What were records made of before vinyl? How much do vinyl records cost? Add your price to the Comment database. The gramophone record as an element of culture

When the idea initially came to my mind to dedicate the material to Her Majesty’s gramophone record, I had no idea that while unwinding the tangle of history I would come across such an abundance of fascinating information. After all, in this world everything is interconnected, one follows from the other, and more than a hundred years have passed since the appearance of the first prototypes of today’s DJ toys. The history of the existence of the magical keeper of sounds is closely intertwined with the devices for extracting it. It turned out that technological development continued almost all the time that the very concept of a record existed. And here, in terms of covering the topic, the field is simply unplowed (by us so far), so I will try to be as brief as possible, otherwise the size of the material threatens to be indecently large.

HOW IT WORKS

Let's start with the basics - in case someone else doesn't know how sound is stored on a rough round piece of paper. Before the plate 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 special device, it acquires the peculiarity of delighting us with our favorite melodies.

The soundtrack is a tightly twisted spiral groove with jagged edges, so small that only a well-trained 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 their playing time. 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 produce. During playback, the needle shakes along the potholes of the track flying past it and the result is sound. Moreover, no ingenious transformations other than banal signal amplification are required in this case.

To verify this, you can perform a rather barbaric, but very visual test. It is best not to do this with modern records; they are too delicate and it is possible that they will receive mortal wounds as a result. Once, as a child, I became curious whether such a folding sound really comes from banal shaking over many tiny potholes. Having started the record, I placed my finger on the track instead of the pickup stylus, catching it with my fingernail. In addition to “silence in the studio,” the operation, of course, requires composure and proper balancing of pressing force. In principle, if I had toothpicks nearby then, especially wooden ones, I would have used them. And imagine my surprise when I heard, albeit very quietly and in poor quality, the same melody that was heard from the player’s speaker a minute ago.

THE BIRTH OF A RECORD

It worked and it was exciting. You can imagine Edison's feelings when his experiment of recording his voice on tin foil through an ingenious megaphone was a success. But he was driven by naked curiosity. Simply, while working at the telegraph, he noticed that when reading information from a fast-moving punched tape, the contacts of the device, sliding along its holes, made sounds of different pitches. Here I am forced to plunge a little into the depths of history and a small amount of technical details. However, in any case, it would not have been possible to do without them, otherwise the evolution of the record would not be understood.

So, the device, called the phonograph, was born in 1877 and then instead of a record there was a roller. When the membrane located 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 to then receive money for further development and bring it to fruition. Unfortunately, the application lay undisclosed until the very moment when news of Edison's discovery arrived in December. Without going into details, it must be said that Kro’s method was technically more advanced by design. It is also worth adding that both researchers only developed the existing “silent” method of sound recording. The device, known 20 years before their discoveries, was called a “photoautograph” and in a similar way left a trace of sound on smoked paper. Pampering - nothing 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 Cro's method, vibrations were recorded in a horizontal plane on a round 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 the “gramophone” device. It took another five years to develop the sound carrier. The very first samples were made of ebonite.

ASIA WILL HELP US, OR A BUG WILL SAVE THE RECORD

And here we come close to the appearance of the real record itself in the form in which it served humanity until the middle of the last century, outstripping even its long-playing brothers. As you understand, the main problem was the suitable material, and we tried different variants, until we eventually 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 family of lac bugs that live in southeast Asia. However, nothing more suitable in quality appeared on scientific horizons for a long time. In parallel with shellac discs, celluloid discs existed for some time, but they differed noticeably in noise levels - not for the better.

RELEASE OF SOUND FROM THE WORLD SWIMMING TEAM

In the first quarter of the last century, the speeds of produced gramophone records fluctuated in the range of 74-82 revolutions per minute, which was due to the imperfection of mechanical spring gramophones. Thus, when listening, the sound often “floated”, which did not add comfort. It was only in 1925, when the electric synchronous motor began to be used in the mechanism of turntables, that the first speed standard appeared. True, he was slightly different in different sides ocean. The connection was made to the frequency of the supplied power supply (60 or 50 Hertz) and the speed of the synchronous electric motor, which set the mechanism in motion, depending on it. In the States, the speed was 78.26 rpm (the engine made 3600 revolutions through a reduction gearbox with a 46:1 ratio), in Europe 77.92 (3000 with a reduction of 38.5:1).

STROBOSCOPE HELPS SOUND LEARN TO “SWIM”

With the emergence of standards, there was a need to fine-tune players to them. For this purpose, a strobe effect was used. Many of you have probably paid attention to the spinning wheels of a bicycle and a car passing by, or at worst the rotating blades of a helicopter. And you’ve probably at least once noticed a funny effect when the “spokes” flashing in front of you at one point seem to freeze. This happens when the rotation speed 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 equally spaced lines are applied around the circle on the “apple” of the plate (the information sticker in its center), then when illuminated from the network with a frequency of 50 hertz, they will “freeze” when the “pancake” (the rotating base on which it is placed) reaches the correct speed. plate). For 60Hz illumination, 92 lines are applied to the apple. Subsequently, a similar mechanism for adjusting speeds increasingly began to appear on the side of the “pancake,” illuminated by a special light bulb.

SOMETIMES IT'S JUST ABOUT SIZE - WHO HAS MORE INCHES PLAYS LONGER

Now let's talk about the duration 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 now see in some catalog of records, opposite the name you are interested in, the inscription 7" single or some other number before the sign ", then this is precisely the designation of the diameter in inches. If you add to the not so impressive size high speed rotation and a decent thickness of the then track, then we get about 2 minutes of sound on one side. At the same time, records 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" wheels appeared (actually 11.89", or 300 mm). It is the plates of this form factor that are now most familiar to our eyes (in some countries, variants two millimeters larger than required were occasionally produced). In ancient times, they were mainly used to release excerpts from operas and classical works, since up to five minutes of sound could fit on one side.

