The invention of vinyl was no less complex than the invention of light bulbs, which replaced gas and oil lamps. Not everyone was enthusiastic about this invention, even at the dawn of its appearance. But the peculiarity of vinyl discs is that they developed in parallel with the machines that play them.

History of appearance

The history of sound recording dates back to the 16th century, when the first attempts to record sound were made with the help of mechanical instruments - musical toys and apparatus. At this time, these inventions also come to Russia. But the peak of the popularity of musical toys came in the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

The first device for recording and reproducing sound was designed by the American inventor Thomas Alva Edison in 1877. We now know this device as a phonograph.

The sound was recorded on a wax roller with a thin metal needle. But, naturally, such a sound could not be durable and of high quality. Despite this, many types of phonographs were developed at that time. By the way, our grandfathers still used improved phonographs up to the thirties.

In 1888, the German inventor E. Berliner created a gramophone - a real "miracle of the century"! Together with the gramophone, the era of mass culture and the history of the gramophone record begins. The first such plate was made of celluloid and is now kept in the US National Museum. Already in 1897, it was replaced by a disk made of shellac, soot and spar.

The emergence of the concept of "vinyl record"

The concept of "vinyl record" appeared only after the Second World War. At this time, record maker Columbia created new “long” records, which were made of vinylite. It was thanks to this technology that it became possible to record entire albums on a disc.

In 1934, the vinyl record gave popularity to the commentator Martin Blok, who, in between the news, inserted music from the records. For this new idea, his colleague Walter Winchell gave him the name "disc jockey". The impression was that the radio was broadcast from the ballroom. After that, the program became very popular.

Today vinyl records are a rarity. However, in the last decade, vinyl has become part of the youth subculture. It is a pity that they use it only for decoration, and not for listening to music.

When I initially got the idea to devote the material to Her Majesty to a gramophone record, I never imagined that while unwinding the tangle of history I would stumble upon such an abundance of exciting information. Indeed, in this world, everything is interconnected, one follows from the other, and more than a hundred years have passed since the first prototypes of today's DJ toys appeared. The history of the existence of the magic keeper of sounds is closely intertwined with devices for extracting it. It turned out that technological development continued almost all the time that the very concept of a plate exists. And here, in terms of disclosing the topic, there is simply a field that has not been plowed up (by us so far), so I will try to be as short as possible, otherwise the size of the material threatens to be indecently large.

HOW IT WORKS

Let's start with the basics - suddenly someone else does not know how sound is stored on a rough round. Before the disc becomes what we are used to seeing (and now, perhaps, there are already those who have never seen it), it is a blank with a knee-smooth surface, or, if you like, an unplowed field. And only after it is plowed on a special device, it acquires the peculiarity of delighting us with our favorite melodies.

The sound track is a tightly twisted spiral groove with uneven edges, so shallow that only a well-armed eye can see the details. By the way, the size of the groove is the main difference between old and new records, as well as the main factor that determined the time of their sound. In the process of cutting a spiral converging to the center of the workpiece, the cutter vibrates in accordance with the sound that the plate should subsequently make. During playback, the needle shakes along the bumps of the track flying past it, and the result is sound. Moreover, no clever transformations, except for the banal amplification of the signal, are not required in this case.

To be convinced of this, you can make a rather barbaric, but very visual test. It is best to do this not with modern records, they are too delicate and it is possible that they will receive mortal wounds as a result. Once, in my childhood, I became curious if such a folding sound is obtained from a banal shaking over a multitude of tiny bumps. Having started the record, instead of the pickup stylus, I put my finger on the track, catching it with my fingernail. In addition to the "silence in the studio", the operation, of course, requires self-discipline and competent balancing of the pressing force. Basically, if I had toothpicks nearby, especially wooden ones, I would use them. And what was my surprise when I heard, albeit very quietly and in poor quality, the same melody that a minute ago was heard from the player's speaker.

THE BIRTH OF THE PLATE

It worked and it was exciting. One can imagine how Edison felt when his experiment in recording a voice on tin foil through an ingenious horn was crowned with success. But he was driven by sheer curiosity. Simply, while working at the telegraph office, he noticed that when reading information from a fast-moving punched tape, the contacts of the apparatus, sliding along its holes, emitted sounds of different heights. Here I have to plunge slightly into the depths of history and a small amount of technical details. However, absolutely without them, in any case, it would not have done, otherwise the evolution of the plate would not be realized.

So, the apparatus, called the phonograph, was born in 1877, and then instead of a plate there was a roller. When the membrane under the horn vibrated, the needle associated with it vibrated and wrote a groove of variable depth along the tin in accordance with the perceived sound. This is how the "deep recording" method was invented.

