[78-L] Talking about vinyl...

[David Lennick]

The rest of the story is just as entertaining....

How someone thought of turning it into phonograph records is beyond us.  The 
33-1/3 RPM speed also gave poor fidelity but for a movie sound track, who 
cared?  People were used to silent films, so any sound was an improvement.  The 
grooves were a little bit narrower and the records still wore out quickly, even 
with shellac.  But shellac worked fine for 78 RPM singles with their wider grooves.

           By the late 1920's, records had become electronically recorded and 
played back.  Now you could listen in better fidelity through a speaker instead 
of acoustically through that big horn.  Better sound quality meant more record 
sales.  Music on two new media, electronically recorded discs and radio, was a 
welcomed distraction from the economic woes of the country.

            Thus, the media of choice became the 10", 78-RPM shellac single. 
It was heavy and very breakable.  But it was the best we had at the time.





           In 1931, RCA Victor tried, and failed, to introduce a 12" 33 1/3 
RPM, long playing record, made out of something called Vitrolac.  The grooves 
were twice as narrow, and the records wore out very quickly.  Also, they 
required a special new record player which cost hundreds of dollars - nobody 
could afford it during the Depression.

           Then, in 1933, a Bakelite research chemist named Frazier Groff, made 
a major discovery.  He found that a class of polymers called vinyl could be 
used to make phonograph records.  Vinyl records were less breakable and could 
be made more flexible and at lighter weight.  More important, vinyl didn’t wear 
down so fast, even when the grooves were made very narrow!

           By the mid 1930's, some radio transcriptions were being made of 
vinyl.  These were usually 16", 33 1/3 RPM, and contained 6 recordings per 
side.  Vinyl was still not offered to the public because it was too expensive.

           Then something happened that forever changed the face of recorded 
sound.  It was called World War II.  The U.S. War Department created the V-Disc 
program to ship records to military personnel overseas.  In spite of careful 
packing, many of the shellac V-Discs were arriving broken.  The V-Disc program 
quickly switched to vinyl V-Discs.  Within the U.S., private record 
manufacturers were having trouble getting shellac during the war.  What limited 
supplies of shellac were available had to be extended with filler which created 
some mighty noisy recordings.  To survive, record manufacturers had to find new 
record pressing materials, even if they were more expensive.  Some began making 
vinyl 78’s.

           In 1948, Columbia introduced the 33-1/3 RPM Vinyl LP.  It cost more 
than a 78, but you got 12 songs instead of 2 on one lightweight, unbreakable 
disc.  The grooves were very narrow (microgrooves) and required a special 
diamond-tipped stylus, instead of a metal needle.  And you needed a new record 
player ... or you could adapt your old player.  The first LP's were 10" in 
diameter to fit on the modified 78 RPM turntables.  Later they became 12".

           Columbia wanted the entire record industry to standardize on the 33 
1/3 speed and format.  In April 1948, Columbia president William S. Paley 
called a meeting with David Sarnoff, president of Columbia’s chief rival, RCA 
Victor.  Paley proposed RCA switch to the vinyl 33 1/3 LP format also.  Sarnoff 
didn’t want to be paying licensing fees to Columbia for pressing RCA records 
until RCA could build its own 33 1/3 RPM pressing plants.  But he did realize 
the future of recorded music was in vinyl.  He refused the deal and asked his 
engineers to put a rush on a project they’d started and dropped ten years 
earlier, the vinyl 45 RPM single.

           On March 31, 1949, RCA Victor introduced its answer to Columbia, the 
7" vinyl 45 RPM single.  The project had been reactivated only a year before. 
RCA’s top secret development project was referred to as Madame X.  The “45” was 
smaller, also less breakable, and had a large center hole for playing on RCA’s 
new record player.  The player was a small, inexpensive record changer that 
could be plugged into any music console.  It allowed 45's to be stacked and 
played in succession.  78's stacked like that would break.  The great "War Of 
The Speeds" was on!



         Eventually, RCA dropped the different colors of vinyl in favor of all 
black vinyl.

          In answer to Columbia's long-playing (LP) album, RCA produced the 45 
RPM Box Set.  These included 3-5 records by the same artist, in a hard 
cardboard box, often with liner notes.

          In answer to RCA’s 7” vinyl singles, Columbia started issuing 7” 33 
1/3 vinyl singles with small holes.  These didn’t last very long and were soon 
discontinued.

          Columbia and RCA Victor began actively courting other labels to sign 
on with their technologies.  Record labels were quick to line up with either 
RCA or Columbia or both.  Some labels hedged their bets and began producing 
45’s, 33’s and 78’s.  With the introduction of any new recording format, record 
labels go deep into their vaults and reissue older material in the new form. 
After all, they can resell old classics to the same people who bought them the 
first time, with no additional studio or mastering costs.

           By the end of 1951, both RCA and Columbia gave in and began 
producing both 45's and 33's.  It turned out that both formats could coexist. 
The Great War of the Speeds was over.

           The 45 RPM single was to a large part responsible for the Rhythm & 
Blues and Rock & Roll Age of the 1950’s.  Teenagers could carry a lightweight 
stack of 45’s to a party and put them on an automatic changer.  Records dropped 
down in the desired order and created their own dance party.  Older 78’s would 
have just broken.

          While LP’s and cassette tapes became more popular in the 1970’s, 
vinyl 45’s remained popular until replaced by CD’s in the 1980’s.  Eventually 
music became digital.  Yet many people still feel vinyl gives a fuller, warmer 
sound.  Vinyl records are still being made.  And vinyl 45’s will always have a 
home in the Classic urban Harmony Archives.  Long live the 45!

  *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

dl

Kristjan Saag wrote:
> Here's a little history lesson for all of us:
> 
> By the early 1900's, wax was also used to coat cardboard round flat plates, 
> called discs or records.  Many different size discs and speeds were tried in 
> the early days.  Recording inventors found there were three ways to increase 
> the time of the recording on a disc: use larger discs (this was bulky); use 
> slower speeds (and lose fidelity); or make the grooves narrower (they wear 
> out too quickly if you use the wrong material, like wax).
> As early as 1901, Victor records tried out a 7" record, but it was abandoned 
> two years later in favor of the new standard - a 10" 78 RPM, wide groove wax 
> disc.  It was the best combination of good fidelity and size to give a 
> three-minute record.
> In 1926 Vitaphone needed a method of putting sound to their silent movies. 
> They wanted to do it by playing the movie sound track on record but didn't 
> want to change records every 3 minutes.  So, they came out with a 16" 
> record, recorded at 33-1/3 RPM and made of a new material, shellac.  Shellac 
> was more durable than wax.  Shellac came from a tiny scale insect that 
> infested trees in India.  It seems these slimy disgusting bugs were sucking 
> the juice of the trees and excreting shellac continuously.  How someone 
> thought of turning it into phonograph records is beyond us.
> 
> ---
> Cute, isn't it?
> Found at
> http://www.classicurbanharmony.net/45%20Turns%20Sixty.htm
> Kristjan 
>