The third most popular form factor was the 10" (250 mm) size. These records began to actively gain popularity in 1910. Indeed, they could hold one and a half times more entertainment than on standard seven. However, in any case, the joy of owning records at that time was overshadowed by the fact that they quickly lost their consumer qualities. The mechanical sound recording equipment treated the track quite harshly. The pickup weighed up to 130 grams, and the steel needles had to be changed after each side played. The struggle between the “tops” and the “bottoms” was life and death. In order to somehow extend the life of your favorite melodies, the same track was recorded on both sides of some records.

ELECTRIFICATION OF ALL SOUND RECORDINGS

A qualitative leap occurred at the end of the 20s, 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 sharply increased and its frequency range has risen from 150-4000 Hertz to 50-10000. The weight of the pickup has also been reduced. Now he weighed no more than 80 grams. However, a crisis soon arose due to the beginning of the spread of tape recorders, for which records could not hold a candle in terms of playback time.

In 1931, the English physicist Blumlein proposed a method of 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 contained one single composition on the side, they were often sold not only in paper envelopes, but also in cardboard or leather boxes in which several of them were placed. Due to the external similarity of such boxes with photo albums, they began to be called record albums.

The next evolutionary stage came at the end of the Second World War. In 1948, the largest record company, Columbia, developed a new recording system for long-playing records, for which a special polymer material, vinylite, was created (domestic discs were made of polyvinyl chloride). Long-playing records, due to the use of compacted recording with microgrooves that became three times narrower, and a reduction in the playing speed to 33 1/3 revolutions per minute, made it possible to record works whose duration reached 30 minutes for one side. At the same time, the noise level decreased and the frequency range expanded to 16,000 Hz. In addition, the record became unbreakable. That is, if you wanted, you could break it, but even if you threw such a plate at the wall, it did not crumble into pieces every time, but springing back, strove to take revenge on the careless thrower.

The following year, RCA developed its own alternative phonograph record standard with a diameter of 175 mm with a large central hole and a rotation speed of 45 rpm. They found greatest use as media for playback on jukeboxes.

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

In 1950, the first samples of vinyl with variable recording pitch appeared, which made it possible to increase playback time by another 30%. As you can imagine, the 33 and one third standard was most attractive to the end consumer due to the duration of playback. Such records became known as Long Play or LP for short. Significantly less of the competitors could fit on the circles. Accordingly, depending on the contents of the forty-five (not to be confused with a light cannon from the times of the 2nd World War), the names Single, Maxi-Single or Extended Play (EP) were used. The maximum length of this format was 25 minutes. Do not think that there were no other variants of the disc. The history of vinyl also knows speeds that differ from those listed and a much wider selection of sizes, but more on that next time. The wild imagination of vinyl manufacturers is enough for another article about all sorts of non-standards in this area.

TWO CHANNELS IN ONE DITCH

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

IMPROVEMENTS THAT HAVEN'T LIVEN

In 1971, the first quadraphonic systems appeared, in which four-channel sound was captured from vinyl. The effect was achieved due to the difference in phases of the signals superimposed on one “side” of the track. As usual, there was some competition here too. The systems were presented by CBS and Sansui and were called very interestingly - SQ and QS, respectively. However, commercial success turned its back on both. Apparently, cost became the main stumbling block, because in this case the reproducing device, in addition to mechanical sensitivity, required strong analog brains. Be that as it may, their efforts were not in vain, because these developments became the predecessors of the surround sound system and modern home theaters.

Since the late 70s, disc reading equipment has been actively developed to minimize any possible damage caused by the cartridge to the track. By this time, needles had long existed that made it possible to spin the same record under them up to two thousand times. The weight of the pickup has been reduced to two to five grams. The Japanese company ELPJ tried in the 1990s, when the CD was already crowding out vinyl on all fronts, to read sound with a laser. However, dust in this matter turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle - no matter how much you wipe the surface, you cannot completely get rid of it, but the laser reads the dusty track and produces a corresponding sound.

CD - HARD VINYL

History 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 the mechanisms for interpreting information recorded in this way have undergone amazing metamorphoses, and their sizes have decreased. But, if you want, you can ruin it in the same way with your fingernail, although this time you won’t hear the sound of the melody.

Brief excursion

The year of birth of the recording industry is considered to be 1894, when Emil Berliner began producing gramophone records under the name of the company Berliner Gramophone. 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 music playing
2. 1920-30s Electrical sound recording, microphone technology with natural acoustics, mass propaganda, the birth of mass musical genres, tube sound amplification technology, electromagnetic pickups, sound cinema, music radio, dance orchestras
3. 1930-50s Tape recording, editing with overdubbing and artificial reverberationWorld War, first experiments with electric musical instruments
4. 1950-60s standardization, HiFi and stereo micro-track recording on lacquer disc, household tape recorders, television, large-format multi-channel cinemas, pop culture, transistors, high quality analog circuitry
5. 1960-70s Multi-track recording, equalization, dynamic processing and reverberation, combo organs, synthesizers, noise reduction, musical subculture of stadium concerts and compact cassettes, microelectronics, operational amplifiers,
6. 1970-80s Multi-channel sound recording, digital mixing, recording on metal disc, microprocessors and RAM, dolby stereo, synthetic music genres, discos, rhythm, light, boom box
7. 1980-90s Digital processing and computer editing home video, music television, samplers, trackers, sequencers, digital recorders, audio CD, walkman, computer workstations, data networks, multimedia. Licensed digital technologies, the erasure of national cultures and the globalization of music markets.

Recording has come a long way, but it started with a monopoly and ended with globalization. And okay, these are their morals. Another interesting thing is the nostalgic trend in recording technology of the 21st century.

Modern multi-channel studios purchase tube microphones, old microphones. At the output of digital signal paths high resolution magnetic tape saturation simulators, vintage compressors and tape reverbs are installed. Fashionable electronic musicians need old electromechanical instruments to realize their ideas; the original sound of combo organs from the 60s is in demand. Nostalgia has nothing to do with high sound fidelity; 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, killing “digital sound fidelity” by all possible means, as long as the sound is the same, human and familiar from childhood.”