In the same year, on this side of the ocean, a certain Charles Cros submitted documents for an invention to the French Academy of Sciences, hoping after that to receive money for further development and bring it to mind. Unfortunately, the application remained undisclosed until the very moment when the news of Edison's discovery arrived in December. Without going into details, I must say that Cro's method was technically more perfect by design. It is also worth adding that both researchers only developed the existing "mute" method of sound recording. The device known 20 years before their discoveries was called "photoautograph" and in a similar way left a trail of sound on smoked paper. Pampering - no more. After all, it was impossible to reproduce such a sound autograph.

The disadvantage of Edison's method was its "verticality". During playback, the track was subjected to increased loads on "bumps" and, as a result, quickly deformed. In Crot's method, vibrations were recorded in a horizontal plane on a circular plate, and it was in this way that the ideas of both pioneers were developed ten years later by Emil Berliner. As a result, on September 26, 1887, he received a patent for a "gramophone" device. It took another five years to develop the sound carrier. The very first samples were made from ebonite.

ASIA WILL HELP US OR THE BUG SAVES THE GRAMPLATES

And then we came close to the appearance of the real record in the form in which it served humanity until the middle of the last century, even outstripping its long-playing counterparts. As you can imagine, the main problem was in the right material, and we tried different options until we finally settled on a shellac-based composite. The solution was not the cheapest, since shellac was a wax-like substance produced by tropical insects from the lacquerbug family that live in southeast Asia. However, for a long time, nothing more suitable in quality has appeared on scientific horizons. In parallel with shellac, celluloid discs existed for some time, but they differed noticeably in the level of noise - not for the better.

EXTRACTION OF SOUND FROM THE COLLABORATIVE WORLD SWIMMING

In the first quarter of the last century, the speeds of the produced records fluctuated in the range of 74-82 rpm, which was associated with the imperfection of mechanical spring gramophones. Thus, when listening to the sound, it often "floated", which did not add comfort. Only in 1925, when an electric synchronous motor was used in the mechanism of turntables, the first speed standard appeared. True, and he was slightly different on different sides of the ocean. The binding was carried out to the frequency of the supplied power supply (60 or 50 Hertz) and the speed dependent on it of the synchronous electric motor, which set the mechanism in motion. In the States, the speed was 78.26 rpm (the motor made 3600 revolutions through a reduction gearbox with a 46: 1 ratio), in Europe it was 77.92 (3000 with a reduction of 38.5: 1).

STROBOSCOPE HELPS SOUND TO LEARN TO SWIM

With the emergence of standards, it became necessary to fine-tune the players on them. For this, a stroboscope effect was applied. Many of you have probably paid attention to the spinning wheels of a bicycle and a passing car, or at worst the rotating blades of a helicopter. And you probably at least once noticed a funny effect when the "knitting needles" flashing in front of you at one point seem to freeze. This happens when the rotation rate is in some proportion to the capabilities of your eye, which perceives a strictly defined number of frames per second.

It turned out that if 77 equidistant lines are applied to the "apple" of the plate (an information sticker in its center) around the circumference, then when illuminated from a network with a frequency of 50 hertz, they "freeze" when the correct speed is reached by the "pancake" (a rotating base on which plate). For 60 hertz lighting, 92 lines are applied to the apple. Subsequently, a similar mechanism for adjusting the speeds began to appear more and more often on the side of the "pancake", illuminated by a special light.

SOMETIMES IT IS ONLY IN SIZE - WHO HAS MORE INCHES PLAYS LONGER

Now let's talk about the length of the audio track. The very first records had a diameter of 7 inches (actually 6.89) or 175 millimeters (we called them "minions"). This is the oldest of the standards of this kind, it appeared in the 90s of the last century. If you see 7 "single or some other number before the sign" in front of the title you are interested in in any catalog of records, then this is precisely the designation of the diameter in inches. If we add to the not so impressive size the high rotation speed and the decent thickness of the then track, we get about 2 minutes of sound on one side. At the same time, the plates became double-sided not from the very moment of their appearance, but only from 1903 thanks to the developments of the Odeon company. In the same year, the first 12 "discs appeared (actually 11.89", or 300 mm). It is the plates of this form factor that are most familiar to our eyes now (in some countries, variants were occasionally produced two millimeters larger than the norm). In ancient times, they mainly released excerpts from operas and classical works, since one side could fit up to five minutes of sound.

The third most popular form factor was the 10 "(250 mm) size. These records have been gaining popularity since 1910. Of course, they fit one and a half times more entertainment than a standard 7. However, in any case, the joy of owning records in That time was overshadowed by the fact that they quickly lost their consumer qualities. The mechanical sound pickup equipment handled the track quite rigidly. The pickup weighed up to 130 grams, and the steel needles had to be changed after each side playing. not for life, but for death.In order to somehow prolong the life of your favorite tunes, on some records the same track was recorded on both sides.

