Tag: long play

Intro to the Classic Vinyl Listening Experience

Welcome to the Sound Exchange reference guide about vinyl records. On these pages we will explore any and all topics that are relevant to the enjoyment of vinyl records and specifically to the main goal of understanding and enhancing your own Classic Vinyl Listening Experience.

Topics will include the history of vinyl records, record care, record collecting, the equipment necessary for a proper listening experience, as well as what it requires of the listener to fully enjoy the Classic Vinyl Listening Experience.

The Emergence of Long Play (1948)

As I will define it, the Classic Vinyl Listening Experience began with the emergence of the 10” and 12”, 33 1/3 rpm, Long Play, Micro-Groove, Vinyl Record in 1948, and its smaller sibling, the 7” 45 rpm record, at about that same time.

I choose to start here because this is the technology that provided the two most important attributes of the listening experience that we seek: a sufficiently long playing time, and higher quality sound reproduction (High Fidelity).

Modern Long Play Records

Magical Mystery Tour

The modern long play, micro-groove record brought to the market had a tremendous impact on artistic creativity.

Artists were now free to create music that could last 20 minutes or longer, rather than just fill out a three-minute single.  And although classical music was never limited by time, virtually all “popular” music had to fit into four minutes or less to be commercially sale-able.