What types of gramophone records are there?

Old 78-rev. gramophones, produced until the 60s. Modern records are all long-playing at 33 and 45 rpm. The old monophonic numbers with the letter “D” were the same size as gramophone numbers.

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

Early stereo records were designated "SM", later ones "C". Both stereo and mono records are available 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 record number designation. “D” and “SM” are records with micro-track recording from the 50s and 60s; for their correct playback, old pickups with 25-micron stylus are desirable. “C60”, “C62”, “M62” records are made for modern 18 micron heads.

Technical standards for Soviet gramophone records and equipment

GOST 1117-51 - Steel needles loud tone d1.4mm quiet tone d1mm r 30-60 µm
GOST????-52 - Radius of curvature for a needle 78 rpm = 60 µm, for a long-lasting one - 25 µm, width of an unmodulated groove 60 µm, constant pitch
GOST 7765-55 - Corundum needles for regular records d0.4mm r=60-61µm, for long-playing records d0.6 r=24-32µm
GOST 5289-56 - Long-playing records introduced
GOST????-60 - The radius of curvature of the needle for a stereo record is 13-18 µm, correction time constants 3180-318-75 µs, frequency range up to 63-15 kHz, channel separation > 40 dB non-linear distortions at maximum speeds 1%, variable distance between grooves and their depth, the width of the unmodulated groove is 40 µm, the modulation depth of each channel is reduced by 3 dB compared to single-channel
GOST 7893-61 - Mechanical sound recording on disk
GOST 5289-61 - D-NNNNN Gramophone records. General technical conditions
GOST 7765-61 - Diamond and corundum needles for pickups
GOST????-63 - “Flexible records” groove depth 30 microns, plate thickness 120 microns, written with a HF block, the frequency response of the GP, compared to the long-playing one, has a block reaching -6 dB at a frequency of 10 kHz (this block is compensated for when recording ), noise level -50dB
GOST 11157-65 - Household electrophones (input resistance for high-impedance pickup >0.5 MOhm, sensitivity at 1 kHz no worse than 250 mV, frequency range 60-15000 Hz)
GOST 5289-68 - 33Д-NNNNN 33C-NNNNN 33СМ--NNNNN

There is a problem with stereo records compatibility with pickups. Old 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 record with the SM index. Monophonic pickups of the mid-70s already had sufficient vertical flexibility and reproduced a stereo record without distortion, so on records with the C index they no longer limited the vertical component.

GOST 7893-72 - C60-NNNNN Mechanical sound recording on disk (IEC stereo 45/45 degrees, correction time constants 3180-318-75 μs, 31.5-16000Hz +-2DB, 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 technical conditions (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 resistance for a high-impedance pickup 0.4-1 MOhm, capacity 180 pF, for a low-impedance one 38-56 kOhm, sensitivity 200-250 mV and 3-5 mV, respectively, 40-18000 Hz)
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 the flexibility of premium class pickups. Unfortunately, back in the mid-70s, Melody had to take this circumstance into account and record with lower oscillatory speeds and lower amplitudes, based ONLY on mass-produced class III pickups. At the same time, the parameters of the highest class EPU were not fully realized.

GOST 7893-79 - Frequency response of the recording channel (IEC 3180-318-75 µs, playback channel 7950-3180-318-75 µs)
GOST 5289-80GOST 23963-79 - Diamond needles for pickups
TU 43-03-48-78 - "Flexible plates"
TU 43-03-69-79 - "Set of original designs for gramophone records"
GOST 7893-??GOST 18631-87 - Pickup heads (20-20000+-1.5 dB, 0.7-2.0 mV/cm/s 10000 Hz, channel separation at 1 kHz 25 dB, clamping force no more than 1 mN)
GOST 11157-87 - Mechanical record playback devices (speed 0.55%, rumble 76 dB (weighted), detonation 0.05, frequency range 20-20000 Hz)
GOST 5289-88/94 - C60-NNNNN Analogue records IEC 98 (20-20000Hz, silent groove noise -60dB, warping 1.5%)
TU 43-03-88/89 Mechanical phonogram on copper disk DMM (20-20000Hz, 0dB mono = 10cm/s 0dB stereo =14cm/s, matrix noise 68dB) Central locking index means digital recording

Sound recording

When choosing a record, you should pay attention to the year of publication, preservation, recording studio and manufacturer.

Since the establishment of the Melodiya company, the process of preparing and publishing gramophone records in the USSR has been centralized. Boris Meerzon spoke about the history of the formation of the industry in the magazine "Sound Engineer": Funds for training sound engineers of the required level, and for the purchase of modern equipment and, finally, for paying fees to performers were allocated only to Moscow, in particular, to the State House of Radio Broadcasting and Sound Recording, or the All-Union Studio recording company, part of the Melodiya company. All records for replication and state storage, “stock”, the most labor-intensive and expensive, throughout the entire territory of the former USSR (even in cities such as Leningrad and Kyiv) had to be made only by teams of specialists sent specifically for this purpose from Moscow, and even to the equipment you brought with you.

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

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

Wherever and however the recording was prepared for release on records, it was auditioned, approved and included in the production plans of the all-Union company Melodiya. The tape was transferred to the Equipment Room mechanical recording company "Melodiya", in VSG - the only place in the country where one varnish disk with a recording is cut and a serial number of the recording is assigned.

