The overwhelming majority of records manufactured have been of certain sizes (7, 10, or 12 inches), playback speeds (33⅓, 45, or 78 RPM), and appearance (round black discs). However, since the commercial adoption of the
gramophone recordA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, a wide variety of records have also been produced that do not fall into these categories, and they have served a variety of purposes.
Unusual size
- European shellac records — In the first three decades of the twentieth century European companies including Pathé
Pathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...
, OdeonOdeon Records was a record label founded in 1903 by Max Straus and Heinrich Zuntz of the International Talking Machine Company in Berlin, Germany. It was named after a famous theatre in Paris, whose classical dome appears on the Odeon record label....
, and Fonotipia made recordings in a variety of sizes, including 21 cm, 25 cm, 27 cm, 29 cm, 35 cm, and 50 cm (roughly 8½", 10", 11¾", 12", 14", and 20").
- 16" and 20" discs — Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
studioA studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
s made use of 16" and 20" 78rpm acetate "transcriptions"; these were used for time-delay programs and for prerecorded broadcasts. These could provide up to 20 minutes of unbroken program material with very good fidelity (indistinguishable from live to casual, but not to critical listeners). Early classical LP recordings were in fact initially recorded on 20" 78-rpm acetates for later transfer to LP. 16" turntables are still seen in professional broadcast equipment, although it is probably very rare that any disk larger than 12" is ever played on them.
- 8" EPs. Mostly seen as Japanese pressed records in the 1980s and 1990s, and after 1992 in the US (one record plant started producing them after then).
- 7" 78-rpm children's records — The 78 rpm records of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s were breakable shellac (and broken records were a very common accident). In the 1950s, unbreakable records of various plastic compositions were introduced and coexisted with breakable shellac records. Unbreakable records were, of course, favored for children's records. A common format for children's records was the 7" 78-rpm unbreakable record, easily handled by small hands, and during the 1950s, 6" Little Golden Records made of bright yellow plastic were a common sight in children's playrooms in the United States. Earlier, non-children's 78s were 7 or 8 inches (from about 1900–1910s, Little Wonder Records
Little Wonder Records was a United States record label from 1914 through 1923.Little Wonders were manufactured by the Columbia Phonograph Company, and were distributed exclusively by Henry Waterson in their early years -- an arrangement that has only recently been discovered as the original...
being about 5 inches in diameter until 1923)
- 6", 7", 8", and 9" flexi discs were popular in Japan where they were known as sound-sheets and were often in traditional round format. In other areas, flexi disks were usually square and often included in a magazine (see Unusual materials below). For example, the American magazine National Geographic's January 1979 issue included a flexi disk of whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
sounds called "Songs of the Humpback Whale." With a production order of 10,500,000 copies, it became the largest single press run of any record at the time.
- 5", 6", 9", 11", and 13" records. In 1980, the British band Squeeze released a 5-inch 33⅓ RPM vinyl recording of "If I Didn't Love You", backed with "Another Nail In My Heart" (A&M Records AM-1616 / SP-4802). Due to space restrictions of the grooves, both songs were mixed as monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
. In the late `1980s, SpiritThe English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
released a 6-inch single, a re-recording of their late 1960s hit, "Fresh Garbage", on Mercury Records. Underground hardcore punk bands in the 1990s started releasing EPs on all sizes of vinylA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
from 5" to 13" in size. UK GothGothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
band Alien Sex FiendAlien Sex Fiend is a deathrock band from the UK, composed of the married couple Nik Fiend and Mrs. Fiend . Currently, the band is based in Cardiff, Wales.-History:...
were the first band to release an 11" record in October 1984. Popular industrial musicIndustrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
group Nine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
has released a limited edition series of 9" discs, to aid in promoting the single March of the Pigs"March of the Pigs" is a song written by Trent Reznor of American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It was released in 1994 as the first single from The Downward Spiral , the second album by Nine Inch Nails.-The song:...
from their full length 1994 album The Downward SpiralThe Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
. The record featured 2 songs on the first side, and an etching of the album's promotional logo (a coiled centipedeCentipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of...
) on the second side.
- 120 mm records. Techno artist Jeff Mills
Jeff Mills is an American techno DJ and producer.-Career:Starting in the early 1980s, Mills, using the name "The Wizard", was a recurring guest DJ on "The Electrifying Mojo" radio show on WJLB...
released the single for the Occurrence on a disc that is a gramophone record on one side, and a compact discThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
on the other. Although dubbed a 5" record, to be usable in most compact disc players, the record can be no bigger than 120 mm or about 4.7".
- a 1" record was released by the hardcore band Spazz
Spazz was an influential American powerviolence band active between 1992 and 2000. The trio released numerous records within this time, many of which are now highly collectible due to their relative rarity...
on Slap A Ham Records. It contains one track on each side : "Hemorrhoidal Dance of Death" (played at 78 RPM) and "Patches Are For Posers" (played at 33 RPM). The edition was limited to 14 copies. Similarly, Japanese grindcore band Slight Slappers released a 2" on the same label, limited to 666 copies.
- Oddly shaped discs were also produced (see Shaped discs below).
Unusual materials
7" 33⅓ "
Flexi discThe flexi disc is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable...
" records were seen occasionally. One common use was as inserts in books that included audio supplements. LP recordings could be made on very thin, flexible sheets of vinyl (or laminated paper), and this was sometimes done for a mixture of practical utility and novelty appeal. At least one "magazine" was published with a spiral binding, a hole punched through the entire magazine, and four or five of these flexible recordings bound into the magazine. The magazine could be opened to one of these recordings and turned back upon itself; then the entire magazine placed on a turntable and the record could be played. In the early days of personal computers, when programs were commonly stored on audio cassettes, at least one computer magazine published "floppy ROMs," which were bound-in-thin-plastic 33⅓ rpm audio recordings of computer data, to be played on a turntable and dubbed onto an audio cassette. It was also possible to load them into the computer directly if the record player were connected to the computer's cassette (analog signal) input port.
Flexi discs or soundsheets often were provided by music publishers to their customers, frequently school band and orchestra directors,
marching bandMarching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
and
drum corpsA drum and bugle corps, also known as a drum corps, is a musical marching unit consisting of brass instruments, percussion instruments, and color guard. Typically operating as independent non-profit organizations, drum corps perform in competitions, parades, festivals, and other civic functions...
leaders and others, with their printed catalogs of
sheet musicSheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
. The director could then hear a sample recording of the piece as they looked at an excerpt from the musical score.