ELECTRIFICATION OF ALL SOUND RECORDING

A qualitative leap took place in the late 1920s, when instead of the mechanoacoustic method of recording through a horn, they began to use the electroacoustic method - through a microphone. By reducing distortion, the sound quality has increased dramatically and its frequency range has risen from 150-4000 Hertz to 50-10000. The weight of the cartridge has also been reduced. Now he weighed no more than 80 grams. Nevertheless, a crisis soon ripened in connection with the beginning of the spread of tape recorders, for which the records were not suitable for the duration of playback.

In 1931, the English physicist Blumlein proposed a method for stereo recording in one groove, but the low technical level of that time did not allow the plan to be realized. In the same 30s, the concept of "album" appeared in connection with gramophone records. Since almost each of them had one single composition on the side, they were often sold not only in paper envelopes, but also in cardboard or leather boxes, where several pieces were placed. Due to the external similarity of such boxes with photo albums, they became known as record albums.

The next evolutionary stage came at the end of the Second World War. In 1948, Columbia, a major record company, developed a new system for recording LP records, for which a special polymer material, vinylite, was created (domestic disks were made of polyvinyl chloride). Long-playing records, due to the use of compacted recording with micro-grooves, which became three times narrower, and a decrease in the playback speed to 33 1/3 rpm, made it possible to record works, the duration of which reached 30 minutes for one side. At the same time, the noise level has decreased, and the frequency range has expanded to 16000 Hz. In addition, the record became unbreakable. That is, if you wanted to break it, you could also break it, but even if you throw such a plate into the wall, it didn’t crumble to pieces every time, but springing back, strove to take revenge on the gaping thrower.

The following year, RCA developed its own alternative standard for the 175 mm disc with a large center hole and a rotation speed of 45 rpm. They found the greatest application as media for playing on jukeboxes.

All three standards have existed in parallel for some time. The 78th records in most countries fizzled out in the 50s. In India, they were released in the 60s, and even in the 70s, some recordings for children came out in this format.

In 1950, the first vinyl samples with variable pitch were introduced, which allowed an additional 30% increase in playing time. As you can imagine, the standard 33 and one third was the most attractive to the end user due to the length of the playback. Such records began to be called Long Play or LP for short. Much less fit on the round competitors. Accordingly, depending on the contents of the forty-five (not to be confused with a light cannon from the times of World War II), the names Single, Maxi-Single or Extended Play (EP) were used. The ceiling of this format is 25 minutes long. Do not think that there were no other variants of the disc. The history of vinyl knows both different speeds and a much richer choice of sizes, but more about that next time. There will be enough imagination of vinyl makers for one more article about all kinds of non-standard in this area.

TWO CHANNELS IN ONE CHANNEL

The last revolutionary stage in the transformation of records into what we know now took place in 1958. In one groove, two sound channels and two cutting principles were mixed. To put it simply, the needle caught vibrations both vertically (right channel) and horizontally (left channel). In fact, the edges of the groove tilted 45 degrees each. In laboratories and after this exhaustive achievement, they tried to figure out what else can be squeezed out of a piece of vinyl.

NON-ADVANCED IMPROVEMENTS

In 1971, the first quadraphonic systems appeared in which four-channel sound was filmed from vinyl. The effect was achieved due to the phase difference of the signals superimposed on one "side" of the track. As usual, it was not without competition. The systems were presented by the firms CBS and Sansui and were called rather amusingly - SQ and QS, respectively. However, commercial success has turned its back on both. Apparently, the cost became the main stumbling block, because in this case, the reproductive apparatus, in addition to mechanical sensitivity, required strong analog brains. Be that as it may, their efforts were not in vain, because it was these developments that became the forerunners of the surround sound system and modern home theaters.

Since the late 1970s, disc-reading equipment has been actively developed to minimize any possible damage the pickup can do to the track. By this time, needles had existed for a long time, which made it possible to scroll the same plate under them up to two thousand times. The weight of the cartridge has been reduced to two to five grams. The Japanese company ELPJ tried in the 1990s, when the CD was already crowding vinyl on all fronts, to read the sound with a laser. However, the dust in this case turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle - no matter how you wipe the surface, you cannot completely get rid of it, and the laser reading the dusty track and the sound gives out the corresponding one.

CD - HARD VINYL

The story usually develops in a spiral and in the case of the CD we can say that this is a qualitatively new solution to the idea of ​​the very first phonograph. There is also a spiral path and vertical depressions with tubercles. Only now the mechanisms for interpreting the information recorded in this way have undergone amazing metamorphoses, and the size has decreased. But, if you want, you can spoil it in the same way with your fingernail, although this time you will not hear the sound of the melody.

