The Early Sparks of Sound Recording Imagine a world where music was a fleeting experience, captured only in the moment. This changed with the advent of recorded music, a revolution that began with Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph in 1877. It was a groundbreaking device that used cylinders to…
Tag: history
The Evolution of Recorded Music
Continue Reading
From Shellac to Vinyl: The Transition from 78rpm to LP Records
Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve traced the history of recorded music from tinfoil, to wax cylinders, to shellac disks that typically spun at 78rpm. The name ’78rpm’ stems from the record’s rotation speed – 78 revolutions per minute, a pace that defined an era of audio…
Vintage Record Labels
Continue Reading
Prom Records
Prom Records has a distinct place in the history of music recording, particularly for its approach to producing cover versions of popular songs. Established in Newark, New Jersey, Prom was not just a record label but also a company under the larger umbrella of the Synthetic Plastics Company (SPC). SPC,…
The Evolution of Recorded Music
Continue Reading
Orthophonic Recording
Evolution of Recorded Music: The Rise of Orthophonic Recording The evolution of recorded music has been, to this point, a series of incremental advances: cylinders, to 7 inch disks, to mass production. The next major point in this evolution, however, is pivotal and more than just slightly incremental: the transition…
The Evolution of Recorded Music
Continue Reading
78 RPM Growth: Rise of the Victor Talking Machine Company
The Rise and Shine of the Victor Talking Machine Company This is the fourth in Blind Skeleton’s “History of Recorded Music” series. Last week’s episode was all about Berliner and his innovation of the circular disc format to record and play music, which we’re familiar with today as a vinyl…