PaperPaper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
records were pioneered in the 1930s by
Hit of the Week RecordsHit of the Week Records was a record label based in the United States of America in the early 1930s. Distinctively, "Hit of the Week"s were made not of shellac as was usual for gramophone record of the era, but of a patented blend of paper and resin called Durium...
and
Durium RecordsDurium Records was the name of two United Kingdom-based record labels.-Durium :Durium Records was a United Kingdom-based record label of the 1930s. Its product and marketing were similar to that of the United States record company Hit of the Week Records...
. Laminated
cardboard recordCardboard records were a type of cheaply-made phonograph record made of plastic-coated thin paperboard. These discs were usually small, had poor audio quality compared to vinyl or acetate discs, and were often only marginally playable due to their light weight, slick surface, and tendency to warp...
s have also been produced as promotional materials, most notably on the backs of cereal boxes in the late 1960s.
"Melody Cards" were popular in the late 1950s. These took the form of an oversized rectangular postcard with the usual address and greeting space on one side and an illustration on the other. The illustration was overlaid with a transparent plastic material into which have been embossed the grooves for the recording which was usually musical as the name implies. They typically played at 45 rpm. It was not recommended to write on them with a ball point pen, but these were not all that common at the time.
Chocolate has even been used to produce promotional recordings that could be eaten once the record had been played, although the lifetime of the records would have been remarkably low - perhaps two to three plays. Contamination of the stylus, and, if it were not thoroughly cleaned, of other records afterward, would also be a concern.
Unusual speeds
8 RPM 7-inch- This recording format was developed sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind. One record holds 4 hours of speech. The format was later used to distribute magazines on ten-inch "flexible discs" recorded at 8⅓ RPM. These discs were made of thin plastic and were literally flexible, similar to an overhead transparency sheet. The first magazine to be circulated widely in the flexible disc format to blind individuals was
U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
. The National Library Service for the Blind ceased using analog discs as a format for audio book and magazine distribution in 2001.
16⅔ RPM — This speed was used almost exclusively for spoken word content, in particular for the "talking books" used by the visually impaired, though it was also employed in the
Seeburg 1000The Seeburg 1000 Background Music System is a phonograph designed and built by the Seeburg Corporation to play background music from special 16 RPM vinyl records in offices, restaurants, retail businesses, factories and similar locations. It provided a service similar to that of Muzak.- Phonograph...
Background Music System. For this reason, the inclusion of a 16⅔ speed setting on turntables was compulsory in some countries for many years, despite the records themselves being a rarity. Cassette tapes proved to be a far more popular format for such spoken content. Chrysler's short-lived
Highway Hi-FiHighway Hi-Fi was a system of proprietary players and seven-inch phonograph records with standard LP center holes designed for use in automobiles...
format also used 16⅔ 7"s.
Some manufacturers of very low-speed discs such as Highway Hi-Fi used shallow and narrow "ultra-microgrooves", requiring a 0.25 mil stylus - modern styluses of 0.7-1.0 mil will damage these fine grooves.
Prior to 1930 (particularly before 1925), a number of proprietary formats existed, with recordings made at speeds anywhere from 60 to 130 RPM (although most were between 72 and 82 rpm). Even 78 RPM was not initially a worldwide standard, as American records were often recorded at 78.26 rpm and European records were often recorded at 77.92 rpm.
Edison Disc RecordThe Edison Disc, also known as a Diamond Disc record, was a type of audio disc record marketed by Edison Records from 1912 to 1929. They were known as Diamond disc because the reproducer fitted to the matching Edison disc player was fitted with a diamond stylus...
s were different: always running at 80 rpm and being vertically cut, ¼ inch thick with a core of
wood flourWood flour is finely pulverized wood that has a consistency fairly equal to sand or sawdust, but can vary considerably, with particles ranging in size from a fine powder to roughly the size of a grain of rice. Most wood flour manufacturers are able to create batches of wood flour that have the...
and, later, china clay.
A small number of 78 RPM microgroove vinyl recordings have been issued by smaller and underground performers, mainly as novelty items, from the 1970s to the present. Recently the
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
singer
Duke SpecialDuke Special, real name Peter Wilson, is a songwriter and performer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A piano-based songwriter with a romantic style and a warm, distinctly accented voice, he has a distinctive look, with his long dreadlocks, eyeliner and outfits he describes as "hobo chic"...
has released a number of ten inch EPs in 78 RPM.
In the late 1930s, the company now known as
PhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
Electronics introduced a constant linear velocity format prior to the standardised '78' where the RPM changed as the stylus traversed the record (unusually) from the centre to the edge. The actual playing speed, measured in inches-per-second as tape speed is measured was shown as a letter between 'A' and 'D'.
This centre-to-edge format would regain popularity in the 1940s and 1950s as an office-dictation format known as the
Gray AudographThe Gray Audograph was a dictation format introduced in 1945. It recorded sound by pressing grooves into soft vinyl discs , like the competing, but incompatible, SoundScriber...
or the CGS/Memovox format which combined the flexible-disc format with the inside-out recording format common to CD's today. Both machines recorded at a fixed pitch, but Grey Audograph could only record at one linear speed allowing 15 minutes per side of a 7-inch disc. The CGS or Memovox on the other hand, had a High Fidelity speed as well as a Speech speed, allowing over two hours of recording time per side on a 12-inch disc.
In the 1970s, Atlantic Records started producing a series of albums later designated on a label known as Syntonic Research. Each album consisted of one full side, usually at least half an hour long per side, of sounds recorded of various locations. One side would have ocean waves crashing against the shore, the other would have the sounds of birds chattering away in an aviary, another would have frogs, crickets and birds making their usual vocalizations that were heard in the early morning hours of a swamp or lake. There were a few dozen made. These were mostly used for soundscape or relaxation purposes. At least one such side, particularly the ocean side, listed the playing speed as anywhere from 8 RPM to 130 RPM, depending on the desired effect of the person playing the record.
Unusual playing times
LP records rarely exceeded 45 minutes per disc, with a limit in the early years of 52 minutes, due to mastering issues. eventually, some records exceeded even the 52-minute limitation, with single albums going to as long as ninety minutes in the case of
Arthur FiedlerArthur Fiedler was a long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specializes in popular and light classical music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...
's 1976 LP 90 Minutes with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, made by
Radio ShackRadio shack is a slang term for a room or structure for housing radio equipment.-History:In the early days of radio, equipment was experimental and home-built. The first radio transmitters used a noisy spark to generate radio waves and were often housed in a garage or shed. When radio was first...