A brief excursion

The year of birth of the recording industry is considered to be 1894, when Emil Berliner began producing records under the name of the Berliner Gramophone company. 100 years of the record's history have passed along with the technical and cultural development of the 20th century. There are several fundamental stages along this path:

1.before 1920s Direct acoustic recording on wax disc, licensed technologies, monopolized markets, home playing
2. 1920-30s Electrical sound recording, microphone technology with natural acoustics, mass propaganda, the birth of mass musical genres, tube sound reinforcement technology, electromagnetic pickups, talk movies, music radio, dance orchestras
3.330-50s Tape recording, overdub editing and artificial reverberation World War, first experiments with electric musical instruments
4.1950-60s standardization, HiFi and stereophonic micro-track recording on lacquered disk recorders, television, large-format multichannel cinemas, pop culture, transistors, high quality analog circuitry
5. 1960-70s Multitrack recording, equalization, dynamics processing and reverbcombo organs, synthesizers, noise reduction, musical subculture of stadium concerts and compact cassettes, microelectronics, operational amplifiers,
6. 1970-80s Multichannel sound recording, digital mixing, metal disc recording, microprocessors and RAM, dolby stereo, synthetic music genres, discos, rhythm, light, boom box
7. 1980-90s Digital processing and computer editing of home video, music television, samplers, trackers, sequencers, digital recorders, audio CDs, walkman, computer workstations, data networks, multimedia. Licensed digital technologies, erasure of national cultures and globalization of music markets.

Recording has come a long way, but it began with a monopoly, and ended with globalization. And okay, these are their morals. Another interesting one is the nostalgic tendency in the recording technique of the XXI century.

Modern multichannel studios buy tube microphones, old microphone presets. At the output of the high-resolution digital signal paths, tape saturation simulators, vintage compressors and tape reverbs are installed. Fashionable electronic musicians, for the embodiment of their ideas, need old electromechanical instruments, the original 60s combo organ sound is in demand. Nostalgia has nothing to do with the high fidelity of the sound, the masters in their work want to enrich the world around them, and not just make a multi-pixel copy of it. In expensive studios, they pass the mixed material through an analog studer, kill "digital sound fidelity" by all possible means, if only the sound is the same, humane and familiar from childhood. "

What are the gramophone records?

Old gramophone alkaline ones at 78 rpm, were produced until the 60s. Our contemporary records are all long-playing at 33 and 45 ob. The old monophonic numbers with the letter "D" were the size of a gramophone.

Grand - 10 "(EP) - 250mm
Super Minion - 200mm

Early stereo records were designated "CM", later "C". Both stereo and mono records come in sizes:

Giant (LP) - 12 "- 300mm (C60)
Minion (45, SP, single) - 7 "175mm (stereo C62 or mono M62)

You have to be careful about the letters in the designation of the plate number. "D" and "CM" are discs with microtrack recording of the 50s, 60s, old pickups with 25 µm needles are desirable for their correct reproduction. Plates "C60", "C62", "M62" are made for modern heads 18 microns.

Technical standards for Soviet gramophone records and equipment

GOST 1117-51 - Steel needles of a loud tone d1,4mm quiet tone d1mm r 30-60μm
GOST ???? - 52 - The radius of curvature for the needle 78 ob / m = 60 microns, for the long-playing - 25 microns, the width of the unmodulated groove is 60 microns, the step is constant
GOST 7765-55: Corundum needles for ordinary plates d0.4mm r = 60-61μm, for long-playing plates d0.6 r = 24-32μm
GOST 5289-56: Long-playing records introduced
GOST ???? - 60 - The radius of curvature of the needle for a stereo phonograph record is 13-18 μm, the correction time constants are 3180-318-75 μs, the frequency range is up to 63-15 kHz, the channel separation is> 40 dB, nonlinear distortions at maximum speeds of 1%, grooves and their depth, the width of the unmodulated groove is 40 μm, the modulation depth of each channel is reduced by 3dB compared to the single-channel
GOST 7893-61: Mechanical sound recording on disk
GOST 5289-61 - D-NNNNN Gramophone records. General specifications
GOST 7765-61: Diamond and corundum needles for pickups
GOST ???? - 63 - "Flexible plates" groove depth 30 microns, plate thickness 120 microns, are written with a cutoff of the HF, the frequency response of the GPU, in comparison with the long-playing one, has a blockage reaching -6dB at a frequency of 10kHz, (this blockage is compensated for when recording ), noise level -50dB
GOST 11157-65 - Household electrophones (input active resistance for a high-impedance pickup> 0.5 MΩ, sensitivity at 1 kHz not worse than 250 mV, frequency range 60-15000 Hz)
GOST 5289-68 - 33D-NNNNN 33C-NNNNN 33CM - NNNNN

With pickups, there is a problem with stereo turntable compatibility. Older mono pickups lack vertical flexibility and are unable to follow the groove of a depth modulated stereo record. To solve this problem at low frequencies Melody had to somewhat limit the vertical component of the signal recorded on a stereo disc with the CM index. Monophonic pickups of the mid-70s already had sufficient vertical flexibility and reproduced a stereo record without distortion, therefore, on records with the C index, the vertical component was no longer limited.

