies and 
phonocartridge companies in Oct 1957, and Sidney Frey of Audio Fidelity 
records plated his two lacquers and issued pressings in November 1957.  
He and several other small companies started issueing regular stereo 
discs in Feb 1958, Electro-Voice and Shure made cartridges available, 
and by June and July 1958 most major companies had a few stereo discs on 
the market. 

>
> LP is basically a name given for making the grooves in a record closer 
> together than what was traditionally used up to the point the term came 
> into use.
Nope.  The groove itself is smaller.  There had been attempts to put 
standard size grooves closer together such as on Durium and the 
Columbia/Clarion Longer Playing Records, but in order for it to work 
properly the groove itself also has to be smaller.  Edison's Long 
Playing record in 1926 had 400 threads per inch and a groove smaller 
than the 1948 microgroove. 

>  The problem with putting grooves closer together was solved to 
> a degree when equalization curves were standardized in the mid 50's. 
> This process made it possible to reduce the undulations to a point where 
> they would not collide across the lands between grooves, and in a 
> consistent agreed upon way.
>   
Equalization had been used back in the 1930s with the NAB and 
Orthacoustic curves.  They were just modified when microgroove was 
introduced.   One important aspect of making the groove narrower is that 
the playback stylus point is smaller and can trace higier frequencies at 
slower surface speeds than standard groove styli.  That is why the 
slower rotational speeds are still able to provide high quality.

> I think it was RCA that came up with the term "microgroove" at a later date.
>   
Nope.  That word appears on the covers and labels of every one of the 
first Columbia Lp releases in June 1948.  Decca LPs also used the term 
on their jackets and labels.  But ironically, Bell Labs had done some 
microgroove experiments for Victor around 1928. 

> The first stereo records became commonly and affordably available in the 
> later 50's, as I recall. I still have my father's Bogen system, which 
> had selectable equalization curves, dual cast radios (AM and FM could be 
> run into separate channels). And I still have his first tube-type stereo 
> multiplexor, which was how a stereo signal could be extracted from the 
> new stereo FM signals being generated by more and more stations. That 
> made dual casting instantly obsolete. Nowadays, the multiplexor is a 
> built-in circuit and nobody even gives it a second thought when the red 
> light comes on.
> And of course, the material that was broadcast had to be in stereo to 
> begin with. So the 2 technologies developed together, and more and more 
> material became available.

There were also live stereo broadcasts, including on television.  Art 
Ford's Jazz Party on WNEW-TV in New York and Lawrence Welk's Dodge show 
on the ABC-TV network were broadcast live in stereo in 1956 using the 
affiliated radio stations for the other channel. 
>  You may be old enough to remember that stereo 
> records were more expensive and most records were released in stereo and 
> mono versions. Someone might know when this policy was discontinued. 
>   
I remember the DAY it happened.  One by one all the companies decided to 
equalize the prices of mono and stereo, and eventually they all decided 
to do it on the same day, I think in July 1967.  (I'd have to go back 
thru the Schwann's and newspaper accounts to verify that date.)    For a 
while we were unsure whether the companies would reduce the price of 
stereo or raise the price of mono, but once one announced they were 
raising the mono price, they all decided the same.  I worked for a rack 
jobber and all of us were enlisted to go to the retail stores we 
serviced and change the price tags on all the mono records in stock 
(except for the few labels that were not changing prices, such as 
Elektra).  I was chosen to do our largest account, Macy's 34th Street.  
It was a strange experience being practically the only one in that huge 
store on a Sunday.  Stores closed on Sunday back then. 

> Even 45's were stereo at the end.
>
>   
There were stereo 45s even in 1958 but they never hit on here in the 
U.S.  EPs were also becoming unpopular here in the U.S. at the same 
time, but were becoming more and more popular in England.  Stereo EPs 
became an inexpensive way for some people in England to get stereo 
records to sample on their new machines.   Stereo records did really 
become more popular in the U.S. once the price of mono was raised, and 
by 1970 most labels had stopped making mono records.   This move was 
speeded up when  Schwann removed all mono records from the main catalog 
and put them into the semi-annual Schwann Two. 

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com