. However, such records had to be cut with much narrower spacing between the grooves, which allowed for a much smaller amount of dynamic range on the records, and meant that playing the record with a worn needle could damage the record. It also resulted in a much quieter sound. (Other notably long albums included the UK version of
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
' Aftermath, with both sides exceeding 26 minutes in length; Genesis'
DukeDuke is the tenth studio album by British band Genesis, released in March 1980.-Overview:The release of Duke followed solo albums by Genesis members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford ....
, with both sides exceeding 27 minutes;
Bob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's 1976 album Desire, with side two being just shy of thirty minutes;
Brian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
's 1975 album
Discreet MusicDiscreet Music is an album by the British ambient musician Brian Eno. While No Pussyfooting may be his first ambient album and Another Green World features many ambient pieces, this is Brian Eno’s first purely ambient solo album...
, whose A-side exceeded 30 minutes;
Miles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
' 1972 album
Get Up with ItGet Up with It is an album collecting tracks recorded between 1970 and 1974 by Miles Davis. Released on November 22, 1974 as a double LP, it was Davis' last studio album before five years of retirement from music....
, totalling 124:15 over four sides;
Todd RundgrenTodd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
's 1975 album Initiation, totaling 67:32 over two sides, as well as his band Utopia's 1974
self-titled debut-Side One:-Side Two:-Personnel:* Todd Rundgren – guitar* Moogy Klingman – keyboards* Ralph Schuckett – keyboards* M. Frog Labat – synthesizers* John Siegler – bass and cello* Kevin Ellman – percussion-Extra Personnel:...
, totaling 59:17 over two sides, and his 1973 album
A Wizard, A True StarA Wizard, a True Star is a progressive rock recording by Todd Rundgren, released in 1973.The album, and especially the first side of the vinyl recording, is an extended medley after the fashion of the Beatles' late recordings; brief songs segue into one another, and the lyrics are frequently...
, whose second side nearly reaches thirty minutes; and
La Monte YoungLa Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
's Dream House 78' 17", whose two sides were each just under 40 minutes (the running time of the album is indeed 78:17)). Spoken word and comedy albums, not having a wide range of musical instrumentation to reproduce, can be cut with much narrower spacing between the grooves; for example,
The Comic StripThe Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents.... The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson and Jennifer Saunders, with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and...
, released by Springtime Records in 1981, has a side A lasting 38:04 and a side B lasting 31:08, for a total of 69:12.
Unusual holes
The vast majority of records used a standard small spindle hole. The main exception to this is the larger holes on 7" records (a.k.a. "45"s). This was partly due to
RCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
's wishing their system to be incompatible with
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
' system when microgroove vinyl discs were first introduced. The larger hole was also designed to be played on
jukeboxA jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
es, which mechanically place the record onto a turntable with a conical spindle of matching size at the base which is easier for a machine than it would be if standard-sized holes and spindles were used (with problems including breakages common with early 78-based jukeboxes).
Early on, some 78 rpm records had larger holes in marketing schemes that sold a phonograph cheaply, but required purchase of compatible discs at full-price.
Standard RecordsThe Standard Talking Machine Company was an American record label that was created in October 1901 and operated until March 1918. The Chicago, Illinois based company produced several models of phonographs from Columbia Records parts and issued single-sided and double-sided disc records from...
had a half-inch hole, Harmony Disc Records had a 3/4-inch center hole,
UnitedUnited Records operated in the years before World War I. The label was owned by the United Talking Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois, which produced the double-sided lateral cut disc records with an unusually large spindle hole , and wind-up phonographs with large spindles for playing the...
had a 1.5-inch hole and the largest,
AretinoAretino was a United States record label, in business from about 1907 to 1914.Aretino was started by Arthur J. O’Neill, who was linked to several Chicago-area record and phonograph operations. O’Neill named this company in honor of Guido Aretino, an 11th-century Italian monk...
, had a three-inch hole. This spindle format would be resurrected some 40 years later for the Holy Bible Old and New Testaments produced at 16 RPM by the Audio Book Company of St. Joseph Michigan. The rarest edition comes with a fibreboard insert to adapt the 3-inch hole of the vinylite discs to a standard phonograph hole.
Other records had more than one hole in the label area. Busy Bee, in a marketing scheme similar to Standard et. al. would employ a second cut-out area. This allowed the Busy Bee disc to also be played on a standard phonograph in addition to the proprietary format sold by the O'Neill-James Company.
Most 7" records in the USA continue to be pressed with a large hole (requiring an adaptor to be used on standard turntables). In other territories such as Europe, 7" records intended for home use have standard-sized holes. Many such 7" records had a center which could be easily snapped out, yielding a record with a larger hole to be used in jukeboxes or certain record-stacking players; this approach was common in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from the 1950s until the early 1980s, with standard, solid centres becoming gradually more common. Some 7" singles in the early-mid-1990s had large holes also, but this was a rarity.
Many blank
acetate discAn acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
s have multiple holes (usually three or four) intended to prevent slippage during cutting.
NONBoyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
's
Pagan MuzakPagan Muzak is a landmark industrial-noise 7" vinyl released by NON. The release was pressed with 17 tracks of locked grooves and includes an off center hole drilled for an alternate method of play.-Releases:...
(Gray Beat, 1978) is a one-sided 7" with multiple locked grooves and two center holes, meaning each locked groove can be played at two different trajectories as well as any number of speeds. The original release came with instructions for the listener to drill more holes in the record as they saw appropriate.
Multiple bands
Some records are cut with completely independent bands on the same side. In this case the bands are appear as separate tracks on the record and are not intertwined as with Parallel grooves (see below.) This has most often been used on educational records but is also sometimes used on discs of commercial Pop and Rock music. These individual bands need not be cut at the same speed. The second
Moby GrapeMoby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music...
album
Wow/Grape Jam-Side one:# "The Place and the Time" - 2:07# "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" - 2:58# "Bitter Wind" - 3:09...
(1968) has this setup. Following the fourth song on side one there is a spoken announcement telling the listener to change the speed from 33 to 78 to play the next band of the disc. In order to play the last song on the side the listener must pick up the stylus from the record, change the speed, then put the stylus at the start of the fifth and final song on side one.
The
GorillazGorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
debut albumGorillaz is the debut album by the British virtual band Gorillaz, released in March 2001. It includes the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today"...
, like the CD release, features the remix of "Clint Eastwood" as a bonus track but the LP has a recorded locked groove after what is meant to be the final track of the album so the needle has to be physically lifted and moved to play the bonus track.