Record production

Only now does the production process begin, the responsibility of the record factories. In the magazine "Science and Life" and the catalog-bulletin of the VFG Melodiya 80x, some production subtleties were told: Let's trace the production chain after recording a varnish disc at VSG until the release of gramophone:

The varnish disc from the VSG studio is transported to the Moscow experimental plant "Gramzapis". "MOZG" is a galvanic and pressing workshop in the city of Khimki, which in 1978 was separated from VSG. There, sequentially, using the galvanoplasty method, they produce:

1. one first original;
2. 7-10 second originals, which are listened to by the inspector; any detected defects are eliminated by engravers;
3. from several pieces to 140 third originals. At the Pilot Plant they are used as a matrix only when there is a small circulation and a particularly high quality of gramophone records is required, for example, digital, measuring ones.
4. For mass runs, the Pilot Plant produces several hundred fourth originals, which are sent to record factories.
5. Factories independently produce fifth copies, which serve as matrices. The standard is up to 20 matrices from each original received from Moscow.
6. In press shops, several hundred plates are printed from each matrix. Together with the matrices, a label of the established type is placed in the hot press. The first record from each press is checked and listened to. Subsequent ones are checked by appearance, listen only selectively to determine the suitability of the matrices.

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

Another interesting production scheme develops when regional studios prepare publications of national or local importance; for this purpose, a tape recording is sent to VSG, where, after monitoring its quality, a varnish disc 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 varnish disc.
2. Several second originals undergo quality control and engraving.
3. Dozens of manufactured third originals can already be used as a matrix. They are the ones in required quantity sent to the customer. Surely, some amount remains in the central archive.
4. The regional record plant prints records from matrices received from Moscow. Such low-circulation records are a fourth copy; all other things being equal, they will be better than the mass editions of this plant.

What factories were these? Even limited-run recordings were distributed and approved at the Melodiya head office; there were probably orders from republican Ministries, and it is absolutely certain that the plant worked with recordings from its local recording studio:

Since 1959, the All-Union Recording Studio has had an experimental production of records, famous with blue labels. Since 1978, this production has been carried out by the Moscow pilot plant - the labels are red, blue and black. VSG and MOZG always mean high quality recording and printing of records.
Leningrad Recording Studio (from 1959) and the Record Factory (from 1953 to 1964, the Accord Plant) (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 pre-1972 mono records, orange, red, blue, black and colorful
Tashkent recording studio and record plant (Uzbek SSR) - yellow labels, low quality paper
Tbilisi Record Factory (Georgian SSR) - some white and some black labels.
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 in Moscow to produce additional originals and, in the usual manner, use the capacities of other factories of the All-Union company "Melodiya".

Not everywhere had its own republican recording studios of decent quality; there were not enough trained specialists and high-quality equipment. Many national recordings were made and published in Moscow. Belarusian Pesnyary, Ukrainian, Moldavian performers recorded records of excellent quality folk music in Moscow studios.

The Aprelevsky record plant found itself in the worst position in this structure. Obvious competition in the central region with VSG, and then with the Gramzapis plant, had its effect. It is unlikely that Aprelevka received ministerial orders for records for “Fisherman’s Day” and “Builder’s Day” for production :-) Maybe that’s why the most powerful plant in the country worked only on mass circulation. His records, with white, cream, red and rarely blue labels, were never particularly renowned for their quality.

The question that naturally arises among interested collectors is the circulation of VFG Melodiya records. Today even FSUE Melodiya does not know this Soviet official secret. The total release of records in the USSR in the late 80s reached 190 million copies. The technical capabilities of mass printing allowed the production of several million copies of the record. How to determine the volume of circulation printed from a specific matrix, where is the beginning of mass circulation? - There is no way for an ordinary buyer to determine it based on formal characteristics. There has never been a division of records by circulation type in the USSR. Of course, this meant that all domestic gramophone records are produced in strict accordance with technical standards and every single one meets the requirements for high-quality playback on first- and highest-class equipment.

Some guidance in the concept of first circulation can be given by data published in 1984 by the director of the Moscow experimental plant "Gramzapis". The number of copies of the first releases of the new product is determined by the company's circulation commission, which includes representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Union of Composers, Trade and other interested organizations. The circulation of the first records is determined depending on the genre:

opera, symphony, 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, original recordings of pop composers - 5-10 thousand
vocal and instrumental ensembles - 10-30 thousand
the most popular variety programs (“Happy New Year”, “For you, women”) - up to 100 thousand
literary and dramatic recordings - 1-3 thousand
children's records - 5-10 thousand

Subsequent circulations of gramophone records are entirely determined by trading organizations. The company operates on an order system. Quarterly, trading organizations, taking into account consumer demand, form orders to record factories.
More technical information first hand:
From one varnish disc you can get 1000 or more matrices. Of course, records from the third original come out better in quality (mainly in terms of noise) than records pressed from the fifth original. The problem can be solved by burning several varnish discs with one program. But for now, varnish discs are in short supply (they are bought for foreign currency).
The initial noise level of records is -55-57 dB, and after 50 plays the noise increases by only 2 dB.
They are constantly working to improve plastics. In the future, its quality will increase mainly due to the introduction of antistatic additives, which reduce the noise level and dust on the surface of gramophone records. Antistatic plastic is primarily intended for classical music records that have a large dynamic range(sold for foreign currency).

All the best in USSR sound recording was done to publish works of classical musical culture.
The quality of the recording on any record depends on the performer, sound engineer, recording studio and the sharpness of the cutter used for cutting.
Author's performance collections were often made from different studio recordings; the quality of the compositions on one record will be different.
The quality of record printing depends on the circulation and the manufacturer's plant.
A trendy record you bought or proxies by acquaintance or by nomenclature "extract", most likely an early edition
Exotic one-off editions always have small circulations and a short production process.
If the record shows a pair like Leningrad Recording Studio - Leningrad Order of the Badge of Honor Record Plant, this is probably a small circulation.
VSG-MOZG is always good and excellent quality, regardless of the color of the label
All Soviet discs from the 60s and 70s in an art sleeve are early editions; additional prints were sold in “general” editions.
Since the mid-80s, rarely have any records been released with a circulation of more than 50 thousand. 15 thousand copies is already a large circulation.