GOST 7893-72 - С60-NNNNN Mechanical sound recording to disk (IEC stereo 45/45 degrees, correction time constants 3180-318-75 μs, 31.5-16000Hz + -2 dB, THD< 1,5%, скорость +-0,5%, детонация 0,04%, 0дБ моно = 10см/с 0дБ стерео = 7,1см/с, радиус закругления иглы 18мкм, вертикальный угол записи 15град +-2)
GOST 5289-73 - C60-NNNNN Gramophone records. General specifications (center 7.24mm, eccentricity< 0,2мм, коробление < 2мм, шум -53dB относительно 1кГц при 10см/с)
GOST 18631-73: Pickup heads
GOST 11157-74 - Household electrophones (input active resistance for a high-impedance pickup 0.4-1MOhm, capacitance 180pF, for a low-impedance 38-56kOhm, sensitivity 200-250mV and 3-5mV, respectively, 40-18000Hz)
TU 43-03-48-73 "Flexible plates" (31.5-12000Hz)

According to GOST for EPU, the ability of the stylus to follow the sound groove is characterized by the flexibility of the pickup. The flexibility of Class III pickups is 17 times less than that of premium class pickups. Unfortunately, even in the mid-70s, Melodiya had to take this circumstance into account and record with lower vibrational speeds and lower amplitudes, counting ONLY on mass class III pickups. At the same time, the parameters of the EPU of the highest class were not fully implemented.

GOST 7893-79 - Frequency response of the recording channel (IEC 3180-318-75 μs, playback channel 7950-3180-318-75 μs)
GOST 5289-80 GOST 23963-79: Diamond needles for pickups
TU 43-03-48-78 - "Flexible plates"
TU 43-03-69-79 - "Set of originals of design for gramophone records"
GOST 7893 - ?? GOST 18631-87 - Pickup heads (20-20000 + -1.5dB, 0.7-2.0mV / cm / s 10000Hz, channel separation at 1kHz 25dB, tracking force no more than 1mN)
GOST 11157-87: Devices for reproducing mechanical recording (speed 0.55%, roar 76dB (weight), detonation 0.05, frequency range 20-20000Hz)
GOST 5289-88 / 94 - С60-NNNNN Analogue gramophone records IEC 98 (20-20000Hz, silent groove noise -60dB, warpage 1.5%)
TU 43-03-88 / 89 Mechanical phonogram on a copper disk DMM (20-20000Hz, 0dB mono = 10cm / s 0dB stereo = 14cm / s, matrix noise 68dB) CZ index means digital recording

Sound recording

When choosing a disc, attention should be paid to the year of publication, preservation, recording studio and manufacturing plant.

Since the establishment of the Melodiya company, the process of preparation and publication of USSR gramophone records has been centralized. Boris Meerzon told about the history of the formation of the industry in the magazine "Sound engineer": The funds for the training of sound engineers of the proper level, and for the purchase of modern equipment and, finally, for the payment of royalties to the performers were allocated only to Moscow, in particular, to the State House of Radio Broadcasting and Sound Recording, or the All-Union Studio record, which is part of the company "Melodia". All records for replication and state storage, "stock", the most labor-intensive and expensive, throughout the former USSR (even in cities such as Leningrad and Kiev) had to be made only by teams of specialists sent specially for this from Moscow, and even on the equipment brought with you.

Stock records in the USSR are a high mark, but it must be added that the procedure for transferring records between the allied departments still existed. Melody received many popular recordings for publication from film studios, from the House of Radio and Sound Recordings and from the studio of the Central Television (USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting). By the 80s, the own structure of the Melodiya company included well-equipped republican recording studios and the centralization of the production process was significantly reduced.

Many studio recordings were already made in the regional studios "Melodiya". Interesting facts about the existence of private recording studios in the USSR have been revealed in recent years. The famous works of David Tukhmanov and Alexander Zatsepin were done by them independently in home studios with session musicians. Various versions of phonograms were handed over to customers at the film studio for Melody and on the radio.

Wherever and no matter how the recording was prepared, for release on discs, it was auditioned, approved and included in the production plans of the all-Union firm "Melodia". The tape was transferred to the Mechanical Recording Room of the "Melodia" company, in the VSG - the only place in the country where one lacquer disc with a recording is cut and a serial number of the recording is assigned.