This concept has been extended to the production of records consisting entirely of circular multiple bands to provide collections of infinite loop sound samples of duration limited to one revolution of the disc. Notable examples of this are the releases from RRRecords of the 7" RRR-100 (with 100 individual bands) and the 12" RRR-500 (with 500 bands) and RRR-1000 (with 1000 bands.)
Sound recorded in locked grooves
All records have a locked-groove at the end of each side or individual band. It is usually a silent loop which keeps the needle and tonearm from drifting into the label area. However, it is possible to record sound in this groove, and some artists have included looping audio in the locked groove. One of the best-known (and possibly the first) examples of this technique was
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
'
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
(1967.) Many U.K. copies featured a multi-layered collage of randomized chatter in its run-off loop. However, there were two variations made: the original British pressing (black label with gold logo) has the "Inner Groove" play through the entire locked groove and does not include the laughter at the beginning of the piece. The re-issue of the British pressing (black label with silver logo) starts playing the "Inner Groove" long before the needle reaches the locked groove, includes the laughter and, once the needle hits the locked groove, you only hear the last two seconds of the piece played over and over again.
The WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
responded by putting a musical locked groove at the end their 1967 album
The Who Sell Out-Track listing:All songs written by Pete Townshend except where noted. The between song jingles apparently have no official titles and are not listed anywhere on the original album packaging, though they are listed in the inner booklet of the 1995 remaster.Side one...
.
On
The FormatThe Format was an American indie rock band formed by Arizona natives Nate Ruess and Sam Means. The band announced a hiatus on February 4, 2008. Their style can be considered a mixture of indie, alternative, punk and folk music, with elements of 1960s and 1970s pop music...
's album
Dog ProblemsDog Problems is the second album and fourth release by American rock band, The Format. It was released on July 11, 2006, on The Vanity Label, The Format's own record label through their management company, Nettwerk. An MP3 version of Dog Problems leaked to the internet almost two months before its...
, the feedback at the end of "If Work Permits" continues into the lock-groove, which repeats. Early copies of
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's album
Atom Heart MotherAtom Heart Mother is the fifth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in 1970 by Harvest and EMI Records in the United Kingdom and Harvest and Capitol in the United States. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, England, and reached number one in the United...
have the sound of a dripping tap repeating at the end of side two. The B-side of The Damned's single
Love Song"Love Song" is a single by The Damned.It was the first fruit of the reformed line-up's deal with Chiswick Records, boosted by four variant picture sleeves, each one featuring a member of the band, with an additional 20,000 copies pressed on red vinyl - 5,000 for each sleeve...
ends the song Suicide with an eternal yell in the lock-groove.
Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
's second album (also known as Scratch),
The Boomtown RatsThe Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...
's album
The Fine Art Of SurfacingThe Fine Art of Surfacing was The Boomtown Rats' third album and contained the hit-single releases, "I Don't Like Mondays", "Diamond Smiles" and "Someone's Looking at You." "I Don't Like Mondays" b/w "It's All the Rage" was released in June 1979, and hit #1 in late July in the UK in the same year...
and The Dead Kennedys album
Plastic Surgery DisastersPlastic Surgery Disasters is the second album released by the Dead Kennedys. It has been reissued with the EP In God We Trust, Inc., which are the last eight tracks on the CD. The cover photo is "Hands" by photographer Michael Wells. The same photo was used by other San Francisco based punk band...
also utilize the technique. Sonic Youth's 1986 album EVOL contains a locked groove at the end of the final track, "Expressway to yr. Skull (Madonna, Sean, and Me)" and the track's length is indicated on the label as ∞.
The debut album by The James Gang has a locked groove at the end of each side, with the inner spiral on Side One leading to the inner groove with the spoken phrase "Turn Me Over", and the inner spiral of Side Two leading to the inner groove with the spoken phrase "Play Me Again".
On the Ralph Records release "Songs For Swinging Larvae" by Renaldo And The Loaf, the last song continues into the inner spiral and into the inner groove with a loop of a male voice providing a spoken percussion effect of "boom boom crash crash", which, however, when it reaches the inner groove is not strictly in the same 4/4 rhythm, being more in 5/8 ("boom boom crash crash [crash]") This motif reappears (in strict 4/4 rhythm again) in the lead-in groove opening Side Two of the album, which then leads to the first selection on that side.
Another example of recorded locked groove record is
Godspeed You! Black EmperorGodspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated from Montreal, Quebec in 1994...
's debut album
F#A#∞F♯ A♯ ∞ is the debut album of the Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was released twice, first in 1997 by Constellation Records and then again on 8 June 1998, by Kranky as an expanded edition that ran for 63:27...
. At the end of the song "Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful..." there is a string phrase recorded on the locked groove. The title's "infinity" refers to this phrase. The
StereolabStereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
album Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements ends with the song 'Lock Groove Lullaby' which, as the name suggests, extends into the locked groove.
NailNail is a Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel album released by Self Immolation/Some Bizzare in 1985. It was initially released in the US by Homestead Records in 1985 and later by Thirsty Ear in 1995...
by
Scraping Foetus Off The WheelFoetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...
(1985) features a recorded lock groove on the final song ("Anything") which results in the final note of the album slowly repeating itself.
Portugal. The ManPortugal. The Man is an American psychedelic rock band based in Portland, Oregon, but originally from Wasilla, Alaska. The group released their first two albums with Fearless Records. They also released material on their own imprint Approaching AIRballoons through indie label Equal Vision Records...
's 2008 album
Censored ColorsCensored Colors is the third full length album from Alaskan experimental rock band Portugal. The Man. The album was released through a partnership with Equal Vision Records on September 16, 2008...
contains a locked groove at the end of the first disc repeating the words "turn me over". The second side of the live
King CrimsonKing Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
album, USA has a locked groove that contains the first few seconds of applause after they finish playing "21st Century Schizoid Man". The first
Kissing the PinkKissing the Pink are a British dance/synth pop group from London, England. Members included Nick Whitecross, John Hall, George Stewart, Josephine Wells, Pete Barnett, Sylvia Griffin, Steve Cusack, and Simon Aldridge.-Career:...
album, Naked, features a recorded locked groove at the end of side one which continuously plays the last note of "The Last Film". The
Otto Von SchirachOtto von Schirach is an IDM and breakcore artist from Miami, Florida. He is of Cuban/German descent.He has released most of his work on the Schematic and Beta Bodega labels, and was featured in the 2002 documentary Electro-Dziska....
album "Pukology" is pressed on two 7 inch colored discs (one yellow, one transparent brown), all 4 sides end in recorded locked grooves. One side ends with repeated burping, one side ends with repeated toilet flushing, one side ends with what sounds like tape/record scratching, and one side ends with repeated vomiting.