The conclusion from numerous attempts at “color differentiation” of Melody labels is that it is impossible to build a practical collection selection strategy on this:

There were no technical specifications for what label to put on which edition, what they ordered from the printing house was what they put on.
Neither the price nor the grade of the record depended in any way on the label.
If there was a gradation in the labels, then each plant followed its own internal rules.
The bulk of records from the 80s are owned by all collectors with red labels, regardless of the manufacturer.
For the vast majority of Melodiev editions, no one has seen black and blue labels. It is useless to look for them.

Neither the color of the label nor the name of the manufacturer provides guarantees of high-quality performance and sound engineering. But there are no other edition options; the master tape and the matrix from it were given alone to the whole country. Whatever record you can find in the best condition, buy that one.

Assessing the condition of records

Mint is a fresh, new record, although it has been played a couple of times. Envelope with protective bag and original attachments.
NM/EX - good to excellent condition for carefully played records. Barely noticeable signs of use, light scratches with no audible defects. Clicks are possible on the introductory track, and an increased rustle of the groove is noticeable during pauses. The envelope has yellowed paper, a clean end, but there are minor signs of use: worn corners.
VG is a washcloth, a well-worked plate. There are traces of installation on the layback, on the surface small scratches and abrasions, the sound is generally good, there are rare clicks and crunches. The envelope has worn out spines and corners, but it is not torn or wrinkled.
G/F - killed, sawn, plate - gray surface, scratches and abrasions, continuous abrasions. Formally, the record is still playable (from the English Good/Fair), but it is listened to with constant crackling and sand, jamming and track skipping are possible. The envelope has tears and is significantly worn.
P/B - none at all - the record is unsuitable for playback. But even in this condition, the rarity has a collectible value

On practice:

honest VG+ of the first editions is better than the mint reissue of the 80s on a thin and lousy mass.
Sealed are sealed records purchased without guarantees, it is unknown what, but most likely a manufacturing defect intended for destruction.
The fact that sellers today give out EX for mint is a widespread practice and it is especially developed on our favorite website, eBay.

Record cleaning

"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 record.

We need:

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

Old, heavily soiled plates are first washed in warm water with a high-quality dishwashing detergent such as Bagi Champolish. Using a shaving brush, thoroughly wash the surfaces of the strip. The foam is washed off under the tap and a final rinse is done in a “classic” solution. Then you need to shake off the drops, wipe the plate with a clean lint-free cloth Bagi “Miracle Rag” and place it on the laid out newspapers to dry. Don't worry about the labels, they are usually strong, they are hot stamped into the vinyl during stamping. But there is no need to rub labels unnecessarily.

If after a test listening a dense gray coating like frost has formed on the tip of the needle, it means there are residues of detergents in the sound grooves. This kind of residue always remains after washing records with Ferri. After a few listens, the stylus will clear the groove, but for now the sound of even good records will be quite muddy.

To control the cleanliness of records, you must periodically inspect the condition of the pickup stylus using a strong magnifying glass.
Yes! Isopropyl alcohol is used not out of economy, but because, unlike ethyl alcohol, it dissolves fat and pieces of lard from old tattered records. Alkaline plates at 78 cannot be washed with any alcohol, the labels on them cannot be wet at all.
And lastly, in very severe cases - glue, paint comes off easily with a cotton swab moistened with vegetable oil. This plate must be washed immediately in a washing solution.

Buying a vinyl record player in the 21st century can indicate one thing: either you are a connoisseur of antiques, or a true audiophile.

The peak of vinyl's popularity occurred in the middle of the last century. The record has long remained one of the most popular carriers of music. A beautiful insert album with the image of the artist, a neat transparent bag that protects the surface of the record from scratches, deteriorating needles, eternal problem– fuses and the indescribable sound of a warm, gentle crackling in the speakers... Few could have predicted that the advent of magnetic tape drives and the digital era of sound recording (read the article:) would never be able to break listeners’ love for vinyl sound.

Where it all started

The principle of sound recording, which will become the standard for creating vinyl records for many years, was discovered back in 1857 Edward Leon Scott de Martinville. The phonautograph device, patented in France, offered to record sound wave onto a glass roller covered with soot or paper. The sound itself was captured through a large horn, at the end of which a needle was installed.

Twenty years later, another significant development will appear on the path to improving the sound recording system. While serving at the telegraph office, inventor and scientist Thomas Edison noticed a certain pattern while observing the operation of punched cards. Each contact that touched the holes on the card produced sounds of different pitches. A few months later, in 1877, a description of the device appears in the US Patent Office, which will become the real progenitor of vinyl players.

Principle of operation Edison's phonograph consisted of playing sound from small tin or wooden rollers covered with foil or a sheet of paper soaked in wax. The production of such rollers required a lot of effort, and the sound carriers themselves were not ready for even minimal deformation and were too sensitive to the storage environment.

Searches for more simple device for the implementation of sound recording and the development of a medium capable of withstanding transportation and more severe operating conditions prompted the American inventor Emil Berliner refuse to use the method proposed by Martinville and then modified by Edison. In 1897, Berliner became the author of patents for two devices: recorder and gramophone.

For the first time, as a medium on which sound recording was carried out, it was used flat zinc disk. This solution made it possible to significantly reduce the cost of the entire record production cycle. Using a recorder, a “sound image” was applied to the surface of the zinc disk, and the resulting print was already used as a mold for creating copies.

The engineers of that time faced a difficult task - to find material suitable for duplicating sound recordings. Among the main requirements for the composition are: low cost and wear resistance.

In search of the perfect material

To make the first gramophone records, a dark brown vulcanized rubber called ebonite. This material vaguely resembles plastic and lends itself well to processing, which was especially noteworthy when creating duplicates. Alas, the material has not stood the test of time due to its tendency to oxidize when exposed to daylight and organic material replaces ebonite - shellac.

For the next thirty years, record production technology remains unchanged. Thick and weighty “shellac” records are gradually taking root in the homes of beginning music lovers. Gramophone, and its successor, published in 1907, mechanical gramophone, become not only regulars of clubs, restaurants and educational institutions, but also confidently enter the life of the average consumer.