Record production

Only now the production process begins, the area of ​​responsibility of the recording factories. In the journal "Science and Life" and the catalog-bulletin of the WFG Melody 80s told some production details:

The lacquer disc from the VSG studio is transported to the Moscow experimental plant "Gramzapis". "BRAIN" is a galvanic and press shop in the city of Khimki, which in 1978 were spun off from the WASH. There, sequentially, by the method of electroplating, they make:

1. one first original;
2. 7-10 second originals, which the inspector listens to, the detected defects are eliminated by the engravers;
3. from a few pieces to 140-thirds of the originals At the Pilot Plant, they are used as a matrix only when a small circulation is required and a particularly high quality of phonograph records is required, for example, digital, measuring.
4. For mass editions, the Experimental Plant produces several hundred fourths of the originals, which are sent to the recording factories.
5. Factories independently make fifth copies, which serve as matrices. The norm is up to 20 matrices from each original received from Moscow.
6. In the press shops, several hundred plates are printed from each matrix. Together with the dies, a label of the established pattern is placed in the hot press. The first plate from each press is checked and listened to. Subsequent ones are checked in appearance, listening only selectively to find out the suitability of the matrices.

As you can see, with mass circulation, all factories are in the same position, all receive the same fourth originals in quantities corresponding to production plans and standards. In a planned socialist economy, the age of equipment, the batch of imported raw materials and ... the culture of production can differ at factories.

Another, interesting production scheme develops when regional studios prepare publications of national or local importance, for this the tape recording is sent to the WASH, where, after quality control, a lacquer disk is written to which a serial number of the recording is assigned.

1. At the Moscow experimental plant "Gramzapis", there is simply nowhere else in the USSR - the first original is being prepared from a lacquer disk.
2. Several second originals pass quality control and engraving.
3. Dozens of produced third originals can already be used as a matrix. They are sent to the customer in the required quantity. Certainly some remain in the central archive.
4. The regional recording plant is printing records from matrices received from Moscow. Such small-circulation records are the fourth copy, all other things being equal, they will be better than the mass editions of this plant.

What kind of factories were they? Even small-circulation records were distributed and approved at the head office of "Melodiya", there were probably orders from the republican Ministries, and it is absolutely certain that the plant worked with the records of its local recording studio:

The All-Union Recording Studio since 1959 had a pilot production of records, famous with blue labels. Since 1978 this production has been carried out by the Moscow Experimental Plant - labels are red, blue and black. WASH and BRAIN are always high quality recording and printing of records.
Leningrad Recording Studio (since 1959) and phonograph records plant (from 1953 to 1964 plant "Akkord") (RSFSR) - yellow labels for mono records until 1972, for stereo - white, red and black
Riga Recording Studio and Record Factory (Latvian SSR) - yellow labels for mono records before 1972, orange, red, blue, black and colorful
Tashkent recording studio and gramophone record plant (Uzbek SSR) - yellow labels low quality paper
Tbilisi Record Plant (Georgian SSR) - labels are white, there are black.
Tallinn and Vilnius studios were published at the Riga plant, Alma-Ata - at the Tashkent plant.

If a regional publication gained all-Union popularity and trade orders required an increase in circulation, it was possible to make additional originals in Moscow and use the capacities of other factories of the All-Union Melodia firm in the usual manner.

Not everywhere there were republican recording studios of decent quality, there was a lack of trained specialists, high-quality equipment. Many national recordings were made and published in Moscow. Belarusian Pesnyary, Ukrainian, Moldavian performers recorded records with excellent quality folk music in Moscow studios.

The Aprelevka plant of gramophone records in such a structure was in the worst position. Affected by the obvious competition in the central region with the WASH, and then with the Gramzapis plant. It is unlikely that Aprelevka got into production ministerial orders for records for the Fisherman's Day and Builder's Day :-) Maybe that's why the most powerful plant in the country worked only for mass circulation. His records with white, cream, red and rarely blue labels have never been famous for special quality.

The question that naturally arises among interested collectors is the circulation of the WFG "Melodia" records. Even FSUE "Melodia" does not know this Soviet official secret today. The total release of records in the USSR in the late 80s reached 190 million copies. The technical possibilities of printing in mass editions allowed the release of several million copies of the disc. How to determine the volume of circulation printed from a specific matrix, where is the beginning of the mass circulation? - On formal grounds, an ordinary buyer cannot be determined in any way. The division of records according to grades-editions never existed in the USSR. Of course, this meant that all domestic gramophone records are produced in strict accordance with technical standards and each and every one meets the requirements of high-quality playback on the equipment of the first and highest class.