Welsh band
Super Furry AnimalsSuper Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
released the album
Rings Around The WorldRings Around the World is the fifth studio album and the major label debut by Super Furry Animals. Released on 23 July 2001 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom, it was the first album by any artist to be simultaneously released on both audio CD and DVD...
as a 3-record set on
Epic RecordsEpic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
. Sides 1, 2 and 4 played normally. Side 3 played from the inside out and side 5 was on a 7" single. The side consisted of one recorded groove in the center of the record and was a perfectly timed loop of the music for a non-album song called, "All The Shit U Do".
Canada's Legion Of Green Men took the art further creating several records and remixes containing what they called Eternal Opuscules, rhythmic tunes and songs which would play seamlessly to a recorded locked groove at the end of a side.
There are also many Techno records featuring loops as recorded locked grooves, which, when recorded at 133⅓ bpm and are replayed at 33⅓ rpm, will continuously repeat the beats and musical phrases, which can then be utilized by a DJ. Warp20, the 20th anniversary box set from
Warp RecordsWarp, commonly referred to as Warp Records, is a pioneering independent British record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the more enduring artists in electronic music....
, features two 10" locked groove albums, each containing 20 looped tracks from the record label's most popular artists. Both album sleeves contain correct turntable pitch speed settings for each track. Another example is
Luke SlaterLuke Slater is an English electronic musician, DJ and record producer, who has concentrated on techno since the beginning of the 1990s....
's "Diesel Drudge", from his 1994 EP Planetary Funk Vol 4, which also ends in a locked groove.
The first known hit single to have a recorded locked groove is "Muskrat Love" by Capt & Tennille. A few years later, in December 1975, a British artist known as Chris Hill did a break-in record (see
Dickie GoodmanRichard Dorian "Dickie" Goodman was an American music producer.-Career:In June 1956 Goodman created his first record, "The Flying Saucer", which he co-wrote with his partner Bill Buchanan, and featured a four-minute rewriting of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio show...
or
Bill BuchananBill Buchanan was an American songwriter.-Career:His most famous composition took place in 1956, when he and Dickie Goodman created the sound collage "The Flying Saucer." After Buchanan and Goodman severed their partnership in 1959, Buchanan later wrote the song "Please Don't Ask About Barbara"...
) called, "Renta Santa" on
PhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
6006-491 that included a recorded locked groove at the end of the side.
Sound recorded in lead-in grooves
Nearly all gramophone records also have lead-in grooves at the outer edge of the record (i.e. before the first song) in order to make it easier to place the stylus before the start of the first song. Like with the recorded locked groove at the end, it is possible to record sound into the lead-in groove. King Crimson's USA (mentioned above) has this feature.
George HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
's Wonderwall Music also starts in the lead-in groove. Also: the Dead Kennedy's Plastic Surgery Disasters. Many Telarc classical LP's began the music near the end of the lead-in groove to avoid pre-echo (caused by wide groove modulations following a number of closely spaced silent grooves).
Parallel grooves
Also known as concentric grooves, it is possible to master recordings with two or more separate, interlaced spiral grooves on a side. Such records have occasionally been made as novelties. Victor made one as early as 1901. Depending on where the needle is dropped in the lead-in area, it will catch more or less randomly in one of the grooves. Each groove can contain a different recording, so that you have a record which "magically" plays one of several different recordings. Victor marketed a couple of 10" 78's with two concentric grooves (called 'Puzzle Record'). Columbia also issued a few 10" 78's in 1931 with concentric grooves for their cheap Harmony, Clarion and Velvet Tone labels. In the blank edge of the record, there was a stamp 'A' and 'B', which indicated where each of the concentric grooves started.
In 1975 Ronco UK released a parallel groove game called "They're Off", which featured four 12" discs each containing eight possible outcomes on a horse race. It featured Noel Whitcomb, a well-known horse-racing commentator of the day and the game revolved around betting which "horse" would win the race on that occasion. This appears to have been based on a Canadian product called "They're at the Post" by Maas Marketing, which is more or less the same game with different recordings on the discs to reflect the target market.
A more recent example is
Monty PythonMonty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
's
Matching Tie and HandkerchiefFree Record Given Away with the Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief, later shortened to simply The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief, is the fourth album by the comedy group Monty Python, released in 1973.-Cover and Packaging:...
. Also
ToolTool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
's 1992 EP release,
OpiateOpiate is an EP by American rock band Tool. It was produced and engineered by Sylvia Massy and former Minor Threat bassist Steve Hansgen. Released in 1992, it was the result of some two years of the band playing together after their formation in 1990. "Opiate" preceded Tool's first full-length...
featured on the second side a double groove that would either play the first track of side two or the hidden song that was found at the end of the CD version. In 2005 a 7" single titled "The Road Leads Where It's Led" by
The Secret MachinesThe Secret Machines are a three-piece American alternative rock band. Originally from Dallas, Texas before moving to New York City, they describe their band as space rock. The original lineup consisted of two brothers, Brandon and Benjamin Curtis, and Josh Garza...
was released in UK, that contained both tracks on one side on parallel grooves. The Summer 1980 issue of Mad Magazine Super Special included a one-sided sound sheet (see "flexidisc" above), playable on a standard turntable. It had eight interlaced grooves, each track having the same introduction song but a different ending. In the 1980s, Rhino Records re-released the Henny Youngman comedy album as a series of concentric grooves. Each side of the album has at least 6 grooves. In the 1980s, the band, Pink Slip Daddy released a 10-inch single called, "LSD", on clear pink vinyl with pink glitter inside the vinyl. One side of the single had one song that played from inside out and, on the other side, there were two songs that were pressed as concentric grooves. Many of
The ShinsThe Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
' 7" records have Parallel grooves. (Such as their 2007 single "
Phantom Limb"Phantom Limb" is a song by American indie rock band The Shins, and is the fourth track on their third album Wincing the Night Away. The song was also released as the first single from that album in the United States on November 14, 2006 as a digital download and a week later on CD. On January 22,...