In large cities, stores began to appear offering a wide range of “music albums” (all records were presented in a cardboard book box resembling a photo album). Alas, the imperfection of recording technology and the specifics of the material used for production made it possible to store only one composition on one side of the record. Due to short term the life of the record and its high level depreciation during playback, the same song was recorded from both sides.

The one-song barrier was only broken in 1931, when pioneers of sound engineering discovered single-groove stereo recording technology. The stereo record began to hold up to six songs of average length. However, the life cycle of a shellac record was only a few months active exploitation. In the mid-thirties, a new competitor appeared for the record - magnetic tape. Chemical technologists entered the struggle for a potential buyer, and in 1948 the first batch rolled off the assembly line of the Columbia plant. vinyl records.

Since 1950, vinyl records have also been produced in the USSR. Polyvinyl chloride was distinguished by a high level of wear resistance, and the production process itself made it possible to significantly reduce the final thickness of the plate from 3 to 1.5 millimeters. The principle of recording records, established at the end of the last century, turned out to be simple for “folk craftsmen” to master. In the mid-50s and 60s, entire handicraft factories appeared for the underground production of records.

As a material for making the desired disc with “inhumane songs” banned by the authorities, it was used x-ray film. In the private collections of vinyl fans you can find albums by The Beatles and jazz compositions recorded “on bones” - developed X-ray films.

Battle of “formats”

The entire evolution of gramophone records is shrouded in disagreements in the world of standards: sizes, recording principles, manufacturing materials, recording speed.

Size. In the late 1890s, there was a single approved standard - the 7-inch high-speed record. In 1903 it came into use new standard- “giant” with a diameter of 12 inches. A few years later, another option appeared - 10-inch records. In the CIS market, the generally accepted sizes are plates with a diameter of 175, 250 and 300 mm.

Recording technology. Until 1920, the only method of sound recording remained mechanical. The frequency range for such recording was a meager 150 – 4000 Hz. In 1920, the era of electroacoustic recording began, and a microphone was used as a sound pickup. It is this year that the era of gramophone records receives a new “sound breath” with the ability to reproduce BH from 15 to 10,000 Hz.

Limit capacity. Rotational speed. Another characteristic of the entire recording era that has undergone constant change is the speed of rotation of the record. The generally accepted “Soviet standard” of 78 rpm allowed for up to 12 minutes of sound. For long-term recording of a conversation, “slow records” were used with a rotation speed of 8 and 1/3 revolutions per minute. Another standard is 45 rpm. The final point in the battle of speeds was the release of 33 1/3 rpm long-playing records.

Mono-stereo-quad. The principle of playing gramophone records is based on “reading” with a needle the sound pattern located in multiple grooves (tracks) of the record. Until 1958, mono records were produced: the stylus read only vertical vibrations. Then stereo plates appear: the vertical is responsible for the left channel, and the roughness placed horizontally is for the right. There were also options for quadraphonic sound, but the technology never justified itself.

Vinyl today

Since the advent of Edison's phonograph until today, the principle of recording records has remained virtually unchanged. Using a recorder, sound vibrations are converted into mechanical vibrations that are fed to a cutter, which applies the image of the composition to a copper-plated steel disk. The resulting template is transferred to nickel copies and only then does the pressing of vinyl records begin.

The principle of operation of playback devices - players from a mechanical point of view has also remained virtually unchanged. The same rotating disk, the same pickup needles.

The cost of modern “vinyls” directly depends on several factors:

design;
installed preamplifier;
form factor.

The advent of the compact disc in 1980 seriously undermined the demand for vinyl. For more than 20 years, records disappeared from the attention of music lovers, and bulky players gave way to compact CD players. But history confidently adheres to the boomerang principle: since 2005, there has been an era of vinyl revival. Vinyl has become a subject of experimentation and a sought-after medium among DJs. Warm, smooth sound with virtually no harmonic distortion and incredible detail is not only the sound that a sophisticated music lover or audiophile deserves. This is a sound that everyone should hear and this opportunity does not require a significant financial investment.

What to choose?

A true audiophile at peace vinyl sound familiar firsthand. In his mind, the horizon of “sane” record players starts at a price point of several thousand dollars. However, the choice of such expensive equipment is more like a ritual and a kind of tribute to sound, but you can join the world of records with a much smaller amount.

Japanese company Audio-Technica in the audio equipment market can rightfully have the status of a veteran. It was vinyl record players that became a fateful product in the life of the brand. In 1962, Audio-Technica introduced two high-quality pickups (popularly referred to as "stylus") AT-1 And AT-3. The stunning success of the firstborn was supported by the model AT-5, and 7 years after its founding, the Japanese company enters the world market.

Audio-Technica's influence on the world of turntables cannot be overstated. The company was the first manufacturer of ultra-pure monocrystalline copper PCOCC pickups; behind her shoulders are the legendary portable vinyl players Mister Disc And Sound Burger, and three years ago the Japanese announced a specialized “turntable” player AT-LP1240 equipped with a DJ module.

One of the most popular “workhorses” that can serve a person just getting acquainted with the world of records can be an entry-level player from the company Audio-Technica AT-LP60 USB.

If your evolution as a music lover began with MP3 and OGG, smoothly transposed into listening to FLAC and ALAC formats, and your old CD player was no longer enjoyable, the Audio-Technica AT-LP60 USB can introduce you to what vinyl sounds like. This player will be perfect choice for the beginning listener.

Unlike its little brother AT-LP60 USB, vinyl players AT-LP120USBC And AT-LP120-USBHC have a more impressive list of capabilities. Both models have three speed modes of 33.45 and 78 rpm, which opens up to the listener a number of records that came out of the assembly line of the Soviet Melodiya plant.