The data published in 1984 by the director of the Moscow experimental plant "Gramzapis" can provide some guidance in the concept of the first print run. The number of copies of the first issues of the novelty is determined by the circulation committee of the company, which includes representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Union of Composers, Trade and other interested organizations. The circulation of the first records is set depending on the genre:

opera, symphonic, chamber music - 3-5 thousand
Russian folk music - 5-10 thousand
national music of the peoples of the USSR - 1-2 thousand
songs of Soviet composers, author's recordings of pop composers - 5-10 thousand
vocal and instrumental ensembles - 10-30 thousand
the most popular pop programs ("Happy New Year", "For you, women") - up to 100 thousand
literary and dramatic records - 1-3 thousand
children's records - 5-10 thousand

Subsequent editions of gramophone records are entirely determined by the trading organizations. The firm works according to the ordering system. Quarterly, trading organizations, taking into account consumer demand, form orders to the plants of gramophone records.
More technical information first-hand:
One lacquer disk can produce 1000 or more matrices. Of course, the discs from the third original are better in quality (mainly in terms of noise) than the discs pressed from the fifth original. The problem can be solved by burning several lacquer discs with one program. But while lacquer discs are in short supply (bought for currency).
The initial noise level of the records is -55-57 dB, and after 50 plays, the noise increases by only 2 dB.
People are constantly working on improving plastics. In the future, its quality will increase mainly due to the introduction of antistatic additives, which reduce the noise level and dustiness of the surface of the records. Antistatic plastic is primarily intended for classical music records with a large dynamic range (sold for currency).

All the best in the recording of the USSR was done for the publication of works of classical musical culture.
The quality of the recording on any disc depends on the performer, sound engineer, recording studio and the sharpness of the cutter used when cutting
Author's performance compilations were often made from different studio recordings, the quality of compositions on one disc will be different.
The print quality of the plate depends on the circulation and the manufacturer's plant.
A hotly fashioned record bought by you or your proxies from an acquaintance or from a nomenclature "extract", most likely an early edition
Exotic one-time editions are always short runs, short production process.
If the record shows a pair like Leningrad Recording Studio - Leningrad Order of the Badge of Honor Record Factory, this is probably a small circulation.
VSG-BRAIN is always good and excellent quality regardless of the color of the label
All Soviet discs 60-70s in an artistic sleeve are early editions, preprints were sold in "general" ones.
Since the mid-80s, rarely have any records come out with a circulation of more than 50 thousand. 15 thousand copies are already a large circulation.

The conclusion from numerous attempts to "color differentiate" Melody labels is that it is impossible to build on this a practical strategy for selecting a collection:

There were no technical specifications on what label to glue on what circulation, what they ordered in the printing house, they glued them.
Neither the price nor the grade of the disc depended in any way on the label.
If there was a gradation in the labels, then the internal rules were observed at each plant.
The majority of records from the 80s have all collectors with red labels, regardless of the manufacturer.
For the vast majority of melodic publications, no one has seen black and blue labels. It is useless to search for them.

Neither the color of the label nor the name of the manufacturer gives guarantees of high-quality performance and sound engineering. But there are no other versions of the publication, the master tape and the matrix from it were given one for the whole country. Whichever record you can find in the best condition, buy this one.

Assessment of the state of gramophone records

Mint is a fresh, zero, though playable record a couple of times. Envelope with protective bag and original attachments.
NM / EX is good and excellent condition for neatly playable records. Few visible traces of use, light scratches without audible defects. Clicks on the lead-in track are possible; in the pauses, an increased rustle of the groove is noticeable. The envelope has yellowed paper, a clean end, but there are minor traces of use: frayed corners.
VG is a sponge, a well-worked plate. There are traces of installation on the layout, on the surface there are small scratches and abrasions, the sound is generally good, there are rare silks and crunching. The envelope has worn edges and corners, but it is not torn or wrinkled.
G / F - killed, sawed, plate - gray surface, scratches and abrasions, continuous abrasions. Formally, the record is still played (from English Good / Fair), but listened to with constant crackling and sand, jamming and skipping tracks are possible. The envelope is torn and substantially worn out.
P / B - none at all - unplayable record. But even in this state, the rarity is a collectible value.

On practice:

the honest VG + of the first editions is better than the 80s reissue mint on a thin and lousy mass.
Sealed - these are sealed records, bought without guarantees, it is not known what, but most likely - a manufacturing defect, destined for destruction.
what sellers today give EX for mint is a ubiquitous practice and it is especially developed on the beloved na ebay.

Cleaning phonograph records

Record cleaning does not mean digital signal processing. We will talk about outdated, but still effective technologies for removing dust and dirt from the surface of a gramophone record.

