Gramophone record

A gramophone record, (also phonograph record - often simply record) is an analog sound recording medium: a flat disc rotating at a constant angular velocity, with inscribed spiral grooves in which a stylus or needle rides. Analogue audio recording onto a disc was the main technology used for the storing of recorded sound for most of the 20th century. By 1988 digital media such as the compact disc surpassed the gramophone record in popularity, but gramophone records continue to be made (although in very limited quantities) into the 21st century, particularly for DJs doing live remixes and for local acts recording on small regional labels. Used records are still sold in decent numbers and remain a common part of many music collections. Most major releases still recieve a vinyl release, sometimes with bonus tracks and artwork.

Beyond the 1990s: Records versus the digital media

Groove recordings, first designed in the final quarter of the 19th century, held predominant sway for an impressive amount of time - just about a century. Even the technologies designed to supersede the record - reel tapes, the 8 track and the audio cassette - could not fully kill it. Only now, in the age of the CD and the MP3 player, has the record been fully replaced on a commercial level. Regardless, many personal collections still include large numbers of records, even among young people.

Related Topics:
8 track - Audio cassette

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Arguments about sound fidelity

Vinyl records continue to be manufactured and sold today, although it is considered to be a niche market comprised of audiophiles, collectors, and disc jockeys (DJs). Punk and hardcore bands also often produce their albums and singles on vinyl.

Related Topics:
Niche market - Audiophile - Collector - DJ - Punk - Hardcore

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In the early days of compact discs, vinyl records were still prized by audiophiles because of better reproduction of analog recordings; however, the drawback was greater sensitivity to scratches and dust. Early compact discs were perceived by some as screechy, distorting sounds on the high end, and not as "warm" as vinyl especially in recordings that require a wide dynamic range (e.g. classical recordings). This resulted in a slower acceptance of digital music in its early years by some listeners.

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Though digital audio technology has improved over the years, some audiophiles still prefer what they perceive as the warmer and more detailed sound of vinyl over the harsher sound of CDs. Some listeners were also disappointed by what they considered to be unfaithful remastering of analog recordings. The advent of higher-quality digital formats, notably SACD, offers the tantalizing possibility of combining the high-quality sound of the best analog recordings with the convenience and durability of the CD. Many artists still release recordings, in limited pressings, on vinyl.

Related Topics:
Digital audio - SACD

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The arguments about the superior quality of vinyl records are wide-ranging.

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Proponents of analog audio argue that, unlike CD audio, it is not affected by the sharp frequency cutoff and phase characteristics, including group delay, near the Nyquist frequency and the quantization noise of 16-bit linear quantization, but that analog recording has a more gradual frequency cutoff, and what they consider to be a more natural descent into the analog noise floor.

Related Topics:
Frequency cutoff - Nyquist frequency - Quantization noise - Noise floor

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Proponents of digital audio state that these differences are generally inaudible to normal human hearing, and the lack of clicks, hiss and pops from digital recordings greatly improved sound fidelity. They also state that more modern anti-aliasing filters and oversampling systems used in modern CD recordings greatly reduce the problems observed with early CDs.

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The "warmer" sound of analog records is generally believed on both sides of the argument to be an artifact of the dynamic harmonic distortion characteristic of vinyl recording. It is thought by supporters of digital audio that the fans of vinyl got so used to it they think it is actually a more "faithful" to the real sound, when it is actually the other way around. (This phenomenon of a preference for the sound of a beloved lower-fidelity technology is not new; a 1963 review of RCA Dynagroove recordings notes that "some listeners object to the ultra-smooth sound as ... sterile... such distortion-forming sounds as those produced by loud brasses are eliminated at the expense of fidelity. They prefer for a climactic fortissimo to blast their machines...")

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Nevertheless, critics of compact disc audio have observed that more recent digital audio systems are being designed to use higher sampling rates (for example, 96kHz) and finer quantization (for example 24 rather than 16 bits per sample), and state that this would not be being done if it did not bring some audible improvement to the output.

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Deejays

For DJs, mostly in the electronic dance music or hip hop genres, vinyl has another advantage over the CD: the direct manipulation of the medium. While with CDs or cassettes one normally has only indirect manipulation options (the play/stop/pause etc. buttons), with a record one can put the needle a few tracks farther in- or outwards and accelerate/decelerate the spinning or even reverse the direction (if the needle and record player is built to withstand it). However some professional CD players now have this capability.

Related Topics:
DJs - Electronic dance music - Hip hop - Cassettes - Record player

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ELP, a Japanese-based company, has developed a player that uses a laser instead of a needle to read vinyl discs. In theory, it eliminates the possibility of scratches and attendant degradation of the sound, but its expense limits use primarily to digital archiving of analog records.

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Various other laser-based turntables were tried during the nineties, but while a laser reads the groove very accurately, since it does not touch the record, the dust that vinyl naturally attracts due to static charge is not cleaned from the groove.

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