An old record player with dials on the side sits in the light. Photo by Dmitry Bayer.
Music is not destined to take a certain path. It’s influenced by its predecessors and affects what comes after, and music now is no exception. Before the more modern downloads and streaming services, there were CDs, before those, cassettes, and before those, vinyl records.
Vinyl isn’t the very first physical format of music, not by a long shot, but its impact on music is undeniable. Despite being invented back in 1930, the listening medium is still very popular today and leaves several long-lasting impacts like DJing and LPs (long-play albums). Even 90 years after its creation, vinyl is making a comeback in terms of popularity.
Vinyl isn’t the very first physical format of music, not by a long shot, but its impact on music is undeniable. Despite being invented back in 1930, the listening medium is still very popular today and leaves several long-lasting impacts like DJing and LPs (long-play albums). Even 90 years after its creation, vinyl is making a comeback in terms of popularity.
It seems odd that CDs would fall behind to something far older than them. After all, CDs are better in audio quality, cost, and availability, yet they only beat vinyl by 4.9% in 2019. The resurgence in its popularity has been ongoing for the last 10 years, too. Austin record store owners have some ideas of why this might be happening.
“I think people just like the physical side of it,” Dan Plunkett, co-owner of End of an Ear, said. “The artwork and how the needle touches the wax, the whole process.”
Few remaining popular formats for music are physical. Because the record is one of these few, it adds a sense of age and character. Thomas Bernich, co-owner of Brooklynphono, a company which makes custom records, has experience with the record-making process.
“There are several steps in making a record,” Bernich said. “The first is transferring information/music to lacquer or metal disc by lathe cut.”
Essentially, the audio (after being modified so it translates well into vinyl) is cut into a metal disc, called a lacquer, which is going to be used as a template for what the records should look like. Just using the lathe on a blank record is faster than using a press like Brooklynphono is, however lathe-cut records are considerably less durable than pressed ones, and since the press templates are reusable, it’s faster and cheaper to use a press when ordering more records.
“The second,” Bernich said, “is electroplating the lacquer or metal disc to generate a nickel/metal positive image, known as a stamper.”
The lacquer is electroplated (coated with a different metal). The different metal is separated from the lacquer to create a stamper, which is more durable and an inverted version of the lacquer. It needs to be inverted so the record will have valleys instead of ridges where the needle’s meant to go.
“The third,” Bernich said, “to print and die-cut center labels. Stampers are affixed to a machine and labels are added. An automatic machine will extrude a preform of vinyl, attach labels, place in press between affixed stamper and compress under high pressure and temperature. Then cool and open when information is cured. Records are trimmed and stacked automatically.”
Past the second step, the majority of this process is automated. Printing and die-cutting (automatically cutting a specific shape, which would be a circle with a small hole in the center for a record label), as well as everything listed after, don’t require much work other than maintenance. Yet, records feel more genuine than other music formats, because even if they are made with machines, records don’t have any technology themselves. Josh LaRoue, co-owner of Breakaway Records, believes this adds to vinyl’s appeal.
“I think there’s a different, like interactive quality to it,” LaRoue said. “A lot of the music myself and the other owner listen to is meant to be played on records.”
“I think people just like the physical side of it,” Dan Plunkett, co-owner of End of an Ear, said. “The artwork and how the needle touches the wax, the whole process.”
Few remaining popular formats for music are physical. Because the record is one of these few, it adds a sense of age and character. Thomas Bernich, co-owner of Brooklynphono, a company which makes custom records, has experience with the record-making process.
“There are several steps in making a record,” Bernich said. “The first is transferring information/music to lacquer or metal disc by lathe cut.”
Essentially, the audio (after being modified so it translates well into vinyl) is cut into a metal disc, called a lacquer, which is going to be used as a template for what the records should look like. Just using the lathe on a blank record is faster than using a press like Brooklynphono is, however lathe-cut records are considerably less durable than pressed ones, and since the press templates are reusable, it’s faster and cheaper to use a press when ordering more records.
“The second,” Bernich said, “is electroplating the lacquer or metal disc to generate a nickel/metal positive image, known as a stamper.”
The lacquer is electroplated (coated with a different metal). The different metal is separated from the lacquer to create a stamper, which is more durable and an inverted version of the lacquer. It needs to be inverted so the record will have valleys instead of ridges where the needle’s meant to go.
“The third,” Bernich said, “to print and die-cut center labels. Stampers are affixed to a machine and labels are added. An automatic machine will extrude a preform of vinyl, attach labels, place in press between affixed stamper and compress under high pressure and temperature. Then cool and open when information is cured. Records are trimmed and stacked automatically.”
Past the second step, the majority of this process is automated. Printing and die-cutting (automatically cutting a specific shape, which would be a circle with a small hole in the center for a record label), as well as everything listed after, don’t require much work other than maintenance. Yet, records feel more genuine than other music formats, because even if they are made with machines, records don’t have any technology themselves. Josh LaRoue, co-owner of Breakaway Records, believes this adds to vinyl’s appeal.
“I think there’s a different, like interactive quality to it,” LaRoue said. “A lot of the music myself and the other owner listen to is meant to be played on records.”
Sort of like books, they just can be passed down if taken care of.
Another thing that separates vinyl from other formats is that when it was popular, there was music that was meant specifically for records and record players. According to LaRoue, vinyl is unique in that aspect, since digital formats don’t really need to be made with them in mind for the audio to sound best.
“They last,” Plunkett said. “Records that I have had since I was a kid in the late 60s I still have and still play. Sort of like books, they just can be passed down if taken care of. I have records passed down to me from uncles, relatives, etc. Wish they just had had better taste!”
Records are a remnant of a different time, which gives them a more nostalgic feeling. They were once at the top of the market, but still left space for other formats like cassette tapes. CDs, meanwhile, took up nearly the entire market in two decades and died out in half that time to more digital formats. With such a quick rise and fall, CDs have much less nostalgia.
“Phonograph records are part of world culture,” said Bernich. “They have unique characteristics and pros/cons compared to other mediums. They have a specific time and place for listening to and if everything is right, magic.”
“They last,” Plunkett said. “Records that I have had since I was a kid in the late 60s I still have and still play. Sort of like books, they just can be passed down if taken care of. I have records passed down to me from uncles, relatives, etc. Wish they just had had better taste!”
Records are a remnant of a different time, which gives them a more nostalgic feeling. They were once at the top of the market, but still left space for other formats like cassette tapes. CDs, meanwhile, took up nearly the entire market in two decades and died out in half that time to more digital formats. With such a quick rise and fall, CDs have much less nostalgia.
“Phonograph records are part of world culture,” said Bernich. “They have unique characteristics and pros/cons compared to other mediums. They have a specific time and place for listening to and if everything is right, magic.”