Thanks Enrico

Man, vinyl records were the thing for a hundred years. How’d it all start? Well, that Frenchman in the second row, Edouard-Leon Scott started the ball rolling with that device next to him. Then a young inventor Thomas Edison (third row) developed the idea further. The next photo down shows the first recording super star, Enrico Caruso, on the right, listening to himself sing with his friends. The next photo is the inventor of the phonograph, Emile Berliner. Below him is a 1920’s kid with a toy phonograph.  Today, vinyl record collecting and trading is HUGE!!! Read all about it below. 

Remember album?  Those vinyl plastic circles we used to rotate under a magic needle, and then dancing around in our bedrooms and basements.  I’m pretty sure I have a whole crate of them in the basement – many of which the girls loved to play while we did family chores on the weekends.  Invented by a famous fella you’ve never heard of, Peter Goldmark, who takes the prize as the inventor of the vinyl record we’re familiar with today (born in 1906, Goldmark ended up working at Columbia Records as an engineer and was the key developer of the 33 1/3 rpm LP “long play” record).  As any audio enthusiast will tell you, there’s something special about listening to an album on vinyl that just cannot be emulated. Despite now living in an age of streaming, where access to all the music in the world is at our fingertips, there is still something special about the audio quality of virgin vinyl spinning on a finely calibrated record player. (you gotta email me and tell me what your top three albums were/are !! – skowalski@khtheat.com).  For me it’s: My top three would have to be in no order, Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon, Queen – News of the World and 5^thDimension – Age of Aquarius. Today marks the day, in 1902 when Italian opera star Enrico Caruso made what’s considered the first recoding by a professional singer  – talk about a PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job!  Hats off to all the great entertainers who have (and still) delight our senses and give us an excuse to “dust the rug” every once in a while.  Here’s some fun history and facts.  Thanks to discmanufacturingservices.com, Wikipedia and YouTube for the info and videos. Enjoy!

• In the year 1857, a brilliant French inventor by the name of Edouard-Leon Scott, created a specialist device which utilized a vibrating pen which graphically represented sounds, onto small paper discs. This device was known as a Phonautograph, and it was primarily created to help us get a better understanding of the characteristics of sound. It wasn’t until Thomas Edison began showing an interest in this device however, that things really got interesting. In 1878, Edison took this concept and turned it into a machine that was capable of replaying the sounds that it recorded. The device utilized a stylus that was designed to cut grooves of sound onto cylinders and discs made of tinfoil.
• On this day, in 1902, Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso becomes the first well-known performer to make a record.  Born into poverty in Naples, Enrico was the eighteenth child born in his family (I love big families) and the first to survive into adulthood. He went onto become the most famous Italian tenor of his generation and one of the first singers to achieve international fame through this new technology of recorded sound.
• A little over a decade later, German-born US inventor Emile Berliner patented the very first vinyl record player – the Gramophone. This device had to be manually operated at 70 RPM and functioned by playing a rubber vulcanite disc, 7 inches in size with small lateral grooves cut into its exterior.
• Over the next 13 years, vinyl records would undergo a series of material alterations and formatting changes, until 1901, where the Victor Company released its Red Seal line, capable of playing vinyl records in the form of ten inch, 78 RPM records. In terms of formatting, the 78 RPM format proved to be the most superior for the next 47 years. (my parents had a whole bunch of these – I remember how thick and hard the vinyl was).
• When a record is placed on a record player, it begins spinning, and a needle (also known as a stylus) is lowered into the grooves of the record.  The needle sits in the grooves and follows them around the record, playing the sound contained in the grooves.
• In 1948, thanks to CBS, we were introduced to the world’s first LP (Long Play) record. Thanks to Peter Goldmark, this vinyl record had a capacity of around 21 minutes per side and was 12 inches wide, playing at a speed of 33 1/3 RPM. This changed the face of the music industry to the album-centric format we all still abide by today. Shortly after, RCA Victor introduced their own LP, which turned at 45 RPM and was just 7 inches in size. These records formats are the very same that we use today that is once again growing in popularity.
• The vinyl format is still widely hailed as the optimum in sound quality and listening pleasure, many challengers have come and gone but records have endured the test of time like no other.
• Across the Western world, vinyl records have made a remarkable comeback. Independent labels, some of whom had never stopped pressing vinyl, were quick to spot the changing tide and drive the need for a new era of short run vinyl pressing services. Once the major labels followed suit it was clear that the vinyl resurgence would be here to stay. New vinyl manufacturing plants continue to pop up, some recommissioning Soviet-era record presses to help meet the growing demand.
• There is a national day devoted to vinyl records called National Vinyl Record Day.  It falls annually on August 12th.
• The term “like a broken record” doesn’t actually refer to a broken record, it refers to a scratched record.  When a record has a scratch, the needle can become stuck in that scratch, and play the same thing over and over, which is the true meaning of the phrase “like a broken record”.In 2020 there were 27.5 million vinyl records pressed in the US, surpassing the volume about 19 million in 2019.  CLICK
• How they are made!!

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

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