Albums could hold upwards of 6 or 7 songs per side if the songs were short enough. The 45 RPM records rocked this in so many ways.įirst of all, there was only one, or in the case of Extended Play (EP) 45 RPM records, two songs per side. For acetate records it was more like every week.Įase of handling was a different matter entirely. We even had a name for that noise “cue burn!” This meant that we normally had to replace a vinyl record every month or so. “Wait a minute,” you say, “isn’t that a little hard on the record, going backwards like that?” Exactly, it was hard on the record and eventually there would be a second or so of scratchy noise at the beginning of the record. The disk would slip on the turntable until the DJ’s fingers let go of the disk and he or she turned the “pot” or volume control up to get the song on the air. Then the record would be backed up to a point a second or so before the beginning of the song and held by the fingertips while the turntable spun below the disk. The DJ would then place the needle on the record in the groove before the beginning of the song and let the record spin until he or she could hear the first notes in the cue speaker. The record was placed on the turntable and the turntable was started. We had both and the vinyl records were definitely better.Īnother thing that contributed to the better sound on albums is the cueing process that was used in radio to control when the beginning of the record went on the air. But in the case of records, generally 33 1/3 RPM sounded better than 45 RPM and 45’s sounded better than the old 12” 78 RPM disks that my parents’ generation grew up with.īy the way, I am not ignoring the quality differences between the vinyl 45 RPM records and their acetate cousins. And the best yet was 15 IPS usually found on the higher end reel to reel recorders, especially those multi track machines, used in recording studios back in the day. I always found that a little strange because when it comes to tape recordings, the higher the tape speed generally the higher the quality 7 1/2 inches per second (IPS) sounded better than 3 ¾ IPS. On recent songs pressed with modern techniques, a 45 RPM record will definitely sound better than a 33 RPM.For the quality of the recording albums always sounded a little better to me than the 45’s did. In short, a 45 RPM record sounds better than a 33 RPM 80% of the time, but not 100%. For this reason, it is not uncommon to hear a 45 RPM reissued after the original 33 RPM sounds worse. Indeed, even if the physics says otherwise, there are other factors to consider: the mastering, access to the original tape, quality of the pressing factory, etc. However, a 45 RPM may not always sound better than a 33 RPM. That’s the reason why 12″ 45 RPM is not the most common but is still used, especially for promoting songs.Ī 45 RPM record sounds better than a 33 RPM 80% of the time. Eventually, that’s multiplying the mastering cost, plating cost, pressing cost, labels, and jackets. An LP or an album would need more disks to store everything. Therefore, if the songs are too long, you can only put one title, maybe 2, per face. Because of that, you engrave less music on a 12″ 45 RPM than a 12″ 33 RPM record. Indeed, 45 RPM is faster than 33 RPM by 36%. Then, why aren’t all records 12″ 45 RPM? The reason goes down to cost. It can therefore store more audio information per second and sounds better. Indeed, the outer edge of the 12″ is bigger than the outer edge of the 7″. Therefore, a 45 RPM record will also have a better sound quality in the central grooves.įor the same reason, a 12″ 45 RPM record sound quality is better than a 7″ 45 RPM. Increasing the rotational speed – the RPM – will increase the distance traveled per second, thus increasing the audio quality. In the table above, I only focused on the most common sizes when someone mentions 33, 45, and 78 RPM records. As the 33 and 45 RPMs are the most common speeds on turntables, some music labels like to make odd sizes from time to time for special occasions. Indeed, you may find records as small as 3″ in Japan or old 16″ from the 30s. The same as any size records can be made 33 or 45. In fact, 10″ can also be made in 33 or 45 RPM real vinyl. They came from an ancient time when styli needed to be changed very often and were not made from diamonds. They are usually thicker and not flexible as vinyl. The 10″ 78 RPM records are not really vinyl since they are made of shellac. I focus more on the difference in sound quality later in this post. They can be used for promotion on the radio for instance. They are mostly used for singles and for their higher sound quality. They are easy to differentiate thanks to their size.Īfter that, the most common records are the 12″ 45 RPM vinyl.
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