", which has "Nothing at All" and "Split Needles (Alt. Version)" on the b-side.) The band None of Your @#$%&! Business released a one-sided 7" called "Escapes from Hell" (side 2 has a groove, but there is no audio encoded in the groove), with 2 grooves that started from the center and ended on the outside of the disc. One groove ran at 45rpm, while the other ran at 33rpm. UK punk rocker,
Johnny MopedJohnny Moped were a mid 1970s English punk rock group from south London, who once had Chrissie Hynde and Captain Sensible within their ranks.-Biography:...
's debut album Cycledelic has a lead track with a parallel groove listed on the label as "0. Mystery Track", which runs parallel to the track. The 12" single for rap group
De La SoulDe La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
's 1989 song
Me Myself and I"Me Myself and I" is a single by De La Soul, released in 1989.It established the group's characteristic style of combining hip hop with humor and social commentary. The group's frustration concerning their forced-upon hippie label is addressed in the typically dry humor which became the De La Soul...
has 2 different tracks in a parallel groove on the B-side. One groove has the Oblapos remixes of "Me Myself and I", while the other has "Brain Washed Follower".
Inside-to-outside recording
Almost all analog disc recordings were recorded at constant angular speed, resulting in a decreasing linear speed toward the disc center. The result was increased "end-groove distortion" toward the center of the disc, particularly on loud passages. Since classical music tends to start quietly and mount to a loud climax, it was frequently suggested that it would be better if recordings were made to play from the center of the disk outward. A few such recordings were made, but the domination of record changers, and the fact that
symphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
movements are not uniformly twenty minutes long, made these recordings no more than curiosities. In the late 1920s and early 1930s some movie studios experimented with records as an alternative method for recording film sound. Most of these records "played from the inside out" as this supposedly made it easier to synchronize the sound on the record with the pictures on the film. Nevertheless synchronization difficulties meant that "sound on film" techniques (using optical or magnetic soundtracks) were more commercially successful despite inferior sound quality. A famous scene in MGM's
Singin' in the RainSingin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...
depicts this.
Until the 1920s, French Pathé Records used inside start and other commercially distinctive grooving. At that time they cut all discs vertically, meaning the vibrations in the grooves were "hill and dale", as their wax cylinders had always been. The records required a special sapphire stylus and a vertically responsive reproducer for playback.
Inventor Thomas Edison, who always favored the cylinder for all its advantages, also cut his discs with vertically modulated grooves from their introduction in 1912 until a year or two before his company's demise in 1929 (
Edison Disc RecordThe Edison Disc, also known as a Diamond Disc record, was a type of audio disc record marketed by Edison Records from 1912 to 1929. They were known as Diamond disc because the reproducer fitted to the matching Edison disc player was fitted with a diamond stylus...
s). Edison pioneered fine groove discs that played for up to five minutes per 10-inch side; they were very thick to remain perfectly flat and played back with a precision-ground diamond stylus. A commercially unsuccessful extension of the system introduced grooves nearly twice as fine as those of microgroove LPs, yielding playing times of up to 20 minutes per side at 80 RPM and again requiring a special diamond stylus. Even more than with Pathé discs, Edison's vertical-cut records called for specially designed equipment for playback.
To play these or other vertical-cut recordings on modern equipment, one must reconnect a stereo pick-up cartridge such that it picks up a "cross-phased" signal, and switch the sound output to mono.
In 1977,
Mercury RecordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
released a pair of dealer-only promotional LPs called Counter-Revolutions (samplers of various Mercury popular artists at the time) which played from the inside-out and had a locking groove at the disc's edge.
Later, in 1985
Memory RecordsMemory Records is an Italo Disco record label in Italy.-History:It was founded in 1983 by Alessandro Zanni in association with Stefano Cundari . Since the very beginning, Memory Records took a special care for the instrumental synthesizer productions, launching artists such as Hipnosis, Koto, and...
in Germany released a limited-edition version of the
Italo DiscoItalo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
hit Talking To The Night by Brian Ice that played from the edge of the label outwards.
In 1993, American metal band Megadeth released a single "Sweating Bullets", on 12" blue vinyl with both sides running from the inside of the disk outwards.
In 1994, An unusual 12" came out on a now famous electronica label called Basic Channel, it released Cyrus - Inversion with one side that played inside out. details : http://www.discogs.com/Cyrus-Inversion/release/2165
In 1998, American
hardcore punkHardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
band
DropdeadDropdead is a hardcore punk band based in Providence, Rhode Island. Dropdead has been active in the punk scene since 1991. Dropdead tends to address subjects such as animal rights, pacifism, and anti-authoritarianism. The band members are supporters of the ALF.Their name is derived from the demo of...
released their second untitled album, the A side of which plays inside out.
Early multiple track (i.e., stereophonic) format
Before the development of the single-groove
stereoSTEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
system circa 1957, at least three companies,
Cook RecordsCook Records was a record label founded by Emory Cook . Cook was an audio engineer and inventor. From 1952 to 1966, Cook used his Sounds of our Times and Cook Laboratories record labels to demonstrate his philosophy about sound, his recording equipment, and his manufacturing techniques.- Recording...
, Livingston Audio Products, and
Atlantic RecordsAtlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, released a number of "binaural" recordings. These were not created using
binaural recordingBinaural recording is a method of recording sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actually being in the room with the performers or instruments. This effect is often created using a technique known as "Dummy head...
techniques, but rather, one side of each record consisted of two long, continuous tracks — one containing the left channel, and the other containing the right channel. It was intended that the buyer purchase an adapter from Cook Laboratories or a tonearm from Livingston that allowed two cartridges to be mounted together, with the proper spacing, on a single tone arm. Over 50 records were released using this format.
Quadraphonic formats
QuadraphonicQuadraphonic sound – the most widely used early term for what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another...
records present four channels of audio, requiring specialized pickups and decoding equipment to reproduce the two additional channels' signals from the groove.
Vibration-resistant discs
Highway Hi-FiHighway Hi-Fi was a system of proprietary players and seven-inch phonograph records with standard LP center holes designed for use in automobiles...
was a system of proprietary records and players designed for use in automobiles, utilizing a slower play speed and high stylus pressure.
Unusual appearance
Coloured vinyl
Unusual colors, and even multi-colored shellac first appeared in the 1910s on such labels as
Vocalion RecordsVocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
.
When RCA Victor launched the 7" 45 rpm record, they initially had eight musical classifications (pop, country, blues, classical, children's, etc.) each with not only its own uniquely colored label but with a corresponding color vinyl. According to experts at the Sarnoff Center in Princeton, NJ, the cost of maintaining eight vinyl colors became too high, but the different colored labels were continued, at least for popular music (black) and classical (red, as in "Red Seal"). In October 1945, RCA Victor put on the market its first "non-breakable" phonograph records. Made of a ruby-red, translucent vinyl resin plastic, they cost twice as much ($2 per disc) as the 12-inch Victor Red Seal. In the 1960s, a distinction was made in label colors of promotional copies of 45 rpm records as well, with pop music being issued on yellow labels and country on light green.
