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Go for a spin Learn about vinyl’s origins, and how to join its MUSICAL re-revolution By Leslie Ventura
lassic and beloved as the output from vinyl’s 1960s and ’70s heyday might be, the era we’re living in now might actually be the best one for listening to music on vinyl. In a year when life has been anything but ordinary, playing music on a turntable has brought normalcy for many, helping us pass the time while connecting our present to the past. Whether you’re a new collector or considering becoming one, dive into this beginner’s guide to vinyl.
How it’s made
The process of making vinyl is actually pretty complicated. First, a “master disc” gets made. A sandeddown aluminum disc is coated with a nitrocellulose lacquer and is inspected for flaws. A hole is then punched in the center, and it’s moved to a machine called a lathe. Using a computer and software like ProTools, the source material (the audio) is played and cut into the disc using an extra-fine needle (typically made of crystal or sapphire). Once the grooves are made in the master disc, the manufacturer needs to make a “stamper,” or a negative disc with ridges instead of grooves. The disc gets coated in silver and then electroplated with nickel, which cause the grooves to protrude outward. The stamper is placed in a press and heated before stamping a vinyl “cake” that resembles a hockey puck. These are traditionally black but can be colored or completely transparent. The edges are trimmed, and the pressed vinyl goes on to be packaged and sold.
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HOW IT WORKS A record player has a needle, or stylus, made of extremely sharp stone (crystal, sapphire or diamond) that sits gently inside the grooves of a record as it spins—and those grooves are where recorded audio is stored. When the needle “reads” that information, it gets picked up and reproduced as sound through your speakers.
A brief history
In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the wax cylinder phonograph, which played wax tubes to produce sound. The record, which was originally made of shellac, was developed by Emile Berliner and eventually replaced cylinders in popularity. Early record players also included a hand crank, which required a person to manually turn the album to play it. Berliner and colleague Eldridge Johnson formed the Victor Talking Machine Company in New Jersey, which later became RCA Victor in 1929 after being purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). In 1930, RCA Victor unveiled its first commercial LP, or long-playing record. Records dominated the recording industry until 1988, when the CD passed vinyl record sales for the first time. But in the early 2000s, as MP3 and streaming music became commonplace, listeners began to return to vinyl in droves. In September 2019, Rolling Stone reported that new vinyl sales in the first half of the year ($224 million) were closing in on overtaking new CD sales ($248 million).
