What the hell is a broken record?

[DPDarkPrimus]

Jesus Christ... I can't believe that there are people now who honestly don't know of vinyl records!

I never even heard of a CD until I was about 9...

I feel far to old for my age.

[weemadando]

wootage.

Records are great. The sound is very different to CDs and at times better in their own special way.

[The Dark]

Well, no, actually, I haven't taken physics yet. I thought it meant something like 'Revolutions per minute' but wasn't sure.

And, for the stratching thing, I don't actually listen to much hip-hop, so I never really wondered.

Not that sort of scratching, the accidental kind. Like what makes a CD skip. Same idea, except we still use "broken record" because it's become part of the language.

[aerius]

Ah. But my question is, how do you fit music onto grooves?

To grossly oversimplify things, there's wee little bumps on the groove. The bumps make the needle on the record player vibrate, which produces a really small electrical signal, which goes thru an amp and then eventually out your speakers as sound.

[XaLEv]

And, for the stratching thing, I don't actually listen to much hip-hop, so I never really wondered.

LMAO!

DPDarkPrimus: Is that Ed in your avatar?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

My dad has owned his CD player since the mid 80s, so I was quite familiar with what both a record and a CD were when I was little.

Shit, this makes me feel really old. Or smart. Maybe both.

[Kelly Antilles]

My dad has owned his CD player since the mid 80s, so I was quite familiar with what a CD was when I was little.

Shit, this makes me feel really old. Or smart. Maybe both.

Makes you feel old? Think how I feel, babe. You're definately smart.

(LOVE the new Av, Spanky. She's cute!)

[phongn]

Ah. But my question is, how do you fit music onto grooves?

As the needle moves up or down, it reads it as frequency shifts (if I'm recalling my music class correctly). CD Players do the same thing by measuring the time the light takes to reflect off the disk.

After the CD reads that information, it converts it into a one or zero. It reads the data so quickly that it can construct that stream into PCM and thus reproduce 16/44.1 music (IIRC, the HDCD format has increased to 20/44.1)

[aerius]

I don't suppose I should be telling him about tube amplifiers now should I?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

No kidding, Kelly. You've just gotta feel ancient right about now.

PS: If you want to, you can see my entire entourage of Asuka avatars in BOTM. Let me know what you think.

[HemlockGrey]

This has been very informative. Thanks. Oh, and it was priceless making you all feel old, but I doubt you wanted to hear hat.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Jesus, haven't you ever played records?

Do you even know what a record is?

Seriously, I'm practically dumbfounded by this.

I agree completely. Even if my parents still didn't play records I still would have figured it out just from movies! LOL

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Nah, no hard feelings. I feel old every day.

It's just that you're the first person I've ever met that didn't know what/how a record is/worked.

[XaLEv]

PS: If you want to, you can see my entire entourage of Asuka avatars in BOTM. Let me know what you think.

The second one is the best.

[Drewcifer]

U235: CDs cost about $1 to manufacture. Add in printing (insert), jewel box, marketing, etc. and they still come in around $5-$7 a piece. And that's for a major-label CD. You can order 1000 CD's with a 2-fold, 4-color on one side, b/w on the other insert, for about $1.50 a piece. For a small fee, they'll even shrink-wrap it for you.

Kelly: You're probably kidding, but I do have a working 8-track player. And a reel-to-reel, and an old wire recorder from the '30's. Still looking for a Victrola though

Hemlock: Putting music into grooves?

Thomas Edison is credited with creating the first device for recording and playing back sounds in 1877. His approach used a very simple mechanism to store an analog wave mechanically. In Edison's original phonograph, a diaphragm directly controlled a needle, and the needle scratched an analog signal onto a tinfoil cylinder:

You spoke into Edison's device while rotating the cylinder, and the needle "recorded" what you said onto the tin. That is, as the diaphragm vibrated, so did the needle, and those vibrations impressed themselves onto the tin. To play the sound back, the needle moved over the groove scratched during recording. During playback, the vibrations pressed into the tin caused the needle to vibrate, causing the diaphragm to vibrate and play the sound.

This system was improved by Emil Berliner in 1887 to produce the gramophone, which is also a purely mechanical device using a needle and diaphragm. The gramophone's major improvement was the use of flat records with a spiral groove, making mass production of the records easy. The modern phonograph works the same way, but the signals read by the needle are amplified electronically rather than directly vibrating a mechanical diaphragm.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I don't suppose I should be telling him about tube amplifiers now should I?

Or vacuum tubes? Don't forget vacuum tubes.

[Exonerate]

I think those cassette tapes can get jammed too... I remember when I was a kid, my family was driving. Then the tape suddenly jammed, and kept repeating, "Old MacDonald, Old MacDonald, Old MacDonald, Old MacDonald..." I've hated that song ever since.

[HemlockGrey]

Vacuum tubes...hmm...didn't they use those in that old computer that shut off part of Philly's power? Or the really old ones you had to punch with a card, or something?

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Vacuum tubes were replaced by the transistor in the 1960s, and were used in many electronics: such as TVs, radios, amplifiers, etc... They basically acted as an off/on, 0/1 switch.

[Drewcifer]

I don't suppose I should be telling him about tube amplifiers now should I?

Or vacuum tubes? Don't forget vacuum tubes.

Actually, tube/valve equipment is still in use. Most professional studios have a full arsenal of tube compressors and equalizers due to the sound quality and performance of tubes that digital can't match. And tube powered microphones are the holy grail of recording studios.

One example: I did some bass work at a studio in Nashville. My bass was recorded through a tube pre-amp, a tube compressor, and a tube EQ, and recorded on a top of the line Otari 32 track digital machine. Tube for tone, dig for recording. The best of both worlds.

[Phil Skayhan]

Vacuum tubes...hmm...didn't they use those in that old computer that shut off part of Philly's power? Or the really old ones you had to punch with a card, or something?

They're still used for some amps as far as I know, some models from Peavy I think.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Yeah, I know. It's just that for the Common Folk, vacuum tubes are a relic of the past.

BTW: Hemlock, in case you were wondering, vacuum tubes are those things that kinda look like light bulbs.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Wow, ten minutes and two whole pages added.
This goes to show just how fast techology is growing...

XaLEv: Yes, yes it is.

[aerius]

Yup, there's just something about vacuum tubes that transistors and modern electronics can't capture. They're just more "alive" for lack of a better word. I've been trying to track down a decent set of tube amps at the local pawnshops but haven't had much luck yet, but I did build myself a tube amp from a kit to drive my headphones. So nice, so warm, but boy did it ever make a nice burning smell when it was breaking in.

Oh yes, this is a vacuum tube amp, this one's way out of my price range though.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Bitchin'.

I love that tech look, too.