In the 1970s, such gimmicks started to reappear on records, especially on 7" and 12" singles. These included using colored acetate instead of black vinyl. Available colors included clear, transparent white, red, blue, yellow and multi-hued. A transparent 12" of
QueenQueen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's The Invisible Man was released, and
FaustFaust are a German krautrock band. Formed in 1971 in Wümme, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with record producer Uwe Nettelbeck and engineer Kurt Graupner.-History:Faust...
released their
debut album-Personnel:*Werner "Zappi" Diermaier – Drums*Hans Joachim Irmler – Organ*Arnulf Meifert – Drums*Jean-Hervé Péron – Bass*Rudolf Sosna – Guitar and keyboards*Gunter Wüsthoff – Synthesiser and sax-Sound and art work:*Kurt Graupner – Engineer...
with transparent vinyl and cover in 1971. In the 1980s. The
SkaSka |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
band
Bad MannersBad Manners are an English 2 Tone ska band. They quickly became the novelty favourites of the UK pop scene through their bald outsized frontman's on-stage antics, earning early exposure through their Top of The Pops exploits and an appearance in the live film documentary, Dance Craze.They were at...
released a single on
Magnet RecordsMagnet Records was a record label started in 1973 by Michael Levy and acquired by Warner Bros. Records in 1988 for an estimated £10m.Artists on the label included Alvin Stardust, Matchbox, Adrian Baker, Silver Convention, Guys 'n' Dolls, Darts, Kissing the Pink, Bad Manners, David D'Or, Blue Zoo...
called, "Sampson And Delilah" that was pressed on clear vinyl, with a clear label and clear print on the label and it came in a clear sleeve. Some recordings were released in several different colors, in an effort to sell the same product to one person multiple times, if they were of the collecting bent. Currently, it is common practice for
hardcore punkHardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
to release records of different colors at the same time, and press a smaller number of one color than the other. This has created a culture of hardcore record collecting based on having the same release multiple times, each copy with a different and more rare color.
In 1972, the Kingdom of Bhutan released several unusual
postage stampA postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s that were playable plastic phonograph records. These miniature 33⅓ RPM recordings feature either regional music or tourism information. While they are sought-after as novelty postage stamps, they were not practical for postage use because of their size, and cancellation damaged the grooves, rendering them unplayable. Also, the small circumference of many of the stamps made them unplayable on turntables with automatic return tonearms.
The 1977 release of the 45rpm single of "
Strawberry Letter 23"Strawberry Letter 23" is a song written by Shuggie Otis, although known most prominently by the version recorded by The Brothers Johnson. Otis wrote the song for a girlfriend who used strawberry-scented paper when she wrote letters to him. George Johnson of The Brothers Johnson was dating one of...
" by The Brothers Johnson was produced by
A&M RecordsA&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
with a slightly pink center label (as opposed to the usual buff color that A&M uses), and had strawberry scent embedded into the plastic to make the record give off the odor of strawberries.
Adrian SnellAdrian Snell is an English pianist, keyboard player, singer and composer.-Biography:Classically trained at the Leeds College of Music and with a music diploma to his name , Adrian's musical career spans twenty-five years. During this time he has produced six major concept works and thirteen solo...
's 1979 album, "Something New Under the Sun" was produced on opaque yellow vinyl, in reference to the name of the album.
KraftwerkKraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
released a 12" single of "Neon Lights", made of
glow-in-the-darkPhosphorescence is a specific type of photoluminescence related to fluorescence. Unlike fluorescence, a phosphorescent material does not immediately re-emit the radiation it absorbs. The slower time scales of the re-emission are associated with "forbidden" energy state transitions in quantum...
plastic.
PenetrationPenetration is a punk rock band from County Durham, England formed in 1976. They re-formed in 2001 with several new members.Their debut single, "Don’t Dictate", is now acknowledged as a classic punk rock single and their debut album, Moving Targets , is still widely admired-Biography:The lead...
released a luminous vinyl limited edition of the album Moving Targets in 1978 and the "Translumadefractadisc" (Han-O-Disc) punk sampler picture disc (which had a silk screened luminous ink under the litho on Mylar film image of Medusa) was released by The Label (U.K) in 1979. The Foo Fighter's debut single 'This Is A Call' was available on 12" glow-in-the-dark vinyl, and
Luke VibertLuke Vibert is a British recording artist and producer known for his work in many subgenres of electronic music. Vibert began his musical career as a member of the Hate Brothers, only later branching out into his own compositions...
also released a glow-in-the-dark 11" EP in 2000. In late 2010 - early 2011,
dubstepDubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in south London, England. Its overall sound has been described as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals"....
artist Skrillex released a limited 500 copy run of his EP
Scary Monsters And Nice SpritesScary Monsters and Nice Sprites is the second EP by electronic music producer Skrillex, released on October 22, 2010, on Beatport, on December 20, 2010, on other online retailers, and on March 1, 2011, as a physical CD release....
on 12" glow-in-the-dark vinyl.
The
CanadianCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
pressing of
DevoDevo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
's
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the debut album by the American new wave music band Devo. Produced by Brian Eno, it was recorded primarily in Cologne, Germany and released in the U.S. by Warner Bros. Records company in 1978....
album featured spattered-color vinyl, with a grey/white marbled base with splashes of color on the top of that. The
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pressing came in multiple (solid) colors of vinyl and a picture disc edition that came with a flexi-disc (the
USThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
edition, however, was plain black).
IsisIsis was a Los Angeles, California-based post-metal band, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2010...
released their first EP Red Sea on tri-coloured vinyl. Divided like a pie, one third was red, one third was black, and one third was tan/gold. Other bands have released records with 2 colours, divided down the middle.
Electronic artist
Isao Tomita, often known simply as Tomita, is a Japanese music composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements...
issued a coral or peach vinyl disc of The Bermuda Triangle, on RCA Red Seal.
Alternative artist
The Dandy WarholsThe Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994. The band was founded by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström, with keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford later joining. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by...
have been known to release all their 7" singles on different colour vinyl records, and also their LP's. An uncolored, clear, limited release version of their album 'The Dandy Warhols Come Down' was available at the record stores in the band's hometown in 1997.