Professional cartridge AT95E allows you to achieve the purest quality of playback with a significantly lower level of detonation, and sound conversion using the built-in DAC allows you to obtain high-quality recordings that are many times superior to CD-quality music. Being one of the most authoritative representatives of the pickup market, the Japanese manufacturer equipped the Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USBHC model with the legendary pickup HS10 Headshell ( 5.00 out of 5, rated: 1 )

website Buying a vinyl record player in the 21st century can indicate one thing: either you are a connoisseur of antiques, or a true audiophile. The peak of vinyl's popularity occurred in the middle of the last century. The record has long remained one of the most popular carriers of music. A beautiful insert album with the image of the artist, a neat transparent bag that protects the surface of the record from scratches, deteriorating needles, the eternal problem -...

Vinyl records evoke almost the same associations for every person - Soviet-era turntables, dusty paper sleeves with discs lying around on shelves, the warm, rough surface of vinyl, a barely audible characteristic noise in the speakers. Almost all people believe that vinyl is a thing of the past, displaced from the arena of sound evolution by CDs and mp3s. But there is a category of creative people who not only know, but are one hundred percent sure that vinyl is alive and will live for a long time.

The history of vinyl was no less complex than the history of electric light bulbs, which replaced oil and gas lamps. Not everyone accepted vinyl records even at the very dawn of their inception, when there were almost no analogues. A special feature of the long journey of vinyl is that the fate of records was inseparable from the progress of development of the devices that played them.

In the 16th century, the first attempts were made to record sound using mechanical instruments - from primitive musical snuffboxes and boxes, alarm clocks to complex stationary grandfather clocks, polyphones, orchestrions, tower chimes and “sounded” carriages. At the same time, musical toys and devices appeared in Russia. But music boxes became especially widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The outstanding American inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) designed a device for mechanical recording and reproduction of sound (phonograph) in 1877. However, the priority of the invention belongs to the French scientist, brilliant musician and poet Ch. Cros.

The sound was recorded on a wax roller with a thin metal needle. Of course, such a recording could not be durable and of high quality. A large number of phonograph designs were developed during these years. They were a huge success.

Our great-grandfathers used phonographs, although improved ones, until the thirties.

The technology for extracting sound from rough vinyl sides is very simple. The soundtrack itself is a tightly wound spiral groove, with uneven jagged edges easily noticeable. Based on the size of the groove, it is easy to understand whether the record is old or new and approximately how long it will sound. It's easy to guess why - the smaller the groove, the longer the sound spiral will be placed on the vinyl roundel. Music is cut with a special cutter on a uniform vinyl surface - this cutter fluctuates depending on the sound that is fed to the recording machine. Subsequently, the player's needle will dance along these jagged and uneven tracks, transmitting all these vibrations to the speakers as sound. And no special tricks, except conventional gain no signal required.

In 1888, the German E. Berliner invented the gramophone - a miracle of the century, and the era began popular culture. The world's first gramophone record was made of celluloid and is now kept in the US National Museum in Washington. In 1897 it was replaced by a disc made of shellac, spar and soot.

Strange-looking mosquitoes have been spotted on tropical plants of the mulberry, legume and euphorbia families. What attracted attention was the fact that where these insects were observed, the plant trunks were covered with a coating of unknown origin.

The coating was a natural resin, which was later called “SHELLAC”.

After careful study, it turned out that the coating is released by the shoots of a young plant under the influence of females of Kerria lacca or, as they say now, the lac bug. And these strange mosquitoes are none other than male varnish bugs. All that remains is to collect the resin and conduct research on the strange mass. Our scientists bred lacquer bugs in Abkhazia, Azerbaijan and Central Asia.

Before the advent of polyvinyl chloride, shellac was the raw material for the production of gramophone records.

The appearance of a sufficiently durable material was vitally important - plastics could not withstand prolonged abuse by steel pickup needles and quickly lost their properties.

The very concept of a “vinyl record” appeared after the Second World War, when the largest record manufacturer Columbia created the technology of “long” records, the basis of which was a new material - vinylite. Thanks to this material, as well as technologies of compacted recording, microgrooves and reduced playback speed, vinyl records with entire albums of artists appeared.

Vinyl itself is a monovalent organic radical (CH CH2), and the record, accordingly, is a polyvinyl chloride alloy.

In 1934, American commentator Walter Winchell coined the term “disc jockey” to refer to his colleague Martin Block, who played music from records between news reports, creating the complete illusion that the broadcast was being broadcast from a dance hall. The program had crazy ratings!!!

In the first quarter of the last century, the speeds of produced gramophone records fluctuated in the range of 74-82 revolutions per minute, which was due to the imperfection of mechanical spring gramophones. Thus, when listening, the sound often “floated”, which did not add comfort. It was only in 1925, when the electric synchronous motor began to be used in the mechanism of turntables, that the first speed standard appeared. True, it was slightly different on different sides of the ocean. The connection was made to the frequency of the supplied power supply (60 or 50 Hertz) and the speed of the synchronous electric motor, which set the mechanism in motion, depending on it. In the States, the speed was 78.26 rpm (the engine made 3600 revolutions through a reduction gearbox with a 46:1 ratio), in Europe 77.92 (3000 with a reduction of 38.5:1).

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 now see in some catalog of records, opposite the name you are interested in, the inscription 7" single or some other number before the sign ", 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, records 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" wheels appeared (actually 11.89", or 300 mm). It is the plates of this form factor that are now most familiar to our eyes (in some countries, variants two millimeters larger than required were occasionally produced). In ancient times, they were mainly used to release excerpts from operas and classical works, since up to five minutes of sound could fit on one side.

The third most popular form factor was the 10" (250 mm) size. These records began to actively gain popularity in 1910. Still, they could hold one and a half times more entertainment than a standard seven. 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 treated the track quite harshly. The pickup weighed up to 130 grams, and the steel needles had to be changed after each play of the side.

Since the late 70s, disc reading equipment has been actively developed to minimize any possible damage caused by the cartridge to the track. By this time, needles had long existed that made it possible to spin the same record under them up to two thousand times. The weight of the pickup has been reduced to two to five grams. The Japanese company ELPJ tried in the 1990s, when the CD was already crowding out vinyl on all fronts, to read sound with a laser. However, dust in this matter turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle - no matter how much you wipe the surface, you will not get rid of it completely, but the laser reads the dusty track and produces a corresponding sound.