We need:

Antistatic brush for removing dust from the record and from the needle.
Recommended for everyday use
A hard nylon brush and isopropyl alcohol for cleaning the needle.
It is recommended to inspect and clean the needle after listening to 3-4 records, depending on the condition, of course.
Solution for washing phonograph records. "Classic" is a weak 1: 7 solution of isopropyl alcohol in distilled water (from a car dealer or simply well filtered) with a drop of rinsing agent. This is a wetting fluid for photographic film (Kodak Photo Flo AGFA Agepon) or a dishwasher rinse aid (Henkel Somat)

Old heavily soiled plates are pre-washed in warm water with a high-quality detergent for washing dishes such as Bagi Champolisch. Thoroughly rinse the surfaces of the half with a shaving brush. The foam is washed off under the tap and the final rinsing is done in a "classic" solution. Then you need to shoot off the drops, wipe the plate with a clean lint-free cloth Bagi "Miracle rag" and place it to dry on the spread out newspapers. Don't worry about labels, they are usually tough and hot stamped onto vinyl. But there is no need to rub the labels unnecessarily.

If, after the control listening, a dense gray coating such as frost has formed on the tip of the needle, it means that there are residues of detergents in the sound channels. Such plaque always remains after washing the records with Ferri. After a few listens, the needle will clear the groove, but so far the sound of even good records will be rather muddy.

To control the cleanliness of the records, it is necessary to periodically inspect the condition of the stylus with a strong magnifying glass.
Yes! Isopropyl alcohol is used, not out of economy, but due to the fact that, unlike ethyl alcohol, it dissolves fat and pieces of bacon from old salted plates. Alkaline plates are 78, you cannot wash with any alcohol, you cannot wet the labels on them at all.
And the last, in very severe cases - glue, paint easily leaves with a cotton swab dipped in vegetable oil. Such a plate must be immediately washed in a detergent solution.

Only a true connoisseur of high quality and detailing sound will be able to appreciate the signal from a turntable. No device from the category of modern technologies can compare with it. Audiophiles often opt for this type of device because it is capable of generating high quality analog sound. Additionally, digitization is performed with the addition of quantization noise.

Vinyl players allow you to reproduce and convey the mood of all the unique compositions that have been specially created for them. The digital medium is not capable of filling the signal with depth. That is why each composition is released additionally and in an analog version. The design of the device takes us to the past, which is characterized by each listener with comfort, romance and warmth.

The turntable: how does it work?

Today, all modern USB players work on the basis of the interaction of nodes. The same system existed 30 years ago. The main components of any turntable are:

• table;
• universal disk drive;
• disc with a flywheel;
• pickup;
• needle;
• tonearm;
• other.

Sound with records generated through the correct use of the laws of physics. The work of the first models back in the USSR was based on this. Sound is produced when the stylus moves along the outer surface of the disc. This produces vertical and horizontal vibrations of the profile. They are converted into a special electrical signal. Preamplifier necessary to transmit the required sound to the speakers. In modern models, this element may be absent. AV-amplifiers and AV-receivers came to replace it.

Previously, aluminum was used to manufacture the disc flywheel. To date, manufacturers have switched to the use of complex mixtures and compounds, vinyl, acrylic and carbon fiber. Thanks to the correct proportion, it was possible to significantly increase all the acoustic properties of the device.

Models with a roller or belt drive system are very popular. Their main characteristics:

• Quality devices do not use a roller system and direct drive. Their interaction creates a large number of vibrations and electromagnetic fields.
• The location of the engine plays an important role. Experts recommend opting for a device in which this element is taken out of the body. To improve the playing conditions, it is placed on a special shock-absorbing suspension. The compartment is made with thick walls.
• Phono stage is necessary for every model to create perfectly accurate, spacious and high-quality sound. Pay attention to its availability when purchasing the device of the selected model.

Basic rules of use

Every audiophile knows that only the right operating conditions for any device can give a high quality signal:

• The turntable should be placed on a level surface so that the chances of noise and vibration are reduced to zero.
• If your model includes an external motor, but you should place the power supply on a separate shelf.
• During assembly, all manufacturer's instructions and requirements should be followed exactly. Only in this case will it be possible to achieve perfectly accurate transmission of the audio signal.
• The tonearm should be positioned so that the cable goes down and does not touch the turntable. Vibrations are amplified in the presence of contacts. This picture negatively affects the purity of the sound.
• The settings should be made while the vinyl is in place.

You can plunge into the world of high quality sound only on a properly installed and tuned vinyl turntable. Enchanting music will literally envelop you from all sides. The audiophile will be able to fully enjoy the detailed signal transmission.

Alexander Gerasimenko, specialist in vinyl players Audiovideomir.com.ua