Picture discs
Picture discs debuted in the early 1930s, when various materials were used experimentally as gimmicks or for advertising. These early picture discs were simply a sheet of thin vinyl film which was placed over a thick paper print and then pressed with the grooves and had very poor sound quality.
Invented in the forties by Tom Saffady,
Vogue RecordsVogue Records was a short-lived United States based record label of the 1940s, noted for the artwork embedded in the records themselves. Founded in 1946 as part of Sav-Way Industries of Detroit, Michigan, the discs were initially a hit, because of the novelty of the colorful artwork, and the...
(picture discs) were manufactured in Detroit, Michigan, at Sav-Way Industries during 1946 and 1947 and sold for 50 to 75 cents each.
Following the introduction of colored vinyl, picture discs started to appear in the 1970s. The first 'modern' rock picture discs was British
progressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band
Curved AirCurved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
's first album,
Airconditioning-Side one:#"It Happened Today" – 4:55#"Stretch" – 4:05#"Screw" – 4:03#"Blind Man" – 3:32#"Vivaldi" – 7:26-Side two:...
, a UK issue (1970). The first commercially issued American picture disc is To Elvis: Love Still Burning, a collection of 11 Elvis tribute songs by various artists, issued in May 1978. Both sides of the album (Fotoplay FSP-1001) picture
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
Shaped discs
Shaped discs contain an ordinary grooved centre (typically the same as a standard 7") but with a non-grooved outer rim that can be cut to any shape that does not cut into the grooves. These oddly shaped records were frequently combined with picture discs (see above); a trend that was pushed particularly hard by UK record company branches in the mid-1980s. Curiously, uncut test pressings of shaped discs in their original 12" form - with the clear vinyl surrounds still intact - are much more sought-after by collectors than the "regular" shapes themselves.
Screamo bands Jeromes Dream and
OrchidOrchid was a screamo band from Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Considered by many to be one of the pioneers of the "screamo" sound, Orchid combined this with a post-modern aesthetic, releasing several extended play and splits as well as three LPs...
released a split in the shape of a skull. The record was considered a 10". It spun at 45 RPM and was one sided. Some came in glow in the dark, some in blood red, and some black and white.
Some extreme examples required smaller grooving than standard 7" such as the single "Montana" by
John LinnellJohn Sidney Linnell is an American musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants...
(of the band
They Might Be GiantsThey Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
) which was in the shape of the USA. This record was problematic because record players whose tonearms returned automatically after the record finished playing often did just that before the needle actually reached the song.
Canadian hardcore punk bands Left For Dead and Acrid released a split LP on No Idea Records on July 31, 1997 as a saw-blade shaped vinyl record. When these spun on the record player, they resembled a spinning saw. Alternative rock band
Snow PatrolSnow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...
released a specially created web-shaped vinyl for the single "
Signal Fire"Signal Fire" is a song from alternative rock band Snow Patrol, appearing on the soundtrack of the film Spider-Man 3, released on 24 April, 30 April, 2 May and 14 May 2007, depending on the region. It was the only single released from the soundtrack. The song was initially offered to Shrek...
", a song which was used in the film
Spider-Man 3Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. It is the third film in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man...
.
Etched discs
Usually taking up a blank side of vinyl, rather than containing music, one side of a disc can be pressed with etched or embossed images. This can take the form of autographs, part of the artwork or logos.
Coheed and CambriaCoheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York. Formed in 1995, the group incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, metal and post-hardcore....
released their fourth album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow with Side IV having etched artwork on it incorporating the band's logo. The "B side" of
Dinosaur JrDinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005...
's cover of
The CureThe Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
's "
Just like Heaven"Just Like Heaven" is a song by the British alternative rock band The Cure. The group wrote most of the song during recording sessions in southern France in 1987. The lyrics were written by the band's frontman Robert Smith, who drew inspiration from a past trip to the sea shore with his future wife...
" has a bas-relief "sculpture" embossed on its surface.
Although these etchings cannot be seen while the record is playing, some are pressed on clear vinyl so the etchings can be seen from both sides. An example of this is the 1997 7" of "Freeze the Atlantic" by Cable which has etched fish.
The Japanese rock band
Borisis a Japanese experimental rock band, known for often combining and switching between different music genres including drone metal, sludge metal, noise rock, psychedelic rock, ambient and pop...
(known for their unique LPs; their 2006 album Pink was released on pink vinyl) pressed their 2006 album, Vein, on transparent vinyl with etched artwork on the outer two inches of the record. This causes problems with auto-start phonographs, as the actual grooves of music do not start where the needle is designed to drop. This can cause damage to the needle and record artwork.
Finnish electronica group Huminoida released a 7 inch called Self-titled, which B-side was hand carved by the band members. It was limited to 300 unique copies.
The 1980 A&M Records LP of Split Enz's album True Colours was remarkable not only for its multiple cover releases (in different color patterns), but for the laser-etching process used on the vinyl. The logo from the album cover, as well as other shapes, were etched into the vinyl in a manner that, if hit by a light, would reflect in polychromatic colors. This laser etching does not affect the playing grooves. This same process was also used for the 45 single of the band's song "One Step Ahead" from the album Waiata.
The 1981 A&M Records LP of
StyxStyx is an American rock band that became famous for its albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Chicago band is known for melding the style of prog-rock with the power of hard rock guitar, strong ballads, and elements of American musical theater....
's album "Paradise Theatre" as was the case with the aforementioned Split Enz "True Colours" LP had a laser-etched design of the band's logo on side two.
The 1990 Mute XL12Bong18 release from
Depeche ModeDepeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
features "
Enjoy the Silence"Enjoy the Silence" is Depeche Mode's twenty-fourth UK single, released on 16 January 1990, and the second single from the then upcoming album Violator....
" The Quad: Final Mix on side A and the laser-edged image of a rose and a hand-drawn "DM" on side B.
The original soundtrack recording for the film
Superman IISuperman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
had a special edition with the Superman "S" shield logo etched five times on each side of the standard black vinyl album
See also
- Capacitance Electronic Disc
- Lenticular printing
Lenticular printing is a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles...
- List of picture discs
- Shaped CD
A shaped CD is a non-circular compact disc. Examples include business card CDs, CDs in the shape of a star, a map of a country, and more. These disks are usually made for marketing purposes and are properly read by most CD-ROM drives...
- Voyager Golden Record
The Voyager Golden Records are phonograph records which were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft, which were launched in 1977. They contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for...
External links