Vinyl Records - Part 1

Hello group!

Today I'd like to introduce you to the world of collecting vinyl records. This will be a multi-part presentation series, similar to the one about "The Brain" from 2 weeks ago. I'll try to spike your minds with some interest in vinyl records (or at least a bit of wisdom about them) .

In this here first part I'd like to cover the basic knowledge regarding this music medium.

You all probably know what a vinyl record is, but just to recap:

A vinyl record is a music storage medium, recorded on big round vinyl discs, which can then be played back on a turntable. A record has usually 2 sides and on each side there's a single groove that goes spirally from the beginning till the end of the side, which spans music tracks.

When playing, a turntable's stylus (also called a needle) is set onto the groove while the turntable's platter is spinning at a constant speed. The stylus picks-up the recorded audio signal from the record and sends it along the turntables arm, out of the turntable and into some kind of amplification equipment, so the music can be heard.

The question for today’s part is: “What kinds of vinyl records are there anyway?”

For starters, let’s classify the numerous instances and parameters of vinyl records:

1. Speed – there are 16,33,45 and 78 RPM (Rotation Per Minute) records

These are the speeds at which a record must be played on your turntable in order to properly listen to the recorded music. 16 and 78 RPM discs are very rare these days as (for the most part) they were made back in the days when vinyl was a ‘yet to be standarized’ format (up to the early 1950’s). 16 RPM is the rarest of the bunch (used usually just for recording speeches), while 78 RPM has a cult status of it’s own as even some modern DJ turntables have the capability of playing these records.

The most popular formats are 33 and 45 RPM discs.

2. Record size – 7,10 or 12 inches

As vinyl records are round, we denote their size through their diameter.

7 and 10 inch discs are the sizes most commonly used by the so called “single-play recordings” (SP for short), more commonly known as “singles”.

12 inch discs is the most common size for “long-play recordings” (LP for short).

What does LP and SP mean in practice? Read on.

3. Music time

This is the classification scheme that ties both the record’s size and playing speed. Why? Because the amount of music included on a vinyl disc strictly depends on those 2 factors. It’s quite a simple principle: the smaller the size and the higher the RPM speed, the faster the turntable’s needle will ride on the disc’s groove and the faster it will come to the end of the side.

The vague name of “long-play recording” simply means that you can play a recording for a “long time” (it became a pretty relative term in comparison to tape and CD time capabilities). LPs can cover up to about 25 minutes of music per side and as vinyl records are double-sided, an LP disc's music coverage can amount up to 50 minutes of music, although from my experience most LPs were released with up to 40-45 minutes of music. All LPs are 33 RPM speed records and have the size of 12 inches.

‘Single-play recordings’ on the other hand can’t be classified as easily as LPs are. SP means that a record can be played a “single time”, meaning that it mostly includes just one track/song for each side.

The most popular size format for SPs is the 7 inch one and most 7 inch records are of 45 RPM speed (although one can sometimes find 33 RPM singles too). These can amount up to approx. 6 minutes of music per side.

There are also 12 inch SPs, which are often called “Maxi singles”. These are mostly used in the case of songs (or a pair of tracks) which exceed the 6 minute limitation of 7 inch records. The play time here can amount up to approx. 12 minutes per side.

The 10 inch is the least-popular size for SPs. It can be considered as a bridge between the play time capabilities of 7 and 12 inch SPs.

4. Record material types

Most vinyl records have a black color, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the only form available.

4.1. Record companies sometimes release a limited batch of so called ‘”color vinyl” records.
These records can be purple, yellow, white, blue, grey, red, etc., a combination of colors or even transparent or fluorescent!

A yellow color vinyl record played on a turntable

Sound-wise, there should be no difference between color and regular vinyl recordings, although some people say that color vinyl is worse, because it’s often more prone to physical damage.

Nowadays, many music groups release their works on color vinyl and in most cases it’s not just a “limited series” anymore.

4.2. There are also vinyl records in the form of so called “picture discs”.

Picture discs simply include a picture or some form of art on it’s sides instead of the regular black color and because of that, such records often have a transparent cover (instead of a regular one) or are simply sold in a transparent record sleeve, without a cover. Most picture discs were very rare and limited releases, but they’re becoming increasingly popular nowadays.

Picture disc album released by Metallica

This concludes today’s part of my presentation series. I hope it wasn't too boring.

The next one will cover tips on buying vinyl records.