Nowadays, manufacturers of vinyl records can be counted on one hand. And, despite such a surge of attention to vinyl - both from the outside ordinary users, and on the part of DJs, the number of record producers is still not increasing. Of these companies, it is especially worth noting the Optimal plant, located near Berlin, in the city of Robel. They are trying to revive the production of vinyl records, and they are doing very well. It is interesting that the plant director collects the equipment “from the woods” - some from India, some from Russia, some from European countries, and some units are even rented from recording museums. Now this plant produces more than four million records a year, including singles and albums from many famous artists. For example, Optimal recently released bright pink vinyl discs of Madonna's album.

Don't forget about domestic factories. Once upon a time, in the vast expanses of the USSR, vinyl production was the largest in the world.

On September 1, 1910, an event occurred that became epoch-making for music lovers in the vast expanses of Russia at that time - a factory for the production of domestic gramophone records was opened in Aprelevka, near Moscow. Over time, it became the largest record producer in Russia, and then in the USSR.

The plant was built by two German entrepreneurs Gottlieb (Bogdan) Moll and his son Johann (Ivan) (financier and recording specialist). In the first year, 400 thousand gramophone discs were released under the Metropol and Record brands. They all dispersed to fairs, bazaars, shops and shops of the empire in a matter of weeks. They began to be played at weddings and name days, farewells, get-togethers and tea parties, and family evenings. Huge gramophone pipes were carried by the Russians folk songs, ditties, romances, arias, marches. The first records had two holes in the center and were played from the middle to the edge. Then the diameter gradually increased and even reached half a meter. But such impressive dimensions led to an increase in the size of the gramophone.

The factory's new life began after the revolution, when production was nationalized. Johann Moll was first put in Butyrka, and then, already seriously ill, was released abroad in 1927. By the way, his son, drafted into the German Air Force in 1945, was captured and spent some time in Soviet camps in Ufa and Chelyabinsk. Then he returned to Germany, but visited the USSR several times, including to the famous plant founded by his grandfather.

In the first post-revolutionary years, gramophone records were actively used for propaganda and agitation. By direct instructions Lenin, who was a member of the gramophone propaganda department at Tsentropechat, began producing records at the Aprelevskaya factory with recordings of speeches by new Russian leaders. By the way, several of Lenin’s speeches were recorded on it. But the shellac reserves soon ran out, and there was no opportunity to purchase it abroad, and the factory stopped producing gramophone records.

By the early 1930s, the factory began producing records again, becoming the main producer in the USSR. It was soon transformed into a factory that employed more than a thousand people and produced an annual output of 19 million records. Since there were not enough raw materials for the production of records, an interesting form of collecting recyclable materials was invented. Part of the circulation of records began to be intended only for exchange for fragments of old records, which were melted down. On the records from these editions there was a special inscription “Not for sale. Exchange Fund".

During the war years, the production of records decreased significantly. Naturally, production was reoriented to produce products with patriotic content. It was at the Aprelevsky plant, already in the first days of the war, that “The Holy War” was recorded, performed by an ensemble led by Alexandrov.

The plant was able to reach its pre-war level only in 1949. Within three years, they mastered the production of long-playing records. And in 1961 the first stereophonic records were released. But regular 78 rpm records continued to be produced until 1971. After the revolution, the “Soviet Record” department was created. On the records of those years there was a swallow holding a golden-colored musical note in its beak. It became the emblem of the Aprelevsky plant.

A new stage in the life of the plant began in 1964, when the Melodiya recording company was created in the USSR, the main enterprise of which was the Aprelevsky plant, which produced up to 65% of all domestic gramophone records. The plant began to produce not only musical recordings, but also a significant number of records for children and educational ones. Entire generations grew up in the USSR on fairy tales recorded on April records. But the main shortage in the 60-80s was records with recordings of pop performers.

By the beginning of the 80s, the plant employed three thousand people, and the production of records exceeded 50 million per year. After 1991, when the Melodiya company collapsed, the Aprelevsky plant went “open sailing,” but did not last long. Circulations began to fall sharply: 33 million records in 1991 and only 10 million in 1992. In 1995, we had to completely stop producing records and switch to tape cassettes. To support people and preserve the team, the plant began to develop various production processes, including food packaging. The packages with instant noodles, on which the manufacturer was listed as “Aprelevsky Record Plant,” probably looked a bit strange.

In 2002, by decision of the Moscow Region Arbitration Court, the Aprelevsky Record Plant was declared bankrupt. Fortunately, it was possible to at least partially preserve the rich collection of the factory museum, the main exhibits of which were transferred to the Naro-Fominsk Museum of History and Local Lore, and some of the exhibits were distributed to school museums and libraries in the city, and some went to the children's art school. In 2007, the “Museum of Forgotten People and Things” opened on the former territory of the plant, which partially presents the history of the Aprelevsky record plant.

NNM.Ru

Many will agree that the vinyl record is, without exaggeration, a symbol of the 20th century. Several generations of people grew up on them. And although this information carrier was supplanted over time by cassettes and CDs, it still has its connoisseurs and admirers all over the world. Why does this seemingly bygone thing still attract people?

It is logical that the history of not only vinyl, but also other gramophone records is inextricably linked with the development of equipment that could reproduce them. In 1877, the young scientist Thomas Edison patented his invention - the phonograph - a device that allows you to record and reproduce sound. The recording was made using a needle, which left a mark on a cylindrical roller wrapped in tin foil or wax tape. At that time it was a truly fantastic invention. In the same year, the French poet and inventor Charles Cros scientifically substantiated and explained the principle of recording sound on a drum and its subsequent playback. 10 years later, based on these discoveries, the American inventor Emil Berliner proposed a new method for recording and reproducing sounds and patented a recorder and gramophone. It was Berliner who proposed to give the medium audio information round disk shape.